America's Day of Reckoning Has Arrived

“The State of Our Economy is a Concern that Rises Above All Others”

U.S. Presidents usually give a major speech before a joint session of Congress when they have served for a year. President Barack Obama could not wait that long. He spoke on Tuesday night because America needed a stopper. He accomplished that, and provided an outline for the future.

President Obama delivered a serious, ambitious speech. It was realistic, pointing out past mistakes and emphasizing responsibility and accountability. It was holistic, calling for new energy, health care and education initiatives to address our cultural and economic deficiencies and foster sustainable prosperity.

The President did what a new leader needs to do in a complex, deteriorating situation – he bought some time. He gave us the big picture; now we need the details. It is crucial that a solid plan for the banking system be forthcoming.

Republican Response Recycles Vaporware

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal gave the opposition party's response. It was, in a word, weak. Gov. Jindal offered little guidance and less vision, essentially saying to Americans: Folks, we'll lower your taxes and you're on your own. Evidently, the Republican plan is no plan.

Read the full text of President Obama's speech at the Washington Post.

Images of the Inauguration

The inauguration of President Barack Obama was prominent on the front page of newspapers from Anchorage, Alaska to the South China Sea. Ben Wikler's montage celebrates the event.

If you want to see more than the television networks' pool video of the historic day, I recommend the Boston Globe's Big Picture page, and the amazing 1,474 megapixel gigapan image captured by David Bergman. For the best viewing experience, click on his full screen link.

Wikler's page and the Big Picture will take a while to load if you don't have a broadband connection.

Update, 1-24-09 at 2:05 AM: AXcess News reports that London-based IHS Jane's has analyzed satellite imagery of the inauguration and estimates that between 1.031 million and 1.411 million people were present.

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

It’s been a long
A long time coming, but I know oh-oo-oh
A change is gonna come
Oh yes it will.

A Change is Gonna Come – Sam Cooke

Credit: Brandan313 on Dailymotion, Thanks to Ta-Nehisi Coates

Waterboarding is Torture

Waterboarding is Torture. The Power of a Simple Declarative Sentence

Attorney General nominee Eric Holder was questioned by the Senate Judiciary Committee at his confirmation hearing on Thursday. Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy asked Holder if he agreed that waterboarding was torture and illegal. The Attorney General-designate replied:

If you look at the history of the use of that technique, used by the Khmer Rouge, used in the Inquisition, used by the Japanese and prosecuted by us as war crimes. We prosecuted our own soldiers for using it in Vietnam. I agree with you, Mr. Chairman, waterboarding is torture.

This past Sunday, President-elect Barack Obama stated his view on waterboarding in this answer to a question from George Stephanopoulos on ABC's This Week:

For example, Vice President Cheney, I think, continues to defend what he calls extraordinary measures or procedures when it comes to interrogations, and from my view waterboarding is torture. I have said that under my administration we will not torture.

Alberto Gonzales, Michael Mukasey:
May I Have Your Attention?

(Thanks to Think Progress)

An Open Note to Mr. Gonzales, Mr. Mukasey, and Everyone Who Supported or Enabled Them:

President-elect Obama and Attorney General-designate Holder are not promulgating a new legal precedent classifying waterboarding as torture. Mr. Gonzales and Mr. Mukasey, you were wrong; your circumstantial legal relativism contradicts the Geneva Conventions and the U.S. Constitution. The rule of law is not to be interpreted at your personal or political convenience.

Mr. Gonzales, your tenure as Attorney General was a failure and a disgrace. Mr. Mukasey, your choice to look the other way is reprehensible.


Torture – Ending The Ugly Reality Will Require Accountability

For nearly 8 years, propaganda, guile, and self-serving amnesia obscured an ugly reality. Most of Congress suspended critical thought and ignored its oversight responsibilities until 2006. Even then, the Democratic leadership tempered accountability with political expediency. The damage done won't repair itself. It will take a lawful reckoning to restore the rule of law and move us forward. Recently, on the presidential transition website, Change.gov, the question submitted most often was, “Will you appoint a Special Prosecutor (ideally Patrick Fitzgerald) to independently investigate the gravest crimes of the Bush Administration, including torture and warrantless wiretapping?"

A George W. Bush for President 2000 campaign brochure opens with these words:

I’m running for President because I want to help usher in the responsibility era, where people understand they are responsible for the choice they make and are held accountable for their actions.

It would be fitting and just that his administration ends with nothing less.

Edited 1-16-09 at 11:00 pm

Howard Dean Gave Democrats a Future Edge

Sixteen years ago, Joel Arthur Barker created a modern definition of pioneers in his highly regarded book, Future Edge. He wrote that “pioneers take the risk, go out early, and make the new territory safe," and that paradigm pioneers “are the first to follow the rough pathway that paradigm shifters have uncovered."

Barack Obama's campaign, with his successful internet organizing and fund raising, 10 million address email list, and record setting get-out-the-vote effort, is a paradigm pioneer.

Howard Dean is a paradigm shifter. His failed presidential bid in 2004 was the first political campaign to make functional use of the internet. In 2005, he was elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Dean did not always follow party orthodoxy. He created a 50-state strategy, with the goal of organizing Democrats in every voting precinct in America. In 2006, some party leaders urged him to pull funds from traditional red states. They wanted to spend that money to increase the chances for gains in the midterm congressional elections. Howard Dean refused.

Dean's 2004 internet model was the rough pathway for Obama's internet campaign. Dean energized young voters using tools like Meetup.com. He was vehemently opposed to invading Iraq. Chairman Dean's 50-state strategy enabled Obama's GOTV success. When Barack Obama announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate, Howard Dean was one of the first to endorse him.

Governor Dean's DNC chairmanship expires in January of 2009. He will not pursue another term. The paradigm shifter has redefined Democratic politics.

Edited 11-13-08 at 6:18 pm.

A Web of Democracy

Expectations for President-elect Obama are framed, to a large degree, by the perceived performance of President Bush. The current president's low approval ratings hardly measure the level of opprobrium many voters feel toward George W. Bush. In recent months, acquaintances my age, many of whom rarely spoke about politics, were saying that they hadn't contributed to a candidate before, but … , or they never volunteered for a campaign before, but … . One qualifier was a version of the same perception; the country is headed in the wrong direction, or worse – because of Bush, America is headed into decline. The other qualifier was unanimous; Barack Obama offers hope, competence, and a renewed pride in our democracy. In other words, an antidote.

Young voters favored Obama by a lopsided margin. According to Future Majority, counting only those age 18-29, the President-elect tallied 455 electoral college votes to Sen. McCain's 57 (additionally, there was no data for 20 votes and 6 were tied). Those numbers continue an age group preference for Democratic presidential candidates that began in 1992. Their political memories contrast the presidency of George W. Bush to that of Bill Clinton. They typically reject the hot-button social issues that motivate many Republican voters. Obama was the natural choice for this race-blind, ethnically diverse generation.

The challenges facing the new president present huge opportunities. Leaders are measured by how they deal with big problems. Those problems also present great risk. The conflict in Afghanistan is likely to escalate. Pakistan, their nuclear-armed neighbor, is in crisis. The financial market mess is on everyone's front page. Barack Obama will need a long grace period, and we will need some good news.

The key to extending the electorate's patience is transparency and participation. As he did in his campaign, President-elect Obama is expected to use the web to inform and involve citizens. The first step in that transition is the new site, Change.gov.

Obama's campaign email database is estimated to exceed 10 million addresses. Over 125 million people voted in the presidential election. Participation creates accountability. Will citizens become the biggest special interest group in America?

The possibility is more than a maverick could imagine: everyone wired, everyone welcome.

Tonight is Your Answer

The Bradley effect has become a footnote in history. Future conversations will marvel about the Obama effect. At 11:00 pm, the major television networks declared that Barack Obama is the President-elect of the United States. The work of a long campaign is done. Now, the work begins.

Update: Forbes.com has posted the text of President-elect Obama's victory speech.

Rubbing Two Sticks Together – A Robocall Chronicle

While Barack Obama chooses YouTube and Web 2.0 to extend his reach, the McCain campaign is using a century-old technology to contact selected voters in Western Pennsylvania: the telephone.

I vote. I'm in the phone book. They found me.

The calls began on a Wednesday, near the end of October. John McCain, Sarah Palin and the Republican National Committee dispatched an unidentified male voice to let me know that “elitist Democrats say they understand us, but Barack Obama and Joe Biden say (in Biden's voice), ‘No coal plants here in America. Build them, if they're gonna build them over there …'."

On Thursday, Gov. Tom Ridge let me know that “if the Democrats win full control of government, they would want to give traditional civil rights to terrorists and talk unconditionally to dictators and state sponsors of terror. Barack Obama and his Democrat allies lack the experience and judgment to lead America."

Saturday brought Hank Williams, Jr., into my living room to warn me that “Elitist Democrats in Washington talk a lot about feeling the pain on ‘Main Street,' but it was their ties to greed and corruption on Wall Street that cost good, honest, American jobs. With values like these, we can't trust Barack Obama and his elitist liberal allies to represent us for the next 4 years." Hank virtually spit the last sentence out.

Silence for a week; then, the unidentified male was back to inform me that “there's more to Obama's record on the 2nd Amendment than he wants you to know. Barack Obama says he stands with gun owners, but his record says something different. Obama has supported a complete ban on handgun ownership, opposes concealed carry permits, and even voted to strip legal protection, freezing firearms for self-defense at home."

That Sunday, the RNC had Hillary Clinton interrupt my dinner. The recording, excised from the notorious 3:oo am phone call speech that she gave in March, 2008, went like this: “In the White House there is no time for speeches and on the job training. Senator McCain will bring a lifetime of experience to the campaign, and Senator Obama will bring a speech he gave in 2002. I think that is a significant difference."

Just in time for dessert, the phone rang again. “I'm calling on behalf of John McCain," a female voice announced, “to tell you that coal jobs, which are so important to our community, are in jeopardy. Listen to Barack Obama's plans to bankrupt the coal industry." An Obama clip, out of context, plays: “So, if somebody wants to build a coal -powered plant they can. It's just that it will bankrupt them because they're (unintelligible) be charged a huge sum for all that, ah, greenhouse gas that's being emitted."

The most striking thing about all this inflammatory rhetoric, unsubstantiated assertions and out of context quotes, was the last call. Bankrupt is there twice. It's the word I remember, and associate with the campaign. That's called a takeaway. John McCain's robocalls, bankrupt.

More Change Than You Can Believe?

Veteran Democratic Party campaign strategist Joe Trippi has calculated that YouTube videos posted by the Obama campaign, which have amassed 14.5 million hours viewed, are the equivalent of $46-$47 million worth of paid advertising. Add the large volume of citizen-produced videos to that total and you can see why Trippi maintains that, regardless of the election outcome, Barack Obama marks the end of the television presidency.

Joe Trippi speculates that, if Obama wins, he might transfer the net support of my.barackobama.com to the White House. A social network numbering in the millions could be quickly mobilized to pressure special-interest allied Congress members who oppose popular legislative initiatives.

In comparison, Trippi says that the Republican Party's internet strategy is the equivalent of rubbing 2 sticks together.

Visionary ideas are often met with skepticism, but timing favors Joe Trippi. A financial crisis has Americans paying closer attention to Washington, D.C. The potential exists for a democratization of the federal government that citizens of all political parties might embrace. Key elements for such a shift would be wired access for the populace, and a newly-elected President Barack Obama's leadership ability. Will it happen? I don't know, but I do know that The Internet Changes Everything.

Joe Trippi's remarks are from a discussion today, hosted by Simon Rosenberg of NDN. It was broadcast on C-Span.