We Won!

Today Ann and I finally were able to celebrate the election of Sen. Obama. Yesterday I was recuperating from working at the polls on Tuesday. (More on that in another posting.)

We went out for breakfast where I splurged and had corned beef hash and eggs while Ann went for the scrapple.

We know how to kick the lid off!

It is hard to conceive that the American people voted for someone who represented "promoting the general welfare" phrase from the Constitution rather than for someone who represented the life of wealth and privilege to which we all aspire.

It is welcome news that the majority of Americans now are willing to look past the tactics of fear and vote with hope.

Hope does not include for me that all the promises made by President-elect Obama will come out in the forms he stressed during the campaign. The Obama I voted for is the consultative, collaborative, collegial-style leader, the "Jean Luc Picard" who gathers his top experts to consult together before falling back on his roll as the "decider."

That means the only promise I expect Obama to keep is that he will listen to all sides before taking action and will work with all parties-at-interest on developing legislation and policies.

If the Clintons had done that, they would have been far more effective.

I want to see the tax cuts for the middle class but I will be happy if more comprehensive tax policies are developed which are even better for everyone. That would come out of a bigger "committee" of concerned people from all perspectives.

I would be delighted to have the status of forces agreement with Iraq include an extension only for the purpose of safe withdrawal of our troops and provision for the safety (allowing emigration to the US) for those who have been specifically protected by us. But if a better plan with the same long range results was developed, I would be happy even if it meant troops staying there a little longer.

I think that the President-elect really cares about finding what is best for all of us in the US, not just the ones "at the top" of our society. I think he really cares about folks all across the globe. I think he has the intellectual curiosity so lacking these past eight years that he can understand consequences so much better than his predecessor.

Imagine! Someone smarter than me will be President! Someone smarter than you too!

For all those reasons, we won.

A Friend's Response to the Election

A pastor friend from Alabama wrote the following letter to some of us to share his reaction to the Obama election. His father, also a pastor, had been very active in civil rights as had his sister, and he in his own right:


Dearest Ones,

One of the memories seared into my soul from my childhood is the presence of the black people who worked for us in and around our home. We, like so many other white families, employed black domestics on a regular basis for years in Montgomery and Mobile. I was a child at home in Montgomery, not yet in school, and later in Mobile, I was the elementary school boy with more time spent on the homefront than my teen-age sister. So, I got really close to our “help.”

When I would talk to them, which I did at length on lazy old sunny days, I would listen to their stories and their reports on the status of things in their families (not always good) and feel so big. I thought I was their confidant, which I kind of was. It was not unusual in the South of that day for little white children to be the only creatures a black person would dare to reveal more than perfunctory details of life to. They were wise. They knew children would not run off and tell everything to white grown-ups, because a child seriously values being talked to without condescension and reveres the one who shares so intimately. In the child’s eye, it is all a huge, mysterious, sacred secret between the conversing parties, and the “spell” is broken if anything is leaked to those on the outside.

So, I would spend hours with Katie and JoJo and Fax Oliver and Silvie, soaking up the treasures of heart-to-heart exchanges, but mostly just listening to them and being exposed to a rich vein of human experience and insight. The thing I most remember about them physically was how natural their facial expressions were and how easily they made eye contact as our gabfest unfolded.

Mother and I would go shopping downtown in Montgomery and Mobile. As we passed black men and women on the open streets, there was no conversation, barely even an acknowledgment that they were there. Gone was the conviviality of the backporch chats I had with my buddies at the house. Most memorably, the faces of these people were blank, unreadable. And their eyes were downcast, their heads lowered. I did not know then what to call it, but I saw it. Later, I would learn that you label such a thing subservience.

This morning, I went into a fast-food place for a cup of coffee. While seated fixing my brew, a black man about my age stopped near my table to rearrange his sack of breakfast goodies before going back outside to his car. I was reading the morning paper—the election edition of the Montgomery Advertiser—and looked up at him. I said, “That was quite a night last night, wasn’t it?” He replied at once, with gusto: “I mean to tell you it was!! I only wish my mama and papa were alive to see this day. Has there ever been a more beautiful day than today? I told my son this morning, ‘Boy, you take this day off from your job and just sit and contemplate what has happened! Your grandparents laid the foundation for it and you owe them homage!’ “ Then, he smiled as big as Satchmo, and wheeled around to go. As he departed I called out, “I wish my folks were around for this, too!” He turned back to me at the door and nodded his head, departing with these words. “Mine and yours are aware of it, I just feel it.”

Two things stayed with me long after he left. One was that it seemed I was back in my boyhood and had just finished one of those cherished dialogues. The other was that this time there was no secrecy assumed or needed. Oh, and one other thing. We were very much in public but he never once erased the true emotion from his face or lowered his head to me. He just said his piece and walked out into the sun with confident eyes wide open and head erect.

One measure to me of the extent of the meaning of last night’s victory by President-elect Obama is the distance between expressions of real humanity by blacks during my childhood, which only emerged when I was alone with them and otherwise stayed hidden when they were in plain view of The Man, and the joyful exclamations of my restaurant friend given right out front without hesitation or apology. He could do it now, though his forebears could not, for many reasons all of us who know our country’s history could recite. But the newest reason is that The Man is no longer of my tribe, but is personified in a black man from Illinois.

I know. He had a white mother. Race isn’t the only barrier that needs to be taken down. He represents lots of intersecting human realities, but he is only one person and exclusiveness is a disease curable only when all are accepted for who and what they are. This venture we are about to embark upon could become embittering if he proves to be less than meets the eye. Only fools place their hopes on one leader. And so on. But I for one will return to all that in due time. It all contains much truth and will always be there to work on. Just not today, please!

I am reminded of Jesus’ last week on this side of the grave when he was trying to rest at a friend’s house in Bethany. Some woman broke a jar of expensive ointment and poured it over his feet and bathed them in it. The crowd around him took her to task, saying the stuff had been wasted, that it could have been sold and the money used for the needy. But Jesus shut them up and said that what they had missed, and what the woman understood, was that on this day in this place Jesus was alive, available, a presence worth celebrating and honoring. It would not always be so, he said. There would always be more justice work to do, a society to perfect, etc (the poor are always with you). But at that precise moment, it was time to appreciate the man of the hour, to prepare him for his near-at-hand ordeal, show solidarity with him, and pay beautiful tribute to his impact.

Of course, I am not equating President-elect Obama with the fellow from Galilee. I do have a few parameters left that I observe! But all I am saying is that those of us who recognize what has just happened for the singular thing that it is need to stop and thank God we are alive on this day. Of the future, we know not. But today, a bugle has blown. A harmonious chorus is out performing a discordant one. A link has been forged between an ignominious past and a redemptive present. Break a jar of something expensive. Let it flow. Savor this time without reservation or skepticism. Our homeland has done a good thing. It has done a great thing.

“I only wish my mama and papa were alive to see this day.”

“I wish my folks were around for this, too.”

“Mine and yours are aware of it, I just feel it.”


Spencer Turnipseed

Favre and Rodgers

Most of us Packer fans have kept an eye on Brett over these opening games of this NFL season. We hated that he left the way he did. We felt bad about it and were not very happy with what appeared to be his presumptuousness.

How would a prime athlete hold up with little or no active conditioning program during the off-season?

How would a declining talent be rejuvenated?

How would the drag of all the in-season preparations feel once the newness of being with a new team wears off?

How would the cold weather affect those older joints in his hands and knees?

By the end of October, the answer to those questions should begin to be defined.

With Aaron, the questions are also still not fully answered.

While he has proved he can play with great pain, has he proved he can hold up for a whole season?

As some of the better teams prepare for the Packers, will they now have enough of a body of Rodger's work to be better prepared for him and thus be able to make him look like the first year QB he is?

Will his smaller hands make it harder for him to function in the colder weather he will encounter after the bye?

Let's hope both do well during the rest of the season. It will be interesting to watch.

The Last Debate: A Fantasy

As I heard replayed several times, Sen. McCain finally has come to his senses and realized his campaign has been so negative that it may be approaching being dangerous to the life and health of his colleague, Sen. Obama, as well as to the destruction of his own ambition to be President.

His running mate will now be seen as just another politician scraping by after unethical behaviors of her own, which added to his makes his election unlikely.

Should he withdraw from the race and concede? Probably, but what would the Republicans do then? They'd figure out something because, after all, Sen. McCain at his age is vulnerable to a demise of more natural sorts. There is probably a contingency plan in place should the unthinkable happen.

But what does a man bound by duty and honor do, especially in the coming debate next Wednesday, short of leaving his party in the lurch?

Here's my fantasy:

After sitting at the table with Sen. Obama and Bob Schieffer, Sen. McCain says, "It's time to put down the boxing gloves and the campaign hats and try something that might be worth everyone's time. I propose that we spend as much of the hour and a half that we have conducting the bipartisan discussion that needs to be going on now. Our Congressional colleagues are doing it in Washington. We should show to the world what we mean by 'reaching across the aisle.' Besides, we need to be doing this after Inauguratiuon Day whichever of us wins."

Having broached the idea with the other two men and gotten their assent before coming out on stage, Bob Schieffer should announce they had agreed before the debate to do just that and then turn to Sen. Obama and ask, "What do your advisors say are the critical problems in this economic crisis? Then we'll turn to Sen. McCain to tell us what his are saying. Then we'll see how far we can go toward identifying the problem and go from there with your respective solutions. Sen. Obama?"

Imagine, if you will, two strong thoughtful people trying to make sense of a complex issue and seeking to understand it so they can begin considering how their own best ideas would contribute toward a solution both could live with.

Would an hour and a half be enough time to come up with a clear direction? Of course not. But just think of how Wall Street and the American people and those folks struggling in Congress to be bi-partisan would feel to see the example the two Presidential candidates were setting.

There is enough time for the two candidates to discuss this fantasy.

What is your best fantasy in this situation?

The MOMENT

In many of the Presidential races through which I've lived, there is a moment when you realize one side or the other has lost. It is usually an obscure moment. And many may miss it or not agree.

One obvious one for me was the moment when Jimmy Carter failed in his effort to show how serious nuclear proliferation was by quoting his daughter, whereupon Ronald Reagan jumped all over him for turning to a family member for nuclear policy advice.

Another obvious moment was Howard Dean's excited scream after winning in New Hampshire's primary.

Less obvious was George H. W. Bush's curiosity at a supermarket scanner. How out of touch could he be?

When George W. Bush used the ad where he hugged the 13 year old girl who had lost a parent in 9/11, I knew he'd win. And that was on top of the "I voted for it before I voted against it" problem John Kerry never was able to answer.

I think Al Gore lost the moment he gave in on the issue of tax cuts as a way of dealing with the budget surpluses from the Clinton Administration. I always thought they should have gone to cut the national debt.

But maybe the strangest moment happened the day after the Palin-Biden debate. John McCain was so proud of the job she did. "Heh?" He repeated his statement of pride and followed with another "Heh?" Then a third, "Heh?" It was as grating a sound as has ever been recorded. As one commentator suggested, "How would you like to listen to that for four years?"

There are many other major factors in any candidate's winning or losing the Presidency, but I still think there is a moment when a candidate does something innocuous and everyone finally knows it's over.

The Presidential Debates

When Senator McCain and Senator Obama meet to debate this week, it looks like they will have to set the rules and enforce them themselves.

Most of us expected to see Gwen Ifill stand up to Governor Palin when she announced she was going to say what she wanted no matter what the moderator or media expected.

Who is supposed to enforce the rules of the debate, if not the moderator?

Based on what she said in response to Tom Brokaw this morning on “Meet the Press,” she figured neither was going to answer the questions but say what they wanted.

I agree that Sen. Biden pointed out when he could the ties between Sen. McCain and President Bush but he at least responded to the questions. But Governor Palin made hardly any such efforts, especially after she “blew off” Ms. Ifill.

Now that the debates are back where there can be no challenges about “victimizing” Gov. Palin, it looks like Sen. Obama is going to have to be sure what the rules are, who if anyone is to enforce them, and then carry on whatever the style of “discourse” has been defined.

That may be harder on the “town hall” format which is supposed to happen Tuesday night, and may be a little easier to get defined when Bob Schieffer moderates the discussion while sitting at the same table with the two candidates next week.

Sen. Obama may have to do that at the outset of each broadcast while on the air in public view so those of us watching will know the rules too.


PS If I remember this correctly from seminary, those from any university should answer the questions asked, those from Yale should then discuss what lay behind those questions. Those from Harvard must then also answer the questions that should have been asked!

Conviction of OJ Simpson

He didn’t do it.

I’m not sure what the facts are in the current conviction of OJ Simpson over the memorabilia. My guess is that he was probably caught in the middle of a situation where a friend brought the gun and the DA would ordinarily have charged him with a misdemeanor . . . if it had been anyone but OJ.

For some reason (my opinion is that it is deep-seated racial prejudice), sane, intelligent people want to punish OJ for his ex-wife’s death even though a jury (mixed racial) found him innocent. They (including some dear friends and relatives) were glad when the civil trial (with an all white jury) awarded millions of dollars to the Browns and the Goldmans. And when he was able to protect enough of his wealth to be able to support his family (another civil court going on at the same time as the suit by the Browns and Goldmans awarded OJ custody of his kids, which a lot of folks do not pay attention to), the public seems to delight in scrapes he has gotten into and hope the judge in this memorabilia case put him into jail for life.

I read more on the original case than I wanted. But the most convincing pieces of evidence are the autopsies of the two victims.

There were two major factors which people seem to want to disregard.

One, there were bruises on the bodies, mainly on Ms. Simpson’s head and Mr. Goldman’s hands which show they both inflicted damage on the attacker(s). The hand bruises show significant injury was inflicted and the head bruise is where it would be if she had head-butted an assailant who was behind her holding her, possibly breaking his nose.

Both victims were athletic and had training in karate.

Careful examination of OJ at the time he voluntarily went in to talk with the police showed no bruises or injuries. If he had been the attacker, there is no way in those close quarters of the murder scene that he would have come out with only two small breaks in his skin of one finger.

Two, the autopsies indicated stab wounds from FOUR different knives from multiple angles which could only have been inflicted by multiple attackers.

The autopsies are printed in more than one book on the case and can probably be found on the internet. I saw them in the book KILLING TIME by David Freed and John Briggs.

I also wrote a novel which goes into the timeline and the blood evidence and hypothesizes who the real murderers were. If you are interested, I can send you a copy electronically.

OJ did not commit those murders most of America want to believe he did. And now we wait to see if the judge puts him away for life or is willing to face the howling masses if he does anything less.