Obama’s Victory: Perfect Storm Post-Mortems

           The campaign that had increasingly seemed more uncivil war than election run-up is finally behind us. But the post-mortems and Monday-morning quarterbacking are not likely to end even on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20.  

And Sarah Palin speculation, to be sure, will become a national pastime until she finally signs on with Fox News. As a result, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal will continue to look ever more competent and mature beyond his years.

            But this much should be so obvious that we shouldn’t need to dwell, baby, dwell:

            *In a change-year election, change typically trumps “experience.” And when “experience” undermines itself (see Palin, Sarah), the results should have surprised no one.

            *That an African-American can win the presidency still seems surreal. But this was the perfect political storm: given an incumbent party saddled with economic and geopolitical implosions, a presidential opponent who could only play the POW/“socialist”cards so far, a veep candidate less qualified than Tina Fey and the uncommonly charismatic candidacy that was Barack Obama’s.

            Moreover, Obama is African-American – not American-African as his subtly threatening, racial predecessors — Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton — were. He wasn’t a racial opportunist and professional provocateur.  His change agenda wasn’t based on grievance, pandering, and white guilt.

            *Enough Americans – ideology aside – were more than ready for smart and articulate.

            *“The American Dream” still resonates.

            *Regardless of who won, presidential election campaigns shouldn’t last this long or cost this much. Too much time spent on trivialization and character assassination – and too much money allocated for marketing and advertising. Neither, ultimately, is good for meaningful democracy.

            *The key game-changer was the financial meltdown. Not even the most partisan Democrat wanted that.

            *Nancy Pelosi is still obnoxious.

            *“Country First” was a disingenuous oxymoron once Palin was added to the GOP ticket. The real Faustian message: “McCain’s Last Shot At The Presidential Brass Ring First.”

            *Anyone with a frame of reference dating back to 2000 knew the day McCain shared a Liberty University stage with Jerry Falwell, “an agent of intolerance,” his real “maverick” days were over. Now there’s only James Garner.

            *Most elections are still won in the middle – even such a bizarrely polarizing one as this. Palin never gave McCain a puncher’s chance at this decisive demographic.

            *Joe Biden will be a much better vice president than vice presidential candidate. His liaison work with Congress will be critical – and his across-the-aisle mettle will be tested early. Mark these words.

            *McCain was gracious in defeat. No integrity bypass.

            *Obama has a shot at coming to grips with a transcendent, global issue that impacts everything from America’s security to economy. From national defense to free trade agreements. From energy independence to green-planet cooperation.

Where exactly does the U.S. fit in this world, the only one we have? How do we again become the force for good that has long been our destiny? He has a shot at hitting the re-set button internationally.

Why not work with our allies and negotiate with our adversaries? Can’t we be strong – without being arrogantly unilateralist? Must it be a sign of weakness if others like us again?

It’s called enlightened self interest. To reiterate, Obama has a shot.

            McCain had no shot.

            Now on to those likely Obama cabinet picks…

Local Election Takes

          *So, Hillsborough County led the state in voter complaints. Was there ever a doubt that this election would be one more opportunity for Supervisor of Elections Buddy Johnson to add to his inglorious legacy?

But he did, at least, lose. However, his 233,000 votes were only about 18,000 fewer than those cast for Phyllis Busansky.

Which begs the question: And how many votes would he have gotten were he competent? 

*Nice victory statement from Rachel Burgin, the experience-challenged, 26-year-old who won the District 56 Florida House seat. “I’m very honored and humbled that the people of Hillsborough Count have decided to let me continue to represent this district,” she said.

Arguably, more presumptuous than “humbled,” however. She is not the incumbent. That was Trey Traviesa. Burgin was his dutiful, acolyte aide. Close enough for government work.

*Tampa Bay lived up to its king-maker reputation. When a Democratic presidential candidate wins Hillsborough County, the ramifications — and electoral ripples — are nationwide.

Bull Reality

No one would deny that more than a decade ago USF made the perfect choice for head football coach. The animated, high-energy Jim Leavitt, a co-defensive coordinator at Kans State, was brought in to start the program from scratch — no mean feat.

Leavitt also had local roots – he played for St. Petersburg’s Dixie Hollins High School – and a solid recruiting pipeline into the area.

What he did – and he did it with bare-bones facilities for most of the time – was to fast forward the Bulls from nowhere to national player.

But after more disappointing losses preceded by another fast start, an updated reality needs acknowledging. Leavitt, for all he has done at USF, is arguably not the guy to take the Bulls to the next level. And they are frustratingly close.

Recall that the Bulls have had their share of big, eye-opening wins — West Virginia and Auburn come readily to mind. Notably, USF had been the underdogs and played with abandon. The pressure was on the opponent.

Conversely, the Bulls have played with a worrisome lack of composure against lesser opponents in big, national-implication games, when the pressure was squarely on them. Teams such as Rutgers, Connecticut, Pittsburgh and Louisville. The Bulls squander leads and lose late, and they lose with a glaring lack of discipline – from blatantly dumb penalties to bad clock management and odd play-calling.

In big games against lesser opponents, the Bulls look like a team trying not to lose. They look like an extension of their head coach, who often loses his composure on the sidelines. And Leavitt’s not about to change.

Three years ago, the Bulls went to the first bowl game in their history, the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte. Last year, after rocketing off to a start that earned them a number 2 national ranking, they settled for the Sun Bowl in El Paso.

This year – after recent upset losses to Pittsburgh and Louisville — the talk is not of a Big East championship or a BCS bowl anymore. No, the muted buzz is over their possible selection to the first-year St. Petersburg Bowl. This is not progress, despite outstanding personnel.  This is a program that has peaked – as a promising Big East also ran. That shouldn’t be good enough.

 

Latest Embargo Vote

For those keeping score at home, the United Nations has – for the 17th consecutive year – voted in the same overwhelming fashion to condemn the U.S. embargo on Cuba.

Last year the vote on the non-binding (“Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba”) resolution was 184-4 in favor. This year it was 185-3. Voting with the U.S. was Israel and Palau – with two abstentions: the Marshall Islands and Micronesia.

            What else hasn’t changed is that this Cold War relic helps no one – save a handful of Cuban-American politicians in South Florida and New Jersey. But in a perverse way – over the years – it has provided Fidel Castro with a perfect foil — Uncle Scapegoat — for his failed Communist experiment.

For the state of Florida and the port of Tampa it’s been economically counterproductive. As a humanitarian matter, it’s a loser by any definition – especially after Cuban-American travel restrictions and remittance rules were tightened. And as a geopolitical issue, it has further underscored America’s already undermined reputation – at the worst possible time – as an arrogant hegemon.  

Even our closest ally in the Southern Hemisphere, Colombia, officially noted that “this kind of action should stop.”

Ten U.S. presidents have maintained the unsuccessful embargo, much to the detriment of America and ill-fated Cubans.  Would that the 11th will shortly send the message around the world that in so many ways, with Cuba among them, it will no longer be business as usual.

Israel will just have to understand. Presumably, Palau will too.

NFL Advice and Impact

            Here’s some unsolicited advice for the National Football League, if it’s as serious as it says it is about eliminating on-field “excess” – as in excessive celebrations and taunting.

            First, demand that your officials immediately implement common sense. The average fan — even an all-too-forgiving, home-team booster — knows the difference between legitimate “enthusiasm” that is fundamental to the playing of any sport and boorish, sometimes thuggish, look-at-me antics.

            Second, work with the networks so that every time there’s yet another over-the-top, sophomoric outburst — not just the choreographed stuff — the camera doesn’t linger on the game’s bozos. When it does, and it does it all the time, it sends a message all the way down to the high schools – and lower – that such displays are acceptable. A lot of parents and coaches — who know the difference between a game and show biz — would appreciate it.

Put Civics To The Test

           If the FCAT remains a fact of Florida life, here’s hoping that we at least add civics to it. And to the federal No Child Left Behind evaluation while we’re at it. Apparently, that’s the only way to guarantee that a subject gets taught.

            And in the case of civics – which lacks the cachet and commercial relevance of subjects that directly correlate to success in the global marketplace – it needs teaching. And it’s just not a matter of embarrassing results from that recent report from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. The ISI found (from a randomly-selected sampling of 2,500 citizens) that one in five elected officials thought the Electoral College “was established to supervise the first presidential debate” and one in three elected officials didn’t know that “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” are the inalienable rights so often referred to in the, whatcha-macallit, Declaration of Independence.

            It’s hardly a novel concept that the vitality – and, ultimately, longevity – of a democracy depends on an informed electorate. And that, candidly, gets scarier by the year. How do you hold your elected representatives accountable if you don’t do your due diligence? How do you best contribute to a free-market economy if your economic lodestars are limited to “greed is good” or “the state will provide”? How do you support the principles of “democracy” – especially as an extension of American foreign policy – if you’re ignorant of the basics? How is that not an exercise in hypocrisy? 

            And civics, lest we forget, is not just a bunch of rote-remembered bullet points – and shouldn’t be taught that way. Sure, it’s about the branches of government, the separation of powers and the lessons of the Cold War. But it’s about more than that. It’s about quotidian rights and responsibilities. Thomas Jefferson’s take on the value of public education still resonates today:

                        “The objects of primary education…are to instruct the mass of citizens in

            these: their rights, interests, and duties as men and citizens…to understand his

            duties to his neighbors and country, and to discharge with competence the

            functions confided to him by either.”

            “We the people” rings hollow if it’s euphemistic short hand for “We the uninformed people expecting the good life, sacrificing nothing and hoping for the best…” Teaching more civics is no panacea for a lazy democracy, but it holds out the hope that the more each new generation knows about how all this happened – and what’s precious about it – the better our future prospects. They’ve never been in greater peril.

One Final Rays Comment

             One final — well, for now — comment on the wondrous season that was for the Tampa Bay Rays. Disappointment, candidly, has never been so palatable.

            Think back to that fifth game of the American League Championship Series against the Red Sox. That “7 outs (from victory) and 7 runs (ahead)” disaster in Boston. It was an implosion for the ages. In the annals of big-game baseball collapses, it was without precedent.

            And after a Game 6 loss to Boston back at the Trop, it looked like one of the all-time Cinderella stories in sports history was all but unraveled. But order was restored, as we know, in Game 7 and the Rays made it into the Series.

            Sure, they came out second best to the Phillies, but it could have been so much worse. Had they not made it to the Series, these Rays would have suffered an embarrassing legacy bypass. (Not unlike, ironically, the underdog 1964 Phillies who blew a 6 ½ game lead with 12 to go by losing 10 straight and the pennant. To this day, it’s still called “The Phold.”)

Had the Rays ultimately lost to Boston, they would have been known forever in baseball lore for their inglorious choke – and not for all that had preceded it. They would be noteworthy for their notoriety – not celebrated for their inspiring, “worst-to-first” run.

World Series runner-up is still a feel-good, success story. Especially when you have to overcome the Yankees and the Red Sox to get there.

Thanks for the memories.

Down-Ballot Difference

            In presidential elections, especially ones with bigger-than-normal turnouts, there’s always speculation about “down-ballot” scenarios. How will those running for local office be affected by those presidential candidates at the top of the ballot? Will there be “coattails?”  

And to what degree do those “down ballot” disagree with the party’s standard-bearer at the top? Are there, in fact, any significant disagreements? Here’s how the candidates (Democratic challenger Yoli Capin and Republican incumbent Faye Culp) for state representative (District 57) responded:

*Capin: “I’m a strong supporter. I was at that first fund-raiser for Obama last year. I guess it would be a little more on health care. Make it universal and one-payer.”

*Culp: “I’m a big McCain supporter. But it would be over being ‘pro-choice.’”(Culp is a member of the WISH List, a political action committee devoted to pro-choice Republican women.)

Culp is also enthusiastic — OK, rhapsodic — about VP candidate Sarah Palin. “Like Hillary Clinton, she is helping to break that glass ceiling in what is still a ‘man’s world,’” says Culp. “So, more power to her and all women. And she’s there because of her qualifications. She scrubs hard. …Yeah. ‘Drill, baby, drill.’”

Revel With A Cause

You go, Urban.

Two opposable thumbs up to Head Coach Urban Meyer and his Florida Gators for their appropriate on-field response to the University of Georgia for the Dawgs’ classless, team-celebration incident last year.

Instead of replying in kind – and emptying his bench for some premeditated histrionics – he let the scoreboard – 49-10 — do most of the talking. But with 40 seconds left, and Georgia’s rapidly sobering fans long gone, Meyer called two timeouts. It made the Georgia team linger longer and dwell further on the humiliating loss – and what had prompted the timeouts.

Advantage Gators, but call it even.

Palin Plays “Socialist” and “Sexist” Cards

            John McCain is still teleprompter-challenged, still looks older than his 72 years, still struggles with a distrusting base, still exhibits signs of charisma bypass, and still draws crowds of less-than-presidential-candidate size and ardor.

            Not so, Sarah Palin.

            Cue: Shania Twain – as the McCain/Palin campaign does increasingly – as a complement to Johnny Horton’s 1960s hit, “North To Alaska.”

            She’s Not Just A Pretty Face.

Palin delivers a pretty good speech — even allowing for that Fargo-Fey accent. And looks good doing it –up or down do, Saks or “favorite-consignment-shop-in-Anchorage” ensembles.

She’s got everything it takes.

The Fundamentalist base has a major crush on her and foreign-policy hawks adore her red-meat, nuance-free, “no-surrender” rhetoric. 

And economic conservatives love her “socialist” bashing. You’d think she was running against Gloria La Riva, the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) candidate or the ghost of Gus Hall.

She hosts a TV show, she rides the rodeo, she plays the bass in a band.

She’s an obvious role model – and the cheap-shot target of the sexist media to many of the women – and their daughters – who are prominent in their Palin allegiance.

She’s an astronaut, a valet at the parking lot, a farmer working the land.

Last Sunday morning about 5,000 of the energized faithful arrived early at the Tampa Convention Center. A revival tent would have been no less appropriate. They were there for Sister Sarah and some boilerplate specials.

She didn’t disappoint.

She has a fashion line, a journalist for “Time,” coaches a football team.

“Palin is awesome — and refreshing — and definitely a role model for me,” said Katherine, a 35-year-old environmental engineer from St. Petersburg who declined to give her last name. Something about her field being dominated by Democrats.

She’s a geologist, a romance novelist, she’s the mother of three.

For 40ish Maribel Calderon, who grew up in Peru and used to own a gift shop in Tampa, Palin’s economic message was the sort of reassurance she was looking for: that the American Dream can continue.

“No socialism,” she underscored. “Obama literally wants us to share our wealth.”

She is a soldier, she is a wife, she is a surgeon, she’ll save your life.

“This is about our country, our future,” asserted 50-something Sue Tidwell of Tampa, the owner of a private investigation business. “And I used to be a Democrat.”

            The signs and placards were more than manifest in their messages. From “Inspired By Palin,” “Sarah Barracuda,” “God is Pro Life,” “Palin Rocks” “Moms ‘n Mavericks,” and “U R Our Voice” to “Hunters 4 Palin,” “Read My Lipstick; McCain/Palin,” “John McCain will protect US and our Money,” “Keep the Clothes” “Palin’s for the RIGHT Change” and “You-bet-cha.”

            She’s a champion, she gets the gold, she’s a ballerina, the star of the show.

The signage also conveyed geographic and other sub-group support. From “Valrico For Palin,” “Plant City 4 Palin,” “Odessa For McCain/Palin,” “Balm 4 Palin” and “Homosassa, Fla. loves Palin” to “Native Americans love Palin” and “Gators For Palin.”

            After audience warm-ups by former Tampa Mayor Dick Greco, Hillsborough County Commissioner Mark Sharpe, state Sen. Mike Fasano and “The View” co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Palin didn’t waste any time getting to her dual agenda: the sexism “double-standard” directed against her and the labels of “socialism” that needed to be applied to Barack Obama.

            She is your waitress, she is your judge, she is your teacher, she is everywoman in the world.

            She called the pricey-wardrobe flap “ridiculous.”

“These clothes, they are not my property,” she explained. “Just like the lighting and staging and everything else that the RNC (Republican National Committee) purchased. I’m not taking them with me.”

She flies an airplane, she drives a subway train at night, she pumps gasoline.

She noted she was wearing “her own” pink jacket as well as her own accessories. The latter meant earrings made by her husband Todd’s mother, a blue-star pin reflecting that she has a family member (son) serving overseas, and her (“$35”) wedding ring – that she actually bought for herself, she acknowledged. Possibly to Todd Palin’s public chagrin.

She’s on the Council, she’s on the board, she’s a politician, she praises the Lord.

Her pro-growth message of economic-populism and help for small businesses was often punctuated by shouts of “welfare,” “communist,” “socialist” and a chorus of pre-Halloween boos. That was in knee-jerk response to references of “Barack the Wealth Spreader” who wants to “redistribute your hard-earned dollars” and Joe Biden as the one who thinks “higher taxes are patriotic.”

Obama, said Palin, has an “ideological commitment to higher taxes.”

She’s not just a pretty face.

A McCain-Palin administration would implement a government “spending freeze” and “balance the federal budget by the end of our first term,” promised Palin. “We think bureaucracy should do more with less,” she stated. “We think government should work for you.”

And lest anyone needed reminding: “America is not the problem,” intoned Palin. “American is the solution. It’s still a shining city on a hill.”

She’s got everything it takes.

Indeed, Palin’s apparently got what it takes to induce the GOP’s hard-core, conservative base to swoon ideologically. But the election will be determined by swing voters not vicarious swooners.

Palin’s embarrassingly thin frame of reference was outed in her Charlie Gibson and — especially — Katie Couric interviews and her stridency on the stump have hardly endeared her to those swing voters. Nor have intimations from the McCain campaign itself that she may be a populist-diva hybrid.

Even if she can skin a moose – and field dress a liberal.

No, she’s not just a pretty face. As a result, a Fox News talk show-host slot will likely await at some point after Nov. 4.       

                                            Palin Rally Outtakes

* “I’m a registered Democrat doing the right thing.” – Dick Greco.

* Senator Obama believes in “wealth transfers. I think he got the idea from Bill Ayers.” Mark Sharpe.

* “It’ll be nice to talk for a full five minutes without getting interrupted.” – Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

* The media approach to Gov. Palin has become “deliberately sexist.” – Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

* “She (Palin) has a real knack for ‘cleaning.’ She cleaned house in Alaska. Maybe she’ll use the same mop to clean up Wall Street and Washington.” – Elisabeth Hasselbeck.