Willful Ignorance is Bliss!

Do we have the power? Do we have the strength? Do we have the fortitude to ignore the digital divide? I sure as hell hope so.

In honor of the run-up to OneWebDay -- a global celebration of online life on Sept. 22 -- I say we must be able to blind ourselves the dramatic disparities in online access and usage by income and race. Join with me in the name of willful ignorance!!!

For years, some of the nation's most well-meaning and socially responsible innovators have been searching for a way to bridge the digital divide. There has been some progress since 2000, though the results are decidedly mixed, according to an exhaustive report by the Public Policy Institute of California last year.

Percent of adults who use the Internet
________________2000________2007
White............................70……............83
Black............................60……............75
Latino...........................47……............51
Asian............................84....................89
Under $40,000.............47....................51
$40k-80k......................76...................83
More than $80k............89...................95
Born in US...................69....................82
Naturalized...................61...................68
Not a Citizen................34....................41
No college....................40...................49
Some college...............70....................81
College grad................82....................91


Still, the digitial divide has become as much a psychological obstacle as a tangible one. I have sat in on dozens of meetings of poverty advocates that begin with a flood of amazing ideas for using Web 2.0 technology to mobilize and inform low-income communities and communities of color. Facebook groups for to promote affordable housing policy. Google map applications to track health concerns in low-income neighborhoods. YouTube contests for youth of color to tell their stories.

Then, from somewhere in the room, someone will pipe up with, "Well, what about the digital divide? Many of the people we want to reach don't have or use the Internet. Lets think more tactile and leave this web stuff behind."

Yes, not everyone in these targeted communities will be reached by web-only outreach. But even in the sky-is-falling digital divide studies released in recent years, a MAJORITY of nearly every demographic permutation -- even very poor people of color -- are online. To ignore the mobilizing power and reach of Web 2.0 technology is a major mistake -- a missed opportunity in the name of phony inclusion.

Web 2.0 (and beyond) has been proven to be a tremendous force for democracy and political advocacy. Sadly, a lack of imagination on the part of too many US advocates has prevented that power from being unleashed where it could do the most good -- in low-income communities and communities of color.

Hopefully, OneWebDay will help spread this vision of the active, advocative web right here in the States to the on-the-ground forces who need it most. And if you've seen Web 2.0 technology put to good use in mobilizing low-income communities, please let me know. I'd love to be able to highlight some folks doing good work!

Thanks to MattCoop for helping bring me into the OneWebDay fold. Please visit OneWebDay.org for continuing updates and exciting blog posts from a variety of interesting and innovative writers.

Seeping into the Culture

I know I'm just an out-of-touch elitist living on the East Coast, but I've been shocked to the extent that Obamania has inculcated itself in everyday culture. Wherever I go in NYC, I see folks wearing big buttons with Obama's smiling mug -- the kind of sweetly hokey campaign pin you associate more with FDR or "I Like Ike" than any modern-era president.



Just this morning, on the busy corner of 38th St. and 6th Ave in Midtown, I saw a grizzled older guy sitting behind a crappy card table. Atop the table was the ripped-off side of a cardboard box with a couple dozen Obama pins stuck in it. He was selling them for a buck a piece. From what I hear, the famous DVD-fake handbag-"pashmina" sellers downtown are now stocking Obama pins, too.

It is truly stunning to see the cultural connection to this man that's developing. His message and his persona are resonating far beyond the politically attuned. Via Politico's Ben Smith, check out this ad for a car dealership in Plano, TX:



If Obama's shtick sells cars in Plano, for chrissake, he's really got something.

The Country I Love is, apparently, Very White

There's a decent amount of hub-hub surrounding Obama's "first general election ad." He released it today with a multi-state ad buy -- Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Virginia, according to Politico's Ben Smith -- that some folks say could cost him $3 million a week. Whoa.

The first reviews of the 60-second ad seem to be positive. And, indeed, it is a strong, forthright and oh-so-patriotic ad -- aimed right at what Team Obama seems to think is its greatest electoral soft spot, his "otherness." (see: Hussein, flag pins, Indonesia, Muslim, et al). The ad is even helpfully titled, "Country I Love."

But, I've got a question. When did America get so damn white? Seriously, watch the ad. There are a few grainy black faces off in the distance of one shot, but it is All-Caucasian-All-the-Time for the rest of the video.



Here's the complete rundown of the ad's visuals:

0:00 -- Obama stares into the camera
0:09 -- Photo of Obama and his white mother
0:12 -- Photo of Obama bookended by his white grandparents
0:16 -- Photo of Obama and his white grandfather
0:24 -- Video of elderly white woman touching and talking to Obama
0:28 -- That great photo of Obama in a leather jacket
0:35 -- Obama organizing in Chicago, entire foreground made up of white faces (not exactly representative of the South Side neighborhoods he was organizing)
0:41 -- Obama talks to a white man with gray hair
0:43 -- Obama at the kitchen table of a white family
0:45 -- Obama talks with red-headed white woman
0:47 -- Obama pats shoulder of white soldier
0:49 -- Obama two-shot again, fade to black at 60-second mark

There is not one foreground shot of a black or brown face. I won't pretend that Obama's ad designers have an easy job striking the ridiculous political balance between "too black" and "not black enough." But I was struck particularly by the rapid succession of white faces toward the end of the ad. IT may be what he has to do to reintroduce himself, but it was visually jarring.

"An Elderly, Cancer-Ridden Loon"

I just came across an email I sent late last year to my friend Paul -- before Iowa, at a time when Obama still hadn't consolidated a national base and it was unclear if he would even make it past the first caucus. Paul, a Chicagoan, asked if I thought Barack could actually win the general election. I don't think my analysis has changed much at all in the intervening months -- though I may now refrain from calling the distinguished senator from Arizona such vile, truthful names. For posterity's sake:

I don't entirely understand the "he can't win" argument. Are there going to be Americans who won't vote for him because he's black? Sure. But how many of them would vote for a Dem anyway? I think you're losing very few, if any, votes there. He's also not "so black" (in a policy/political sense) that he would inspire non-voting racists to come out to the polls (like Jesse and Sharpton would).

Also, I think that there is a huge swathe of Americans who are only moderately disconnected from the political system, but usually stay home from the polls because nobody excites them. I don't think he'll inspire 80 percent turnout or anything, but even a few percentage points increase translates to millions of voters. Add to that the ENORMOUS turnout among African-Americans, and you've got a pretty clear and realistic electoral strategy. I even think he may put some heavily black Southern states like Mississippi and South Carolina into play. Just making the GOP defend those states leaves places like Ohio and Florida as relatively easy pickups.

Frankly, there is no more electable candidate on either side. Hillary is a non-starter for 45 percent of America and would inspire more "anti" votes than "I Love Her" votes. Edwards' current rhetoric -- as much as I love it -- is way too far left and anti-corporate to survive a long general election campaign. He's also a damn phony, which won't help. And except for McCain, the entire GOP slate is a clusterfuck. And McCain is an elderly, cancer-ridden loon.

I'm very excited about this race. I'm still nervous, but getting pretty happy.

Seems relatively prescient....optimistic, yes, but not unrealistic.

Pithy

Robert Greenwald and the folks at Brave New Films have been leading the charge in using viral video for political advocacy. From the biting media criticism of FoxAttacks (They Distort. We Reply) to the ingeniously odd War on Greed (featuring Larry the Loophole), Brave New Films has been able to take complex issues and boil them down to essential nuggets....boosted by appealing, devastating and embeddable online video clips.

In recent weeks, they've turned their blasters on the record of J.S. McCain, which has been absurdly characterized as "mavericky" by the Beltway journalist clique. Perhaps realizing that the McCain-Maverick perception bond is impossible to break, the folks at BNF have decided instead to frame the public perception of what his policies will actually do.

In the slicingly pithy attack site LessJobsMoreWars.com, BNF tears into McCain in the kind of bumper-sticker-backed-with-substance kind of way that Democrats have been missing since, um, forever.



Pssst....do something.

Thanks to Matt Coop and Baratunde Thurston for the heads up.

How Long 'til Someone Drops the Bomb?

Seriously...

It's a long five months until Election Day. Everybody has a video camera....and the closet racists in the GOP are going to be getting mighty antsy if Obama looks to be pulling away or even making it close. They've already started to ditch the subtlety.

So, how long before some GOP blowhard -- either in what he thinks is a semi-private setting or even on cable news -- just blurts out the N-word? One GOP Congressman already called Obama "boy." Is "colored" next? Is there a gradual stepping stone set of words that will lead inexorably to the rhetorical nuclear bomb?

Macaca.

Subtle, so very subtle

The GOP political machinists are like stealthy, asshole ninjas. They are so adept at slyly slipping subtle racially tinged words into political conversation. They are masters of the dark arts of.....oh, to hell with this. They are just blatant racists. Straight up. The subtle code-wording of the post-Goldwater GOP has been thrown out the window.

Take, for instance, their treatment of Michelle Obama -- a highly respected university hospital executive, a graduate of Princeton and Harvard Law and one of the foremost public advocates for children in the city of Chicago. She and her husband met in the late 1980s, were married in 1992 and had their first daughter in 1998, when she was 34 years old.

Given all that, how does Fox News refer to Barack’s wife of 16 years last night?: “Obama’s Baby Mama.” Hmmmmm, I can’t imagine why they chose that term? Hmmm…. (Keep in mind this was during their Election News show, not an opinion show like Hannity & Colmes or O’Reilly. Straight news.)

I Love the Intertron

The blogosphere is a truly wonderful thing. You never have any idea where you're going to find something insightful and meaningful. Take, for instance, Kissing Suzy Kolber. Typically, I frequent this venomous sports blog for its delightful take on racehorse testicles and NFL DWI mug shots.

But, recently, blog-a-tator Big Daddy Drew (recently unmasked as Drew Margary) has begun writing spot-on impersonations of the MSNBC political crew -- mostly Matthews, Russert, Buchanan and, for some odd reason, Howard Fineman.

This post, chronicling Obama's struggles to reach out to the racist voting bloc, is easily one one the funniest I've ever read.

Chris Matthews: Will it be easy for him to make a clean break with being black?

Pat Buchanan: No, I don’t think it will be, because he’s black. But I think he can take steps to distance himself from that fact. Perhaps if he wore brighter pancake makeup. Or if he were to announce that he was openly afraid of black people, as so many of these people are. I think that might go a long way to bridging the gap.

And for anyone who loves sports but hates SPORTS!!! PRESENTED BY HOME DEPOT, KSK is for you. Read it. Now.

Also, Drew has a book coming out soon, artfully titled "Men with Balls." You should know this.

Did I Mention War?

The conventional wisdom is that McCain can win the election if he keeps the focus on foreign policy issues, particularly Iraq. Newly named Slate Editor David Plotz even said it explicitly in this week's Slate Political Gabfest. But this new McCain ad, which is apparently the subject of a massive $3 million nationwide media buy, just seems to hit the point so awkwardly and ham-handedly.



Transcript:

Only a fool or a fraud talks tough or romantically about war
When I was 5-years-old, my father left for war
My grandfather came home from war and died the next day
I was shot down over Vietnam and spent five years as a POW
Some of the friends I served with never came home
I hate war
And I know how terrible its costs are
I'm running for president to keep the country I love safe
(emphasis mine)

I know McCain is trying to tap into the entrenched American respect for the heroic sacrifice of its soldiers. It's an honorable approach. But I cringe when he refers simply to "war," as though it is a monolithic state of being rather than a particular choice made by particular politicians to attack particular people and put particular Americans and civilians in harm's way. Everyone hates war, John, that's why the president must be absolutely sure every war is a just war. You failed that test in 2003 and continue to fail it today, my friend.

Moreover, who is McCain attacking in this first line ("Only a fool or a fraud talks tough or romantically about war")? Maybe Rudy Giuliani or Mitt Romney fit the bill, but Barack Obama is pretty far from talking tough or romantically about war. Did McCain not realize the primary is over?

Frankly, though, the worst part of this ad is the closing image during the "I'm John McCain and I approve this message" part. Could he have picked a photo where he looked more like GWBush? Good god, it was striking.

As a sidenote, I got my hands on the original storyboard for this ad. They really laid it out there:

(Shadowy Old Man looking directly into camera)
War. War. Grandfather. War.
(Montage of black and white photos)
War. POW. War. Terrible Costs.
(Even grainier B&W photos)
I'm John McCain...
(Mash-up GWB and JSM, terribly lit and staring off at a duck pond)

The Lurker

Granted, I'm pretty unimpressed with Hillary's decision to wait until Saturday to concede -- nearly 100 hours after the rest of the world has moved on. She denied Obama, his supporters and the country's entire African-American population a chance to truly celebrate, to savor a historic and paradigm-changing moment for our nation.

Yeah, I'm kind of pissed about that. But what I'm more pissed about is something that is going largely uncovered in this developing "Hillary will concede" narrative. Typically, when a candidate concedes, they release their delegates in a clear sign of unity and party loyalty. Hillary is, apparently, going to "hold her delegates," meaning she will ask to be nominated at the convention -- if only in a pro forma way. Many of her supporters, understandably, think this is a well-deserved encomium. She should get a near-victory lap at the convention, they say.

In theory, I don't have a problem with that, much like I had no problem with seating the full Michigan and Florida delegate slates if Hillary didn't use those results to argue for her popular vote lead. But with the Clintons, the expected level of decency and political fair-play gets turned on its head or simply shunted aside.

I've got three major problems with Hillary holding onto her delegates:

1. Come the end of August, it will seem like an anachronism to have Hillary get a nomination vote. Three months is an eternity in politics and she simply will be rightly forgotten by then.

2. The conventions are no longer the party-insider game they were even in 1980, when Teddy took his fight all the way. They are pure, nationally televised stage-craft -- an opportunity to show the best side of the candidate and his or her party. What good comes out of reminding everyone two months before the election that Obama was not the top choice of millions of Democrats? How does that make the Dems more likely to retake the White House? It hurts the party and only serves to buff the egos of Hillary and her die-hards. That is not what the conventions are for.

3. This is my biggest problem: SHE'S GOING TO BE LURKING!!!


Everytime there is a minor dust-up in the Obama camp (as there no doubt will be), one of Hillary's insiders will anonymously phone up the Politico or the WaPo's Chris Cilizza or The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder (three of my favorite reporters, by the way) and remind them that Hillary's got 2,000 delegates in her pocket and only needs 100+ supers to flip to give her the nod. She will be this ever-lurking escape hatch -- a terrible distraction during Obama's long, tough slog to November.

Simply, Hillary has proven herself to not be a "good soldier." She will not put her head down and do what her party needs, with a nice congratulatory prize at the end that her name will be entered into the nomination at the convention. No. She's made it clear she will exploit on-background conversations and cocktail party chatter to undermine Obama's run. I have no idea what Obama (or Charlie Rangel, Ed Rendell, McAuliffe, et. al.) should do about it, but there needs to be a recognition and a reckoning as to exactly what the Clintons plan to do up through August.

A Fresh Start

It's been a long time since I posted anything here. The primary season since Super Tuesday has been one long flinching contest...with Hillary's Campaign constantly popping around corners and threatening to sucker-punch Obama. Her refusal to concede is a final arrogant, discourteous and rude indignation. But it will all be over soon...and the coming Obama-McCain race is invigorating -- two decent, respectable candidates with wildly divergent views of America and the role of our government.

There's too much to say about the events of last night. But I just read a comment from an Andrew Sullivan reader that reminded me of the singularity, the beauty and the historic nature of this moment:

Tomorrow I will go to the African American cemetery outside of Chicago where my great-grandparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, neighbors, and my mother and father are buried. And I will tell them that they were right -- that if we studied hard, worked hard, kept the faith, fought for justice, prayed, that this day would come.

And it has.

Let's get started again.