News & Politics
Reflections on Shirley Sherrod
AKIE BERMISS: Let us take a minute and think about the amount of time that has elapsed since the first Shirley Sherrod video broke. Just about week ago the media/blogosphere was all a twitter over a video of the Georgia State Director of Rural Development for the United States Department of Agriculture[ speaking at an NAACP function and APPARENTLY confessing to having committed reverse racism. Just a week ago, but of course it seems like ages ago. What are we talking about today? Probably the final death throws of the not-so-important Wikileaks/Afghanistan story, right? I mean, before the Sherrod story broke, all the talk was about Charlie Rangel and the ethics committee. Before THAT scandal we were talking about how watered-down but symbolically-good the financial reform was going to be. We live in the age of the instant story, the instant story. The 24-hour news cycle and all the spin that is fit to print. Trouble is all this new coverage hasn’t led to MORE coverage or MORE news — its led to more coverage of less topics. Its almost fetishistic myopia.
JESSICA BADER: Of everyone even peripherally involved in the Shirley Sherrod saga, only three people – Sherrod herself and the white couple whose farm she helped save all those years ago – came out of it not looking bad in some way. In a slightly gentler universe, the story Sherrod had told at that NAACP function would be the inspiration for a saccharine Lifetime movie chock-full of important lessons. In the universe as it is, things took a far more depressing turn.
And so for a few days last week, Sherrod, the NAACP, Obama, and “reverse-racism” were the story burning on all cylinders.
ORPHANED OPINION: Race Against Time
The following is a reader-submitted orphaned opinion.
CARE TO WEIGH IN WITH A COUNTERPOINT? SIGN IN AND WEIGH IN NOW!
JOHN CHRISTIAN HOPKINS: I’ve been thinking about racism and the Tea Party …
Stop me, if you think you’ve heard all this before.
Financial Reform: Politics and Policy Implications
HOWARD MEGDAL: The New York Times rundown of the Financial Reform bill talks about the political risks associated with the bill, lumping it in with health care reform.
Don’t you believe it. The only ones hurt by this bill are the malefactors of great wealth on Wall Street (note: this is not everyone on Wall Street or close to it, to be clear), and this is a political winner.
JESSICA BADER While I mostly agree with Howard on the political impact of the bill (John Boehner’s call for repeal is the sort of thing that makes political sense only if one defines the GOP’s goal as “making Robert Gibbs look silly for stating that Republicans have a chance of winning the House of Representatives”), what interests me most is where progressives go from here, both on this bill and other elements of the Obama agenda.
In Briefs: Obscure Magazine Titles
MOLLY SCHOEMANN: Guys, there is an Elevator World magazine. http://www.elevator-world.com/
They call it the ‘building transportation industry’.
Haley Barbour For President?
AKIE BERMISS: I think its safe to say that when people talk about the 2012 Presidential Elections the questions on everybody’s lips: Who is Haley Reeves Barbour? Ok, well… maybe not. It much more likely the most people don’t really know or care to know who Haley Barbour. For those that have a modicum of interest: Barbour is the current Governor of the state of Mississippi. He is a life-long Republican who’s first job was a low-level position in the 1968 Nixon campaign. He served as the Chairman of the RNC from 1993 – 1997. He spent much of the late 90s and early 2000s as on the most powerful lobbyists in Washington DC. The guy is about a Republican as Republican gets. He’s southern to the hilt, a former lawyer, and speaks with what might be described as a folksy twang. And all signs indicate that this guy is about to make a bid for President in two years.
HOWARD MEGDAL: Taking aside the aesthetic problems Haley Barbour will have en route to the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, let’s take a look at the political realities he’d face should he mount a campaign.
McChrystal
HOWARD MEGDAL: So we’ve established that the guru of COIN, Stanley McChrystal, couldn’t sell it to his own troops, let alone to the Afghans. It is stated by our own CIA Director that there are “maybe 50-100″ al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Getting military cooperation from would-be allies is proving to be impossible due to the belief that the United States will begin to withdraw next year- which, given the lack of political will for this war, we almost certainly will be.
So I must say, I come away from this feeling like for all of his successes, the decision to re-double efforts in Afghanistan has to rank among Obama’s failures so far. And by delaying exit until July 2011 or beyond, rather than acknowledging that the circumstances have changed and beginning the withdrawal process immediately, he is only exacerbating this failure.
AKIE BERMISS: I never really felt one way or another about General McChrystal but I have been extremely skeptical about the whole COIN conceptology. I am slightly less dubious about Obama’s intentions regarding the war in Afghanistan… but I am still very conflicted about it. I understand, however, that withdrawal is a delicate operation. If Obama had taken office and just said, “Ok — war’s over. Let’s go.” He’d never have recovered from the perceived weakness and lack of gravitas it would have bred. And so that leaves us with two certains: 1. we need to get the hell out of Afghanistan and 2. we can’t just up and leave. The trouble is that the strategies for leaving have often sounded like strategies for trying to rush a win now that the clock is running out.. Like its sudden death, or something.
Chris Christie For President?
AKIE BERMISS: Chris Christie for President? Look, I am as ambivalent about New Jersey as the next guy… Ok, that’s a lie. I sort of hate New Jersey. Its always been a thorn in New York’s side. I’ve always thought how much more pleasant rush hour would be if New Jersey didn’t exist. No Holland Tunnel, no Lincoln Tunnel, much less traffic on the George Washington Bridge. And Jersey drivers are infamous in New York for cutting people off, driving the wrong way down one-way streets, parking illegally and holding up traffic. Anytime there is some jerk doing something wrong on the road I assume — and I am often right — that they’ll have Jersey plates. Don’t get me wrong — there are great people from Jersey, and wonderful places to go in Jersey, and if you catch the traffic just right, a drive through Jersey can be a real breeze. Jersey is sometimes hip and happening.
But it’s still Jersey.
HOWARD MEGDAL: Not much to add here, though let’s discuss, briefly, his path to national office.
He’s currently running well short of 50 percent approval in his own state. He’ll face re-election in 2013, in a state that generally votes Democratic, though in cases of extreme political malpractice can go GOP. (See Corzine, Jon, or Florio, Jim).
Food Truck Laws
JESSICA BADER: Like many New Yorkers, one of the things I love most about my city is the ability to obtain delicious food at just about any hour of the day, whether it’s from a fancy restaurant or a little hole in the wall or one of the trucks that have recently been the subject of heated debate. Yet for all of that food truck love, I feel that much of the outrage in the recent food truck debate is somewhat misplaced.
HOWARD MEGDAL: Let’s be clear: food trucks belong in New York City. If you want to park, go to a lot.
Food trucks make this city what it is: the greatest buffet in recorded human history. And we want laws that only encourage additional food trucks, not laws that inhibit their ability to function.
Rep. Joe Barton and the GOP
HOWARD MEGDAL: As a Democrat, it is tremendous to see the Republicans beginning to catch up in the always-lose game of “eating their own”.
Look, what Barton said isn’t going away. It is going to be in ads across the country, in any place where the oil spill is resonating with voters, or where the Democrats decide to nationalize the election. And any after-the-fact actions, like getting Barton to step down from his post as ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, or his series of apologies.
Greeting Rituals
MOLLY SCHOEMANN: Some people really hate the whole inane, “Hey, how are you?” “Good! How are you?” “Good!” greeting ritual, but I feel like there’s really no way around it and it doesn’t really bother me if I don’t think about it too much. Anyone else?
AKIE BERMISS: I usually break up that ritual with something new or unexpected. when i used to work in an office, whew: it got to be tough if i didn’t. it can be as simple as substituting “good” with “excellent” or “schmarvelous.”