City of Legends

In about 262 hours, Barack Obama becomes the President of the United States, inheriting an economy and a foreign policy in shambles and a military-industrial complex out of control.

He’s got his job cut out for him.

But, so far, he has looked deep into the pragmatic realms of his soul and decided to surround himself with individuals who have experience, grit and passion. He will need their counsel, their experience and their determination if he is to succeed.

But by what yardstick will we measure success?

He represents more than the usual person stepping into that role. He is our first "person of color" to be elected to that office, beating out a man who would have been the oldest person to have ever been elected, and only slightly edging she who would have been our first female President.. Demands placed upon him by this status will be mighty. The price of failure will not only resonate down the political canyons of this country, but also down the ethnic and sociological paths. If he fails, fifty years from now people will still be using his failure as an excuse to refuse to vote for individuals of all sorts of non-Northern European ethnicities.

It is to his credit as a person, as a politician and as a visionary that he was not dogged by many of the same problems in this campaign that the Rev. Jesse Jackson was dogged by when he ran in 1984 and 1988. I recall that the mantra of the media was to ask the question "What does Jesse Jackson really want?" as if wanting to be a black man elected President was so absurd as to confound reason. I have in my scrapbook a political cartoon of Jesse Jackson being sworn in as President while a reporter at the fringes of the crowd is asking a dignitary "What does Jesse Jackson really want?".

I hope, I pray, that Barack Obama will be a wise and just leader. A man who can reach for consensus, follow his own moral compass, and be honest with us when things go wrong. Bill Clinton accomplished a lot, including balancing a budget now decimated in just 8 short years of infantile insanity, but even he can not be the yardstick for President Obama. We are not looking for a Prophet or a King, we are looking for a Messiah as we face wars in diverse places and an economy that has already cost us nearly three million jobs in the last twelve months.

But, fortunately, as we are not a Monarchy, he does not have to do it alone. As long as people of good will keep their shoulders to the stone, we can work our way out of our crises. We will do so, we will accomplish yet great things.

Ani DiFranco said in one of her songs that "Don’t you think that kitten gets out of the tree whether or not you ever show up?"

I do, I’d just rather it not stay frightened too long or get hurt too bad when it jumps or falls out.

And that is going to be a major part of the necessity of Barack Obama as he takes his place at what Teddy Roosevelt called "the bully pulpit" He must help us feel good, feel strong, feel safe as we get out of that tree.

I supported Hillary Clinton, tooth and nail, for the nomination. I believe that John McCain is a noble American and would have made a good President. But I will be among the first, come the 20th of January, to say, with pride, "That’s my President" and I only hope and pray that four or eight years from now, he has done his best, it has been good enough and that we recognize the impact he has had on the Presidency, on the nation, on the American people, and the world.

Yesterday I predicted John McCains‘ running mate…stating it would be a woman, with impressive Right Wing credentials, who has limited major political experience and is an effective communicator, telegenic, and with a reputation for aggressive positions.

I then said that it would be Ann Coulter.

I hit the tree but missed the target.

Meet Sarah Palin, the Governor of Alaska.

She’s in her first term as Governor, having risen rapidly from local politics largely on her get-tough-with-corruption attitude. She is a former beauty-queen contestant, young (three years younger than Obama and Coulter) and is opposed to abortion rights and gun control while favouring increased drilling for oil in Alaska.

She probably does not have rabies.

I pondered this choice, once it was revealed. I think she’ll be a strong addition to the ticket, but I can’t support her positions on abortion rights and Arctic drilling, so I remain steadfast in my decision to write in Hillary in November.

Nice try, John. Anybody else thinks she looks like a cross between Carla Gugino and Raquel Welch? Just checking. I saw a younger, beauty-contest era picture of her in which she bears a striking resemblance to a photo used by an ex’s ex on FaceBook a few months back, trying to create problems as he pretended to be a woman. It would have helped the illusion if he left the copyright notice off of the picture.

But, anyway, good strategic move, John, I am proud of you. This will be an interesting campaign.

It’s Sunday evening (here in the suburbs of Washington, DC). I have friends and loved ones spread across, at last count, 11 time zones. So, in a way, time is irrelevant. I keep telling my clients that, but they believe in deadlines. They should believe in live things, not dead things.

Sometimes people are just so slow to pick up on the good ideas.

Note: Yes, I am weeks behind on the upgrades to almost anything. Give the man a break, he is still outperforming just about any other thing in his age class. I just take on ten times as much as anyone else, so when I only get as much done as five people I look like a slacker. Back off and go accomplish something with your life. Make your mark somewhere besides on a fire hydrant.

Uh oh, Pointer Sisters on my iTunes with "Jump". Great energy tune. Cats are heading for the weapons bunker and slipping on the kevlar. Cowards.

I am still rather recovering from the way in which Hillary Clinton seems to have been marginalized by Barack "Messiah" Obama’s people. We’ll see if he is as smooth snake oil salesman as he thinks he is. I wouldn’t bet against John McCain right now in the election. And I am sorry, people, I put country, world, ethics and my feminist convictions well ahead of loyalty to any political party. When you start answering to party above world, country or conscience, you don’t deserve my consideration. Party Unity usually is only a good rallying cry in a fascist or communist state. I don’t think we’re there…yet.

Prince (and the Revolution) are feeding me the notion of "Let’s Go Crazy". Not a bad notion in a world gone completely insane. The cats are now on the phone, advising me they have "the bomb" and are not afraid to use it. I laugh, as I know they don’t have the missile technology to deliver it accurately.

I am glad, seeing my slow recovery from the early summer, that I canceled the tour. I don’t mind the notion of being a martyr to my work, but that would have been asking for it. I do watch with a slightly raised eyebrow the procession of people who seem to regularly visit my sites (thank you StatCounter). Move along, nothing to see here for some of you. Barring direct questions from Barb (ahem) Holmes when she gets to the interview, there are certain tags that are retired.

I am writing some amazing stuff lately, it is only the tip of the iceberg you are seeing on Amomancer. I wish I could slow down, really, but it is like being electrocuted. Your mind tells you to let go of the cable, but your body is locked into the current.

Many thanks to the new generation of muses who have so graciously blessed me with their presence. I am grateful to God and good fortune for the richness of this life and the opportunity to live it, to share it with others, and to have them share with me.

The weather forecast is 101 degrees in the San Fernando Valley today. I’m sitting in the San Fernando Valley, right now, hammering away on this keyboard…

I had a very nice exchange with the girl in the poodle skirt last night. It’s nice to have someone to talk to sometimes, I tend to get too far into my own head and it is a torturous path out.

I was sent a link the other day of a young man’s poetry who lists me as one of his influences. Someone warn this poor boy.

I am going apartment searching with my daughter, Peri, this afternoon. My spur of the moment vacation was well-timed, it seems.

I am actively writing while here, also evaluating aspects for the tour and the new CD. This is me time. Time for me to rebalance and adapt. I met one of the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life yesterday. The gentleman in the next hotel room over snores. Loudly, with a whistling finish.

I am, grudgingly, supporting Obama this fall. I like John McCain as a person, but some of his views trouble me. I would have preferred Hillary, but I guess the there’s more ingrained sexism than racism in some elements of our society, and the great dickless-with-dicks masses couldn’t stand the notion of a woman in charge, so when a young man with less experience asked for the promotion, ahead of her, they jumped at the chance. I know a lot of women who are expressing this thought.

It’s ironic, in some ways, Barack’s success is based on exploiting prejudice. I guess in politics, the acquisition of power is more important than what you had to do and who you had to get into bed with to get there. Sounds a lot like a lot of people I know.

It’s going to 101 in the Valley today. I think I already mentioned that.

I was free associating earlier and this came to me…revised lyrics to Warren Zevon’s Mohammed’s Radio, repitched for the Presidential Campaign.

My apology to the Z and Senator Obama…

The whole nation’s restless and we’ve got no place to go
Bush is always trying to sell us
Something he don’t really know
So our anger and resentment flow

But don’t it make you want to go and vote
All night long ?
Obama’s Radio
We heard the Big O singing sweet and soulful
On the radio, Obama’s Radio

You know, the Senate’s got their problems too
They need to get it right with me and you
In walked Hillary Clinton and her face was all aglow
She’d been up all night listening to Obama’s Radio

Don’t it make you want to go and vote
All night long ?
Obama’s Radio
I heard somebody singing sweet and soulful
On the radio, Obama’s Radio

Everybody’s desperate trying to make ends meet
Work all day, still can’t pay the price of gasoline and meat
Alas, our leadership has gone Wall Street

Don’t it make you want to go and vote
All night long? Obama’s Radio
I heard somebody singing sweet and soulful
On the radio, Obama’s Radio

You’ve been up all night listening for his voice
Hoping that the righteous might just might just give us a choice
I heard McCain whispering to his file and rank
"Be watchful for Obama’s bank"

Don’t it make you want to go and vote
All night long? Obama’s Radio

Parody lyrics courtesy William F. DeVault.

It took more than one take (that’s an understatement), but after a long hard day being an essential cog in the American Military-Industrial Complex, I spent a substantial time yesterday putting the finishing touches on yet another track for Evangelist:

as linen frames your sleeping form (click on the title to read the poem at Amomancer)

Arguably one of the more erotic poems in As such… and I think we did it justice, just had to bleed off some over-emotional inflection in my voice (dammit) that rendered me all but inarticulate at a few points. (I asked my friend Thomas when I might expect this tendency to end when trying to read works about, er, from that book and he said "If you were human, a few months…you? Never. Get used to it." Bastard.)

But I finally got the takes I need (Yes, what you will hear when the CD is released is actually an amalgam of three different readings). It’s a short, acoustic piece, but it has a nice punch to it and will settle in well with its brethren. I have decided to set an arbitrary deadline of June 14th (Ann’s 10th anniversary clean date) for the tracks for the CD, so if Jazz and Jezika™ don’t get their assignments in by then, I will just go around them (I am patient, but not infinitely so, as some may attest).

I see where Hillary won Puerto Rico convincingly. Not that it will do her any good. The boys in the back room have decided that a woman’s place is not at the top of the ticket, being the prejudicial, half-wit, sexist, chauvinist pigs that they are. I think the Democratic Party is ricking losing the affection of about 50% of the electorate in one blood-curdlingly stupid move. Four more years of Republican rule. Not that John McCain is a bad guy, but his stepping up means a lot of the policies of quite possible the worst President we’ve ever had will be continued.

Tomorrow is the Pennsylvania State Primary here in the US. A lot of people are wagering a lot of political capital and future dreams on whether or not Hillary Clinton can make a big enough swing to derail Barack Obama.

I don’t know.

He has the edge, overall, and she will need a big win to change that. A year ago, no one could have predicted this, no one could imagine this. There was a coronation underway for Hillary and Barack was a fly on the periphery of the equation (to mix metaphors beyond all hope of reconciliation).

I have no idea how it will play out. I just hope that, whatever happens, people are happy and content and look to the future with something other than thinly veiled contempt.

I am still backing Hillary. No, she is not perfect. But in general we see eye to eye, and I think it is about time we shattered the last remaining significant glass ceiling here in the US and got on with it.

I would encourage Pennsylvanians who do not want to risk a sizable portion of the female electorate sitting out the election this November to consider the same.

It looks like Ralph Nader is going to throw his rumpled, self-important hat back in the ring to run for President. The guy needs to find a nice tree, cut it down, make a center pillar and a crossbar and get someone not nail him to it. He obviously has that strain of senility that manifests itself as a Messiah complex.

His self-indulgent headline grabbing, which initially was for the common good…40 years ago when he was outing the Detroit auto industry’s safety record…now drives him to sabotage national elections because he lacks the fiber to work within the system to accomplish change. In the mean time he allows real issues to go unaddressed so he can feel he still has a voice and a purpose in this world.

Lacking any real shot at winning, he wants to make sure the game is unplayable for others. Or, at least certain others.

I am one of those people who doesn’t hesitate to point out that had he not insisted on this very conduct eight years ago, we might have been spared 9/11, the War in Iraq and an economy that went from record surpluses to record deficits while gas prices tripled. And President Gore might have gotten us a running start on Global Warming action, against a threat that even now may challenge the survival of modern society and the human species.

The two party system is lame, superficial and self-destructive? Yes. Most of the leaders are self-important boobs who either know they are sucking from the common teat rather than get a real job or have deluded themselves into thinking they are making real change and progress while being compromised agents of, at best, inertia.

That Ralphie boy may be about to dive in to a race where he can deny this country its first black or female President isn’t lost on most people. Ralph is prepared to wave his hand-drawn banners of legitimacy and self-delusion, ensuring that the line of white, male Presidents is an unbroken one.

The attitudes of his generation is one of the last real barriers to a better society, where it isn’t astonishing to find women, blacks, Hispanics, or any other historically disenfranchised group playing leadership roles and making sure that issues are addressed that need to be addressed for all Americans.

I have nothing against John McCain, I think he has served this country honorably and well and would make a decent President, certainly better than the one we are about to relegate to the pages of a groaning history. If he is the nominee of his party I will give him a listen. But to place him in office purely because he is a white male shows that the hard work of people of real historical purpose and sacrifice, like Bobby and Jack Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr. and Susan B. Anthony still has a long way to sink in.

Paint it any way you want. Nader running for President is not progressive. I encourage those of good conscience to not donate to his campaign, to discourage him from doing this again, and from seeking to keep women and blacks in the back of the (now made overseas) bus.