Consider Carefully
For American’s, it’s good to be a Democrat these days. We have two excellent candidates to choose from in the primaries.
Tested Versus Smooth
Don’t get me wrong, I like both Hillary and Barack and I think either of them would far exceed the performance of the current Redumblican candidate.
That being said, I would also like to plead for folks voting in the primary to carefully consider their rationale for voting for any particular candidate.
Having been personally someone who has been able to succeed in business largely because of my ability to speak well and present myself well, I also have a lot of skills to back up the outer shell that clients assess me by.
I don’t know that I can say that about Barack, but I do know that I can say it about Hillary.
In my mind, she has shown over and over how talented, dedicated and strong she is in handling difficult situations. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have the ability to convey this as well as her husband did when he beat the pants off the last Bush president. I do fear that selecting a young, energetic Democratic candidate because he speaks well and conveys sincerity and inspires excitement might not be the best method of choosing. Mostly, Barack has brought enthusiasm to African Americans, independents and young people. Of those three groups, African Americans are the only historically tested group of voters that show up at the polls.
If folks haven’t voted in their primaries yet, I’m not asking you to change your allegiance, but I am asking you to revisit how you decided that allegiance in the first place.
Democrats can’t really afford a mistake at this point or Jeb Bush (or God forbid, maybe even Jenna) may be around in 2012 to restart the Bush monarchy.
Current Knitting
I did an initial blocking of the completed red lace tea cloth, and it will look spectacular when it’s all blocked out complete (despite the lousy picture).
All of the edging is completed, but I just stretched it out as minimally as I could to show it was finished. I will go back and do a proper blocking before Barb comes down for proper tea.
I couldn’t bring myself to start the new lace project, so I worked diligently on US11 needles to make a couple of felted bucket hats.
I haven’t felted them yet. Maybe I’ll leave one unfelted to give me that hip-hop sort of look.
What do you think, yo yo?
Readers’ Comments/Questions
Julie writes that I should have corrected the red eye on Thaddeus’ picture, and then decided to do that for me. She went with the tried and true triptych format to make Thaddeus a bit more Boticelli.
Thanks Julie…you do Thaddeus proud.
A week or so ago I was listening to an interview on NPR with a political analyst (or maybe historian? I don’t really recall). The interviewer asked him if he knew of any examples of great orators who had turned out to be poor presidents and he said there had been none and cited Lincoln, both Roosevelts, and JFK as examples. Perhaps Obama would be an exception to the rule, but I kind of doubt it.
Hillary, in my opinion, is a consummate politician, in both the best and worse senses of the word. Ultimately, what I can’t get past with her is her vote for war in Iraq and her subsequent defense that it was based on “the best available intelligence”, when it was clear all along to anyone who cared to pay attention that the entire WMD thing was fabricated. I felt and still feel that she insults my intelligence by sticking to that line, so while I’d vote for her over any Republican candidate, she would never have been my first choice.
As for that hat, whenever I see one of that general shape, it makes me think of Dumb Donald from Fat Albert. All you need to do is make some eye holes and pull it down a bit more. 🙂
I absolutely agree with you Joe – to the point of asking voters to really ask themselves why they’re in such strong support of Obama. Sure, I love the idea that this country might one day wake up and be really, truly civically engaged – but that’s never going to happen for a country that can’t wait patiently in line for their latte. My biggest fear is we’re going to elect Obama for his charisma, then when he gets into office, people will realize that yeah, it was all talk. Just my 2 cents – I’m pro-Hillary 100%.
Agreed on the Fat Albert hat – maybe you should just leave it and sell it with the eyeholes!
I’m with Mel. One of my problems with Hillary is that she’s claiming 35 years of experience that will enable her to be a good president. Well, she hasn’t been in politics for 35 years – she was on the perifery, involved in her law office (never mind the cushy Wal*Mart Bd of Directors sinecure). Obama has more years of actual “elected” experience than Hillary because, contrary to her (and popular) opinion, people elected Bill not Hill.
I also wish she would admit to making a mistake in her vote for this god-awful invasion of another country instead of merely “accepting responsibility”. It would go a long way towards showing politics hasn’t stripped away her soul.
I think that right-most picture of Thaddeus looks like Henry Rollins.
Compare with this one maybe?
I have a problem with several things about Hillary: As was already said, her vote on Iraq bothers me. And I’d love it if she even said “It was a mistake. They lied to me and I believed them.”
I dislike her willingness to take large sums of money from lobbyists and industries like the insurance industry and health care industry. They don’t give money like that unless they expect a payback.
She has mismanaged her campaign, and there are articles which discuss this at great length, which belies her claims to great organizational experience. If she can’t run a campaign well, how is she going to run our country?
I simply do not consider her to have 35 years of relevant experience. She was the WIFE of the president. While she spent 8 years in the White House, so did the pastry chef. Listening to fourth-graders sing Christmas carols in the Rose Garden is not relevant experience. And her attempt to shape health care policy in the 90s was a fiasco.
Finally, I think there is more than a bit of condescension in some of the attitudes toward Obama. Here is a man who graduated from Columbia and Harvard Law School; who was president of the Harvard Law Review — and as someone who was on a top-five law school Law Review, nobody who isn’t extremely intelligent and capable would ever get that job; has practiced as a lawyer at a top firm in a big metro area (I can also assure you that firms like Sidley and Austin do NOT hire people because they are good-looking lightweights); served 8 years in the Illinois state senate; and did community service work in low-income neighborhoods.
Has anyone suggesting he’s a lightweight sat down and read his position papers on some of the issues that will face the next president?
We’ll just have to agree to disagree on this one, Joe.
But you know me well enough to know that I just cannot keep my big mouth shut…
My comment is about the hat.
Joe, as you may know all of we folk who read your blog either love or lust you dearly, either way we care about you. So in the glow of love & friendship please accept this: Hansome U R, Hip Hop U ain’t, sweetheart, felt the Hat…
Carol M
You’re gorgeous as always, Babe.
Me, I’m voting for the left-hander.
you down wid it, joe, yo! word!
lerve the thaddeus triptych (ooooh, alliteration!). handsome is as handsome does.
I am still on the undecided fence, unfortunately. no redumblican for me, though; that’s the easy part!
Hillary all the way.
I just don’t trust Obama. He slams Hill on NAFTA yet won’t repeal it himself. Plus there are quotes from him in 2004 supporting it as well.
He’s almighty about taking money from lobbyists NOW. He happily took that money to get in the Senate and loaded up on cash in 2007 for his initial Presidential bid. Then he stopped just in time to be able to sanctimoniously wave his finger.
This isn’t change *I* can believe in.
I believe Hillary and many others that voted on Iraq had been mislead. I don’t think any of them need to apologize for what they thought was best at the time. What matters now is what she can do next.
I believe years of having relationships with world leaders as a PR face for the White House counts as experince. I believe fighting for universal health care counts. I know Hillary. All I know about Barack is that he’s a nice looking guy that talks a good talk.
I need more.
I thought Thaddeus looked delicious even with the red eye.
Thanks for the nice words about Hillary. I’m in her camp, too, proudly voting although my vote didn’t count (but maybe it will in the end?). I lived in NY – way upstate where spring is but a day – when Hillary won – and let me tell you, it was Hillary who won, not Bill. She has experience, tact and wisdom.
Of course, that’s the good thing about the US – we do get to choose.
Many others who have posted their support for Obama have expressed the reasons beautifully. I just want to add that I will vote Dem., no question. My thing about Hillary is her voting record, if Bush wanted it she signed on for the most part. Am I worried? Yep, because no matter who goes in, assuming Dem., they will be facing a true mess. Lord save us from McCain.
Meribeth
I’m with Mel on both counts. I saw that hat and said to myself “Dumb Donald!” And a less reasoned but still telling voting note, Clinton seems so very calculated. Not that Obama isn’t as well, but I’d hate to see US politics end up even more stratified with the candidates coming from selected families. It will be interesting to see who they pick for VP candidates, because that could make or break either ticket.
And to me, in that photo Thaddeus looks like John Larroquette – and that’s a good thing.
Yo, bro–NO!
Michelene
I think the hat makes you look like Greta Garbo in Ninotchka. I’m all atwitter. Work it, girl!