Blog Archive

standing between the darkness and the light

http://ronin-kakuhito.livejournal.com/286861.html
I need a better job.

I was wandering around the mall today, looking at various things of the thingish persuasion (mostly I wanted to see if either of the game stores had any of the games I'm looking for, if anyone had an appropriately sized and "stylish" white hat for me, and if halmark had a sale on ornaments so I could get some for my eventual spaceship tree. Answer was no.)

The folks ringing the bells in the mall had a wish tree or what have you.

Let's just leave it at I need a better job.

On my way home this evenng, via a "short cut"

http://ronin-kakuhito.livejournal.com/286558.html

Heard on my ride home through suburbia:
"Oh joy.
Lost in suburbia.
In the dark.
Again.
...
I hate suburbia."

So far, it looks like yours truly is going to be not doing the group dinner thing for thanksgiving. *chuckles* well at least that means that I won't need to buy the nicer turkey, though I was sort of hoping to get to play around with a couple of different food types for a mixed trophic levels crowd.

Last night
Heading home.
My paths diverge.
One long.
One short.
The long one has the virtues of interest, light, noise, and people.
The short, being short.
Down the longer path also lie morally suspect cookies.
Alas, justice is served again.
And I am home earlier than expected.

So I bought a new thing. I now have a frame for my futon mattress. I've not had a post floor bed in years.

facebookery

Created a new facebook group. Well, actually, two.
One, http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=36499608854 is a serious group for the development of Roninlabs.
The other, http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=34841677559 is a parody of Against the So-Called Freedom of Choice Act.

putzing

http://ronin-kakuhito.livejournal.com/283926.html
so, putzing about the memespace is mostly a 2+ player game apparently.

illustration ex post facto

http://ronin-kakuhito.livejournal.com/283655.html

So a couple of nights ago I was at the Lezbopalooza work party. I've been pitching in some consulting work for Lezbopalooza and since I wasn't going to be able to make it, I figured I'd help get stuff ready. Mostly, I cut out disks of paper for buttons.
Well, the conversation ranged across a lot of topics and eventually came to biking and traffic laws.
I chided someone about riding through a stop sign and shortly thereafter mentioned that I tend to stop at stop signs in deserted areas in the middle of the night. For which I was told by another member of the conversation that I was well conditioned (or trained or something) to follow society's rules or some similar snideness. As I didn't really feel like lecturing or arguing, I shrugged an "as you will" and let it pass.
I meant to blog about it last night, but I forgot.
Last night, I was riding home in the rain and the dark, and I was coming to a stop sign at the bottom of a hill. I was playing with by breaks, experimenting with their ability to stop me while wet (poor) and while going down a hill (we were accelerating) and a goodly bit up the hill I decided that I was going to do the far back rolling stop and lunge thing. Except I was rather interested in the acceleration while breaking thing and I decided to keep playing with it for a bit. While I was doing that, a car came around a turn that, in the dark, I had no idea existed and rushed through the stop sign (perpendicular to my route of travel) without even slowing down. Now I am not sure that the car and I would have had a close encounter of the ouchy kind if I'd not kept playing with my breaks, but the timing would have been damned close.

Part of why we have rules like "stop at stop signs even when there isn't anyone coming the other ways" is that we have an imperfect knowledge of reality and this category of rule allows us some extra time to help develop a little more knowledge in a manner that occasionally keeps us from harm. That's why I tend to follow rules like that when they do me no harm and present me with little inconvenience.

annals of awesome, part the second

http://ronin-kakuhito.livejournal.com/283625.html

Taylor.
From my, admittedly limited, viewpoint, Taylor is the motive force behind Lezbopalooza this year. She works at a community bookstore and in active in about two hundred bazillion different organizations, she sponsors people and events, and if she hasn't yet discovered emotionally that you don't have to go broke doing good, or that you don't have to be on all the time, those are to her great credit. She and I disagree on the modes and ethics of activism, with hers being a purer, more unbending form of personal activism. She holds herself to her own standards without apparent limit or flex. I on the other hand, am a tactical activist, frequently focused on the goal to the exclusion of the means. She lives her causes. If I am, as a few have said, harder on myself than I deserve, Taylor sets herself impossible standards while still allowing others their failures (and most likely doesn't even see it as such) without limit or apparent judgment.

If I am the tarnished Paladin, the is the real thing, the gentle and passionate champion of Right. Ten years from now, when she looks back, she will have done great and wonderful works. She will have changed worlds. If I can make her path, and the paths of people like her, smoother, then I will have done good works of my own.

She and her brothers and sisters are what Ronin Labs is for.

points of light

http://ronin-kakuhito.livejournal.com/283259.html
I find myself surrounded by awesome people whose names I never catch.
For example, I’ve told several of my friends the story of the puppy I’ve been playing with at one of the local pet shops. She was a wire hair fox terrier and she was there for several months. Now, those of you who know me, know that the amount of time that it takes me to bond with animals that are in the least bit affectionate can be measured in low digits of heart beats, so I was quite fond of this little puppy after a short while (I mean seriously, she would try to eat my hair and my shoes and she’d maul my hand. What is not to like?) Well, I can’t afford a dog at the moment so I went in several times a week to play with this (not particularly cute) puppy. Well, when I told people that the puppy I’ve been talking about was sold, most of them expressed sympathy. And obviously expected me to be sad.
The pet shop girl? (Well, pet shop young woman, but “pet shop girl” has a certain sound to it.) She came up to me and announced that my wire hair terrier had been sold in a tone that expected me to be excited too.

She gets it.

in other news

http://ronin-kakuhito.livejournal.com/282998.html

So, in other news,

I now have a slightly less ancient computer (it was given to me. AMD 1.5 ghz, 1 mb ram, XP box. I did some playing around to give it things it previously lacked.)

I replaced the back wheel of my bike. This is a harder task than it looks like. But now I know how.

I'm wearing a sweatshirt thingy tied around my waist. Preppy and convenient.

My dog got sold. This is mostly a good thing since I couldn't buy her.

In related news to the first post, I now have a 17 inch monitor.

I mulched just under half of the front thing of the apartment.

I planted bulbs for next spring (hopefully the squirrels aren't reading this.)

I missed yet another VagMon meeting. I wish that reminders were sent out at least 20 hours earlier.

Still searching for a better job.

Amy Gardner from the WW is still about the epitome of hot.

I'm now on facebook.

I am playing D&D Tiny Adventures. This is almost like playing D&D, except not interactive.

FF 12 is still the best story teller of the FF games since 4. And the starwars movies before 4.

The kitchen has been swept for the first time since we moved in. One of us needs a girlfriend so as to be motivated to do more (and insist on the other one doing more) housework.

I'm still mostly not spending enough time at home for me to get the housework bug.

I'm reading All the Windwracked Stars. so far it is standing up to my expectations. I'm tapping my toes for Chill though.

The same with the next book in the Cybermage series.

And the Dresden Files series.

A little less so for the Game of Thrones series, but that's because the next book is supposed to be about the characters I'm bored by.

Replaced the burnt out bulb in the front room. Seriously, we moved a lamp into the room to avoid replacing the bulb. (In my defense, I did go buy bulbs right after it burnt out. They just weren't the right size.)

I saw a flyer for the first thing that Ronin Labs has helped support. My logo is a negative of the actual log, but that's ok.

See, not everything in my life is politics, activism, or advocacy.

olbermann on the destruction of marriages ammendment in CA

http://ronin-kakuhito.livejournal.com/282591.html




Finally tonight as promised, a Special Comment on the passage, last week, of Proposition Eight in California, which rescinded the right of same-sex couples to marry, and tilted the balance on this issue, from coast to coast.

Some parameters, as preface. This isn't about yelling, and this isn't about politics, and this isn't really just about Prop-8. And I don't have a personal investment in this: I'm not gay, I had to strain to think of one member of even my very extended family who is, I have no personal stories of close friends or colleagues fighting the prejudice that still pervades their lives.

And yet to me this vote is horrible. Horrible. Because this isn't about yelling, and this isn't about politics. This is about the human heart, and if that sounds corny, so be it.

If you voted for this Proposition or support those who did or the sentiment they expressed, I have some questions, because, truly, I do not understand. Why does this matter to you? What is it to you? In a time of impermanence and fly-by-night relationships, these people over here want the same chance at permanence and happiness that is your option. They don't want to deny you yours. They don't want to take anything away from you. They want what you want—a chance to be a little less alone in the world.

Only now you are saying to them—no. You can't have it on these terms. Maybe something similar. If they behave. If they don't cause too much trouble. You'll even give them all the same legal rights—even as you're taking away the legal right, which they already had. A world around them, still anchored in love and marriage, and you are saying, no, you can't marry. What if somebody passed a law that said you couldn't marry?

I keep hearing this term "re-defining" marriage. If this country hadn't re-defined marriage, black people still couldn't marry white people. Sixteen states had laws on the books which made that illegal in 1967. 1967.

The parents of the President-Elect of the United States couldn't have married in nearly one third of the states of the country their son grew up to lead. But it's worse than that. If this country had not "re-defined" marriage, some black people still couldn't marry black people. It is one of the most overlooked and cruelest parts of our sad story of slavery. Marriages were not legally recognized, if the people were slaves. Since slaves were property, they could not legally be husband and wife, or mother and child. Their marriage vows were different: not "Until Death, Do You Part," but "Until Death or Distance, Do You Part." Marriages among slaves were not legally recognized.

You know, just like marriages today in California are not legally recognized, if the people are gay.

And uncountable in our history are the number of men and women, forced by society into marrying the opposite sex, in sham marriages, or marriages of convenience, or just marriages of not knowing, centuries of men and women who have lived their lives in shame and unhappiness, and who have, through a lie to themselves or others, broken countless other lives, of spouses and children, all because we said a man couldn't marry another man, or a woman couldn't marry another woman. The sanctity of marriage.

How many marriages like that have there been and how on earth do they increase the "sanctity" of marriage rather than render the term, meaningless?

What is this, to you? Nobody is asking you to embrace their expression of love. But don't you, as human beings, have to embrace... that love? The world is barren enough.

It is stacked against love, and against hope, and against those very few and precious emotions that enable us to go forward. Your marriage only stands a 50-50 chance of lasting, no matter how much you feel and how hard you work.

And here are people overjoyed at the prospect of just that chance, and that work, just for the hope of having that feeling. With so much hate in the world, with so much meaningless division, and people pitted against people for no good reason, this is what your religion tells you to do? With your experience of life and this world and all its sadnesses, this is what your conscience tells you to do?

With your knowledge that life, with endless vigor, seems to tilt the playing field on which we all live, in favor of unhappiness and hate... this is what your heart tells you to do? You want to sanctify marriage? You want to honor your God and the universal love you believe he represents? Then Spread happiness—this tiny, symbolic, semantical grain of happiness—share it with all those who seek it. Quote me anything from your religious leader or book of choice telling you to stand against this. And then tell me how you can believe both that statement and another statement, another one which reads only "do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

You are asked now, by your country, and perhaps by your creator, to stand on one side or another. You are asked now to stand, not on a question of politics, not on a question of religion, not on a question of gay or straight. You are asked now to stand, on a question of love. All you need do is stand, and let the tiny ember of love meet its own fate.

You don't have to help it, you don't have it applaud it, you don't have to fight for it. Just don't put it out. Just don't extinguish it. Because while it may at first look like that love is between two people you don't know and you don't understand and maybe you don't even want to know. It is, in fact, the ember of your love, for your fellow person just because this is the only world we have. And the other guy counts, too.

This is the second time in ten days I find myself concluding by turning to, of all things, the closing plea for mercy by Clarence Darrow in a murder trial.

But what he said, fits what is really at the heart of this:

"I was reading last night of the aspiration of the old Persian poet, Omar-Khayyam," he told the judge. It appealed to me as the highest that I can vision. I wish it was in my heart, and I wish it was in the hearts of all: So I be written in the Book of Love; I do not care about that Book above. Erase my name, or write it as you will, So I be written in the Book of Love."

considerations, setting aside the past

http://ronin-kakuhito.livejournal.com/282667.html

So, I've been having a bit of an exchange of emails with an old friend over a fundamental difference in our world views. He made a comment in our latest exchange to the effect that he was sad about my apostasy as he was sure I was sad about his continued membership in an organization that I see as evil. Personally I'd say that I'm not apostate, not that I find the word insulting. I renounced a religion, not a faith. I quit taking part in the members only aspects of rituals that I had never believed in when I sorted out that not believing in them was reason enough to not take part in them. Apostasy is, by my lights, a renunciation of a previous belief and taking part in rituals isn't the same as believing in them. Er.. that wasn't what I was going to write about... ooh look a butterfly!

I was going to deny that I thought his Church was an evil organization, but as I was trying to figure out the wording for what I wanted to say, I realized that that wouldn't be true. His church was a major sponsor of proposition 8, a constitutional amendment in California that destroyed existing marriages in order to "protect" marriage. The bishops in Africa have been spreading disinformation about condoms and HIV, disinformation that is used to decrease women's bodily sovereignty and which works to speed the spread of HIV through the population. The church itself has acted to shield child molesters from legal consequences. It censures or worse members who refuse to tell the people who they minister to that their lifestyles sexual identities are fundamentally disordered. They encourage members in representative and democratic societies to be single issue voters at the expense of social goods and civil liberties. The list of (current) evils perpetrated by the church is overwhelming. Yes, it does a great deal of good in the world, but that good is insufficient to counter the basic position against human dignity and growth. (By the by, those of you who possess or are possessed by a church of your own, you should take a good look at this list and see how much your own church does that is against human dignity. And work to change that. His church is particularly unamenable to change by members who aren't actually part of the hierarchy, and the centralized structure makes the sins of the parts the responsibility of the whole in a manner that is not replicated by groups like the Episcopal church.)

and thus do I take up my shield

http://ronin-kakuhito.livejournal.com/282125.html

So the other side of the thing I was talking abut last night (the one that wasn't the election. Remember, I don't only talk about the election and how awesome the people who helped us win the election dispite ourselves are.)

My sister recieved a reply to her message (I numbered the sentences):

"Subject Line: That is incredibly sick, hurtful, and not funny.
1. Brie, Do you understand what FOCA DOES? 2. It overturns all state and local resrtrictions on abortion. 3. It makes Partial Birth Abortion legal again. 4. It means full term babies, otherwise healthy, can be killed in utero when they're OLDER then Ben was when he was born. 5. It means Drs and Hospitals are FORCED to perform abortions, even against their beliefs.

6. It's about removing the chance to choose for life. 7. It takes federal funding away from crisis pregnancy centers and 8. provides taxpayer funsding for abortion.

9. It is pure evil, and I'm sorry you don't see that.

10. Goodbye."

1. Irrelivant.
2. Well, no shit. That is the meat of the act, and a direct blow against those who are opposed to a woman's right to control her own body (actually, what it does is force all of those laws to undergo the highest level of scrutiny applicable under the courts. If the law is not over-reaching what it is allowed to do, it is fine.)
3. Well, here we come to a bit of memetic theater from the anti-choice crowd. Partial birth abortion is a term that was created as a political tool. It doesn't show up anywhere in the literature. As such it is amprphous term, if not semantically null. It is also a valuable procedure for ensuring a woman's health after a late term abortion (admittedly, most anti-choice folks want women to suffer as much as possible for their abortions)
4. That's not actually true. It specifically affects laws that are set before the stage of viability.
5. I think we all know my thoughts on doctors who won't do their jobs.
6. Except no, it isn't. Allowing someone else to make a given choice doesn't keep you from making the opposite choice.
7. Well, about damend time. These places are actively harmful, they mislead and decieve women who come to them for help.
"Women describe being harassed, intimidated, and given blatantly false information, or being forced to pray with the crisis pregnancy center's staff. They complain that their confidential information was used against them. In some cases, they were followed home, and mail and phone calls intruded into their homes."
8. Again, good.
9 and 10. She then defriended my sister. There is some drama lama going on here... And removing a woman's right to reproductive health services and controll over her own body is "pure evil, and I'm sorry you don't see that."

So I screwed up a post last night. I changed the posting date in a manner that means that, unless you are reading directly from ronin_kakuhito@gmail.com or you have a very small inactive friends list, you are unlikely to have seen it. Honestly, it was mostly just a recap of a series of posts I'd already made, and I wasn't certain that I liked the formatting anyway. (Essentially it combined a series of independent posts into a single narrative. They do form a narrative, but I also think they work best as independent entities tied together by an outside post. Also, I do like the intro I wrote, but I think it works better in isolation as well.
A couple of notes.
I did very minimal editing of these posts. I wrote most of them long hand and transcribed them nearly verbatium. If you are expecting polish? Not so much.

On pronouns: I switch between the detached they and theirs and the personal we and ours throughout these entries. It usually is a reflection of my emorional state when I was writing whatever it is when I did so. I was attempting to keep some distance for my writing, but as I got more and more caught up in the events I was chronicling, I lost that distance. I could have fixed that in the edits, but I'd rather not.

So here it is once again, in a more internet centered format:

I spent last night surrounded by heroes, people whop have given more of themselves than anyone could have asked, people who for the last six months, the last fourteen months, the last two years have put everything on hold to try to bring America back to the country that we read about in our history books. I ended my night in tears. I was crying for many different reasons, some of which will be obvious a little bit down the page, but one of which is this: I knew that the biggest thing I will be able to do for these people who I spent the last three days with is these words, and that these words, if they are the best that I have written, if they are the best that I will ever write, they will fall short of what these people have done for me and for you and for America and for the world. I dedicate these words to the people I met at the Campaign for change between November Second and November Fourth 2008, I dedicate them to Domini, to McKenzie, to Ian, to Jeff, to Miguel, to Hope, and to the dozens of people whose names I can not recall or who I never knew.

October 31st 2008: Black Hats and Elections The events that lead me to visit the Obama Campaign:

November 2nd 2008: Serendipity Writ Large I had no idea what was going to happen. A confluence of events, a theft, two stores closed, and a bored night conspire to direct my life. Of course, I hardly noticed at the time:

November 3rd 2008 The Edge of History My first glimpse that there was something different about what I was doing, that there was something that I had missed.

Tuesday November 4th: More of the Day First thoughts, my first return to the campaign of the day:

Tuesday November 4th part 2 Election Night My thoughts during the returns.

I want to thank my friend Eva for her suggestion that one megapost is not really the best format for this work.

The edge of history

http://ronin-kakuhito.livejournal.com/281745.html

I spent last night surrounded by heroes, people whop have given more of themselves than anyone could have asked, people who for the last six months, the last fourteen months, the last two years have put everything on hold to try to bring America back to the country that we read about in our history books. I ended my night in tears. I was crying for many different reasons, some of which will be obvious a little bit down the page, but one of which is this: I knew that the biggest thing I will be able to do for these people who I spent the last three days with is these words, and that these words, if they are the best that I have written, if they are the best that I will ever write, they will fall short of what these people have done for me and for you and for America and for the world. I dedicate these words to the people I met at the Campaign for change between November Second and November Fourth 2008, I dedicate them to Domini, to McKenzie, to Ian, to Jeff, to Miguel, to Hope, and to the dozens of people whose names I can not recall or who I never knew.

October 31st 2008: The events that lead me to visit the Obama Campaign:

I got tuesday off work. That means that I can slog out to my polling place and vote that morning. I know I could have voted early or absentee, I could ride my bike or even call either of the campaigns for a ride (and tactically, I should call the McCain campaign, but really, no, that's the sort of shit the black hats do, not my side. Well, if I find the memebers of my side that do that sort of thing, I'm panning on meeting them in a dark ally some day, but I digress...) but call it a mediation on the system. I find that taking the time to walk some distance to the polls and then waiting in line to vote holds some value. (sadly, English lacks non-supernatural references for this whole category of event, but oh well, that's what I get for speaking a language with a basis in superstitious cultures. So all of them.) Essentially, one takes part in the spirit of the event by the saccrifice of some minimal time and effort. No utilitarian value, but a symbolic one, and you have to be pretty stubbornly blind to completely spurn the value of symbolisim both in the personal and public sphere.

Also, speaking of alleys, I have some folks I want to meet in one.
Riding in to work I see assorted campaign signs in people's yards. While I think that the blackhat candidate is a moral and political danger to the United Statea, I don't believe that his followers should be silenced. Especially when they are using their own space to unobtrusively post their message. Well, both his signs and the good guy's signs have occasionally been taken by people who would silence the supporters of one or the other candidate. Two I noticed in particular.
In one of the nicer neighborhoods on my ride to work, there is a lone McCain/Palin sign. This morning all that was out there was the metal stand the sign was supposed to be slipped over.
In another neighborhood, rather closer to home, an Obama/Biden sign is missing stand and all.
Even though I'm supporting Obama and even though that sign was an act trying to silence my own personal voice, I am more upset by the McCain sign. See the Obama sign was taken by McCain's supporters, a group who historically have worked to suppress the voices of their opposition through pretty vile tactics in a representitive government. I expect black hats to act like black hats and when they fail to do so, I am pleasantly suprised, but when they do act like black hats, I am not particularly bothered. I may take action to try to counter their actions, but they are black hats, and thus are expected to act like thugs.

On the other hand, when my own side does the same, I get pissed off. We are the fucking good guys ass holes. You are fucking dragging us down to the black hats' level by your actions. Please stop. I will eventually find you somewhere alone and far from help and remind you that decent people don't act like that. (I think the good guys should be turning some of the blackhats tactics and methods against them, but that doesn't mean amoral free for all.)

November 2nd 2008: I had no idea what was going to happen. A confluence of events, a theft, two stores closed, and a bored night conspire to direct my life. Of course, I hardly noticed at the time:

So I went stickering tonight.
I hadn't intended to.
I was going to get a pair of replacement yard signs then go to Box Car books and the game store. But BCBs and the Game store were closed, so I went back to the campaign for change and put stickers on fliers for them.
Talked with an older visitor there while we stickered, discussed the value of realpolitik (something that the Blackhats are immensely better at than the Democrats. Makes sense. The power structure in the bh party was forged in a cauldron of realpolitik devoid of humanity or compassion. This is known as the neocon revolution, and can be identified as when the Republicans traded conservatism for power.,) and generally had a good time.
Hee, my polling place is a church. This amuses me.

The Dems know how to have a good time doing good. This is a value that we should push in our culture.
(No I am not a democrat, save by default. I tend to vote tactically, and it is hard to find a decent person who is a non-democrat with a chance of winning in the US.)

November 3rd 2008 My first glimpse that there was something different about what I was doing, that there was something that I had missed.

I missed the edge of history. I start these words on the back steps of the Bloomington Obama Campaign Headquarters. Beautiful night and a promise of a spectacular dawn. I came to help. Instead I'm hiding out back writing. Typical really.

I am really not nor have I ever been the right person for this campaign. This isn't the place for cynics. These kids, and most of them really are kids, are trying to change the game. When I was their age, I loved the game, and now I am not sure that it can be changed. That isn't to say they can't win. The blackhats took 8 years in power and so massively fucked things up that they may have killed their revolution, the one that's been poisoning American politics since I was born. The blackhats set the field, they've darkened the tone of American politics, they've polarized the country in a way that may take the rest of my life to repair.

Moving back inside. Not sure where this is going and I need to go in and refocus on the swell of their energy.

Lots and lots of wireless routers.

Okay I'm back. I helped organize some things (I am very much a facilitator.) They have focata. I don't feel so bad about eating their food after helping out.

I missed the edge of history. 12 months ago, I was jobless. I saw campaigning related job listings and never stepped up to the plate. They all slipped past - over and over again until June when I got my job and essentially quit looking for them. I should have volunteered after the rally (some day eventually I'll finish blogging the rally for then not yet president Obama.) I should have joined these kids' cause. But I am not the right person at the right place or the right time. I'm not actually sure I've ever been that person.

Good people doing good things. That floats my boat, but my own works are always colored by era and my outlook and it is probably best that I am keeping out of the memetics side of this campaign.

Now it is after hours. I'm probably the only non-staffer left and they ran out of tasks for me hours ago. I'm watching comrades winding down and gearing up for one last big push to bring about a sea-change. I'm sitting on the edges looking in . Just a moment...

A young woman, Hope's her name, just dragged herself across the room and sank into a seat. She read one of the pieces of campaign literature that is scattered here and there in assorted boxes and a big grin captured her face, her shoulders straightened, and she got ready to start again. This is the campaign.

Sorry, didn't want to lose that.

Energy level - 11 pm. Incredible. I said this before. These are my people. Within the last hour Obama said something about Bobby Knight and Chris Matthews called Indiana for Obama. Bonhomme is not sufficient a word for the atmosphere.

I was just asked if I was a staffer. I wish. It's probably the stubble and the receding hair and the tired aspect. All evening people have been bringing them food. They have a woman who is driving some local up to Indiapolis tomorrow at ungodly early so he can go vote. Also, surrounded by the invincible beauty of youth. Two or three times I was recognized from yesterday.

I missed the edge of history. I hope to your assorted gods that a thing like this campaign is never needed. I hope we never fall so far that this degree of mobilization is needed. At the same time, it is awesome to see that a positive message can bring a level of response that is more traditionally associated with fear campaigns,

oops
...
McKinsey "It is the best day of our lives tomorrow."

back to the thread

associated with fear campaigns, campaigns run on a threat, be it brown people, or uppity women, or a scary godless elite, the suppression of your (massively in the majority) faith, etc. This time it is hope and change and a drawing back together that motivates, and it is the democrats mobilizing.

I missed the edge of history. But fortunately for me, history comes back for us.

As always,
Michael Phillips

November 4th 2008 Part one
I missed the edge of history. I start these words on the back steps of the Bloomington Obama Campaign Headquarters. Beautiful night and a promise of a spectacular dawn. I came to help. Instead I'm hiding out back writing. Typical really.

I am really not nor have I ever been the right person for this campaign. This isn't the place for cynics. These kids, and most of them really are kids, are trying to change the game. When I was their age, I loved the game, and now I am not sure that it can be changed. That isn't to say they can't win. The blackhats took 8 years in power and so massively fucked things up that they may have killed their revolution, the one that's been poisoning American politics since I was born. The blackhats set the field, they've darkened the tone of American politics, they've polarized the country in a way that may take the rest of my life to repair.

Moving back inside. Not sure where this is going and I need to go in and refocus on the swell of their energy.

Lots and lots of wireless routers.

Okay I'm back. I helped organize some things (I am very much a facilitator.) They have focata. I don't feel so bad about eating their food after helping out.

I missed the edge of history. 12 months ago, I was jobless. I saw campaigning related job listings and never stepped up to the plate. They all slipped past - over and over again until June when I got my job and essentially quit looking for them. I should have volunteered after the rally (some day eventually I'll finish blogging the rally for then not yet president Obama.) I should have joined these kids' cause. But I am not the right person at the right place or the right time. I'm not actually sure I've ever been that person.

Good people doing good things. That floats my boat, but my own works are always colored by era and my outlook and it is probably best that I am keeping out of the memetics side of this campaign.

Now it is after hours. I'm probably the only non-staffer left and they ran out of tasks for me hours ago. I'm watching comrades winding down and gearing up for one last big push to bring about a sea-change. I'm sitting on the edges looking in . Just a moment...

A young woman, Hope's her name, just dragged herself across the room and sank into a seat. She read one of the pieces of campaign literature that is scattered here and there in assorted boxes and a big grin captured her face, her shoulders straightened, and she got ready to start again. This is the campaign.

Sorry, didn't want to lose that.

Energy level - 11 pm. Incredible. I said this before. These are my people. Within the last hour Obama said something about Bobby Knight and Chris Matthews called Indiana for Obama. Bonhomme is not sufficient a word for the atmosphere.

I was just asked if I was a staffer. I wish. It's probably the stubble and the receding hair and the tired aspect. All evening people have been bringing them food. They have a woman who is driving some local up to Indiapolis tomorrow at ungodly early so he can go vote. Also, surrounded by the invincible beauty of youth. Two or three times I was recognized from yesterday.

I missed the edge of history. I hope to your assorted gods that a thing like this campaign is never needed. I hope we never fall so far that this degree of mobilization is needed. At the same time, it is awesome to see that a positive message can bring a level of response that is more traditionally associated with fear campaigns,

oops
...
McKinzey "It is the best day of our lives tomorrow."

back to the thread

associated with fear campaigns, campaigns run on a threat, be it brown people, or uppity women, or a scary godless elite, the suppression of your (massively in the majority) faith, etc. This time it is hope and change and a drawing back together that motivates, and it is the democrats mobilizing.

I missed the edge of history. But fortunately for me, history comes back for us.

As always,
Michael Phillips

November 4th 2008 Election Night.
November 4th 2008, 17:00

Back at headquarters, one hour before the polls close. Most of the campaigners are out with signs and flyers, a last ditch effort to remind people to vote. The people left are making sure that the poll closers know what to do. They are making sure that people know that if they are in line by 6 pm, that they can't be turned away. The returns begin in an hour and people are trickling in to return their final canvassing packets.

I'm in the standard journalist anthropologist position, hovering near the food. There is a spectacular spicy chex mix. I'm wearing my camouflage, a bike helmet, obama, and activism tee shirt (take back the night), a sort of portable blind behind which I can watc h and write.



I just finished calling everyone on my phone who I am not sure voted and whose vote isn't a guaranteed vote for the bad guys.. (I'm not all that good at uninvolved observer really…) Somehow I'm not being targeted for any of the last minute to save the world brigades.



Back at the food, people are continuiously amazed as they walk by at the generosity of the folks who donated food.



15 minutes to go and we have mostly wound down the phone efforts.



18:00 hours, the polls closed – Several cheers. Fivethirtyeight is calling for an electorial college landslide. A returning driver is telling a story of rescuing a lost group of voters, rushing them to the polling place with scant minutes to spare.



18:30, someone mentioned that we weren't done here Indiana.

Google says that Lake County, Newton, Perry, Gibson, Spencer, Starke, Vanderburg, Jasper, Warrick, and LaPorte counties are still open. The campaign office has reopened the phone lines and now Activate is being set to connect them to uncovered voters in western Indiana. I've got volunteers mistaking me for staff again, but now I've been here long enough to know how to answer many of their questions and I can use it to help organize the effort.



The numbers for Monroe county are now coming in. Districts that were 50/50 last time are 55/45 or 60/40 now. We are gaining points even where we aren't winning here in Indiana. Places that were 75% for bush are now 35% McCain. I was going to head over to the IU returns parties, but the atmosphere here is better.



we watch the polls on someone's laptop. Cheering at every county, every precinct, each falling out exactly as predicted. I'm talking to kids who did map projects when they were in grade school back in 2000 and who woke up to find their maps wrong. Many of them are being careful to not get too attachd to the win, but I think that in this case, Obama is right. Hope is never false. (Admittedly, this is about the time that I saw that Bruce Schneier was not only calling it for Obama, but he was calling 538 and Princeton election consortium too pessimistic in their calls. This is when I decided intellectually that we won.)



Next we close down and head to Opie Taylors where the returns are on the wall and every screen. The noise is awesome, the excitement palpable. None of the hesitation I noticed in the office has made it through the doors. I walk in with the folks who closed the campaign office, and the noise is awesome the excitement palpable. I do wish the TVs had closed captioning on though.



I love these people, these children of the age of cynical and trash politics, of Regan and Rove and destroying your opponent in the elections so that you can't work with them in the aftermath. Of doing anything to win and failing that doing all that you can to sabotage the winners' efforts to govern. These kids are the future of this republic, and they are not a future of scorched earth and 50% + 1 victories. Even now, in the middle of returns, in the early stages of winning a contest that has eaten months and years of their lives, they hold no more acrimony toward their opponents than was earned by the tactics used by the republicans, and even that is muted.



Also? Lack of access to data reminds me forcefully that I want a laptop.



Iain 13 Iain gets a call, and Brown County, his own personal campaign was called for Obama. The east coast polls are all closed now and it is overwhelmingly Obama 103-34.



I can no longer hear or scream after the announcement of the early eastern states.



20:00

Sodrill conceded.



My best friend's state was called at 21:00 for Obama.

Many of these people worked the campaigns in states across the country. Now as their earlier work pays off, the screaming and clapping gains physical force. While they applaud the returns, I am busy applauding them.



These hours are why 16 DominiDomini spent 14 months being a better person than I. This is why she was calling people into the last minutes of the last polls of the state. It is why she has slept less this week than I did yesterday.

CNN is calling Pennsylvania and Illonois for Obama to a roar of "Yes we can!"

I get the diet coke I wanted at 20:50 as Indiana is entering the 779,000 to 715,000 for McCain. My voice slowly recovers.



At this hour, there are still people who confide in me or who I overhear talking about their worries that Obama might not win. I'm pretty sure that their concerns are unfounded at this late hour. My worry is that we won't dominate so hard that the republicans won't be willing to consider the tactics of thugs and sleezes for a campaign for any office in the land for the next decade.



21:20 52 seats in the senate with 13 up for grabs.



21:22 OHIO.

This confirms my earlier statement. With Ohio, we have won the election. Now the question is "is it by enough to convince both sides that the old style of campaign must end?" When New Mexico is called for Obama, the cheer is "New Mexico, New America!"



21:43

Indiana is 890k McCain, 850k Obama with neither Lake nor Monroe reporting yet.

The aura of hope that has permeated the parts of this campaign that I've seen ever since the Rally in Bloomington, but I'm beginning to feel that the edge of victory might be excluding the healing that this campaign is putting front and center. I suspect that, from the people I've met, this is more a matter of excitement and the flush of seeing things you've worked long and hard for starting to happen. I believe (and Hope) that this won't last out the week, that these people will take the campaign's core message of bringing America back together to heart, even in the face of the neocon's inevitable attacks.
*CHANT* Yes we Did!

By 22:00 is is pretty obvious that we won the election. For the moment, no one cares that we need to do more than win. Just winning is validation of the massive effort these people have put forth. Soon, the first flush will pass and we’ll remember that the goal of this campaign isn’t to win (seriously, check Obama’s speeches, he is clear that he wants to change the USA’s politics and that winning isn’t succeeding. Personally I think that if we are going to win the race, we’ll also need to sweep at least the electoral college to drive home the message that the old style of campaign, the sleaze and the muck and the wedge campaigns will no longer be accepted by the American public. We have won the election, but that isn’t all we have to do. Now we have to fix the nation’s problems, heal a rift that has grown wider and wider in the last thirty years as one side of our electorial politics has consistently sacrificed half of the nation to the god victory. We must fight sectarianism, we must help all of our people, we need to end or at least curtail the power of the American oligarchy, to split the neocons and the religious right from the decent republicans.

22:40
40% return polls puts Monroe County at 12,600 votes for McCain, 23,750 votes for Obama. The folks surrounding me are jubilant. Even if Obama wasn’t going to win the election, they have done awesome things this day.

I’ve said before that I love good people doing good work. This is what it is like to be with good people doing good work and succeeding. They are celebrating the people who helped engineer Monroe County’s election. They are celebrating eachother.

22:58
207 Plus Virginia’s 13 is 220.
220 is a win.
We need 270 points and some of you know that 220 is less than 270, you forget that California is a safe state these years. 220 plus California’s 55 is 275. The numbers are done and Virginia pushed them over the top. 2 minutes until the Polls in California Close.

23:00
The noise is deafening two minutes later as both CNN and NBC instantly call the results from CA, WA, and Oregon, confirming America’s first black president. Only time will tell if we received the points needed to denounce republican sleeze tactics, but at the least we have won this fight.

23:04
Exactly 4 minutes after the call, 4 minutes of screaming and chanting their joy at victory, they begin a chant that I can’t help but join.

U.

S.

A.

Four minutes to change from a victorious political party into a victorious American people. I love these people. I haven’t sweated and bled beside them, I can’t claim any but the least signifigant portion of their victory for my own. The only way I was going to not vote for Obama on this day after the primary results was if I was dead or in a coma. This isn’t my personal victory, I don’t own it like these people do, but it is my victory. It is mine because it is Ours, the Big “O” Ours of the American People. Even if you can’t see how Obama is your president, even if you hate him to the bottom of your soul, no matter who you are, this is you victory, it is a victory of hope over cynicism, the victory of our better history over our darker past.

CNN is showing scenes around the country
and suddenly, we see a jubilant celebration in Kenya, in Japan, in England, We are on the verge of of a global American era not just of the gun and the sword but of the olive branch. We will remind the world why they loved us, what it was about the USA that they watched and hoped for, a reminder that our great experiment can create a greatness of spirit as well as a greatness of strength.

55 in the senate.
Obama is pulling ahead in the Indiana polls.

23:18
McCain’s concession speech. If you missed it, go to youtube and watch it.

He is gracious both to his opponent and to his base, he tells them why they lost and he pushes them to Obama’s message for America. There are things he says that he has to say, thanks he gives to the people who murdered his campaign, people like Palin.
Just a second.

McKensey’s eyes are tearin, joy at success, at a hard won fight… She has given of her self, worked until she couldn’t work, done great things, been successful and been thwarted by the changing needs of the campaign. This is the culmination of her struggle. This is her victory.
PA300030

(Sorry about the colors, I didn’t want to use a flash in this case.)

Personally, I think that the McCain of this speech, I think that he is the John McCain who could have won this election. He is the John McCain who could have deserved the office. It is unfortunate that the McCain he has been these last four years isn’t the same man he is right now on that podium.

The speech is over and there is a great chant of “Thank you Sarah.”

Senate is 40-55 do far. The concessions for 4 votes if the cause is big enough to need an immediate override will be pocket change.

Oi, I’ve been writing with my pens instead of the pencils and water on my pages means that there are places where there will be no reading of my words. Alas.

A thought, one that I doubt would make me popular in this room. It is probably for the best that the democrats don’t have a fillabuster proof majority. Being required to compromise on occasion, in order to pass a bill, it will be good for a victorious party.

The woman who gave me my “I voted for Change” sticker earlier today is standing on a chair next to me, shaking, unable to control her excitement, unable to hold still. She is their joy made manifest
36 Gave me my I voted sticker earlier

She’s not alone.
38 Victory speech crowd

Not at all:
PA290025


Obama:
Hello, Chicago.
If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.
It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.
We are, and always will be, the United States of America.
It's the answer that led those who've been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day. It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America.
A little bit earlier this evening, I received an extraordinarily gracious call from Sen. McCain.
Sen. McCain fought long and hard in this campaign. And he's fought even longer and harder for the country that he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine. We are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader.
I congratulate him; I congratulate Gov. Palin for all that they've achieved. And I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead.
I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart, and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on the train home to Delaware, the vice president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.
And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation's next first lady Michelle Obama.
Sasha and Malia I love you both more than you can imagine. And you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the new White House.
And while she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother's watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight. I know that my debt to them is beyond measure.
To my sister Maya, my sister Alma, all my other brothers and sisters, thank you so much for all the support that you've given me. I am grateful to them.
And to my campaign manager, David Plouffe, the unsung hero of this campaign, who built the best -- the best political campaign, I think, in the history of the United States of America.
To my chief strategist David Axelrod who's been a partner with me every step of the way.
To the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done.
But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you. It belongs to you.
I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston. It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give $5 and $10 and $20 to the cause.
It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep.
It drew strength from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on doors of perfect strangers, and from the millions of Americans who volunteered and organized and proved that more than two centuries later a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the Earth.
This is your victory.
And I know you didn't do this just to win an election. And I know you didn't do it for me.
You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime -- two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.
Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us.
There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage or pay their doctors' bills or save enough for their child's college education.
There's new energy to harness, new jobs to be created, new schools to build, and threats to meet, alliances to repair.
The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.
I promise you, we as a people will get there.
There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can't solve every problem.
But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years -- block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.
What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night.
This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.
It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.
So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other.
Let us remember that, if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers.
In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let's resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.
Let's remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House, a party founded on the values of self-reliance and individual liberty and national unity.
Those are values that we all share. And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.
As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.
And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.
And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.
To those -- to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.
That's the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight's about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.
She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons -- because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.
And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America -- the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.
At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.
When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.
When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.
She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.
A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.
And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.
Yes we can.
America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves -- if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?
This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.
This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.
Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America

That speech, it shows that McCain might not ever have been the man to beat Obama.
“Our stories are singular, but out destinies are shared”

Early, late, optimist or cynic, this is our hope, this is our struggle. Come, help, come be with us, come to the edge of history. I missed the first steps and I almost missed the next, but I am here for the next and the next and the next. Come with me, help me when I lapse, don’t come to hold us back but to keep us true to this hope to this promise, to this nation.
As he ends his speech, we get one final call. Obama leads by 15,000 in Indiana with about 70,000 votes out in counties that polled 50/50 or better. We know the results now, probably hours before the news calls the state.

To all of the people I met today, this week, to the people I’ve tried to capture here on this page and to all of those like you across my nation, I am honored to have met you.

Thank you.
This is the edge of history:
Barack Obama, 44th president of the United States of America.

Election night

http://ronin-kakuhito.livejournal.com/281535.html?mode=reply

November 4th 2008, 17:00

Back at headquarters, one hour before the polls close. Most of the campaigners are out with signs and flyers, a last ditch effort to remind people to vote. The people left are making sure that the poll closers know what to do. They are making sure that people know that if they are in line by 6 pm, that they can't be turned away. The returns begin in an hour and people are trickling in to return their final canvassing packets.

I'm in the standard journalist anthropologist position, hovering near the food. There is a spectacular spicy chex mix. I'm wearing my camouflage, a bike helmet, obama, and activism tee shirt (take back the night), a sort of portable blind behind which I can watc h and write.



I just finished calling everyone on my phone who I am not sure voted and whose vote isn't a guaranteed vote for the bad guys.. (I'm not all that good at uninvolved observer really…) Somehow I'm not being targeted for any of the last minute to save the world brigades.



Back at the food, people are continuiously amazed as they walk by at the generosity of the folks who donated food.



15 minutes to go and we have mostly wound down the phone efforts.



18:00 hours, the polls closed – Several cheers. Fivethirtyeight is calling for an electorial college landslide. A returning driver is telling a story of rescuing a lost group of voters, rushing them to the polling place with scant minutes to spare.



18:30, someone mentioned that we weren't done here Indiana.

Google says that Lake County, Newton, Perry, Gibson, Spencer, Starke, Vanderburg, Jasper, Warrick, and LaPorte counties are still open. The campaign office has reopened the phone lines and now Activate is being set to connect them to uncovered voters in western Indiana. I've got volunteers mistaking me for staff again, but now I've been here long enough to know how to answer many of their questions and I can use it to help organize the effort.



The numbers for Monroe county are now coming in. Districts that were 50/50 last time are 55/45 or 60/40 now. We are gaining points even where we aren't winning here in Indiana. Places that were 75% for bush are now 35% McCain. I was going to head over to the IU returns parties, but the atmosphere here is better.



we watch the polls on someone's laptop. Cheering at every county, every precinct, each falling out exactly as predicted. I'm talking to kids who did map projects when they were in grade school back in 2000 and who woke up to find their maps wrong. Many of them are being careful to not get too attachd to the win, but I think that in this case, Obama is right. Hope is never false. (Admittedly, this is about the time that I saw that Bruce Schneier was not only calling it for Obama, but he was calling 538 and Princeton election consortium too pessimistic in their calls. This is when I decided intellectually that we won.)



Next we close down and head to Opie Taylors where the returns are on the wall and every screen. The noise is awesome, the excitement palpable. None of the hesitation I noticed in the office has made it through the doors. I walk in with the folks who closed the campaign office, and the noise is awesome the excitement palpable. I do wish the TVs had closed captioning on though.



I love these people, these children of the age of cynical and trash politics, of Regan and Rove and destroying your opponent in the elections so that you can't work with them in the aftermath. Of doing anything to win and failing that doing all that you can to sabotage the winners' efforts to govern. These kids are the future of this republic, and they are not a future of scorched earth and 50% + 1 victories. Even now, in the middle of returns, in the early stages of winning a contest that has eaten months and years of their lives, they hold no more acrimony toward their opponents than was earned by the tactics used by the republicans, and even that is muted.



Also? Lack of access to data reminds me forcefully that I want a laptop.



Iain 13 Iain gets a call, and Brown County, his own personal campaign was called for Obama. The east coast polls are all closed now and it is overwhelmingly Obama 103-34.



I can no longer hear or scream after the announcement of the early eastern states.



20:00

Sodrill conceded.



My best friend's state was called at 21:00 for Obama.

Many of these people worked the campaigns in states across the country. Now as their earlier work pays off, the screaming and clapping gains physical force. While they applaud the returns, I am busy applauding them.



These hours are why 16 DominiDomini spent 14 months being a better person than I. This is why she was calling people into the last minutes of the last polls of the state. It is why she has slept less this week than I did yesterday.

CNN is calling Pennsylvania and Illonois for Obama to a roar of "Yes we can!"

I get the diet coke I wanted at 20:50 as Indiana is entering the 779,000 to 715,000 for McCain. My voice slowly recovers.



At this hour, there are still people who confide in me or who I overhear talking about their worries that Obama might not win. I'm pretty sure that their concerns are unfounded at this late hour. My worry is that we won't dominate so hard that the republicans won't be willing to consider the tactics of thugs and sleezes for a campaign for any office in the land for the next decade.



21:20 52 seats in the senate with 13 up for grabs.



21:22 OHIO.

This confirms my earlier statement. With Ohio, we have won the election. Now the question is "is it by enough to convince both sides that the old style of campaign must end?" When New Mexico is called for Obama, the cheer is "New Mexico, New America!"



21:43

Indiana is 890k McCain, 850k Obama with neither Lake nor Monroe reporting yet.

The aura of hope that has permeated the parts of this campaign that I've seen ever since the Rally in Bloomington, but I'm beginning to feel that the edge of victory might be excluding the healing that this campaign is putting front and center. I suspect that, from the people I've met, this is more a matter of excitement and the flush of seeing things you've worked long and hard for starting to happen. I believe (and Hope) that this won't last out the week, that these people will take the campaign's core message of bringing America back together to heart, even in the face of the neocon's inevitable attacks.
*CHANT* Yes we Did!

By 22:00 is is pretty obvious that we won the election. For the moment, no one cares that we need to do more than win. Just winning is validation of the massive effort these people have put forth. Soon, the first flush will pass and we’ll remember that the goal of this campaign isn’t to win (seriously, check Obama’s speeches, he is clear that he wants to change the USA’s politics and that winning isn’t succeeding. Personally I think that if we are going to win the race, we’ll also need to sweep at least the electoral college to drive home the message that the old style of campaign, the sleaze and the muck and the wedge campaigns will no longer be accepted by the American public. We have won the election, but that isn’t all we have to do. Now we have to fix the nation’s problems, heal a rift that has grown wider and wider in the last thirty years as one side of our electorial politics has consistently sacrificed half of the nation to the god victory. We must fight sectarianism, we must help all of our people, we need to end or at least curtail the power of the American oligarchy, to split the neocons and the religious right from the decent republicans.

22:40
40% return polls puts Monroe County at 12,600 votes for McCain, 23,750 votes for Obama. The folks surrounding me are jubilant. Even if Obama wasn’t going to win the election, they have done awesome things this day.

I’ve said before that I love good people doing good work. This is what it is like to be with good people doing good work and succeeding. They are celebrating the people who helped engineer Monroe County’s election. They are celebrating eachother.

22:58
207 Plus Virginia’s 13 is 220.
220 is a win.
We need 270 points and some of you know that 220 is less than 270, you forget that California is a safe state these years. 220 plus California’s 55 is 275. The numbers are done and Virginia pushed them over the top. 2 minutes until the Polls in California Close.

23:00
The noise is deafening two minutes later as both CNN and NBC instantly call the results from CA, WA, and Oregon, confirming America’s first black president. Only time will tell if we received the points needed to denounce republican sleeze tactics, but at the least we have won this fight.

23:04
Exactly 4 minutes after the call, 4 minutes of screaming and chanting their joy at victory, they begin a chant that I can’t help but join.

U.

S.

A.

Four minutes to change from a victorious political party into a victorious American people. I love these people. I haven’t sweated and bled beside them, I can’t claim any but the least signifigant portion of their victory for my own. The only way I was going to not vote for Obama on this day after the primary results was if I was dead or in a coma. This isn’t my personal victory, I don’t own it like these people do, but it is my victory. It is mine because it is Ours, the Big “O” Ours of the American People. Even if you can’t see how Obama is your president, even if you hate him to the bottom of your soul, no matter who you are, this is you victory, it is a victory of hope over cynicism, the victory of our better history over our darker past.

CNN is showing scenes around the country
and suddenly, we see a jubilant celebration in Kenya, in Japan, in England, We are on the verge of of a global American era not just of the gun and the sword but of the olive branch. We will remind the world why they loved us, what it was about the USA that they watched and hoped for, a reminder that our great experiment can create a greatness of spirit as well as a greatness of strength.

55 in the senate.
Obama is pulling ahead in the Indiana polls.

23:18
McCain’s concession speech. If you missed it, go to youtube and watch it.

He is gracious both to his opponent and to his base, he tells them why they lost and he pushes them to Obama’s message for America. There are things he says that he has to say, thanks he gives to the people who murdered his campaign, people like Palin.
Just a second.

McKensey’s eyes are tearin, joy at success, at a hard won fight… She has given of her self, worked until she couldn’t work, done great things, been successful and been thwarted by the changing needs of the campaign. This is the culmination of her struggle. This is her victory.
PA300030

(Sorry about the colors, I didn’t want to use a flash in this case.)

Personally, I think that the McCain of this speech, I think that he is the John McCain who could have won this election. He is the John McCain who could have deserved the office. It is unfortunate that the McCain he has been these last four years isn’t the same man he is right now on that podium.

The speech is over and there is a great chant of “Thank you Sarah.”

Senate is 40-55 do far. The concessions for 4 votes if the cause is big enough to need an immediate override will be pocket change.

Oi, I’ve been writing with my pens instead of the pencils and water on my pages means that there are places where there will be no reading of my words. Alas.

A thought, one that I doubt would make me popular in this room. It is probably for the best that the democrats don’t have a fillabuster proof majority. Being required to compromise on occasion, in order to pass a bill, it will be good for a victorious party.

The woman who gave me my “I voted for Change” sticker earlier today is standing on a chair next to me, shaking, unable to control her excitement, unable to hold still. She is their joy made manifest
36 Gave me my I voted sticker earlier

She’s not alone.
38 Victory speech crowd

Not at all:
PA290025


Obama:
Hello, Chicago.
If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.
It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.
We are, and always will be, the United States of America.
It's the answer that led those who've been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day. It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America.
A little bit earlier this evening, I received an extraordinarily gracious call from Sen. McCain.
Sen. McCain fought long and hard in this campaign. And he's fought even longer and harder for the country that he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine. We are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader.
I congratulate him; I congratulate Gov. Palin for all that they've achieved. And I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead.
I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart, and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on the train home to Delaware, the vice president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.
And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation's next first lady Michelle Obama.
Sasha and Malia I love you both more than you can imagine. And you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the new White House.
And while she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother's watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight. I know that my debt to them is beyond measure.
To my sister Maya, my sister Alma, all my other brothers and sisters, thank you so much for all the support that you've given me. I am grateful to them.
And to my campaign manager, David Plouffe, the unsung hero of this campaign, who built the best -- the best political campaign, I think, in the history of the United States of America.
To my chief strategist David Axelrod who's been a partner with me every step of the way.
To the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done.
But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you. It belongs to you.
I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston. It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give $5 and $10 and $20 to the cause.
It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep.
It drew strength from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on doors of perfect strangers, and from the millions of Americans who volunteered and organized and proved that more than two centuries later a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the Earth.
This is your victory.
And I know you didn't do this just to win an election. And I know you didn't do it for me.
You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime -- two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.
Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us.
There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage or pay their doctors' bills or save enough for their child's college education.
There's new energy to harness, new jobs to be created, new schools to build, and threats to meet, alliances to repair.
The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.
I promise you, we as a people will get there.
There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can't solve every problem.
But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years -- block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.
What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night.
This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.
It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.
So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other.
Let us remember that, if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers.
In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let's resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.
Let's remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House, a party founded on the values of self-reliance and individual liberty and national unity.
Those are values that we all share. And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.
As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.
And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.
And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.
To those -- to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.
That's the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight's about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.
She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons -- because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.
And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America -- the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.
At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.
When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.
When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.
She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.
A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.
And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.
Yes we can.
America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves -- if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?
This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.
This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.
Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America

That speech, it shows that McCain might not ever have been the man to beat Obama.
“Our stories are singular, but out destinies are shared”

Early, late, optimist or cynic, this is our hope, this is our struggle. Come, help, come be with us, come to the edge of history. I missed the first steps and I almost missed the next, but I am here for the next and the next and the next. Come with me, help me when I lapse, don’t come to hold us back but to keep us true to this hope to this promise, to this nation.
As he ends his speech, we get one final call. Obama leads by 15,000 in Indiana with about 70,000 votes out in counties that polled 50/50 or better. We know the results now, probably hours before the news calls the state.

To all of the people I met today, this week, to the people I’ve tried to capture here on this page and to all of those like you across my nation, I am honored to have met you.

Thank you.
This is the edge of history:
Barack Obama, 44th president of the United States of America.

Gaia?

http://ronin-kakuhito.livejournal.com/281235.html

I think I'm in love.

I'm sitting in at the quasi-public computers downstairs at the library. Three young ladies are sitting at the computers to my left. Talking video games and trash talking forum posters in the mmorpg that at least one of them plays.

Maybe not in love, but greatly appreciative.

hum. something is very familiar here...

http://ronin-kakuhito.livejournal.com/280893.html

So some old friends of mine have recently founded a branch of an anti-woman group (specifically Indiana against the Freedom of Choice Act.) My little sister and I were batting around alternate names for this group, and we really quite liked "Indiana for the War on Women" (Obama has demonstrated the value, politically, of being for things instead of against things.) She promptly joind IaFOCA and created IftWoW. (The second can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=33041354019 the first is a blackhat operation and I will leave it unplugged.) She's not the most subtle person on the planet, but then when I was her age, I was a lot less subtle than I am now as well. She posted a welcome message in the IaFOCA group:

""*waves* Greetings, fellow black hats! If I may be so bold as to speak before being spoken to, I would like to commend your efforts in our War on Women. There are a lot of ungodly heathens out there, these "liberal" creatures, who wish to crush our efforts, who believe the health and freedom of a lowly woman is more important than the parasite in her abdomen that could potentially reach maturity and become a hearty meal for hungry god-fearing white men. It would be a great tragedy if the enemy prevailed. To strengthen support and broaden awareness of the core family value of the oppression of women, head on over to the group "Indiana for the War on Women." "Against" groups can be strong, but we feel that positive identification may be stronger.
May all your babies be gay. ^_^ Lots of love."

Now, not that I mostly disagree with her root points, and I definitely find the black parody somewhat amusing, but I think I'd have worded it differently.

The group's owner is the wife of a friend of mine, and her reply (which I will talk about later in more depth) proves that she both speaks a different English than I do, and that we really share almost no values in common. Sadly, this is a place where cultural and moral relativisim just doesn't cut it. There is a distinct right and distinct wrong in this case, and depending on which position you accept as true, the other is irredeemably wrong and, depending on your parlance, evil.

(As for the difference in how I would have worded it, here is a pair of posts, one in IatFOCA and my mirroring post in IftWoW:)
IatFOCA:
Deirdre Mundy wrote
at 10:56am
Start calling your congressmen now!!!! If they've already received a landslide of calls before Jan., they'll be more likely to work to oppose it.

IftWoW:
Michael Phillips wrote
at 4:16pm
Okay, so groups who area against the Freedom of Choice act are going to be starting call in campaigns to their congress critters in the next week or so. The theory is that if they start making noise before the start of the next legislative session, their congress kritters will be more likely to listen to them. That is our cue to start making calls to let them know where we stand.

obama 2

http://ronin-kakuhito.livejournal.com/280437.html
I'm back at Obama HQ. I got home at 3 AM and made chex mix to bring down to the HQ. It might be a tad spicy. I'm never sure. I got out this morning and voted, bought a new rear wheel for my bike, dropped off my "fuck you" package for AT&T, and here I am.
The campaign is still making get out the vote calls. I don't know if I can articulate how awesome the use of technology is within the halls of the democratic party. The methods and means they are using to organize this might have been possible in 2000, but not before. Unlike me, they are canvassing to get as many people as they can, no matter their political affiliation, out there to vote.
Heh, one of the head organizers at the campaign had his facebook account hacked by a blackhat. (If your party stops acting like blackhats, well, then we'll see to upgrading you to the loyal opposition. Good luck.)

At noon, it is still pretty mellow and calm. People are talking quietly, there is a buzz of conversation punctuated with happy laughter. We are soaking in the optimism that is the hallmark of the whole campaign.

Personal aside, dad and I've been playing phone tag, this latest round while we were both out voting. He signed off his message with something along the lines of "You'd better have voted for Obama." I just about fell off my bike from laughter. It's been a great day so far.

I'm now at the library checking my email. I headed out a little after the aside got made. It is awesome to be around people who are campaigning for instead of against. Two parties this year, the party of hope and the party of fear, and we are damned tired of fear.

As always,
Michael Phillips

The edge of history.

http://ronin-kakuhito.livejournal.com/279922.html

I missed the edge of history. I start these words on the back steps of the Bloomington Obama Campaign Headquarters. Beautiful night and a promise of a spectacular dawn. I came to help. Instead I'm hiding out back writing. Typical really.

I am really not nor have I ever been the right person for this campaign. This isn't the place for cynics. These kids, and most of them really are kids, are trying to change the game. When I was their age, I loved the game, and now I am not sure that it can be changed. That isn't to say they can't win. The blackhats took 8 years in power and so massively fucked things up that they may have killed their revolution, the one that's been poisoning American politics since I was born. The blackhats set the field, they've darkened the tone of American politics, they've polarized the country in a way that may take the rest of my life to repair.

Moving back inside. Not sure where this is going and I need to go in and refocus on the swell of their energy.

Lots and lots of wireless routers.

Okay I'm back. I helped organize some things (I am very much a facilitator.) They have focata. I don't feel so bad about eating their food after helping out.

I missed the edge of history. 12 months ago, I was jobless. I saw campaigning related job listings and never stepped up to the plate. They all slipped past - over and over again until June when I got my job and essentially quit looking for them. I should have volunteered after the rally (some day eventually I'll finish blogging the rally for then not yet president Obama.) I should have joined these kids' cause. But I am not the right person at the right place or the right time. I'm not actually sure I've ever been that person.

Good people doing good things. That floats my boat, but my own works are always colored by era and my outlook and it is probably best that I am keeping out of the memetics side of this campaign.

Now it is after hours. I'm probably the only non-staffer left and they ran out of tasks for me hours ago. I'm watching comrades winding down and gearing up for one last big push to bring about a sea-change. I'm sitting on the edges looking in . Just a moment...

A young woman, Hope's her name, just dragged herself across the room and sank into a seat. She read one of the pieces of campaign literature that is scattered here and there in assorted boxes and a big grin captured her face, her shoulders straightened, and she got ready to start again. This is the campaign.

Sorry, didn't want to lose that.

Energy level - 11 pm. Incredible. I said this before. These are my people. Within the last hour Obama said something about Bobby Knight and Chris Matthews called Indiana for Obama. Bonhomme is not sufficient a word for the atmosphere.

I was just asked if I was a staffer. I wish. It's probably the stubble and the receding hair and the tired aspect. All evening people have been bringing them food. They have a woman who is driving some local up to Indiapolis tomorrow at ungodly early so he can go vote. Also, surrounded by the invincible beauty of youth. Two or three times I was recognized from yesterday.

I missed the edge of history. I hope to your assorted gods that a thing like this campaign is never needed. I hope we never fall so far that this degree of mobilization is needed. At the same time, it is awesome to see that a positive message can bring a level of response that is more traditionally associated with fear campaigns,

oops
...
Kinsey "It is the best day of our lives tomorrow."

back to the thread

associated with fear campaigns, campaigns run on a threat, be it brown people, or uppity women, or a scary godless elite, the suppression of your (massively in the majority) faith, etc. This time it is hope and change and a drawing back together that motivates, and it is the democrats mobilizing.

I missed the edge of history. But fortunately for me, history comes back for us.

As always,
Michael Phillips