Disqualified?

The New York Times reports that those wishing to have a high position inside the Obama Administration need to complete a detailed, 7-page questionnaire as part of the interviewing process. The questions ask about tickets and fines paid, aliases or "handles" used on the internet, and even affiliations with organizations certain to be hot topics for months to come:

Question 18 of the Obama application asks whether “you, your spouse or any member of your immediate family” have been affiliated with Fannie, Freddie, American International Group, Washington Mutual and any other institution getting a government bailout.

For a Washington Job, Be Prepared to Tell All,
The New York Times, Nov. 12, 2008

Great! With a new administration, comes a much more stringent vetting process of the movers and shakers of your next president.

But in an ironic pot-meet-kettle moment, wouldn't Obama have failed this very vetting question?

All Recipients of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Campaign Contributions, 1989-2008

1. Dodd, Christopher J, $165,400
2. Obama, Barack, $126,349
3. Kerry, John, $111,000

Source: OpenSecrets.org

Will the DNC Request a Bailout?

The Los Angeles Times' Top of the Ticket blog illustrates exactly where the Obama "change" revolution is starting. In an e-mail blitz that the Democratic National Committee is sending out, it seems that "hope and change" need to start, not on a national level, but closer to home:

Today, Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe sent another urgent e-mail to supporters seeking at least another $30.

Here's what he said:

"We'll get to work transforming this country. But first, we need to take care of the DNC."

Did we hear that right? Now that Obama's the president-elect, the top priority is the Democratic National Committee?

Top of the Ticket, Nov. 13, 2008

The crux of the problem is that the DNC overspent its $100 million coffers. If the DNC has this much fiscal irresponsibility, just imagine what the country has in store for itself with the Democrats in control of the House, Senate, and White House.

Let's Teach Madison Avenue a Thing or Two!

"Nov. 4, 2008, will go down in history as the biggest day ever in the history of marketing." So says Al Ries, in his November 5, 2008 article What Marketers Can Learn From Obama's Campaign. The biggest day ever? Again I ask, the biggest day ever?

Without a doubt, the Obama campaign fired on all cylinders. The few missteps that were made were quickly corrected and all but forgotten about. The McCain camp struggled with a moving message, as much internally-caused (and maybe more so) as it was a reaction to the Obama campaign.

If you can get beyond the gratuitous hyperbole in Mr. Ries article, it seems incredulous to think that a 6+% popular vote victory would represent the "best day ever" in marketing. Coupled with America's tendency to yo-yo from party to party every 8-12 years, not to mention the stagnant economy and a less-than-stellar performance by his opponent, one would think Obama would have needed to gather at least more than 53% of the vote to have revolutionized marketing.

Further review of the article yields a glaring omission:

Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels was the master of the "big lie." According to Goebbels, "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it."

The opposite of that strategy is the "big truth." If you tell the truth often enough and keep repeating it, the truth gets bigger and bigger, creating an aura of legitimacy and authenticity.

The author never qualifies which strategy the Obama campaign employed.

And the Olympics Go To ...

Slate reminds us that the quid pro quo inherent in politics suggests that Chicago Mayor Richard Daley may reap quite a few benefits of watching Obama's back while said Obama was out politicking. Could Obama Derangement Syndrome strike Switzerland, home of the International Olympic Committee, and reward Mayor Daley with an Olympic-sized plum?

The biggest boon may be to the city's bid for the 2016 Olympics, which the IOC is scheduled to award in October 2009. Chicago is one of four cities competing for the games that year, and it's fair to say that Obama has the other would-be hosts—Madrid, Tokyo, and Rio de Janeiro—in a panic. "I have a sense of crisis," one Japanese committeeman told the AP.

-- Chicago Hope, Slate, November 10, 2008

Panic. Crisis. Next thing, society will break down into sheer pandemonium. Oops, that appears to have already happened in some quarters.

New Holiday!

From the Topeka Capitol-Journal, Sunday, November 9, 2008:

Plans are being made to promote a national holiday for Barack Obama, who will become the nation's 44th president when he takes the oath of office Jan. 20.

My guess is it will become some sort of high, holy day for Obama worshippers.

Founder of a New Republic?

In Obama and the Dawn of the Fourth Republic, author Michael Lind posits that America is due for a new republic, which he sees as occurring in approximately 72-year cycles (biorhythms, anyone?). While the author's synopsis of history seems sound, the evidence for a sea-change in politics and the underlying culture that drives it appears spotty at best and reeks of making the data fit a thesis, in this case, that Obama is the one. But let's get to the money quote:

And even if I am right that the new era began four years ago, historians are likely to identify the first president of the Fourth Republic of the United States as Barack Obama, not George W. Bush. Obama may join Washington, Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt on the short list of American presidents who, thanks both to their own leadership and the fortuitous timing of their elections, presided over the refounding of the United States.

Leadership? What leadership?

And isn't it a bit premature to be even considering to link him with Washington, Lincoln, and Roosevelt?

To beat it all, the author then finishes his article with a statement that emphasizes just how much impartiality the author might have used in reviewing the data.

Yes, he can.

Uggh.