Fired Up. Ready To Go

As we head to the dog days of summer, at least one public official seems to enjoy his job--President Barack Obama. Missing for the first six m0nths has been some of the heat of his campaign. Yesterday in New Jersey, at a campaign rally for Governor Jon Corzine President Obama was in total campaign mode with some of the fire we've been missing lately. I wish he would give one of these speeches per week. Later he addressed the centennial of the NAACP and delivered a masterful speech on racism, prejudice and the enduring problems of inequality in the United States. The MSM basically covered the speech as calling for a new mindset for blacks--which it did--but he also talked at length at the "structural inequalities" within American society--something conveniently left out of the press coverage.

From there we went straight to Pat Buchanan appearing on the Rachel Maddow Show remindingeveryone that white males wrote the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and built everything ( with the help of slave labor) died at Gettysburg (a cause Pat would reject today), died on the beaches of Normandy and naturally deserve to have been 108 of the last 112 SupremeCourt Judges. Pat attacked Sotomayor as an affirmative action nominee. He also asserted that everyone graduates from Ivy league school these days cum laude--he didn't mention her graduating summa cum laude--which might strain the affirmative action theory. She also was her high school's valedictorian.But no matter--she hasn't demonstrated the type of intellect of Anthony Scalia or a Bob Bork. Instead of my idea of an Indian justice, let's finally put Laurence Tribe on the Court the next time to assuage the white males and see whether the Republicans will ooh and aah about his brilliance.

Pat went off on reverse discrimination faced by white males. But he didn't say that the white male problem is one of unemployment and the transfer of jobs abroad as facilitated by the white guys Bush and Cheney.

For the past week, we have been treated to the strange kibuki world of the hearings on confirming Judge Sotomayor by the Senate. Again, the Senate didn't disappoint in the clueless department. The Republican assault on the Judge was incomprehensible from a political point of view. Republican favorable ratings among Hispanics plunged to 7%. The cretinist level of questioning ranged from Sen. Coburn's imitation of Ricky Ricardo ( a Cuban, not Puerto Rican) to Sessions' whining about the "wise Latina". Some blogger remarked that the Republicans treated Judge Sotomayor as if she were a maid asking for a raise. The best blogging for the whole proceeding was Andrew Pincus over at www.talkingpointsmemo.com who actually tried to explain those rare moments when actual legal matters were discussed.

The Republicans tried out all their talking points from her alleged racism, her membership on a Puerto Rican civil rights group, to ruling against a white firefighter. In my mind, they only scored at the end when Sessions commented that she couldn't afford to be a Supreme Court judge--which might literally be true. He would know because he's filthy rich like most of the Senate. The process itself has been so degraded that a friend of Judge Sotomayor lamented that we didn't see the vibrant and intellectually engaging personality she knows. After the Bork debacle, the judges appearing for nomination have all been anodyne in their answers causing the head of the University of Virginia Law School to say we have lost a wonderful teaching moment about our Constitution and the art of law. In the end, Judge Sotomayor will be confirmed with 70+ votes.

Which raises the issue of why the Republican Party allowed Southerners to lead the charge against her and what strategy they had in alienating the growing Hispanic population. In a fight they knew they would not win, they should have backed off in my opinion. But then again, I've felt their total resistance to anything suggested by President Obama is suicidal. Pat Buchanan, the first culture warrior, has been espousing a return to the Nixon strategy of fueling white resentment against both minorities and those elites who graduate cum laude from Ivy League colleges. Pat's not alone. The American Spectator is predicting a "political earthquake" in the 2010 elections as a response to the Obama Administration. I'm afraid it's still true that you have to beat something with something. Republicans are counting on low turnouts of minorities in off-year elections so they can ramp up the white turnout for Republicans. Maybe that will succeed but they came off as assholes during the Sotomayor hearings.

My favorite moment was the exchange between Orrin Hatch and Sotomayor over her ruling in a case that involved nunchuks. Clearly Hatch had been prepped this was a staright Second Amenment case involving something to do with gun rights when it was nothing of the sort. Sotomayor at least could go "street" by explaining what nunchuks could do.

Another great moment was the discussion of our "god-given right of self-defense", terminology right out of the NRA presented by Senator Coburn. Obama's friendship with the reactionary Senator still amazes me.

This has also been the week when all of the Republican adulterers have been linked to the C Street refuge of the Family, a secretive Christianist cult where boarders share confidences that get them off the hook because they are "elected by God", a theme we will be seeing more in the next few years. Senator Ensign lodged there and Gov Sanford was given spiritual advice there. Senator Coburn, who knew of both men's infidelities, claims patient doctor confidentiality as well as some implied oath of silence since he is an ordained deacon--not minister--of his church. Yesterday, another former Republican Congressman from Mississippi was also exposed as having an affair, who lived there. The big winner of this was Jeff Sharlet, author of The Family, a book detailing the role of the Family in American politics and explaining the present state of fundamentalism and politics in the country. He lucked out because the affairs hit as his book was released in paperback.

I still am checking into www.themudflats.net --great Eagle shot the other day. They are reporting that the feds are in Alaska checking out the state's woeful medical situation. The week has seen Chief Evangelist Sarah Palin drifting out of the limelight despite tweeting about Bears. Apparently, the Alaska legislature is being called back into emergency session to deal with the succession, not secession issue and to overturn the Palin's veto on the stimulus funds.

Finally, kudos to Bob Costasfor the best interview with President Obama--twenty minutes solely on baseball. Obama admitted his first favorites were the old Oakland A's with Vida Blue and Reggie Jackson. A favorite team of mine. Remember when Charles Finley tried to get Vida to change his name to "True Blue.