I have had to really try hard not to check my usual news sources for updates on the election - you can easily go nuts doing so - instead, I tuned into a really good presentation by Naomi Klein which took place last month in Santa Cruz - if you have about 20 minutes or so, I HIGHLY recommend
tuning in.
I voted for Obama via absentee ballot - as Klein says, he is a centrist - and he seems to value consensus more highly than any other leader that I remember in my lifetime (sidebar: my earliest political memory is from the Carter administration, writing letters in 3rd grade to the Ayatollah Khomeni, asking for the hostages to be released). However, as Klein says, we have a major opportunity between now and January to put pressure on Obama (assuming he's elected) to appoint key people to his administration who could have a truly positive impact. It bothers me that Robert Rubin, for example, is currently one of Obama's key advisors - the guy who, under Clinton, was instrumental in pushing through deregulation of the financial, telecommunication and energy industries that have led to the mess we're in. Apparently, in his 2004 memoirs, he called it "
financial-market confidence" - uh, yeah. Rubin, who should be hanging his head in shame, is key advisor to the figure of hope that millions are desperately clinging to - at this critical time in history. He's gotta go!!!
We'd better wake up and demand change, or we're going the way of the Romans. And with that, my baby is kicking at my ribs, I haven't showered, and it's time to get off my soapbox.
