2008 Top One Hundred Countdown # 60: The Lonely Days Waiting For The Election
Yesterday I was admonished on my own photostream by one of my contacts for the obsessive nature of my comments, titles, asides, which make it clear that I support Barack Obama in his race for the Presidency. This little dust-up, which irritated me, got me to thinking about what is and what is not appropriate to post-up here, and what is and what is not appropriate to say about the images that I put up here.
Obviously, the wild political statements that I make about these photographs are not literally true about the photographs. I do not know the people in these photographs---many of them, most of them, or perhaps all of them are dead---and they may well have been rock-ribbed Republicans who would never have dreamed of voting for Barack Obama if they had been given the chance.
Certainly I do not mean to mock, demean, or denigrate the people in these photographs---I figure that the Flickites who come over here will know my views are mine alone, and bear no real relation to the photos.
Is it wrong of me to make my political views known on Flickr? That's my next question. Is Flickr just somewhere to put up pretty pictures so we all can gather round and ooh and ahh and say, "Isn't life grand?"
Flickr to me is a much more private space than my front yard. Some people, perhaps because they're apolitical, perhaps because they don't want to offend the neighbors, choose not to put up political signs in their yards. Me, I'd have twenty-five out there if I could get them.
So if I'd put a sign out in my yard, I certainly am going to put a metaphorical sign up on Flickr. This is like coming into my house---I'm not going to hide The New Republic from you because you might think I was a liberal. I am a liberal. There you go, I said it, I am a liberal.
To complicate matters, however, I do have my conservative tendencies. One of my greatest disappointments about the Bush era is that I thought, along with all the things I didn't like about him (back in 2000), that at least I was going to get a fiscal conservative, someone who at least would continue Bill Clinton's balanced budgets (oh, I forgot, Bill Clinton actually had us drawing down the deficit at the end of his term). Instead, of course, after eight years of Bush we find ourselves at the bottom of a Grand Canyon of debt---we had a spendthrift Republican president and a spendthrift Democratic congress.
I want Barack Obama to win not because I agree with him, point-by-point, on everything he says. I want him to win because I think, on balance, that he will do a better job (actually, a much better job) leading our country than John McCain. Any President will do some things I disagree with. No President will be perfect. Any President will make compromises that are more or less disagreeable. Lincoln suspended habeas corpus, for Christ'ssake. What could be more un-American than that?
I have a friend up in Greensboro named John Fisher. Actually, I guess I'd say that John is my best friend, though I only see him once a month or so, and, for various reasons, we don't communicate much by phone or email.
I first worked for John back in the 70's. He owned a Servicemaster franchise, and I cleaned carpets and furniture for him. He was the best boss I ever had. He never got flustered, he never was unreasonable, but he let you know exactly what he thought and what he wanted done. If we broke something or messed something up, like some woman's Tiffany lamp that came over with her ancestors on the Mayflower, he could go out and talk to the client and make it right. I got really close to John and his family---sometimes I would stay for dinner after work, and he and Hazel even let me babysit their kids.
The only fly in the ointment was that John was a staunch Republican. He comes from a conservative religious North Carolina background and, well, it was just natural for him to have a conservative outlook. If he had gone to Duke I could have understood it better, but he went to Carolina, so I'm not sure where he went wrong.
Anyway, when Ronald Reagan came along, I couldn't take it anymore. My guy was down (Jimmy Carter) and getting kicked, and then when Mondale came along, and Reagan was already getting senile, my guy got kicked some more. John was gleeful in his ascendancy, and I was seething.
And to my shame, I let our friendship wither. And I let it stay that way for a long time.
And then finally, a few years ago, I reestablished contact with John, and for the past three or four years, we've been great friends again.
John is still the same old John. He was a dedicated supporter of Bush Two, and nowadays, he's a defender of Sarah Palin. She has more executive experience than Barack Obama, and thus is more qualified to be president, he says. I think there's a grain of partisan bias in his rhetoric, but my point is, he has his viewpoint, I have my viewpoint, and we're still friends. At times our talks get serious, and John will make a point or ask a question that forces me to challenge my own assumptions.
Our verbal sparring is pretty much non-stop, but it doesn't get in the way of our recognition of our common humanity.
So here's the bottom line: the Election is coming up, and my guy is on top. Barring the Invasion of the Pod People (think Cindy McCain), my guy is going to win. You got your licks in when your Guy was winning, and now, for a few days, I'm going to get my licks in. If you've got some comeback or rejoinder, if you want to wade into the fray, if you want to engage in some friendly Verbal Sparring, have at it. But this is my frontyard, and if I want to put up a sign that advertises my beliefs, I have that right.
After November 4th, when the caca hits the windmill and my guy has to actually begin to govern, we can get back to normal. For now, however, this rooster intends to crow.
One other thing---this is of course the reason that you should vote for Barack Obama, even if you don't agree with him about anything. He has a positive take on the future, and John McCain doesn't. Say what you will about Ronald Reagan---beyond his politics, he had that attitude of "It's Morning In America," and Americans responded to that, and they were turned off by Jimmy Carter's "malaise."
We have a helluva job ahead of us, righting this ship, and we're going to need all the positive we can get. Vote for Obama.
2008 Top One Hundred Countdown # 60: The Lonely Days Waiting For The Election
Yesterday I was admonished on my own photostream by one of my contacts for the obsessive nature of my comments, titles, asides, which make it clear that I support Barack Obama in his race for the Presidency. This little dust-up, which irritated me, got me to thinking about what is and what is not appropriate to post-up here, and what is and what is not appropriate to say about the images that I put up here.
Obviously, the wild political statements that I make about these photographs are not literally true about the photographs. I do not know the people in these photographs---many of them, most of them, or perhaps all of them are dead---and they may well have been rock-ribbed Republicans who would never have dreamed of voting for Barack Obama if they had been given the chance.
Certainly I do not mean to mock, demean, or denigrate the people in these photographs---I figure that the Flickites who come over here will know my views are mine alone, and bear no real relation to the photos.
Is it wrong of me to make my political views known on Flickr? That's my next question. Is Flickr just somewhere to put up pretty pictures so we all can gather round and ooh and ahh and say, "Isn't life grand?"
Flickr to me is a much more private space than my front yard. Some people, perhaps because they're apolitical, perhaps because they don't want to offend the neighbors, choose not to put up political signs in their yards. Me, I'd have twenty-five out there if I could get them.
So if I'd put a sign out in my yard, I certainly am going to put a metaphorical sign up on Flickr. This is like coming into my house---I'm not going to hide The New Republic from you because you might think I was a liberal. I am a liberal. There you go, I said it, I am a liberal.
To complicate matters, however, I do have my conservative tendencies. One of my greatest disappointments about the Bush era is that I thought, along with all the things I didn't like about him (back in 2000), that at least I was going to get a fiscal conservative, someone who at least would continue Bill Clinton's balanced budgets (oh, I forgot, Bill Clinton actually had us drawing down the deficit at the end of his term). Instead, of course, after eight years of Bush we find ourselves at the bottom of a Grand Canyon of debt---we had a spendthrift Republican president and a spendthrift Democratic congress.
I want Barack Obama to win not because I agree with him, point-by-point, on everything he says. I want him to win because I think, on balance, that he will do a better job (actually, a much better job) leading our country than John McCain. Any President will do some things I disagree with. No President will be perfect. Any President will make compromises that are more or less disagreeable. Lincoln suspended habeas corpus, for Christ'ssake. What could be more un-American than that?
I have a friend up in Greensboro named John Fisher. Actually, I guess I'd say that John is my best friend, though I only see him once a month or so, and, for various reasons, we don't communicate much by phone or email.
I first worked for John back in the 70's. He owned a Servicemaster franchise, and I cleaned carpets and furniture for him. He was the best boss I ever had. He never got flustered, he never was unreasonable, but he let you know exactly what he thought and what he wanted done. If we broke something or messed something up, like some woman's Tiffany lamp that came over with her ancestors on the Mayflower, he could go out and talk to the client and make it right. I got really close to John and his family---sometimes I would stay for dinner after work, and he and Hazel even let me babysit their kids.
The only fly in the ointment was that John was a staunch Republican. He comes from a conservative religious North Carolina background and, well, it was just natural for him to have a conservative outlook. If he had gone to Duke I could have understood it better, but he went to Carolina, so I'm not sure where he went wrong.
Anyway, when Ronald Reagan came along, I couldn't take it anymore. My guy was down (Jimmy Carter) and getting kicked, and then when Mondale came along, and Reagan was already getting senile, my guy got kicked some more. John was gleeful in his ascendancy, and I was seething.
And to my shame, I let our friendship wither. And I let it stay that way for a long time.
And then finally, a few years ago, I reestablished contact with John, and for the past three or four years, we've been great friends again.
John is still the same old John. He was a dedicated supporter of Bush Two, and nowadays, he's a defender of Sarah Palin. She has more executive experience than Barack Obama, and thus is more qualified to be president, he says. I think there's a grain of partisan bias in his rhetoric, but my point is, he has his viewpoint, I have my viewpoint, and we're still friends. At times our talks get serious, and John will make a point or ask a question that forces me to challenge my own assumptions.
Our verbal sparring is pretty much non-stop, but it doesn't get in the way of our recognition of our common humanity.
So here's the bottom line: the Election is coming up, and my guy is on top. Barring the Invasion of the Pod People (think Cindy McCain), my guy is going to win. You got your licks in when your Guy was winning, and now, for a few days, I'm going to get my licks in. If you've got some comeback or rejoinder, if you want to wade into the fray, if you want to engage in some friendly Verbal Sparring, have at it. But this is my frontyard, and if I want to put up a sign that advertises my beliefs, I have that right.
After November 4th, when the caca hits the windmill and my guy has to actually begin to govern, we can get back to normal. For now, however, this rooster intends to crow.
One other thing---this is of course the reason that you should vote for Barack Obama, even if you don't agree with him about anything. He has a positive take on the future, and John McCain doesn't. Say what you will about Ronald Reagan---beyond his politics, he had that attitude of "It's Morning In America," and Americans responded to that, and they were turned off by Jimmy Carter's "malaise."
We have a helluva job ahead of us, righting this ship, and we're going to need all the positive we can get. Vote for Obama.