One aspect of the recently concluded campaign for the White House that I found difficult were the character assassinations made by both President-elect Obama and Senator McCain. It is all too easy in today’s sound-bite driven world to generate something damning about another person using out-of-context quotes, or references to half truths. And it appears that we as a nation more readily respond to situation-comedy style zingers than anything with substance.
American’s are becoming steadily less literate and it shows in how we decide major issues. A recent study of campaign rhetoric found that the 1860 the Lincoln-Douglas debates were conducted at nearly a 12th grade level. The Kennedy-Nixon debates in 1960 were barely 8th grade level, and the last three election cycles have all been closer to 6th grade level. We are facing some tremendously complex issues involving science, religion, finance, economy, ethics, and cultural differences - and yet we can’t elect a president unless he or she can speak to us at a 6th grade level. From, America the Illiterate:
Most news has become entertainment, “infotainment,” and as such has little value and even less meaning. I read several different news sites every day, comparing and contrasting stories to try and suss out the real story behind the agenda of the reporting agency. I read foreign and US sources, national and local, opinion and “factual” pieces, and I still feel like I am getting an incomplete picture. If the Obama administration follows through and delivers a dynamic, up-to-date information portal it will move me, and everyone else who utilizes it, one step closer to the source. Yes, I expect the White House to put their own spin on stores they “self report” on government web sites. However, with the White House version in hand I can then mine the news sites for their take and hopefully develop a more informed opinion of my own.
Television has made Americans passive. We want, expect, to be told what to think, how to dress, who to like, what to fear, and what to believe or distrust. Without a critical eye toward the source of those values, we are little better than automatons, blindly doing the will of others. That 80% of American households didn’t purchase a single book last year is a frightening. No, reading isn’t a panacea, it doesn’t guarantee that the reader will gain enlightenment. But it does exercise different parts of the mind than does passively getting your information after someone else has digested it for you and reduced it to a palatable pulp.
Finally, now that the election is over it is time for all of us who voted for a change to uphold our end of the contract we signed with America and with President-Elect Obama. We need to stop gloating and start giving. We need to stop asking and start doing. Electing a new president isn’t going to magically fix what ails this country. He cannot do it alone. We all need to be involved. Write to your Congressional representatives (you can find out who they are at Project VoteSmart) and tell them what you want, and what you don’t want, in this new administration. Participate in the public forums on change.gov. Exercise your citizenship. I know I will.
Once upon a time, a long time ago, there was a website called mydogmeg. One of the features was a sub-domain filled with links to technical sites. The layout was simple and effective, and when mydogmeg went off the air I grabbed a copy of the geek sub-domain from the Internet Archives. For a long time I did nothing with the page, but last year after moving to a new host I created my own geek sub-domain, and put a modified version up on my site.
While the layout is pleasing to me, I’ve always wanted to add drag-and-drop functionality to the blocks of links, something like the iGoogle home page where moving one widget causes the others to get out of the way. Thanks to a tip from JJ, I’ve updated the page using jQuery to do just that. You can go play with geek.zanshin.net to see for yourself. Click inside any of the boxes on the screen and drag to relocate.
I used two jQuery libraries to add the drag-and-drop functionality I wanted. The base jQuery library and the jQuery ui library. The feature that I wanted is called ‘sortable’ and it works against unordered lists. My page has four columns, called from left to right: left, leftCenter, rightCenter, and right. Using these ids the script looks like this:
/*
* geekjs.js 0.1
* Copyright (c) 2008 Mark Nichols (zanshin.net)
* 11 november 2008
*/
$(document).ready(function(){
// enable sortable on all columns
// this will add drag-and-drop functionality as well
$("#left").sortable({
connectWith: ["#leftCenter","#rightCenter","#right"]
});
$("#leftCenter").sortable({
connectWith: ["#left","rightCenter","#right"]
});
$("#rightCenter").sortable({
connectWith: ["#left","#leftCenter","#right"]
});
$("#right").sortable({
connectWith: ["#left","#leftCenter","rightCenter"]
});
});The HTML and CSS for the page implement each column as an unordered list. The bullet is suppressed, and the indent eliminated to save horizontal space. Each column is named through an ‘id’ tag, and each block of links is also named. Rather than repeat the source here I’ll let the curious among you view the page source to see how the lists are constructed.
With the page constructed, and the jQuery script in place it just works. Of course, the page has no persistence so any arrangement you make will be lost the next time you load the page. My next project will be to add a cookie so that your page arrangement will be saved from one visit to the next.
Last night we heard two speeches, a concession by Senator John McCain, and a victory speech by President-Elect Barack Obama. In reality I’m sure there were four speeches. A victory speech by Mr. McCain, and a concession by Mr. Obama in addition to the ones we heard.
Through watching West Wing, television fantasy to be sure, but illustrative, and reading about the speech President Nixon would have delivered had the Apollo Eleven astronauts met with disaster on the surface of the moon, I understand that the world often times presents the opposite outcome from what was planned. A President, or other public figure, needs to be prepared for either outcome. This means some time ago (days? weeks?) someone in each campaign was tasked with starting to put together a victory speech and also a concession speech. Certainly some details would be polished in the final hours before its presentation, but I think the body of the work would be in place well before the event.
In the case of President-Elect Obama, who writes much of his own material - he authored his two books, they weren’t ghost written - he must have been involved in the process of crafting both speeches. How difficult must it have been to shift focus from campaigning and focusing on winning, to preparing remarks to be made should the results have been different. The same holds true for Mr. McCain, may be more so. The drive and determination to keep going in the face of polls that weren’t favorable, must have made it extremely difficult to even consider drafting a concession speech.
And when it became apparent that his campaign was going to be successful, did Mr. Obama ceremoniously burn the concession speech? Or would that be tempting fate? Movies and books have made much of the superstitions in sports, particularly when a player or team is on a winning streak, do campaigns have the same kind of rites and rituals? Do Presidents?
This morning when I sat down to eat my breakfast I had to wake up the computer and refresh CNN and the New York Times, and FiveThirtyEight.com, just to make sure that what we experienced last night wasn’t a dream, that it wasn’t somehow a mistake that had been corrected overnight.
It’s not a mistake. And it wasn’t only a dream. It is a dream come true. America has a new President-Elect and a new direction, a direction toward hope, and change, and inclusion.
Eight years ago I was among those who were shocked, and then dismayed, and finally angered by the results of the election. Four years ago I was resigned and apathetic, it seemed that American’s wanted the rude, divisive, exclusionary vision that George W. Bush and the Republican party presented. For the past 20 months I have held deep inside myself a tiny lit candle called hope. For the past two months I have lived and breathed the polls and endorsements, the debates and speeches, and tried not to let my candle be blown out.
Yesterday morning I was proud and excited to cast my ballot. I felt like I was truly participating in something momentous. I believed that Senator Barack Obama would win the day, and that America would wake up today at the start of a new era. I hoped that it would be so.
I have always been proud to be an American, and I consider myself to be patriotic. However, I have been ashamed of my country’s policies and actions at home and abroad for several years now. I couldn’t, and still don’t, understand the need to substitute belligerence for intelligence, to replace compassion with disdain, to replace open democracy with secrecy, jingoism, fear, and anger. I was fearful that the character assassinations would stick, that the “power of nightmares” approach that had brought the Republicans to power would keep them there another four years.
That we have a new President-Elect this morning, who is the very antithesis of past eight years of abuse, gluttony, and venality, lifts my heart and gives me hope. The tiny candle I’ve been carrying for two years is now part of a large flame.
I am proud to have voted for Barack Obama, and prouder still that he will be the 44th President of the United States of America.
At about 6:55 am this morning I cast my ballot in the 2008 elections. The whole process took about 30~35 minutes, which is nothing compared to the lines in some states for early voting. I was only outside for about 5 minutes, and then the line moved indoors.
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Here are my notes, hastily taken on my Q Phone during my wait.
6:25 am - Arrived Vista Baptist Church. Line extends out the entrance on to their circle drive.
6:30 am - Only five minutes to get inside. Fortunately the weather is mild today so waiting outdoors wasn’t unpleasant at all.
6:40 am - Looks like only 7 or 8 voting stations. (Turns out there were only 6 electronic stations, and one paper ballot station.)
6:41 am - The voting stations are electronic, I was just handed a slip of paper explaining that the machine will “notify me” if I haven’t touched the screen for two minutes “in compliance with Federal voting system regulations.” Then you have 30 seconds to touch “resume” otherwise your activation card will be spit out and you have to start over.
Line is moving a bit faster now.
6:45 am - I’ve reached the table displaying the sample ballot.
6:48 am - My turn to register. No id check; just announce your name and sign the book.
Here are cell phone pictures from my summary page:
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And for my state level representative, this guy:
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6:58 am - Done. Got my sticker and I’m headed to work.
Regardless of your political leanings, or perhaps in-spite of them, you should go vote today.
For what it is worth, I predict that Barack Hussein Obama will become the 44th President of the United States of America shortly before midnight (Central Time) with an Electoral College vote of 375-163.
Here’s my map:
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Make your own at: 270towin.com.
From Henry V, this speech seems fitting today.
Henry V:-
My lifetime has seen nine presidents: Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, and Bush Jr. There have been twelve Presidential elections since I was born, and seven since I was old enough to vote. The candidates I’ve supported have been on the losing side more than the winning; my record is 2 and 5. This year’s election marks the eighth time I will have voted for a President, and the first time in a long time I’ve felt like I was going to be pleased with the results on the day after.
Living in Kansas means my vote for Senator Barack Obama won’t matter, at least not in the Electoral College, as Kansas is unfortunately firmly in the “red” category. However, I am proud to be able to vote, and proud to cast my vote for someone who represents so much change, so much promise, so much hope. Not just hope for America, but hope for the world.
Sibylle and I have friends, and family, in Europe and South America. They all want to see an Obama Presidency over a McCain one. I hope that America delivers him to the world Wednesday morning as President-Elect Barack Obama.
My parents had President Kennedy and the feeling of Camelot in the early Sixties. My generation now has Barack Obama. I fervently hope that his administration extends the full potential of the next eight years. The next President will face some huge issues, and no matter how successful he is, many Americans and many abroad, will be hurt by the turmoil that comes with change. The financial crisis is global and will not be solved overnight or without some cost to all of us on Earth. My hope for the next four years is that we give the new administration a chance to make change, a chance to succeed. My fear is that the hurry-up, quick-fix, short-attention span lifestyle so many in America have embraced will expect nirvana within days of Senator Obama’s election, and few will have the patience to nurture change and cultivate its promise.
Regardless of your stance on this election, if you haven’t already, go vote.
I’ve always been a rather indifferent voter, and, having moved several times in the last decade, I’ve sometimes been unregistered and unable to vote. This year is different, however. This year I have been very active in following the campaigns and watching the polls.
My favorite polling site, FiveThirtyEight (so named as that is the total number of votes in the Electoral College), takes a very different approach to reporting polling data. Its founder is hugely successful at predicting baseball, and he brings the same rigor to examining polling data. Basically he looks at how successful a given pollster was in the past and weighs their current polls accordingly. Ever since mid-September FiveThirtyEight has predicted an Obama win, both in popular votes and in the Electoral College. Every other indicator that I’ve seen supports this.
So why am I nervous? Why do I have a sense of impending doom?
As an indifferent voter I have voted Republican, Democrat, and Independent. I’m one of those people who truly does vote for the person and their stated platform and not for the larger party behind them. I suspect that I am (or was) one of those people who are labeled “undecided” by the press, one of the people who will ultimately vote but are invisible to the predictive polling process because we may or may not have voted in the last election.
Personally I feel that the Presidency is a high-wire juggling act. Even with a partisan Congress, even with a mandate from the people in the form of a “landslide” popular vote, even with the support and partnership with allies around the world, the President can do little more than nudge the country in the direction s/he feels best. All president’s since Franklin Roosevelt have been judged by their first 100 days, an unfair measure as 1932 was an extraordinary time in America’s history with perhaps the most extraordinary President we’ve ever had.
2009 and beyond will be an extraordinary time in America. We are in desperate need of extraordinary leadership. We may yet be the world’s only superpower militarily, but I fear our supremacy financial, and morally is lost. Without careful, thoughtful guidance, without measured and responsible leadership, without a redress of our failings at home and abroad, we risk further erosion of America.
The final weeks of this election have shown the true character, and the true failings, of our candidates. One has focused on the issues of the day, primarily the financial crisis, while the other has resorted to guilt by association and mud-slinging of the worst sort. I view the election process as the dates and courtship leading up to a marriage. Everyone is always on their best behavior on a first date, and that continues throughout the courtship. Once the marriage is consummated it is unlikely that behaviors will improve.
So if a candidate only talks about fighting and war, if they only try to smear the other candidate with past associations, if they cannot correctly state the Constitutional responsibilities they would possess should their side win, then we are fools to reward their behavior, and worse, we are fools to expect anything more than this “courtship” behavior.
American’s, it seems, are conditioned to respond to situation-comedy one-lines and comebacks. We don’t evaluate candidates based on their education or prior accomplishments, instead we are swayed by punchy sound bites and trite phrases. I am nervous about the outcome on Tuesday night because at some point in the last week or so I’ve become apathetic about the election. Two years of hype, two years of increasingly shrill prognostications, two years of campaigning has gotten old. I want it to be over already. I am as involved as I have ever been in the Presidential election process and I don’t care anymore. How many other voters feel the same way? How many others just want this whole mess to go away? Maybe I am apathetic and not representative of the rest of America. Certainly turnout for early voting has been huge; maybe apathy in American politics is waning.
I want America to be about hope again. I want America to be a power for good in the world again. I want the next generation to have the same opportunities and options my generation had. I shudder to think that there are legions of people who respond to and want the kind of angry, spiteful, situation-comedy put-down level of intellect leading America. I don’t want to win at the expense of the other side, neither do I want to lose to the gloats and smirks of the other side. We’ve taken the election of the President, which should be about selecting a platform of ideals and moral positions, and reduced it to living with the winner of “Survivor: The White House.”
I will continue to read the polls until Tuesday. Shortly after 6:00 am that day I will cast my vote. And I’ll spend most of the day obsessively refreshing various browser tabs, tracking the pundits and nay-sayers, trying to glean some shred of hope about what Wednesday’s dawn will bring.
My little site has had 25,001 page views since December 2005, from 14,137 unique visits. A tiny amount compared to the tens of thousands of visits some sites register daily, but significant to me. Thank you to everyone who visits regularly, and welcome to any one new.
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