There are a lot post-mortems our there concerning the 2012 election, some smart, and some rather shallow and chained to the usual conventional wisdom. I think we need to be careful about reading too much into this election, for a couple of reasons. First, we ended where we started: Democrats controlling the Senate, Republicans with the House, and Barack Obama in the White House. Second, a lot of what happened merely validated what we already knew. Here are the lessons I did think we learned, or at least re-confirmed.
Asymmetrical Warfare Can Beat Carpet Bombing
The unleashing of super PAC money in the wake of the Citizens United decision was supposed to give the Republicans a huge advantage. However, the megamillions donated by the likes of Sheldon Adelson and the Koch brothers didn't buy the election. The GOP tried to win by carpet bombing with their political B-57s, while the Obama campaign maintained a stellar ground game and get out the vote effort. This type of political guerrilla warfare is hard to wipe out with television advertisements.
Weak Candidates Don't Unseat Sitting Presidents
Here's where we had something we already knew confirmed for us pretty obviously. It's hard to unseat an incumbent president, even one presiding over a struggling economy. Doing so requires an inspiring candidate, and inspiring is about the last word anyone would use for Mitt Romney. He'll go down in history as yet another weak challenger unable to defeat the champ, along with Walter Mondale, Thomas Dewey, Wendall Wilkie, Alf Landon, John Kerry, and Bob Dole.
This Election is Not a Broad Mandate
While the president's performance looks rather impressive on the electoral college map, he barely won the popular vote. Some of the pundits are talking about this election as some kind of sea change, but I don't see it. There is still a very large percentage of people out there opposed to the president, the Republicans are aware of that fact, and most likely not budge an inch in their obstinacy.
The GOP Played the Tea Party Hand One Too Many Times, But the Tea Party Will Still be Around
It's amazing to me that two years ago, when the Republicans swept back into Congress, everyone was talking about the power of the Tea Party, but suddenly this year we're hearing that the Tea Party is a liability and that the GOP can't survive if it is to be the party of angry white people. Did some kind of major transformation in the electorate occur in just the last two years? No, obviously. Using the Tea Party fury got their base to the polls in 2010, an off-year election when turnout is key. In a presidential election the number of voters is too much for a mobilized faction like the Tea Party to overcome. In fact, with more moderates going to the polls, extremists like Richard Mourdock and Todd Akin get smacked down. In 2014 we won't hear much about the Republicans compromising and reaching out to people of color because whipping up the conservative base will continue to pay dividends in midterm elections.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Has Political Punditry Just Had Its Moneyball Moment?
One of the most frustrating things about watching the election returns last night was the seemingly never-ending parade of pundits and flacks constantly speculating about the meaning of the results and exit polling with a stunning amount of pure, unfounded conjecture. These gasbags were winding up a full year of ridiculous assertions and asinine predictions with the mother of all bullshit storms. Meanwhile, statistician Nate Silver managed to predict the outcome of all fifty states, and had completely refrained from the kind of breathless hype of the pundit class, who seemed to think that the race was a lot closer than it was.
If you've read the book or seen the film Moneyball, this scene looks awfully familiar. A bunch of insiders used to analyzing their game based a set of faulty assumptions get schooled by numbers geeks who bring cold, hard ratiocination to bear on the problem. I liken it to a bunch of alchemists basing their worldview on an unchallenged set of ridiculous premises being confronted by a modern scientist armed with real methodology.
Silver's consistently rational analysis has made the blustery gushings of the pundit class look as silly as the scout who wouldn't sign a player because he had an ugly girlfriend. Of course, there is plenty of room for scouting in modern day baseball since there are things the stats can't tell us. At the same time, there isn't a baseball team out there that hasn't incorporated more sophisticated statistical analysis. Perhaps during the next election cycle the networks can bring out the nerds instead of the dumb jocks.
If you've read the book or seen the film Moneyball, this scene looks awfully familiar. A bunch of insiders used to analyzing their game based a set of faulty assumptions get schooled by numbers geeks who bring cold, hard ratiocination to bear on the problem. I liken it to a bunch of alchemists basing their worldview on an unchallenged set of ridiculous premises being confronted by a modern scientist armed with real methodology.
Silver's consistently rational analysis has made the blustery gushings of the pundit class look as silly as the scout who wouldn't sign a player because he had an ugly girlfriend. Of course, there is plenty of room for scouting in modern day baseball since there are things the stats can't tell us. At the same time, there isn't a baseball team out there that hasn't incorporated more sophisticated statistical analysis. Perhaps during the next election cycle the networks can bring out the nerds instead of the dumb jocks.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Why I am Voting for Barack Obama
When I cast my vote for president on Tuesday, my vote will be, once again, for Barack Obama. Having lived in Illinois back in 2004 during his Senate campaign, this will be the third time I will have the pleasure to do so. The first set of reasons I am voting for him are positive in nature: bin Laden is dead, General Motors is alive, gay men and women can serve openly in the military, the economic stimulus brought the nation back from the brink of economic collapse, young immigrants have a clear path to citizenship, America is once again respected not hated by its allies, we have two new strong liberals on the Supreme Court, there are more avenues for women to sue for their rightful wages, America is out of Iraq and on the way out of Afghanistan, and we are finally on our way to having universal health coverage after a century-long battle. All of these things were accomplished against unprecedented levels of obstruction by the opposition party, unrelentingly mendacious propaganda spewed by Fox News and the mobilization of a corporate backed church and king mob (aka the Tea Party). While I wish the health care law had been stronger and stimulus focused on New Deal-style jobs programs among other disappointments, I am amazed at what the president has done in the face of levels of hatred, obstruction, and disrespect I have never before seen directed at a sitting American president.
I also have one very big negative reason for voting for Barack Obama, namely that he is all that prevents the radical conservative movement from gaining control of the levers of national power. As I have been saying time and again, the Republican party is not a traditional center-right institution, but the vehicle for a radical band of ideologues set on putting their Ayn Randian crossed with Christian dominionist vision of America into practice. A Romney presidency will see oil and coal barons free to pollute, banks set loose to exploit customers and wreck the economy, women's reproductive rights threatened, the conservative ideologues on the Supreme Court with a clear majority, a return to the old disastrous neo-conservative foreign policy, the social safety net shredded, and our horrendous social inequality worsen. That alone would be reason enough to vote for Obama, but I feel that he has not just prevented the Right from doing their worst, he has managed to do a lot of good against long odds.
In recent days I've heard from friends via social media and read in blogs and other online forums the disappointment of the Left in Barack Obama. They often point to things that I myself am greatly concerned about: his continuance of immoral and un-constitutional practices from the Bush era used in the war on terror (drone strikes, Guantanamo, extraordinary rendition, targeted assassinations), a tendency to compromise as a starting point in negotiations (his renewal of the Bush tax cuts is an obvious example), the weakness of the health care reform law, cowardice on the gun control issue, and the fact that his administration has done little to better conditions for the poor and working classes. I share these concerns, and even though the online quizzes tell me that my political views more closely align with those of Jill Stein, I'm still voting for Obama.
I used to vote for third party candidates; I didn't vote for a Democrat for president until 2004. Why the change? Because the Bush II administration showed me that as milquetoast and compromised as the Democratic party can be, the Republicans are extremists hell-bent on putting their dangerous ideology into practice. As much as I am horrified by targeted assassinations and drone strikes, the reality is that America is an empire, and that fact is much bigger than any one person who will be its president. In regards to domestic policy, I would love it if the president had stuck harder to his principles, but politics is the art of the possible. I am no longer enamored of the Left's obsession with the doomed noble cause or the beautiful loser. It's all well and good to romanticize Ted Kennedy's run for president in 1980 as a last stand for liberalism, but his actions and the liberals who voted for third party candidate John Anderson helped get Ronald Reagan elected. Power is what matters in politics, and putting that power in the hands of right-wing extremists must not be allowed to happen. In any case, the American political system is so beholden to corporate interests that Barack Obama is by far the most progressive president in my lifetime, despite his compromises and shortcomings. In fact, I will hazard to guess that it will be a very long time, perhaps never, before we have another president as progressive as him.
But let me not end on such an negative note. I will not be voting for president Obama out of the fear I have of his opponents or as a "necessary evil," but because he has managed to accomplish a great deal of positive things; I would even say he has done more for this country in his four years than any other president in my lifetime, including Bill Clinton. If that's not worthy of my vote, I don't know what is.
I also have one very big negative reason for voting for Barack Obama, namely that he is all that prevents the radical conservative movement from gaining control of the levers of national power. As I have been saying time and again, the Republican party is not a traditional center-right institution, but the vehicle for a radical band of ideologues set on putting their Ayn Randian crossed with Christian dominionist vision of America into practice. A Romney presidency will see oil and coal barons free to pollute, banks set loose to exploit customers and wreck the economy, women's reproductive rights threatened, the conservative ideologues on the Supreme Court with a clear majority, a return to the old disastrous neo-conservative foreign policy, the social safety net shredded, and our horrendous social inequality worsen. That alone would be reason enough to vote for Obama, but I feel that he has not just prevented the Right from doing their worst, he has managed to do a lot of good against long odds.
In recent days I've heard from friends via social media and read in blogs and other online forums the disappointment of the Left in Barack Obama. They often point to things that I myself am greatly concerned about: his continuance of immoral and un-constitutional practices from the Bush era used in the war on terror (drone strikes, Guantanamo, extraordinary rendition, targeted assassinations), a tendency to compromise as a starting point in negotiations (his renewal of the Bush tax cuts is an obvious example), the weakness of the health care reform law, cowardice on the gun control issue, and the fact that his administration has done little to better conditions for the poor and working classes. I share these concerns, and even though the online quizzes tell me that my political views more closely align with those of Jill Stein, I'm still voting for Obama.
I used to vote for third party candidates; I didn't vote for a Democrat for president until 2004. Why the change? Because the Bush II administration showed me that as milquetoast and compromised as the Democratic party can be, the Republicans are extremists hell-bent on putting their dangerous ideology into practice. As much as I am horrified by targeted assassinations and drone strikes, the reality is that America is an empire, and that fact is much bigger than any one person who will be its president. In regards to domestic policy, I would love it if the president had stuck harder to his principles, but politics is the art of the possible. I am no longer enamored of the Left's obsession with the doomed noble cause or the beautiful loser. It's all well and good to romanticize Ted Kennedy's run for president in 1980 as a last stand for liberalism, but his actions and the liberals who voted for third party candidate John Anderson helped get Ronald Reagan elected. Power is what matters in politics, and putting that power in the hands of right-wing extremists must not be allowed to happen. In any case, the American political system is so beholden to corporate interests that Barack Obama is by far the most progressive president in my lifetime, despite his compromises and shortcomings. In fact, I will hazard to guess that it will be a very long time, perhaps never, before we have another president as progressive as him.
But let me not end on such an negative note. I will not be voting for president Obama out of the fear I have of his opponents or as a "necessary evil," but because he has managed to accomplish a great deal of positive things; I would even say he has done more for this country in his four years than any other president in my lifetime, including Bill Clinton. If that's not worthy of my vote, I don't know what is.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Fun and Games With Election Predictions
There's a fun little game on the BBC's website where you can predict which swing states will go where in the election, and what the electoral vote totals will be. My total ended up being 281 for Obama, and 257 for Romney. Here are how I called the "swing states" according to the BBC, and some commentary. What are your predictions?
Nevada: Obama
The Obama campaign's ground game is well-developed here.
New Mexico: Obama
Not even sure why this is a "swing state."
Colorado: Romney
I agonized over this one, but I really do think that some potential Obama voters will go over to the Libertarians on the weed issue in a state that has a big Republican base.
Iowa: Obama
He's got a special relationship with this state, and I think the Midwest is becoming a Democratic stronghold.
Wisconsin: Obama
This is embarrassing for Paul Ryan.
Michigan: Obama
After the auto bailout, this will be a cinch.
Pennsylvania: Obama
The polling has been very pro-Obama, although with power outages turnout might go down, helping Romney.
New Hampshire: Obama
I just don't believe the hype on Mitt peeling this one away.
Virginia: Romney
This is a state in the balance, but in my experience traveling through it, the rural regions are scarily reactionary and motivated. I never saw more anti-Obama bumper stickers than I did in the rural portions of that state. With whiteness such a key motivator in this election, I don't see any state in the former Confederacy going for Obama.
North Carolina: Romney
Ditto
Florida: Romney
Obama might have a chance here, but it looks like all those who would like to vote for him stand a good chance of waiting in line for hours or having their votes invalidated.
Ohio: Obama
This will be the deciding state (yet again.) While I am worried about shenanigans, Obama seems to have enough of a lead that rigged machines and long lines won't be able to swing the election to the other side. I only hope I'm right.
Nevada: Obama
The Obama campaign's ground game is well-developed here.
New Mexico: Obama
Not even sure why this is a "swing state."
Colorado: Romney
I agonized over this one, but I really do think that some potential Obama voters will go over to the Libertarians on the weed issue in a state that has a big Republican base.
Iowa: Obama
He's got a special relationship with this state, and I think the Midwest is becoming a Democratic stronghold.
Wisconsin: Obama
This is embarrassing for Paul Ryan.
Michigan: Obama
After the auto bailout, this will be a cinch.
Pennsylvania: Obama
The polling has been very pro-Obama, although with power outages turnout might go down, helping Romney.
New Hampshire: Obama
I just don't believe the hype on Mitt peeling this one away.
Virginia: Romney
This is a state in the balance, but in my experience traveling through it, the rural regions are scarily reactionary and motivated. I never saw more anti-Obama bumper stickers than I did in the rural portions of that state. With whiteness such a key motivator in this election, I don't see any state in the former Confederacy going for Obama.
North Carolina: Romney
Ditto
Florida: Romney
Obama might have a chance here, but it looks like all those who would like to vote for him stand a good chance of waiting in line for hours or having their votes invalidated.
Ohio: Obama
This will be the deciding state (yet again.) While I am worried about shenanigans, Obama seems to have enough of a lead that rigged machines and long lines won't be able to swing the election to the other side. I only hope I'm right.
Friday, November 2, 2012
White Like Me: Romney's Not-So-Secret Weapon
Some news sources have been discussing the narrowing of the "gender gap" in presidential polling this year, which is awfully surprising given that one candidate signed an equal pay for equal work measure into law on his first day in office, and the other represents a party full of Bible bangers obsessed with controlling women's bodies.
One thing we're not hearing much, however, is that the erosion of the "gender gap" might be greatly explained by the growth of the "race gap." In Florida, for example, Romney leads by 30 percentage points among white without college degrees, despite Romney's support for policies totally antithetical to the economic interests of the working classes. This matches the numbers across the South, where in 2008 Barack Obama won 98% of the black vote and 11% of the white vote in Mississippi. The gap is getting bigger, and as Chauncey DeVega at WARN has pointed out, Romney is gaining among white voters even after losing two debates! There seems to be an implicit, lizard-brain notion among many white people that Romney is inherently more worthy of being president because he is white like them. Charles Blow's recent blog backs up that interpretation with poll numbers that show a significant chunk of (white) voters who think Obama is more trustworthy than Romney, but will be voting for Romney anyway. That, my friends, is white privilege at its most fearsome.
Occasionally some public figures just come right out and say what they're really thinking in regards to the fact that Romney is white like them. Take for instance Thomas Friedman, that oracle for suburban businessmen who are too busy to actually formulate real thoughts about the global economy. He recently commented that many (white) voters decided for Obama in 2008 out of the novelty of having a black president, and are now willing to try "something new," as if Romney is in any way "new." The subtext was clear: "it was an interesting novelty to have a black president, but now let's give the White House back to the type of person who really belongs there." Sarah Palin's "shuck and jive" nonsense came out of a more overt dehumanization of the president via his race.
I'd long known that voting for Obama put me in a minority as far as white males were concerned. Obama won only 41% of white male votes, and this was considered a "strong" performance. It now looks like Romney is leading among white women as well, and, as I have mentioned, is getting a lot of support from the white working class. When you think about the numbers, it's a little crazy that only 41% of white men voted for a candidate who won a decisive election, and that in the the last month Obama has polled as little as 32% of white men.
I'm proud to be a part of that 32%, but I am saddened by the implications of the numbers, since they confirm my pessimistic gut instincts. White men are fiercely guarding their privilege, and despite his outright lies, constant flip-flopping, and lack of any specific policy plan, Romney is still one of their own, and Obama is not. I can only hope that that enough of what Harvey Milk called "the us people" show up to the polls to counteract the aggressive defense of whiteness.
One thing we're not hearing much, however, is that the erosion of the "gender gap" might be greatly explained by the growth of the "race gap." In Florida, for example, Romney leads by 30 percentage points among white without college degrees, despite Romney's support for policies totally antithetical to the economic interests of the working classes. This matches the numbers across the South, where in 2008 Barack Obama won 98% of the black vote and 11% of the white vote in Mississippi. The gap is getting bigger, and as Chauncey DeVega at WARN has pointed out, Romney is gaining among white voters even after losing two debates! There seems to be an implicit, lizard-brain notion among many white people that Romney is inherently more worthy of being president because he is white like them. Charles Blow's recent blog backs up that interpretation with poll numbers that show a significant chunk of (white) voters who think Obama is more trustworthy than Romney, but will be voting for Romney anyway. That, my friends, is white privilege at its most fearsome.
Occasionally some public figures just come right out and say what they're really thinking in regards to the fact that Romney is white like them. Take for instance Thomas Friedman, that oracle for suburban businessmen who are too busy to actually formulate real thoughts about the global economy. He recently commented that many (white) voters decided for Obama in 2008 out of the novelty of having a black president, and are now willing to try "something new," as if Romney is in any way "new." The subtext was clear: "it was an interesting novelty to have a black president, but now let's give the White House back to the type of person who really belongs there." Sarah Palin's "shuck and jive" nonsense came out of a more overt dehumanization of the president via his race.
I'd long known that voting for Obama put me in a minority as far as white males were concerned. Obama won only 41% of white male votes, and this was considered a "strong" performance. It now looks like Romney is leading among white women as well, and, as I have mentioned, is getting a lot of support from the white working class. When you think about the numbers, it's a little crazy that only 41% of white men voted for a candidate who won a decisive election, and that in the the last month Obama has polled as little as 32% of white men.
I'm proud to be a part of that 32%, but I am saddened by the implications of the numbers, since they confirm my pessimistic gut instincts. White men are fiercely guarding their privilege, and despite his outright lies, constant flip-flopping, and lack of any specific policy plan, Romney is still one of their own, and Obama is not. I can only hope that that enough of what Harvey Milk called "the us people" show up to the polls to counteract the aggressive defense of whiteness.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Playlist: New Jersey Artists and New Jersey Songs
Because I was without television and internet for a few days, I was not yet aware of just how extensive the devastation from Sandy has been. Today I delved into a torrent of images and reports, and have come away feeling both lucky and guilty. There were people who were going about their business on Sunday who today are dead or homeless. My adopted home state of New Jersey has been hit particularly hard, but people here are doing their best to carry on. In that spirit, here's a playlist of songs about the Garden State or by artists who hail from it.
Bruce Springsteen, "Atlantic City"
This is one of my favorites off of the Boss's dark and disturbing Nebraska album. It's a fitting song to start with, since it concerns a town that's taken some of the worst hits from Sandy. The song is about a guy at the end of his rope, who's about to do something horrible for money (the song implies it's a contract killing.) The key lines, "Everything dies baby, that's a fact/ But maybe everything that dies some day comes back" seem especially relevant today, amidst the loss of life and debris.
Chuck Berry, "Can't Catch Me"
New Jersey is an easy place to knock, especially since the only view a lot of people get from it is on the alienating and ugly New Jersey Turnpike. The all-time rock n' roll guitar great Chuck Berry gives my state's most famous road a hectic, fun treatment.
Fountains of Wayne, "Leave the Biker"
Little known fact: this band is named after a now sadly defunct store in Wayne, NJ, selling bird baths and the like. This is one of my favorite songs about liking a woman who's into "bad boys," which pretty much describes my early romantic history in a nutshell.
Yo La Tengo, "Autumn Sweater"
These indie rock greats call Hoboken home, a city that has suffered worse than most in the storm. I always bust this bittersweet indie rock gem out this time of year, and it's feeling especially appropriate this November in regards to recent events.
The Shirelles, "Mama Said"
"Mama said there'll be days like this" indeed. Sidenote: New Jersey produced an amazing number of top shelf doo-wop and R&B acts in the 1950s and 1960s.
Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, "Dawn (Go Away)"
Speaking of doo-wop, Frankie Valli was born and raised here in Newark. He also happened to sing one of the peppiest songs about classism ever to hit the charts. His girlfriend Dawn is from a much better background, and he basically tells her to leave him for someone who will give her a better life.
Whitney Houston, "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)"
Speaking of Newark, Whitney Houston also came from Brick City. Granted, this apotheosis of 80s synthesized musical cotton candy does not sound much like the tough streets of Newark. I can't say I'm a huge fan of this song, other than as an evocative document of a time when hairspray and shoulder pads dominated the nation and mediocrity held sway.
Tom Waits, "Jersey Girl"
Few songs get me as misty-eyed as this love song with a broken nose. It was the love of a Jersey girl that brought me to this place I've grown to care about so much to begin with, after all.
Bruce Springsteen, "Atlantic City"
This is one of my favorites off of the Boss's dark and disturbing Nebraska album. It's a fitting song to start with, since it concerns a town that's taken some of the worst hits from Sandy. The song is about a guy at the end of his rope, who's about to do something horrible for money (the song implies it's a contract killing.) The key lines, "Everything dies baby, that's a fact/ But maybe everything that dies some day comes back" seem especially relevant today, amidst the loss of life and debris.
Chuck Berry, "Can't Catch Me"
New Jersey is an easy place to knock, especially since the only view a lot of people get from it is on the alienating and ugly New Jersey Turnpike. The all-time rock n' roll guitar great Chuck Berry gives my state's most famous road a hectic, fun treatment.
Fountains of Wayne, "Leave the Biker"
Little known fact: this band is named after a now sadly defunct store in Wayne, NJ, selling bird baths and the like. This is one of my favorite songs about liking a woman who's into "bad boys," which pretty much describes my early romantic history in a nutshell.
Yo La Tengo, "Autumn Sweater"
These indie rock greats call Hoboken home, a city that has suffered worse than most in the storm. I always bust this bittersweet indie rock gem out this time of year, and it's feeling especially appropriate this November in regards to recent events.
The Shirelles, "Mama Said"
"Mama said there'll be days like this" indeed. Sidenote: New Jersey produced an amazing number of top shelf doo-wop and R&B acts in the 1950s and 1960s.
Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, "Dawn (Go Away)"
Speaking of doo-wop, Frankie Valli was born and raised here in Newark. He also happened to sing one of the peppiest songs about classism ever to hit the charts. His girlfriend Dawn is from a much better background, and he basically tells her to leave him for someone who will give her a better life.
Whitney Houston, "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)"
Speaking of Newark, Whitney Houston also came from Brick City. Granted, this apotheosis of 80s synthesized musical cotton candy does not sound much like the tough streets of Newark. I can't say I'm a huge fan of this song, other than as an evocative document of a time when hairspray and shoulder pads dominated the nation and mediocrity held sway.
Tom Waits, "Jersey Girl"
Few songs get me as misty-eyed as this love song with a broken nose. It was the love of a Jersey girl that brought me to this place I've grown to care about so much to begin with, after all.
Thoughts on Sandy, Now that My Internet is Back
I should start by saying that I've been incredibly lucky and fortunate so far. Here on Ferry Street, we only lost power for a day, and today I got internet and phone back. Our local grocery stores are not running out of food, our water is still potable, and we spent the weekend before the storm stocking up on food, bottled water, gas, baby formula, and rum, grenadine, and limes (for making hurricanes, natch.) I have yet to go back to work, but I am dreading what it will mean to get across the Hudson without train service. I have a feeling that a two hour bus ride awaits me tomorrow or Monday. That said, it beats what people on the Gulf Coast went through after Katrina, and the devastation that's been wrought on the on the Jersey shore.
Of course, it's easy to feel lucky today. When shit was going down, I was pretty damn scared. Our oven started making this strange popping noise from the fearsome gusts of wind shooting air up the vent. The wind was messing with our building's fire alarm, which started going off for short bursts every ten minutes or so. The thought of having to evacuate the apartment and go outside in the midst of winds so strong that our nineteenth century brick monolith of a building was actually shaking at the time filled me with more dread than I may have ever felt in my life. Luckily the power went out at that point, so we figured we would just wait to smell smoke to tell if our building was burning down. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much that night. Our dog started bugging us at 3AM with the sound of howling wind outside, apparently in need of some comfort from us.
The next morning I took her out for a walk, and saw some of the more surreal images of my life. Tree branches lay all over the place, those trees standing were stripped of leaves now clogging the storm sewer drains and covering the sidewalks. Torn cables and wires twisted in the breeze, and the sky was the sick-gray color of a dead tube television, pregnant with danger. No one was on the streets in a neighborhood that is usually bursting with activity at that hour. As I was getting close to home, I noticed some strange-looking things on the sidewalk, and suddenly realized they were tiles torn from a nearby roof. Coming home to an apartment without power, phone, or cell service, I felt immeasurable worry.
For our day without power we were lucky enough to have a camping lantern with a built-in radio. It doesn't even need batteries, we hand-cranked it when we ran out of AAs. We pretty much kept WNYC (New York public radio) on all day and night, and I think that for people without power, radio has been their lifeline. I will be contributing during the next pledge drive, for sure. For three days I wasn't able to see any pictures of the devastation, but could listen to residents describe it. Seeing the images today has been a horrifying experience; a lot of those little towns on the shore aren't going to make it, I'm afraid.
We took a trip out to my in-laws in the 'burbs yesterday, and I was stunned to see the number of downed lines and uprooted trees. The leafy streets were full of the sound of power generators, which seems to have driven the demand for gas to dangerous levels. Today I went out with my family to a local grocery store, and we passed by a gas station along the way, which was frightening. An acrid mood of angry tension and violence hung in the air, I don't know how long it will be until we start hearing of beatings and shootings over gas. The storm is in many ways in illustration of the perils of the suburban way of life. Here in my neighborhood stores are easy to walk to, we don't need gas to get around. When power went out in the building, some neighbors came by to make sure we were okay; it's harder to fall through the cracks. With fewer trees, it was a lot easier to restore electricity. I only mention this because a lot of folks in suburban NJ think Newark is some kind of benighted hell-hole.
Last, I'd like to offer some perspective on Chris Christie's performance. He's been highly competent, I will admit, and at least this time he is using his savy and confidence to help people in need, rather than to vilify teachers and pass budgets that give to the rich and take from the poor. His competence, as opposed to the disorganized crackpot stupidity of the Tea Party crowd, is what makes him so dangerous when he sets his mind to putting his Reaganite policies into action. He can actually get these things accomplished in a state that will be voting overwhelmingly for Barack Obama. However, his actions have also revealed, yet again, his bullying nature and overriding desire for power. I have the misfortune to have known many bullies in my life, and they tend to attack and humiliate people lower than them, and talk shit about those above them in their absence, but kiss their asses when they actually come around. Christie fits the bill, with his public humiliation of the mayor of Atlantic City, and craven sycophancy towards the president, a man whom he has spent months publicly lambasting. Christie also knows this is his biggest opportunity to increase his national profile, which is why he has not thrown a bone to Romney, a man who will block his route to the White House in 2016. (That also helps explain his convention speech, which barely mentioned Mitt, and this after he was rumored to have rejected the vice-presidential nomination, predicting that Romney was a losing cause.) Christie also has to run for governor next year, and needs to do a lot to convince people in this state that he is not a wacko conservative, which does not sit well in these parts. I think he has actually intentionally thrown Romney under the bus. You heard it here first.
Of course, it's easy to feel lucky today. When shit was going down, I was pretty damn scared. Our oven started making this strange popping noise from the fearsome gusts of wind shooting air up the vent. The wind was messing with our building's fire alarm, which started going off for short bursts every ten minutes or so. The thought of having to evacuate the apartment and go outside in the midst of winds so strong that our nineteenth century brick monolith of a building was actually shaking at the time filled me with more dread than I may have ever felt in my life. Luckily the power went out at that point, so we figured we would just wait to smell smoke to tell if our building was burning down. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much that night. Our dog started bugging us at 3AM with the sound of howling wind outside, apparently in need of some comfort from us.
The next morning I took her out for a walk, and saw some of the more surreal images of my life. Tree branches lay all over the place, those trees standing were stripped of leaves now clogging the storm sewer drains and covering the sidewalks. Torn cables and wires twisted in the breeze, and the sky was the sick-gray color of a dead tube television, pregnant with danger. No one was on the streets in a neighborhood that is usually bursting with activity at that hour. As I was getting close to home, I noticed some strange-looking things on the sidewalk, and suddenly realized they were tiles torn from a nearby roof. Coming home to an apartment without power, phone, or cell service, I felt immeasurable worry.
For our day without power we were lucky enough to have a camping lantern with a built-in radio. It doesn't even need batteries, we hand-cranked it when we ran out of AAs. We pretty much kept WNYC (New York public radio) on all day and night, and I think that for people without power, radio has been their lifeline. I will be contributing during the next pledge drive, for sure. For three days I wasn't able to see any pictures of the devastation, but could listen to residents describe it. Seeing the images today has been a horrifying experience; a lot of those little towns on the shore aren't going to make it, I'm afraid.
We took a trip out to my in-laws in the 'burbs yesterday, and I was stunned to see the number of downed lines and uprooted trees. The leafy streets were full of the sound of power generators, which seems to have driven the demand for gas to dangerous levels. Today I went out with my family to a local grocery store, and we passed by a gas station along the way, which was frightening. An acrid mood of angry tension and violence hung in the air, I don't know how long it will be until we start hearing of beatings and shootings over gas. The storm is in many ways in illustration of the perils of the suburban way of life. Here in my neighborhood stores are easy to walk to, we don't need gas to get around. When power went out in the building, some neighbors came by to make sure we were okay; it's harder to fall through the cracks. With fewer trees, it was a lot easier to restore electricity. I only mention this because a lot of folks in suburban NJ think Newark is some kind of benighted hell-hole.
Last, I'd like to offer some perspective on Chris Christie's performance. He's been highly competent, I will admit, and at least this time he is using his savy and confidence to help people in need, rather than to vilify teachers and pass budgets that give to the rich and take from the poor. His competence, as opposed to the disorganized crackpot stupidity of the Tea Party crowd, is what makes him so dangerous when he sets his mind to putting his Reaganite policies into action. He can actually get these things accomplished in a state that will be voting overwhelmingly for Barack Obama. However, his actions have also revealed, yet again, his bullying nature and overriding desire for power. I have the misfortune to have known many bullies in my life, and they tend to attack and humiliate people lower than them, and talk shit about those above them in their absence, but kiss their asses when they actually come around. Christie fits the bill, with his public humiliation of the mayor of Atlantic City, and craven sycophancy towards the president, a man whom he has spent months publicly lambasting. Christie also knows this is his biggest opportunity to increase his national profile, which is why he has not thrown a bone to Romney, a man who will block his route to the White House in 2016. (That also helps explain his convention speech, which barely mentioned Mitt, and this after he was rumored to have rejected the vice-presidential nomination, predicting that Romney was a losing cause.) Christie also has to run for governor next year, and needs to do a lot to convince people in this state that he is not a wacko conservative, which does not sit well in these parts. I think he has actually intentionally thrown Romney under the bus. You heard it here first.
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