And I don't mean Brittany or Paris--what a joke, but sadly one we can't take lightly. Nevertheless, I thought it would be worth asking the astrology gods about who would make a better leader, especially in these trying times.
Some folks complain that Obama needs to get off of the pedestal, and sometimes I agree. His confidence and lioness-posture sometimes bristle my skin--and yet I know where this demeanor comes from: Obama is a Leo. Here are some good traits and bad traits of that regal ilk:
Good: generous, protective, good-natured and life-loving; you like to see yourself as a luminous figure attracting a crowd of admirers (okay, we know this).
Bad: temper-prone and materialistic.
Obama's Decan (born on August 4, 1961, hence first decan: ego needs are stronger than other Leos; pride pushes you to goal-oriented situations in which you gain the recognition you hunger for; enthusiastic, optimistic, and interested in everything around you; positive, aggressive, and you know how to transform ideals into reality and your mind sets the stage with the right attitude; one day you will want to stop the world and you will, but when you do, you won't want to get off.
Inspiration: you are the leader personified and exalted in your creations.
What holds you back: pride and ego--let humility be a coat of arms and your royalty will forever inspire your followers.
Okay not too bad for someone wanting to be POTUS--and yes, we can see where Obama's pride comes from. But now let's look at his contender, John McCain, who is a Virgo--a delicate sign, IMHO.
Good: work is your source for excitement; you are organized and detail-oriented; you hate waste; you are a perfectionist, kind, noble, and beneficent.
Bad: you are a restless work horse; have a swift tongue and sharp mind that you waste on meaningless chatter and sarcasm; you blame others for your failures; inadaptable, and altercation-prone; you bear grudges with demonic exhilaration; jealousy guides you (sound familiar these days?)
Decan (August 29th, year unknown, first decan): pragmatic, logical, however you can be more critical than discriminating; you have a tendency to tear down ideas without building ideas up; when others disappoint you, you coldly cancel them out of your life; you only see a situation from your point of view. Hmmmmmm......not so good here.
Inspiration: self-improvement and perfection
What holds you back: your restrictive attitudes--you need to get beyond yourself; your thoughts control you if you don't watch it...eeks!
Now given this above information who do you prefer to lead our nation out of this Bush mess?
McNaughton, R. (1978). Sun Sign Personality Guide. New York: Bantam.
This weekend Bement, home of Bryant Cottage where Lincoln and Douglas negotiated their famous debates, hosted their Old Glory Days festival. A gorgeous morning greeted all visitors and vendors, including the Piatt County Democrats. Not long after we set up our booth festooned with Obama and Durbin posters, a group of kids came by and started spending cash! On buttons and stickers and signs--then more came, some older kids, others younger, then their parents came and soon we had a list of new Piatt County Democrats ready to roll up their sleeves to help change the country's direction.
If these folks thought they had found gold, they hit platinum when our guest arrived. At first no one could really tell who this smiling man wearing the orange polo shirt was--he's rather short and has a round-faced plainness that belies his importance. But when Dick Durbin entered our booth, it was as if a rock star had come to Bement!
Jeff and I ended out spending the day "doing politics"--setting up the booth, talking to constituents, and of course, spending the morning and then later the afternoon with our senior senator. He spoke about his downstate roots and commitment; about his encouraging Obama to run as the moment insisted he do; and the direction of the Democratic Party, especially in Illinois. What I heard were the words of a man who has no ego (okay he's number two in the Senate--so he has ambition), but his ego is all about others, helping and supporting others--he is demure, calm, and what I believe a Buddha.
Buddha means awakened one, a person or being that has lost all sense of ego and separation from all living life forms. Durbin in his quiet yet forceful manner embodies this--I know I saw it and felt it that day.
Way back in the day, circa late 2004, I was driving home from work, listening to NPR. This was right after the presidential election and all the commentariat were trying to figure out what went wrong--or right, depending on to whom you were listening.
So many reports were struggling to find out what went wrong with young voters' turnout. So many had come out to vote and the majority of those under 30 went for Kerry.
Still, Bush won. How?
Values voters. Remember them?
This report reflected, however, on the tenuousness of this voting block--see, young people were voting values, but their own: the environment, health care, and gay rights. The problem for the Democrats: not enough of them existed to outweigh the over 40 crowd that still believed gays and lesbians do not deserve equal rights.
The report presciently mentioned that although the Republicans were winning then, once the majority of voters no longer identify morality with division, derision, and deprivation, the GOP could start expecting losses. When would this happen? According to NPR, as long as a generation or possibly the next election.
Strikes me the time has arrived.
Obama won by mobilizing young and old, black and white, women and men, gay and straight, a unified front ready to take on McCain and the identity politics of the past (see hrc).
I agree with Peggy Noonan that the 2008 election is about Old America verses New America and that it's not difficult to guess who represents which. New America is more tolerant, welcoming, and civically and politically engaged and they are bringing along their older counterparts along for the ride.
As a matter of fact, the Obama folks and the DNC will make sure of that!
Last night hrc won by a whopping 41%! Congrats to her and her supporters!
But the night's bigger story was the GOP MELTDOWN. As told by Politico's Josh Kraushaar: "Democrats picked up a northern Mississippi House seat in one of the most conservative-minded districts in the country Tuesday night — an upset that will reverberate darkly through a House Republican caucus already reeling from losses in special elections in Illinois and Louisiana."
From the AP: "Mississippi Democrat Travis Childers … had 54 percent to Republican Greg Davis' 46 percent. … Childers' win gave Democrats a 236-199 edge over Republicans in Congress." Strikingly, the Republicans tried to equate Childers with Obama, picturing him in an ad with the all but certain Democratic Party nominee, as reported by the NYTs (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/14/us/politics/14mississippi.html?ref=politics).
Guess what? It didn't work! In fact, some believe, it motivated African-American voters to come out and vote in heavy numbers, handing the 8% win to Childers. What this really indicates is that BIG LOSSES are in store for the Republicans, even in the deep south! Their only hope of motivating conservative voters was an hrc ticket. Now they won't have that.
Clearly, the Obama ticket is the Republicans' worst nightmare.
When all is said and done, when Obama can finally turn the page and face off with McCain, and the fairy dust that has carried the Clintons to the point of departure, the pundits and political elites will finally get it:
Obama won the nomination because he presciently harnessed young people's Internet ease and "high information voters'" Internet savvy to harvest activist support and raise insurmountable sums of cash.
In 2007 and 2008, the Internet became the great democratic machine it has promised to become. Voters are smarter, more informed, and able to take their country back thanks to the Internets, "a series of tubes" (Senator Stevens, AKA).
Pity the old school--we're on a roll!
It began in Iowa and ended in Indiana.
I call this a perfect sandwich!
Yesterday, Jeff, Dave, Kyle and I went to Indianapolis to get out the vote for Obama. Let me report that I have never had such a good time canvassing.
We went to two different neighborhoods: one working-class and racially mixed; the other, white and decidely middle-class.
In both neighborhoods, we were greeted with open arms and big smiles! Everybody we talked to thanked us for doing this. Three people said they could not believe Obama was canvassing their neighborhood because they thought everybody was Republican!
We might have bridged more than voters to Obama--we might have enhanced neighborly love!
We're in the home-stretch and you all know what I'm hoping for!
While Obama gives out buttons that say "HOPE," hrc hands out stickers that say, "I'm not bitter."
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/04/12/882730.aspx
Always playing catch up and never quite getting there, so it appears.
Look to see who actually inspires hope and who appeals to the bitter:
http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/04/thats-what-i-like-about-me/?scp=5&sq=obama+hope+poll&st=blog
Oh, well?
Okay, it's time to unleash my mother's interpretations of this nomination contest.
Norma is a nurse and most certainly psychic. When she combines these tools for knowledge, she can say some pretty smart things.
About four months ago, when Bill started to erupt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIhzeLlpuzI
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2007-11-28-bill-clinton_N.htm
she told me on that people who have had serious heart surgery can go nutty for about two years while they deal with recuperating and the drugs. We both laughed, but I'm beginning to think she's very right:
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/04/11/bill_clintons_bosnia_comments.html
As Jeff, the unpsychic genious says, “he's taking the wheels off of her campaign.”
Waiting for spring to actually arrive is like watching the race for the Democratic Party’s nomination. I’m on the sidelines knowing there’s just not much I can do about it. Sure, I will go to Indiana to canvass for Obama, but the day by day slow grind of reading the blogs, watching the shows and talking about the race with everybody is wearing me down a bit. When that happens to me, I get creative with my thoughts. So here’s two ideas I’ve had recently, one rather mainstream the other not. Let me tell you the first one first.
The race between Obama and hrc is the Democratic Party’s identity crisis—do we take the familiar and seemingly secure road of top down politics and elite party funders? Or do we take a chance by trusting this smooth talking upstart whose groundswell of support is all bottom up?
This past week 20 hrc funders, who have much invested in seeing the Clinton Machine return to the White House, sent a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi asserting that they will cut off the spicket of their special interest cash to the DCCC if the Party does not let the race soldier on. What does this say about the hrc’s support? It is a few powerful and wealthy elites, DLC style. Should hrc get the nomination, nothing will change, but the Party will still have cash on hand.
But as several pundits throughout the week pointed out, it would not take much for Obama to ask his supporters to make up the monetary difference. But the question for the Party is: will that support last for decades to come? And, does the Party really want to share its power with the rank and file, young activists and those wily Independents?
We shall see.
My second thought is a bit more unusual. As some of you know, I read a lot of spiritual stuff. One of my favorites is renowned psychic Sylvia Brown, whose spiritual premise is that before we are born we choose two life purposes, like rescuer, catalyst, builder, victim, which we spend our lives developing and/or overcoming for our future lives.
The other night while watching hrc lay her Bosnia bomb, I had this thought: what if one of her life purposes is to prop up powerful men in their political careers? Clearly, she has had her eye on the presidency for decades and she saw that route through Bill; thus she had to support him in all of his escapades. Now in this race, no matter how hard she’s tried, she has failed to gain traction that sticks—instead Obama under fire manages to pull through, while hrc under fire just gain her more ire. And now the word on the blogs is that her candidacy is good for him: it makes him a better candidate. Could this be a second time for her "chosen" life role?
Again, we shall see, but this one might take a walk on the other side.
For a good read that supports my unusual claim, check this out:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/02/opinion/02dowd.html?ref=opinion
The verdict is still out, but by Richardson's endorsement today and this CBS poll, it appears we may be in the clear.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/21/poll-obama-receives-high-marks-for-race-speech/
Obama's speech is resonating with voters and thus, the momentum has changed and for the better.
This is a particularly striking moment though. In his speech, Obama calls on the MSM to be more responsible in how it treats race and the election.
And today, FOX news anchor Chris Wallace did this:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/samgrahamfelsen/gGBnLP
Now tell me this is not the change we have been waiting for.
Today Jeff and I arrived at the Obama campaign office in Clintonville, Ohio! We'd barely walked in the door when a 30-something guy told us his girlfriend who is a Clinton supporter dumped him last night, so here he was! Jeff said, "We'll take 'em anyway we can get 'em." Of course the room broke out into laughter. The office has a hub of activity; the campaign coordinator was young and professional, welcoming us with a broad smile, a request for food, and a stack of voter walking lists.
The first list took us to a retirement community with a gated entry. It did not take us long to realize we were not welcome there. Of course, two old ladies telling us just that got us back in the car and off to the next neighborhood. Much more friendly, indeed! There we talked with several Obama supporters, and a few undecideds whose kids are prompting them to give Obama a look. Even the self-described traditional conservative was pleasant.
If you ask me we're doing fine in Ohio--we might even squeak by with a win--though the HRC signs that lined a few corners give me second pause. Still my tally sheets showed a 10 to 5 Obama/Clinton ratio. We'll know Tuesday night.
Spring, my friends, is just around the corner. So, is a new day in American politics.
Several years ago, on a very hot fall day, Jeff and I went to an Illini football game. We had really great seats except that the sun beat our backs into sweaty rivers and the drunken fans at our side seemed more interested in the Chief than the game.
I recall our looking at the stadium, painted orange by the sixty thousand or so t-shirts, and remarking to Jeff, "If Americans would take their politics as seriously as they take their sports, our nation would be in a very different place right now."
Together, we laughed and shrugged that wishful thinking off--that will never happen!
Lately, we've begun to revisit that claim. Barack Obama is transforming how Americans think about and participate in politics. Look at the crowds! 15,000 in Idaho, 17,000 in Washington! The numbers are staggering and in this round he is drawing the people in on his own! No Orpah needed now!
Think about it: we might actually see real change not just because this man is a hope-monger, as he jokes. But because we Americans might just be taking our politics as seriously as we take our sports.
