Sherry Chandler

Watch at YouTube. Via Jane Hamsher at FDL.

My friend Terry over at I See Invisible People was wondering earlier this week whom she’ll choose now that Edwards has dropped out, reminding me that it’s been a truly eventful week what with a SOTU, the loss of a major Democratic candidate, a debate or two, and most important of all, the run-up to the Super Bowl.

I’ve had a busy week too with several big projects to get done and a personal loss to deal with, and so I’ve sort of neglected my blogging. And I promised myself, again, that I wasn’t going to get in to this primary thing, because everybody’s beginning to treat Obama like a done deal — after all MoveOn has endorsed him along with Ted Kennedy — and the perception of winning is as good as the thing in this country of followers who think they’re leaders. So I don’t want to get too passionately opposed to the man. I don’t want to feel like I have to hold my nose to pull my lever in November. I’ve done that too often.

But while I don’t want to endure four more years of rapid Clinton hate, I find it egregious that it has already begun from our own side. I think that is both ungracious and ungrateful to a woman who has given decades of good service to this country.

And so I found it offensive that Obama chose to act out at the SOTU, and with, of all people, Ted Kennedy who does not have the best record in the world of personal behavior toward women.

Tom Watson describes it this way:

Did you see Barack Obama’s discourteous snub of rival Hillary Clinton before President Bush’s mail-it-in final State of the Union Speech last night? The peppy Senator Clinton, rather than avoid the headline-making Camelot duo of Teddy Kennedy and his young iconic pal, strode right over and stuck out her hand with that spunky grin of hers flashing serious kilowattage. Recognizing the gamesmanship, Kennedy grinned and shook it. Obama turned away, frowning deeply, finding something much more interesting in the middle distance of Claire McCaskill’s hair.

…

Last night, the drama was in the room, not at the podium - Senator Biden walked Clinton (an endorsement, perhaps?), Senator Obama cutting in front of several colleagues to stroll in with Uncle Teddy, the hugs and kisses and man-punches down the aisle.

…

So Obama capped a day that was supposed to lift Democrats’ spirits by connecting the martyred vision of JFK with a swarm of young voters with a rude gesture that will only remind many women of his nasty “likeable enough” crack in New Hampshire. For a speaker of such grace, the surprise lies in such boorish moments.

Ted, at least, had the flair to be gracious. He knew better than to play the all-boys-together game. And let me acknowledge that we owe Ted gratitude for long service, too.

At Obama in Camelot, Lance Mannion provides several links to thinkers who see a bit of the downside of the Kennedy connection.
Of course, all was made up at the debates, when butter failed to melt in anybody’s mouth. See here, image via BagnewsNotes, how Obama very chivalrously holds the chair for Clinton. Does anybody remember my quote from A Passage to India about the resentment that underlies chivalry?

Still it’s more than just an occasional gauche arrogance that disturbs me a little bit about Obama. There’s also his embrace of the right: he has praised Reagan, attacked Social Security, and now he’s reviving Harry and Louise. See Obama’s mailer here with a screenshot of the original (from Ezra Klein) to see how closely the Obama team has echoed the original GOP tv ad.

See also Paul Krugman and Ezra Klein on this subject. Links via Avedon Carol.

Perhaps as Kevin Drum says this is all just hardball politics, but this looks to me like a tip of the hat to what once was called the “vast rightwing conspiracy and, as such, a particular insult to Hillary. This ad was used to defeat her first attempt to get us universal healthcare. Think about that.

We are currently having the Democratic primary and Obama’s constant playing to some of the most hateful right-wing politics and politicians leaves me, like Melissa McEwan, with questions for Obama, including this one:

3. Assume for a moment that you are nominated and subsequently elected, and, despite being “the kind of president” in whom Americans can believe, the profound partisan rancor that currently plagues the nation doesn’t evaporate, that Americans fail to rally around a common purpose. What is Plan B? Do you move ever rightward trying to find support among those who refuse to rally, or do you say “Screw ‘em,” and go leftward to honor those who voted for you?

So, with Terry, I regret the loss of John Edwards in the campaign. Although he received the least press, his progressive ideas actually drove the campaign toward specific proposals, especially concerning health care.

I am not sure how Edwards supporters can rally to Obama at this point. Yes, he has style but sometimes it isn’t style that’s very attractive. And since I’ve long believed that style is content, I have to question whether this is the style or the content for me.

Oh, and by the way, I’ll take Whoopi over Oprah most days.

I’m thrilled to discover, over at the Virtual Woman’s Day Celebrations, that Heidi Richards Mooney, Founder & CEO of The Women’s eCommerce Association, International, has included me on her list of Baby Boomer (Woman) Bloggers to Watch in 2008.

I See Invisible People is also on this list.

Heidi was intrigued by articles at both CBS and MSNBC indicating that “boomers are actually more enthusiastic than younger Americans when it comes to using the Internet for health care and finances, as well as government and religious information.” So, says she,

I started looking online and keeping track of Baby Boomer Bloggers (Women that is) to watch and what follows is my list of 87 Baby Boomer Women Bloggers to Watch in 2008. Some of these women are brand new to blogging and others are seasoned experts. They represent a wide range of topics and interests from many corners of the world.

Each one of them have at least two things in common. They were born between 1946 and 1964 and they have a passion for sharing their thoughts, expertise and wisdom with the world.

I’m real pleased with the shout-out though in full disclosure I have to admit that I don’t quite fit the category, having been born in 1945. In fact, I’ve rather resisted being lumped in with the Boomers for most of my life. What I actually am is a War Baby and there are damned few of us, for obvious reasons.

Certainly, however, I am not averse to sharing my “wisdom” with you all, so I will think of myself as a sort of honorary Baby Boomer. I’ve been married to one for 36 years anyway.

So thanks to Heidi for the honor. I look forward to exploring the blogs on this list and hope that you all will give ‘em a look, too.

from The Groundhog

In June, amid the golden fields,
I saw a groundhog lying dead.
Dead lay he; my senses shook,
And mind outshot our naked frailty.
There lowly in the vigorous summer
His form began its senseless change,
And made my senses waver dim
Seeing nature ferocious in him.
Inspecting close his maggots’ might
And seething cauldron of his being,
Half with loathing, half with a strange love,
I poked him with an angry stick.

— Richard Eberhart

Read the rest at Poetry Out Loud.

Via Rebecca, let this be my entry in the Third Annual Brigid of Cyberspace Poetry Reading