As traditional polls point to a close race between the top Democrats on Super Tuesday, I decided to see how many Clinton events are scheduled within 100 miles of Chapel Hill, NC versus how many Obama events. Based on the results from each candidate's web site, it's 19 events for Obama crushing 2 for Clinton. How's that for grassroots mobilization?
I plan to stay up late tomorrow night watching election results with local Obama supporters.
I am interested in alternative measures of grassroots support, beyond the typical polls. Last month I heard that a leading indicator of interest in Obama was that his merchandise was outselling Clinton's on CafePress.
Showing posts with label 2008 elections. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2008 elections. Show all posts
Monday, February 04, 2008
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
14 months from today...what DO we want for our future?
14 months from today, we'll have a new President. (That's 761 days and change if you're counting.) During President Bush's press conference today, I was surprised to hear him support increasing the minimum wage, though I wonder what tax cuts he has in mind to pair with them.
Other than that, there is very little I agree with the President about, and with an all-time low approval rating of 36%, that puts me in a two-thirds majority.
The website Bush's Last Day sells "01.20.09" logo items.
I put their bumper sticker on my car yesterday. I like this site's call for change. As I listened to the press conference today, I realized that in the next 14 months, we who are dissatistified with Bush need to articulate what we are FOR. As the War on Terror has shown us, struggling against something can end up creating more of it.
So what are we for? As a mother I would like to suggest the proposals at MomsRising.org as one starting point.
I have also been wondering what is the opposite of "waging war." The great thing about "waging war" is that it is such a verb. It is active; it jumps off the page and onto the battlefield. "Peace" can seem like it means doing nothing. The root word of pacifism means "to pacify." "Peace" has connotations of stopping, refusing, silence. We need to come up with ideas about going, advocating, speaking.
What would the active form of Peace be, one that transcended the frame of War? ("Waging peace" falls in the shadow of war, for example.) The actions I can think are all on national levels: diplomacy, multilateral talks and conference.
What can we as citizens do to work for peace? We can protest against the actions of war, but we need to find another way to work toward the world we want. A worldview that recognizes that you can inspire Democracy in other countries but cannot declare it through armed Imperialism. A holitic approach that includes the mutual, global concerns about the environment, poverty, and human rights. I know that we Progressives across have it in us to work this out, but the clock is ticking. We have 685 days to articulate our vision for the future and choose a leader who will truly find "a new way forward."
This story is far from written, and I pray that we can hold on for the next 685 days, which right now feels like an awfully long time to run out the clock on Bush II.
Other than that, there is very little I agree with the President about, and with an all-time low approval rating of 36%, that puts me in a two-thirds majority.
The website Bush's Last Day sells "01.20.09" logo items.
I put their bumper sticker on my car yesterday. I like this site's call for change. As I listened to the press conference today, I realized that in the next 14 months, we who are dissatistified with Bush need to articulate what we are FOR. As the War on Terror has shown us, struggling against something can end up creating more of it.
So what are we for? As a mother I would like to suggest the proposals at MomsRising.org as one starting point.
I have also been wondering what is the opposite of "waging war." The great thing about "waging war" is that it is such a verb. It is active; it jumps off the page and onto the battlefield. "Peace" can seem like it means doing nothing. The root word of pacifism means "to pacify." "Peace" has connotations of stopping, refusing, silence. We need to come up with ideas about going, advocating, speaking.
What would the active form of Peace be, one that transcended the frame of War? ("Waging peace" falls in the shadow of war, for example.) The actions I can think are all on national levels: diplomacy, multilateral talks and conference.
What can we as citizens do to work for peace? We can protest against the actions of war, but we need to find another way to work toward the world we want. A worldview that recognizes that you can inspire Democracy in other countries but cannot declare it through armed Imperialism. A holitic approach that includes the mutual, global concerns about the environment, poverty, and human rights. I know that we Progressives across have it in us to work this out, but the clock is ticking. We have 685 days to articulate our vision for the future and choose a leader who will truly find "a new way forward."
This story is far from written, and I pray that we can hold on for the next 685 days, which right now feels like an awfully long time to run out the clock on Bush II.
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