For the "good" of the party

Obama’s supporters are increasingly calling on Clinton to quit. This obviously seems harsh, particularly for Clinton’s more ardent supporters, many of whom feel Clinton, due to her much-talked about experience, would make a better president. We can debate whether her “experience” is all it is cracked up to be, but the bottom line is this: “experience” is no longer a compelling argument for her candidacy at this point in the campaign. The message of “change” has already won, given Obama’s current lead in the delegate count, states won and popular vote. The only hope Clinton has is through the super delegates, and the only way the super delegates will feel comfortable overturning the will of the voters is if Obama stumbles mightily or there is some devastating thing revealed about him

And therein lie the problem for Clinton: she can only win by going negative against Obama, but in so doing she is not only hurting the Democratic candidate Republicans will most likely face in the fall, she is turning off the super delegates whose support she is paradoxically seeking to solicit. I, for one, would not go so far as to say that she should leave; I think her candidacy is a historic one, and she may well have a positive role to play by creating excitement about the Democrats’ prospect in the fall. But taking things too far might further deepen the lines of division among the Democratic electorate, which could leave whoever emerges –or survives the trench war, basically – mortally wounded come the final leg of the race in the fall.

The week in pictures

Participants gathered in Union Square for the third annual New York City Pillow Fight on Saturday. It was one of many organized pillow fights around the country.



Nancy Birnbaum and her mother, Margie, strolled along Central Park South on Sunday after watching the Easter Parade on Fifth Avenue. Sunny skies and seasonal temperatures brought New Yorkers out to the parade.



Antiwar protesters march in Union Square as the country observed the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war on Saturday.



Cynthia Cowens attended an Easter service at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem on Sunday.



Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg introduced Senator Barack Obama, who gave a speech about the economy at Cooper Union on Thursday.

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

2007 Youtube Video Awards

And the winners are - drum roll - click here to find out.

Profile in courage

Earlier I read an article in the IHT where a moderate Republican, who like many was heartened by Obama’s speech, relay why it is that she was so attracted to Obama’s candidacy. Discovering Obama accidentally – she was assigned his book Dreams From My Father as member of a book club – she said one of the most appealing things about Obama was that he “understands the validity of everyone’s point of view, he incorporates that into his own thinking and approach.” I have noticed that, too. Another interesting observation that gives a window into his political style and approach is his admiration of Lincoln. One of his favorite books, I believe, is Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals. In that book, Goodwin talked about how Lincoln included in his cabinet people who were once political adversaries. On the campaign trail, similarly, I believe I heard Obama indicate a willingness, although being avowedly progressive, to do just that if he is elected. In handling the recent crisis – and I agree that it is unreasonable to expect congregants to share the political views of their pastors – Obama’s approach demonstrated grace under pressure, honesty and reconciliation as opposed to confrontation and defensiveness. This was certainly Obama’s “profile in (moral) courage.”

Courtesy of Elena: what if, indeed?!

Weekend in Pasadena, California

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

Thoughts on the Democratic primary

This primary election is an unusual one in many ways. Supporters of Clinton and Obama – most of whom are Democratic voters, though some are independents or new to the process - have obviously been extremely passionate, and unfortunately some of have resorted to tearing down “the opposition” rather than speaking in a fair and constructive way about both candidates in the race, particularly given that (at least with regard to Democratic voters) each belong to the same party. But there are several issues that make this primary election different from ones in the past: first, it is the first campaign in history where the two final contenders include a woman and a person of color; second, it is first primary election where cable television and the internet, and blogs, have played such a prominent role in terms of the dissemination of information and framing the discussion; and third, it is the first primary election, at least that I could recall, where the generational split among voters was so pronounced. I believe all these factors have added to the fierceness of the discussion on the blogs. On the one hand, this could be viewed as a good thing: having such an outpouring of citizen participation invigorates the political process and holds candidates more accountable to the views of voters. On the other hand, thought, there is a danger that the immerging polarization could become further entrenched as the election comes to what seems likely to be a bitter end; if this is the case, it could well have negative repercussions for eventual Democratic nominee in the general election.

Although I have lived abroad, and consequently do have a somewhat “international” perspective on this election, I would have to concede that, due in part my relatively young age of 29, I cannot assess this election from a historical perspective, at least in any significant depth. Most of the campaigns I have witnessed actually date from the ‘92 election to present. I tend not to think, however, that the election so far has been “mild.” There have been scurrilous insinuations about drug issue, “fairy tale,” Manchurian duplicity, and the current controversy surrounding Obama’s relationship to his former pastor (which has been discussed and analyzed incessantly by media talking heads, at the expense of more pressing issues in the campaign and, of course, Obama’s standing in the polls). Clinton, in my view, has faced less negative attention in this election, either from the press or from the Obama campaign; her complaints about negative coverage always seemed calculated to force the media to scrutinize Obama further, which obviously they have now done full-court press. Do I think this is how elections should be conducted? No. I believe some press scrutiny is warranted, but excessive negativity could have the effect of turning off voters newly interested in the process and reaffirming the cynicism of those who have been disengaged. As someone who has participated only occasionally in political campaigns (the only candidates I have ever for prior to this election were Hillary Clinton in her first New York senate run and Gore), one of the things I was most attracted to in Obama was his desire to change the gridlock in Washington by giving voters a greater voice in how things are done. Over the past couple weeks or so, that hope has been severely tested.

Thoughts on future blog postings

I have decided, on second thought, to leave my myspace blog postings at myspace. Also, I probably will not post pictures as regularly as I suggested in an earlier blog post. Instead, I will just post random thoughts about subjects I may be thinking of or that are currently in the news. I may even post some of my blog postings on the Times website here. Anyway, that's basically all for now.

What is there to say?

Nothing much happening. Just hanging in there - reading, going to work, watching silly stuff on TV - you, the usual. I saw a couple trailers of movies scheduled to open in the summer. Some of these movies - The Incredible Hulk, Batman - seem really exciting and I look forward to seeing them. What else? I haven't gone to the video store in a long while. Not that I really need to: I have seen most of the good movies (or the movies I thought were good, at least) that opened last year. Anyway; that's all for now.

Rock carving on a grand scale

Rock carving on a grand scale. By dating mineral deposits left behind in caves, geologists traced the rate of erosion of the Grand Canyon's formation. They found that the canyon's origins go back at least 17 million years and that there were originally two not-so-grand canyons that subsequently merged about six million years ago.
Photo: Doug Powell

First blog entry

This is a test entry as well as an introduction of sorts. I hope to post stuff on this blog periodically, probably once per week. I will also look into updating some of the stuff I posted on my myspace blog on this blog. And, in addition to the random musing about god knows what, alot of my blog postings will be pictures of important places, special events and so on. Anyway, I am excited to be doing the blog thing; should be pretty interesting.