8 Random Thoughts for 11/11/2008

1. I'm going to compliment a Republican. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has come out with some of his most forceful comments yet on his opposition to Proposition 8. Make no mistake, he is saying all of the right things. Unfortunately, if he had been willing to make these types of bold statements before November 4th, perhaps this bigoted disaster would have never passed. A pox on the home of every Californian who decided to deny their fellow Americans the most basic of civil rights.
   
2. I just finished Jonathan Alter's Defining the Moment, which was a pretty good look at the first one hundred days of the Roosevelt Presidency and I'm getting ready to dive into Arthur Schlesinger Jr.'s three volume set on FDR. In the run up to the inauguration, I'll be doing a lot of posting on the differences and similarities between the depression and the current crisis, the differences and similarities between FDR and Obama, and will look at FDR's successes and failures and we will learn from them to enhance our ability to advocate President Obama for sensible policies.
3. Al Franken may still be going to the Senate. Nate Silver says, and I quote, "I hesitate to say this, but I think the evidence points on balance toward Franken being a slight favorite to win the recount." I think we would all agree that this country deserves better than Norm Coleman.
4. Is Rahm Emanuel now the second most powerful man in the executive branch? I say yes and I also think he'll be a helluva Chief of Staff. I don't always agree with him on the issues, but Barack Obama is the President and will be the man to decide how they will proceed on the issues. Emanuel is an attack dog and will fight for Obama's policies tooth and nail. He seems to be the model of an ideal chief of staff.
   
5. Keith Olbermann's special comments were must view television at one point in time, but they became diluted when he began running so many of them. (This was clearly apparent during the primary season.) Now, it takes a really special, a really well-done comment to take notice. He hit his Proposition 8 Special Comment out of the ballpark. My favorite line is this: "(T)o me this vote is horrible. Horrible. Because this isn't about yelling, and this isn't about politics. This is about the human heart, and if that sounds corny, so be it."
6. In further Keith Olbermann news, MSNBC has renewed him for four more years. Olbermann has become the centerpiece of their station, and his success has allowed them to place Rachel Maddow in the following slot where she has also been a success. Speaking as a liberal, it's nice to be represented at all. These aren't our version of the lunatic screaming heads the right puts on television (Hannity, O'Reilly, Beck), Olbermann and Maddow are serious people who take a serious look at the news of the day. I look forward to watching them continuously as the right attempts to derail the Obama administration.
7. Is the Republican party imploding? Exploding perhaps? I think so. We'll explore this more later, but I think we may have witnessed the end of the unified Republican party. It's the wilderness for them!
8. John McCain on Saxby Chambliss's attacks on Max Cleland in 2002: "(I)t's worse than disgraceful, it's reprehensible." Six years later, McCain plans to visit Georgia to stump for Chambliss in the run off. Just another reminder of why the American people rejected Mr. McCain as a phony maverick in the Presidential campaign. Let's make Chambliss a loser too. (More on Chambliss's opponent, the great Jim Martin, to come.)