Correctly Impolitic

The idea of celebrating the holidays when it’s convenient and without stress remains terrific. However, there is one problem.  Everyone you know is celebrating and gone and you have to struggle to find something to do. Well, not exactly struggle – because you are unstressed and able to watch everyone else rushing around trying to have fun, if they didn’t go somewhere else.  This is such a circuitous predicament, but Jordan and I solved it by finding a way to have an enjoyable day – without cooking and visiting with family and friends – who may very well be somewhere else.  (Here we go again).

Moving on… We were sitting around the apartment—David on his way to China – and we thought we would look in the Zagats guide for a place to have lunch. Unless they were Asian, most were closed. Finally, we found a wonderful place that was open.  The York Grill, where I had been before but to which Jordan was a stranger, was open and happy to have us.  But not at a table.  They were totally booked but said we would be able to sit at the bar.  The food was the same and there was no discount on the price, but it was pretty empty and they were happy to accommodate at whatever time we appeared.

About 1:00 we rolled out of bed and headed uptown.  The weather was great and the walk from Lex to York was really pleasant. For many people sitting at a bar for a meal is not what they would choose. That is not the case with me. I love to sit at the bar anywhere that isn’t a dive.  For example, one of my favorite things to do is go alone to the Reservoir Tavern, in Boonton, New Jersey.  When you sit at the bar for dinner, you are never alone for long. People make conversation about many different things and if you can’t find commonality in topic, there’s usually a game on TV—does it matter what kind.  I don’t think so.

The difference between most of my bar dinners and yesterday’s lunch, was that Jordan was with me.  I am happy to report that she loved it as well.  Just FYI, Jordan is a certified bartender and mixologist.  Additionally, she is no stranger to the joys of making friends. In fact, from the time she was a little girl she thought it was her job to make friends with everyone we encountered anywhere.  Yesterday was no exception.  The bartender, Gerry, was delighted to share his holiday with us. He made the most glorious martini and was happy that we appreciated his talents. Charlie, the owner tried to find us a table, was impressed that we didn’t care, and kept coming back throughout the meal, just to chat.

The menu was prixe fix — $44 without booze – not bad for appetizer, entree and dessert.  We enjoyed our stay so much that in addition to the tip we bought him a drink – for later, which  he thought was a fabulous gesture.

When we left, after three hours of gorging, we considered going to a show or a movie but decided we were too tipsy to sit through any venue where there was actual entertainment.  We walked for a while and then caught a dreaded 2nd Avenue bus to 54th Street.  We were a bit giddy with holiday cheer and made it up the three flights and directly into bed. I think we awoke a few times to watch a free movie, but we actually didn’t get out of bed until this morning when we joined friends for a lovely brunch.

All in all, our Thanksgiving continues to be memorable and without incident.  And now we have to figure out what to do about moving Christmas Eve.

Let’s be honest, (maybe a radical change for some of us), you can’t have it both ways. This is a reference to the ongoing conversation about the new Obama political appointments.

Here’s the dichotomy: Although this may turn out to be a somewhat bipartisan Administration, the reality is that the new President wants to appoint a significant number of talented and experienced Democrats. In order to do this he has to look at people who know how to operate in government. The cry of “Too many former Clinton people,” when combined with the call for “Experienced people”, is somewhat schizophrenic. Of course there are going to be people who worked for Clinton ,and a number of the Clinton people also worked for Carter. They could have worked for Kennedy but if they did, they are probably dead. So it would be hard to get them confirmed.

This is not a time for novices running Departments or Agencies. In order to get anything done the people in charge will have to understand how the system works and what to do in order to move things ahead. While the Civil Servants ordinarily want to maintain the status quo, that is not the case at this point in history. They know that in order for things to change for the better, they will have to help rather than hinder the new people in charge. And let’s not make any mistakes about this, Civil Servants know how to stop progress but in the end, they are public servants, many of who could have opted for much higher paying positions in the private sector but they chose to serve their country. The last eight years have not been easy for them They have been witness to catastrophic mistakes (like the disasters at FEMA) but were powerless to do anything about them — short of resignation. And even Colin Powell, who might have made an important statement with his resignation when they lied to him, chose to remain the good soldier. After all, a job is a job and having health care is no joke.

Back to the new appointments. Rahm Emanuel worked at the White House as a Special Assistant to President Clinton. He knows what works. In a previous blob I talked about how I thought it was a brilliant appointment because, even though I was never crazy about his interpersonal skills, it does send a message to the Hill that they won’t be able to screw around with this President. That is very important. If the Congress thinks they can get away with anything they will try to do it—if they know they can’t they will do what they can to march in line. As witnessed by the standing ovation Senator Stevens received, there is no slime to sticky for the Senate to applaud. And regardless of the chatter, the Republicans will try to make trouble. They want to blame the Democrats for all the crisis and they don’t care how they do it. Am I being unfair? Well it’s a game of wait and see. But, when I see television ads talking about the greatness of Sarah Palin, I have to wonder what these people are thinking. Just a note. My good friends who are Republicans, and yes I have many—that’s how you stay alive in Washington, are at a loss to explain any of this – and are hopeful that the party will be rebuilt in a way that makes sense – but again, it’s a wait and see.

Actually, I would like someone to explain to me why anyone would underwrite a series of ads that look to Sarah Palin as the future of the party. All you have to do is look at the her remarks and the kind of press in which she choosen to participate to realize that she has little or no judgment. You can say that she will learn about these media savvy over the next few years and that’s true. However, I’m not talking about being good on camera—which she is. I’m talking about thinking about what you do. In case you haven’t seen the latest you tube video about pardoning the turkey, allow me to share with you.watch?v=z-kjM1asH-8

Ok, I digress and I didn’t mean to get off the track. It’s natural for the media to complain about the new transition and specifically appointments. This one is good, that one is bad, this will help, that one won’t. If they didn’t do this they would have nothing to say and the airways would be devoid of talking head crap. Perish that idea. The bottom line is that you have to look for experienced people who will be loyal. In order to do that you have to look at people from your own Party who have served. It’s not easy to find people (good people) willing to give up lucrative careers to go back into government. (In Washington the question is framed “Are you going back in?” Like it’s a jail term). And when you do identify those people you need to remember that, if they agree, they are serving the public and deserve to be lauded rather than derided. You simply can’t have it both ways.

As is often the case, we celebrated a major holiday on a day that was not actually the holiday. This started a few years ago when Jordan wasn’t going to be available for the day of whatever celebration—I think it may have been Hannukah. Hannukah has always been a time we loved to party, but without Jordan making the latkes (traditional potato pancakes) for just us, seemed a waste of time. I think we celebrated Hannukah sometime during the Christmas break. The year before we changed the day we celebrated, we had started a tradition of doing a Karaoke Hannukah. We had the karaoke machine but I’m all for participatory karaeoke, and thank God for Oriental Trading, where you can purchase massive amounts of anything for only pennies.

This kind of buying, or supporting the Chinese economy may be questionable, but whose fault is that and it is, after all, Hannukah. The selection for musical instruments was surprisingly vast, but when I put the item with the invitees it became much easier. In other words, I assumed that no one who had been invited, (despite their theater training) was fluent in any actual music producing instrument, and I wasn’t going to drag the piano from the sunporch into the kitchen (our stage for any event — you have to see it to understand why).

Anyway, I bought lots of percussion, a few flutes, some whistle like things, and of course, tambourines. In this way the audience could accompany the singer and if necessary, drown them out. The kids were as happy about the possibility of entertaining as they were about the food—but most are theater kids and they always want to do a show. They did want to take their instruments home but I explained that, because we were establishing a tradition, they would have to leave them at the door. But they would see them again at the next event—no matter the date.

Last year we had two Hannukahs. One in November in DC for those friends and one in January for our NY friends. Of course, I was not going to schlep the basket of musical items to NY, but I replaced them with something almost as entertaining. They were sing along poppers. You know the kind they have in England, that never actually pop, but which include a crown for every person, as well as some cheap gift items. They are the English version of a piñata. The difference between these and the ordinary popper was that each, in the box of twelve, gave the participant a different part to sing in any one of ten silly songs. Kind of like “Row, Row, Row, you Boat”, but you didn’t sing at the same time. Hard to explain but much fun to do. I have looked in every store where I might possibly have found them—so we would have a NY stash for the upcoming Hannukah, (whenever that works out) but I can’t find them anywhere.

This year we started a new tradition. To have Thanksgiving before Thanksgiving. We decided that it was simply too difficult to travel the week of Thanksgiving and additionally too frenetic to shop or deal with the crowds. Equally important was that David was not going to be around and my mother didn’t care about the day as long as we were all together. Jordan and I traveled to Seattle last Tuesday and David met us out here on Thursday.

Mom isn’t actually in Seattle, she is on Bainbridge Island—a mere ferry ride away. The Northwest is beautiful and you can actually see that when it’s not raining—which is not as often as I would like. Els and I shopped for most of what we needed on Friday. Turkey, stuffing, French cut greenbeans to use beneath the true deleicacy– french fried onion rings, squash, potatoes (mixed with buttermilk and butter instead of cream), vegetables for the stuffing, lots of butter and broth and juice for the gravy – and wine. Oh, and we absolutely had to have a gingerbread house for Jordan and Devin to build. It turned out this one was pretty much built before they did anything to it, and the candy was a bit sparse, but they were both so consumed with “Twilight” the new book for kids about vampires (little kids so there’s no gore or sex), that they didn’t care about construction complications—or the lack of M&M’s. It didn’t matter, it was cute enough to use as a centerpiece and Mom thought it was gorgeous.

David’s cousins, Ernie, Diana and Nora came from Seattle and joined us for the festivities. It was delightful and without stress. I think this idea, about celebrating holidays when it’s convenient rather than everyone else does, can help with a few things, not the least of which is those dreaded traffic jams. What is also does is to make you realize that the holiday is important and should be celebrated whenever you can do it with the people you love.

The question of the day for the pundits seems to be; If Obama doesn’t expressly say, “I can’t do everything at once so lower your expectations” will people be disappointed in his ability to make change the first week out.  Boy, are they stupid.

This was a campaign that inspired people to hope for a new world, a different direction.  This is a candidate who brought young people out to the polls where no other candidate could ever do that.  Here’s what the pundits don’t seem to get because they are still doing old think.  He’s not going to say, “Oh don’t expect too much from me.” He’s going to say, “Of course we can do it and don’t let the nay sayers tell you any different.  The nay sayers, being who they are and having the power of TV—or rather the luxury of only talking to other pundits, will go on and on about how the economic cris didn’t disappear on January 22, and there will still be troops in Iraq on the 23rd.  But that does not in any way diminish the hope we all have that despite the reckless and careless – some would say selfish and heartless, policies of the Bush Administration, all those horrible problems will eventually be dealt with.

I for one intend to be hopeful for the next few years, and with good reason.  Obama won this election because, not only did he believe that he could make a difference, but because he surrounded himself with a strong team of people who, together are absolutely capable of identifying, outlining and dealing with the issues.  McCain never did that.  When Obama was endorsed by Colin Powell, McCain said he too had been endorsed by five Secretaries of State—not a one of them still alive.  Yes, they are breathing but as my son used to say when I talked about the “good old days”, “So Ma, when you were alive was there electricity?”  So I mean ‘alive’ in the nicest possible way.

Changing the subject a bit; so what do we do about GM.  Tom Friedman says that GM’s idea of being visionary is to give gas tax breaks to people who own Hummers.  He says that before we give GM one penny the Congress better make their expectations about change—very clear.  tom-friedman-on-meet-the-press

And speaking of GM, they have a you tube ad that explains their position about why they should be part of the bailout.  The thing about you tube is that you watch and enjoy.  The successful you tube videos are not about reading something.  That’s what newspapers are for.  I guess their PR people are desperate to get their message out and they heard a rumor that you tube was the new way to advertise—but I think they missed the point.  I could be wrong (and that would be rare) but vision is not words – it’s about seeing.

Time for another ‘change’.  How about those Obamas on 60 minutes?  Didn’t you love the fact that they are so obviously in love and normal/ Maybe being in love isn’t that normal but it is certainly what we all hope for.  Wasn’t the part about his awful apartment absolutely where we’ve all been with boyfriends at one time or another.  I remember when David and I finally made some kind of commitment and I decided to clean up the apartment he rented and loaned to anyone who happened to be passing through NY.  It didn’t matter if he knew them or if they had washed in a month, they were welcome to trash the ‘pad’  The first thing we had to do was to change the locks—or in this case get the keys back from about 3,000 wandering photojournalists.  It was months before I agreed to sleep over, because it was so dirty and I never knew who would walk in.  So when new First Lady (that sounds terrific doesn’t it) talked about how she visited his apartment but refused to sleep there, I could certainly relate to it.  Did you not love it when he talked about taking a walk, and how he wanted to take her for a walk, and how they wanted the kids to have normal lives.  If you heard, actually listened, what they were saying, (and it was all the morning shows talked about),  then you understood that these are people who had a dream, worked hard, and were able to convince enough people that they should live that dream with them.

OH MY, I’m starting to sound like someone who is not a cynic – we can’t let that happen. The Congress needs to take a lesson from the President elect.  They need to say “yes we can” make rules about how all that money, that belongs to the taxpayer is spent.  They need to say “yes we can” make this a better America.  They need to agree to work together and say “yes we can” make that American dream a reality for so many more people. The nation will have disappointed expectations, only if the Congress pays those stupid partisan games.  Then we have to rid ourselves of those nay sayers even if it isn’t on the 23 of January.

When George Bush and Dick Cheney get together just to shoot the ‘dreck’ (it’s Yiddish and needs no explanation), do you think they say, “gee we really screwed things up”. Probably not. Dick Cheney is too arrogant and George Bush was never good at taking responsibility for anything.

Well, just thinking about this is so depressing I cannot bring myself to blob about it right now. So let’s turn to a much more interesting subject. If you had the choice of being a Senator or the Secretary of State, which would you choose. Here’s my pithy analysis.

The job Secretary of State takes the ‘Principle’ (that’s Washington talk for the person to whom, as a staffer you cater, and at who’s beck and call you alwaysnare ), to many foreign and exotic lands, where there is excellent shopping. This may not be at the top of any priority list initially, but eventually it is worth consideration because, not only can you buy remarkable products, but you don’t have to declare them at customs. OK you do have to pay something—just for show—but it isn’t nearly what you would have to fork over as a tourist. As Sec State (that’s an abbreviation without using an acronym, which I hate), you fly on your own plane, leaving from a military base and you don’t have to wait in line or, if you happen to be wearing a bra with wires, be strip searched by some nervous Security Nellie or Ned …if you get lucky.

When you arrive in the foreign land, you are greeted by your counterpart, (who is a VIP in that country), a pretty child with flowers, and sometimes, again, if you get really lucky, a military contingent who get all dressed up in uniforms, with guns and they salute with great frequency. Once on the ground, you get to go to breakfasts, lunches, dinners and receptions where you hob nob with the hoy paloy (I think that’s how you spell it – or maybe it’s hoi paloi like in France). In between the eating, there is often a meeting – with the hoi’s and paloi’s — although not necessarily the same ones. But there is no pressure for the Sec State do anything except look and sound authoritative, because some Foreign Service officer has already tended to the logistics and details of whatever needs to be done. Like if the Sec wants to sign a treaty or alter a policy that will have enormous impact on the fate of the world, they don’t have to do anything except insist on the correct kind of pen – hopefully embellished with a feather.
Then there’s the furniture. If you don’t like the office décor left by your predesssesor, you can go to the US Government furniture store (some would call it a warehouse), and pick out whatever you like. There may even be a little something George Washington once used – granted it will be old, dirty and probably bug infested, but if you want it, you can have it. I remember when I was at State as an Office Director. My job title was not commensurate with my Foreign Service level, so although I had picked out some whacky red modern Danish stuff, the GSA (people who really run the government) told me I could not keep it and tried to take it away from me. Needless to say, I was beside myself (picture me and me being hysterical) and I rallied the troops, who physically blocked the door. The GSA personnel decided that the furniture was so ugly no one else would want it and they left, — it was not worth the effort. Anyway, my point is the Sec State can have anything they want from anywhere, anytime, any place. The drawback is that when the President goes, so do you –could be 4 or eight years. But it is not a lifetime appointment like the Supreme Court.
What about the Senate. A Senator is one of 100. To get anything done requires compromise, negotiations and sometimes threats. While the job may last longer than a Presidential appointment, you have to reapply every six years. And that means raising millions of dollars, hob nobbing for the votes and the bucks, rather than the a glorious international agreement, and never being certain if you are making a difference until you’ve been there for many years. There is a certain amount of visibility – if you want it, and the scrutiny about finances is a bit less stringent.
So, just for fun, put on your thinking cap and look at both jobs and decide which is more appealing. Or maybe you should do it while you’re on line at an airport waiting to go through security.

On October 6, 2007, my new friend, The Amazing Kreskin, predicted that Barack Obama would be the next President of the United States. He revealed the prediction, which had been on display in a sealed strong box, on November 6.  Joey Reynolds, a renowned talk show host in NY, had a duplicate box with the prediction secured in his possession at the radio station.  The boxes were  opened in the presence of the press.

If you think back to December of 2007 you will remember that there were a plethora of democratic candidates, including John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, and republicans like Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, and of course, John McCain.  Additionally, it was pretty clear to most democrats, that Hillary was the likely choice.  How does he do it?

In the best of Amazing’s spirit and an adept sense of showmanship, he was so sure of his prediction that he was willing to bet 10 people each $10,000 that his prediction was correct.  Any money he won would have been turned over to charity.  Not surprisingly, not one person was wiling to take the challenge.  Because, after all, the man is Amazing and I might add, lovable, smart, and witty.

So, how did he know?  Did he channel the spirits and talk to Abe Lincoln.  No he did not.  His predictions were based on the serious crisis facing the nation including terrorism, the economy, and an Oprah Winfrey endorsement.  Who says celebrity endorsements aren’t important.  Well, maybe they’re not.  But Oprah isn’t an ordinary celebrity.  She is the voice of an enormous number of women.  Some campaigns call them “non-college educated”.  I think that’s arrogant and condescending.  How about we say, “high school educated”  The pollsters don’t like that for whatever reason, but it’s one of the reasons women don’t like pollsters.  They don’t hear what we’re saying.  They measure our importance by where we went to school and for how long.  It’s absurd but they are all patting themselves on their not so important backs because the polls were correct–which every one of them doubted.

What’s also amazing (not the person but the idea), is that so many people who were skeptical about an Obama victory, are now saying that they knew it all the time.  The same people who said that we needed to consider the “Bradley” factor and others who said young people wouldn’t show up – were absolutely incorrect.  The Amazing looked at three factors to make his prediction.  But he’s a guy who is well read, sensitive to the temper of the country, and incredibly perceptive.  The media was prepared to ignore all the signs because they didn’t fit the picture.  They didn’t feel the passion of the people who were tired of the same old crap—including polling crap.  They blab about his thing and that. They are self assured and not hesitant to tell you what you should be thinking and doing and yet, they don’t know much more than you and have the same ability to screw up. Like didn’t you love it when Joe Scarborough, the host of “Morning Joe” and a good born again Christian, dropped the f-bomb yesterday.  scarborough-f-word. He did it without thinking—like so many of us.  And he felt incredibly stupid when he realized what he had done – like so many of us.  The pundits and talking heads are no different they we are except maybe they don’t know as much because they don’t listen to voices that should be ringing in their ears.

I used to go to Wal*Mart, look around and wonder why these people were no longer Democrats.  The answer was so simple.  Our predictions about who they were was totally off base.  We, like the Amazing, just needed not only to listen but to hear what people were feeling.  Yes, hear what they were feeling.  The President elect understood.  He realized that people wanted to be included in whatever the change and listened to about their crisis.  He got it and it was truly Amazing.

The election is over. The Democrats are back in charge –whatever that means. John McCain gave a terrific gracious speech. (It was the old McCain back at last. Hopefully for good.) When Jordan got up this morning she said the best thing about waking was that Obama had still won. She and her friends couldn’t have been anymore excited if I had won. (I use me as an example because they are also great fans of mine and I don’t who else they like). The truth is we all won—America won. They are a wondrous bunch of 22-26 year olds. Mostly theater majors, many gay. They had rigged a wall size map of the states—on a wall. And as the polls closed they colored in the results. It was not as sophisticated as the NBC Rockefeller Center map but it was much more meaningful. Jordan filled in Virginia and couldn’t stop saying “We’re blue mom, can you believe it.” There was a great deal of screaming and crying and your basic 20 year old hoopla. The only difficult disappointment was the passing of prop 8 in Ca. which outlawed gay marriage. None the less, it was a privilege to be a part of what they wanted to be.

I couldn’t stop thinking about the past and the dreams I had for the future of my kids. My parents were blue collar people who pretended to be white collar class. I think that was because we had rich relatives – who actually were white collar. We lived in a small town where there were two Black kids and probably 10 Jewish kids in the school. It was not difficult to be a minority except around Christmas when the Jewish kids had to stand in the back of the room as the rest of the class sang Christmas Carols. The Black kids were allowed to sing but they did suffer some attitude discrimination because they were so few and, for many of us, mysterious.

When I was in college one of my closest friends was an elegant African American woman from Philadelphia named Angela. We met soon after we arrived at school and I managed to rid myself of my sobbing mother. I was in a room with three cot-like beds, 3 metal desks and 3 metal closets. OK, it wasn’t pretty but it was mine. Angie was wearing long black leather gloves and a stunning cashmere coat. I had my hair in a pony tail and was wearing a cotton turtleneck to cover a hickey I had been given by a sailor I didn’t know. (It’s another blob). Anyway, when Angie’s roommate Ellen arrived, Ellen’s mother started to reorganize their room. Making certain to move the beds as far apart as possible. “What is she doing?” I asked Soozie, who was later to become my dear dear friend. “She doesn’t want the black to rub off on Ellen, I guess.”

It was absolutely outrageous and I suggested that Soozie move in with Angie and we move Ellen to other end of the hall with a rich white girl from Long Island. It was some time ago and I don’t remember how I crafted the move but I did, it worked, and we have remained friends over the years. Ellen dropped out of school to get secretly married to someone she didn’t love because her parents forbid her to marry her high school boyfriend who was not Jewish, but she did love. (Again, it’s another blob)

That experienced shaped my attitudes about so many things. But the most important was that I wanted my children to be color blind. I didn’t get the bigotry then and I have no patience for it now. In those years we protested for civil rights, women’s rights and against the war. We went to candlelight vigils in Boston and Washington, and had sit in’s at school and in the Boston Common and we worked for political candidates who reflected views that were close to our own. In other words, we had outlets to protest any injustice. And yesterday, all those young people took the opportunity and actually protested in the same way that we did so long ago – they voted. They breathed life into a political party that took forever to have the courage to endorse the need for change.

Courage is a funny thing. My pal Barbara, who is African American was very skeptical about the Obama candidacy because she admitted, she was afraid of what would happen if he screwed up. Michelle Obama said it most eloquently in an interview last November when she said that Black people were so used to people saying “No you can’t”, that they were hesitant to even try anything—yet alone say “Yes I can”. But all those young people who worked so hard to make last night a reality, believed Obama when he said “Yes we can” and happily, they were right.

Here is the best story I heard about the election . It seems that the “Washington Post” put out a special election edition. A friend of mine waited at the Safeway for two hours to get her copy and then found out that the “Post” delivery truck had been stopped and robbed and no one was going to get a paper – at least not today. Yes, it was an historic and memorable election but whatever were those thieves thinking? I guess they wanted to have a lock on the news—not unlike all the networks.

On this, election day, my mind turns to all those years when I criss-crossed the country with one candidate or another. It was stress producing, challenging, hard work but it had it’s rewards and often, much. Fun, of course, is how you define it.  Like it was fun for the staff, but the car rental people from whom we got our cars and had to retrieve them somewhere in Mexico, probably didn’t think it was so great.  It was exciting and challenging to put together an event that would draw anywhere from 10 to 30,000 people. Those numbers seem miniscule in comparison to what Obama is doing, but at the time they were enormous.

We were political advance people – usually generalists divided into teams with an instant specialty determined by campaign and geographic need.  There were two or three crowd builders, one or two press people, the hotel site person, the event site people, the airport site guy (often a crowd builder but once the crowd was built could take on other responsibilities), the staff advance person and the lead advance.  These big, last day events were often decided about 4 or 5 days out—because until then you didn’t know where there would be a political-geographic need.   There was one year when I packed for Ohio and ended up in New Orleans.  Travel was easier then. You didn’t have to pay $25 a bag (although we always did carry on because they would often stop the plane to pull us off and send us someplace we didn’t expect to be).  The teams were smaller and more manageable, and the technology was uncomplicated—no cell phones, no blackberry’s, no e-mail. Decisions about the events were made by the lead advance in concert with the Political strategists at HQ.  You depended on good gut, judgment, and talent to create a successful event. In other words, you criss-crossed the country unencumbered by all the electronic crap.

One of my favorite (what we called, crowd events) was in New Orleans.  I arrived about five days out with a team already in place. (I had first been sent to Colorado). At that time I was the “spouse” advance specialist. I was in charge of the candidate’s wife, but I worked with the team to build the event. So in addition to my spouse responsibilities I also had to participate in crowd building.  The lead was a wonderful bandit named Bill.  He was primarily an organizer but had been assigned to be lead advance for this event.  (Organizers and Advance people hated one another but not in this case). At that time, people were never assigned to any geographic location where they had lived or where they might want to return, because the team often left “blood”.  You had to be politically smart rather than nice when you made decisions.

There are three states in this country that are politically treacherous for any outsiders.  Texas, Louisiana, and Illinois.  They don’t like strangers.  So it was not easy to operate in New Orleans. In fact, I got arrested at least once and physically pushed around at least twice.  Curious about the arrest and do I have a record?  At about 4pm, I was hanging flyers in a place we were not allowed to hang anything.  I was dragged off to the police station and had to plead for my freedom with things like; “I’m someone’s mother.  I didn’t know.  I’m a nice girl.  I won’t be bad again. Please forgive me for my sins.”  They let me go and  I had to promise I would never do it again.  And I didn’t – until 3am later on the same day. (The event posters had to get hung because we needed to build a really big crowd.  We were, after all,  in competition with all the other criss-crosser’s around the country.)

So why was that trip one of my favorites?  Well, we stayed in the Royal Orleans Hotel.  I think it’s now a Hyatt and they no longer write your names on the chocolates they leave on your pillow.  The overnight was in the Royal Orleans because I told the campaign that’s where the Secret Service wanted us to be. It was not the truth but the Service didn’t object.  We orchestrated a parade which culminated in a rally – with specially printed doubloons and costumed characters.  The people on the team were incredibly colorful and talented, which made every meeting a joy.  And the food was always amazing—hence all these things gave it “one of my favorite” status.  It was a great “hit”.  Thirty thousand people crowded into the French Quarter and delighted to be there. When the candidate arrived the enthusiastic crowd went nuts and we knew we had done a fabulous job –after which we had a riotous, most memorable wheels up party.  We had many parties, which I hope they still do.

Now I’m a watcher and not sure I’m happy to be one.  I would love to be a participant in all the criss-crossing, but it’s a job for twenty year old’s.  It requires stamina I’m not sure I possess – but I hope I do.  I’m now reduced to polling, canvassing, and GOTV. But this is a special time for me.  This is a time when those of us who protested injustice and battled so long and hard for civil rights can give ourselves a little pat on the back and watch our victory on a 200 inch HDTV screen.  As long as there is a victory for the nation, I guess I don’t need to be right there—but I sure wish I could be.

Is it possible that the John McCain we saw on Saturday Night Live is the real McCain? The one we liked in 2000 or even at the beginning of this election cycle. I mean, he was hilarious. Good humored, able to make fun of himself and his campaign, smart, and very today. Once again the SNL people did not go easy on him, but his performance was inspired—real. And wasn’t Cindy a hoot. They were totally likable. I wonder if it’s possible that the candidate we saw last night could prevail? That if he were the President he would be alright. Or is that what we want to think since he might win. Or is he relaxed and good humored because he has nothing to lose—because he knows it’s all gone and now he just wants to have a good time and get back to a place where his colleagues in the Senate will welcome rather than be angry with all he has brought to their Party.

My daughter asked if I thought it would change any votes. I don’t really know but I don’t think so. I think it might assure the people who are leaning McCain that it is alright to cast their vote for him. That he is not the negative Neanderthal we have had to suffer for the last few months. That he is wise in his years but remains in touch with young people and their media.

This is something none of us will know unless he gets elected – and despite all the genius’ at the polling firms who do not account for human nature, this could certainly happen. Am I feeling OK about that. Absolutely not. And not because of the candidate. I do not feel for two reasons. The first is Sarah Palin. She is simply not someone I trust to make reasoned and experienced international decision. If I were recommending someone for a job as radio or TV talk show host, she might be on my list. But as a heartbeat away from the Presidency, I don’t think so. Dealing with the rest of the world is a complicated, shade of gray kind of job. It is not one for either a maverick or someone who responds in black and white – things are good or bad, right or wrong. It is a job that requires diplomatic finesse., not good gut. Even if I agreed with her, I just don’t wand someone who shoots from the hip instead of the brain.

The other issue is the staff—the advisers who surround McCain. They are not nice people—and I mean that in the nicest possible way. They are lobbyists, political hacks corporate dweebs and ideologues. They have investments in oil, war related products, and a powerful job that provides them with income. They are the McCain big money donors. Not a one of them contributed less than $50. Despite what they say publicly, they don’t care about you or me, the nation or the future of our children. They are rich and protected. They are the people who are arguing about tax increases because they make way more than $250,000 a year. The old John McCain agreed with Obama that their should be a sliding scale on taxes. The new John is screaming socialism. We all know that Obama is talking fairness not socialism—and the President doesn’t govern alone. There is a Congress that is supposed to act in the interest of it’s constituents. Anyway, their kids will be OK. Ours are inconsequential. There are those people who might think this is heartless and an overstatement, but I know many of them. I have eaten breakfast next to one of their meetings (I am usually in pajama like clothing so I look totally unthreatening and they chatter unabashedly.)

McCain’s appearance was too little too late. It will replay on every NBC station and, since he didn’t have enough money to do an infomercial (those $25 donations add up), it will be good free press. I wonder what his older handlers think. Do they think he was taking a shot at their questionable advice. Do they realize what a mistake they made trading that John McCain for the one we saw last night. 80540 Probably not. They are probably patting one another on the back and thinking, well we put one over on young Americans with that appearance. In truth, if that McCain reappears for the next two days, they could actually pull off a victory. But then, which John MCain do we actually get to lead the nation at this time of crisis. Do we want it to be too little too late or do we pray that last night’s guy is the one who will govern?

Enough already! Up until about a week ago I awoke everyday yearning to hear what was happening with the Presidential election. But enough is enough.  Maybe my yearning to be free from all the commercials started after the Obama Infomercial.  It was great TV. He did a spectacular job of explaining what he was about and, even if it’s not what he’s about, it didn’t matter.  I want him to be our leader and yes, our savior.  Too much to ask.  I’m sure it is, but at this point  why not ask for a miracle and deal with some disappointed expectations later.
If I hear John McCain spend one more minute whining about promises made and broken, the lack of Obama proving he can do the job, or the fact that Sarah Palin is the most qualified woman in America, I will simply boycott television.  And in the same way, I just don’t want to hear about anymore change.  I’m tired of hearing about what’s going to happen in the next four years, I just want the next four years to happen – without anymore chatter, yammering, or paid political advertising.  We all know what each of the candidates is going to say, and of course, approve, and now they both need to do crowd events and get off the airwaves.  Anyone who hasn’t made a decision by now is not going to vote—it’s just that simple.

So last night I was trying to go to sleep and every 4 or five minutes there would be another political commercial. I started to think about how much money the candidate’s have spent in making sure we all understand what they think, feel, and yearn for.  Then I started to think about all the people who have made a fortune delivering the message.  From Mark Penn, an absolutely talent free, but incredibly lucky PR person, who flushed Hillary’s campaign down the toilet and for whatever reason she didn’t fire — even when she had an opportunity to recover, to the Obama team who have seemingly done a swell job in getting him to where he has gotten.
Let me be clear, I love the Obama commercials where he talks about hope and prosperity, and a future without war.  I like the commercials about McCain and Bush being one in the same.  I liked the old McCain but there hasn’t been an ad which was about what he sees as the future. They are all about what Obama isn’t rather than what McCain is.  I remember when I sent chickens out to greet George Bush Sr. during the Clinton campaign.  I told the guys in the war room that it was their job to talk about why Bill Clinton should be President and mine to demonstrate why George shouldn’t be reelected.  The candidate should never talk about why someone else is bad – they should only talk about why they are good.  I fear McCain made a terrible mistake.

Regardless of how I feel about any specific political ads, I am just tired of all of them.  In addition, I am sick to death of the phone calls reminding me I should vote, and the door to door canvassers who, despite the fact that I tell them I have already voted, just don’t want to go away.  I thought maybe I should offer them a cup of coffee, laced with a little humor, and maybe that would encourage them to go away. They won’t.  It’s Presidential politics 24-7, and I have had it.  I am no longer nice when I get a call, I merely hang up.  I am no longer cordial when they appear at my front door—I just don’t answer it. And if I don’t TIVO a show I won’t watch it – even Cold Case and Bones, which are my favorites.  In fact, I am only watching movies on TV –uninterrupted and commercial free.

I used to love setting the clocks back and gaining an hour, but now it’s just more time to listen to someone droning on about November 4th.  I suppose a three day nap is out of the question, but I’d love to go to sleep and when I awake we would finally have a new President.  Lullaby and goodnight.