Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Working for Obama Pt II
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
This writer is thrilled to note the appointment of Gov. William Richardson as Secretary of Commerce. Some of you might remember being shocked by my column of January 18, 2007, way early in the campaigns involving a dozen candidates, proposingt Barack Obama and Richardson as the Dream Team, one to head the ticket and the other to be the negotiator. Yes, the Dream Team has arrived.
This campaign was surely different . Whatever happened to the feared Bradley Effect, the the high in polls low at the ballot box phenomenon, famous for the 1982 California gubernatorial election. It has plagued other black candidates before, including our own David Dinkins.
Actually, there may have been more of a Dr. Huxtable or a Colin Powell effect, the evolutionary process that started through show business, with the gradual morphing of the hapless black comic Amos and Andy characters into the socially striving Jeffersons, on to the “just like us” pediatrician, as portrayed by Bill Cosby, a UMass grad who personally never hesitated to criticize the ghetto forces that keep the black population from reaching the mainstream. Gen. Colin Powell and Dr. Condoleeza Rice strengthened the evolution process, as consequently proven on Election Day 2008. Even Lewittown, the 98% white Archie Bunker community voted for Obama, proving that the Long Island hooligans who beat up on minorities are a sporadic phenomenon.
As proven by the emerging choices for the Obama cabinet, the names are middle of the road. Hillary Clinton for State Department is meant to cure the intra-party breach and steer the Palestinians into statehood, a dicy appointment. David Axelrod the ex-reporter turned political consultant 25 years ago who has been the Karl Rowe or James Carville of the Obama campaign, will continue in the White House, Rahm Emanuel the once Clinton health credit pundit will be the Chief of Staff. Tom Daschle the former Senate Leader and friend of Ted Kennedy as Secretary of Health and Human Services is a sure bet to reform health insurance without resorting to Single Pay or credits. As to Obama’s promise to keep lobbyists out of government, it was untenable from the getgo. Axelrod and Emmanuel, both essential to the campaign, have lobbying in their genes.
Back to the actual campaigning. The campaign in New York City was based on call centers, and the volunteers proved their dedication by bringing their own cell phones, a considerable sacrifice of minutes expense during daytime – after 9 PM calling in campaign lore is, or was, considered impolite, also counter-productive. Speaking of the most expensive campaign in US history, the statisticians should add the cellphone minutes to the lot.
There were no empty pizza csrtons at the 52 Broadway call center, people were practicing BYOB(bread) – and children, and dogs. The shifts were for two hours (not enforced), to allow people with jobs and set habits come and go without feeling guilty.
As for souvenirs, the tin campaign buttons – I must have 12 different ones for Kerry - there was one, for sale as a campaign contribution, ditto for tee shirts and car posters and lawn signs (not big in NYC). We ended up with peel-off Obama-Biden stickers, one apiece. Not much sentiment there, all for victory and monies for expensive TV commercials . We did settlle for having our pictures take with a life-size Obama cardboard figure.
A topic among us callers, between messages, was the future Secretary of Treasury – obviously the election of Barack Obama was a given.. My neighbors were in finance,
and liked Lawrence Summers, Clinton’s ex-SoT, as an economist not connected with Goldman Sachs . Summers left Harward under the gun for remarks about women as mathematicians, but the NOW president is wisely refraining from expressing her feminist perspective, national interests outweigh all others. Amazing, bravo.
Summers, per Harvard’s Greg Mankiv’s charts, had only a 25% chance. As to who had the top hand, is seemed to be Warren Buffet, the Democratic mega-tycoon, Mankiv wisely abstained from guessing. As it turned out, Summers’ appointee and understudy Timothy F. Geithner, 47, President of the NY Fed Bank, a compromise builder with expwrience under three Presidents, took the Treasury post, while Summers was appointed to head the the President’s Economnic Advisors. Paul Wolcker and Warren Buffet, both in their 80s, will advise from the sidelines. One thing for sure, even if Buffet were to sacrifice his billions to try curing the economy’s ill, it would not help. Perhaps, if he could persuade Kuwait’s or Abu Dhabi’s rulers to start buying because the bottom is near…? There are people with, perhaps a trillion and more of US dollars in the Middle East, sitting and waiting for the low point of the market.
My apologies to to Dr. Thomas Pike for a missing paragraph in my recount of his lecture last week. The full article is on my website, open file dobelisfile.blogger.com, or google for Dobelis & Looking Ahead. Hapy Thanksgiving from the staff of T&V!
This writer is thrilled to note the appointment of Gov. William Richardson as Secretary of Commerce. Some of you might remember being shocked by my column of January 18, 2007, way early in the campaigns involving a dozen candidates, proposingt Barack Obama and Richardson as the Dream Team, one to head the ticket and the other to be the negotiator. Yes, the Dream Team has arrived.
This campaign was surely different . Whatever happened to the feared Bradley Effect, the the high in polls low at the ballot box phenomenon, famous for the 1982 California gubernatorial election. It has plagued other black candidates before, including our own David Dinkins.
Actually, there may have been more of a Dr. Huxtable or a Colin Powell effect, the evolutionary process that started through show business, with the gradual morphing of the hapless black comic Amos and Andy characters into the socially striving Jeffersons, on to the “just like us” pediatrician, as portrayed by Bill Cosby, a UMass grad who personally never hesitated to criticize the ghetto forces that keep the black population from reaching the mainstream. Gen. Colin Powell and Dr. Condoleeza Rice strengthened the evolution process, as consequently proven on Election Day 2008. Even Lewittown, the 98% white Archie Bunker community voted for Obama, proving that the Long Island hooligans who beat up on minorities are a sporadic phenomenon.
As proven by the emerging choices for the Obama cabinet, the names are middle of the road. Hillary Clinton for State Department is meant to cure the intra-party breach and steer the Palestinians into statehood, a dicy appointment. David Axelrod the ex-reporter turned political consultant 25 years ago who has been the Karl Rowe or James Carville of the Obama campaign, will continue in the White House, Rahm Emanuel the once Clinton health credit pundit will be the Chief of Staff. Tom Daschle the former Senate Leader and friend of Ted Kennedy as Secretary of Health and Human Services is a sure bet to reform health insurance without resorting to Single Pay or credits. As to Obama’s promise to keep lobbyists out of government, it was untenable from the getgo. Axelrod and Emmanuel, both essential to the campaign, have lobbying in their genes.
Back to the actual campaigning. The campaign in New York City was based on call centers, and the volunteers proved their dedication by bringing their own cell phones, a considerable sacrifice of minutes expense during daytime – after 9 PM calling in campaign lore is, or was, considered impolite, also counter-productive. Speaking of the most expensive campaign in US history, the statisticians should add the cellphone minutes to the lot.
There were no empty pizza csrtons at the 52 Broadway call center, people were practicing BYOB(bread) – and children, and dogs. The shifts were for two hours (not enforced), to allow people with jobs and set habits come and go without feeling guilty.
As for souvenirs, the tin campaign buttons – I must have 12 different ones for Kerry - there was one, for sale as a campaign contribution, ditto for tee shirts and car posters and lawn signs (not big in NYC). We ended up with peel-off Obama-Biden stickers, one apiece. Not much sentiment there, all for victory and monies for expensive TV commercials . We did settlle for having our pictures take with a life-size Obama cardboard figure.
A topic among us callers, between messages, was the future Secretary of Treasury – obviously the election of Barack Obama was a given.. My neighbors were in finance,
and liked Lawrence Summers, Clinton’s ex-SoT, as an economist not connected with Goldman Sachs . Summers left Harward under the gun for remarks about women as mathematicians, but the NOW president is wisely refraining from expressing her feminist perspective, national interests outweigh all others. Amazing, bravo.
Summers, per Harvard’s Greg Mankiv’s charts, had only a 25% chance. As to who had the top hand, is seemed to be Warren Buffet, the Democratic mega-tycoon, Mankiv wisely abstained from guessing. As it turned out, Summers’ appointee and understudy Timothy F. Geithner, 47, President of the NY Fed Bank, a compromise builder with expwrience under three Presidents, took the Treasury post, while Summers was appointed to head the the President’s Economnic Advisors. Paul Wolcker and Warren Buffet, both in their 80s, will advise from the sidelines. One thing for sure, even if Buffet were to sacrifice his billions to try curing the economy’s ill, it would not help. Perhaps, if he could persuade Kuwait’s or Abu Dhabi’s rulers to start buying because the bottom is near…? There are people with, perhaps a trillion and more of US dollars in the Middle East, sitting and waiting for the low point of the market.
My apologies to to Dr. Thomas Pike for a missing paragraph in my recount of his lecture last week. The full article is on my website, open file dobelisfile.blogger.com, or google for Dobelis & Looking Ahead. Hapy Thanksgiving from the staff of T&V!
Labels: dream team, Obama and Richardson
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 3:03 PM 
