It's Super Bowl Sunday and your faithful blogger has some more quick hits--one that manages to drag the world of politics into the world of sports. Oooh, that was a pretty loud groan, I just heard.
Remember the Maine
Ok. First, Maine has spoken. Sort of. Mitt Romney took whatever it was they had up there decisively. http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0208/Romney_appears_victor_in_Maine.html
Does it help stop McCain's momentum? Doubt it, because McCain won the Louisiana Caucuses yesterday. I know. Neither did I. And I watch this stuff pretty closely.
Dem Changes
Hillary created a buzz with a new, more visionary, stump speech, called "The America I See". http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/02/us/politics/02cnd-campaign.html?hp. Which means that pretty soon there will be no difference between her and Obama, except that he has a nicer voice. It is amazing to me that every candidate, Republican and Democrat, has unashamedly incorporated large chunks of Obama's rhetoric and verbiage into their speeches.
While Hillary was speaking to five thousand in LA, Obama was killin' 'em in front of 13,000 in Idaho. People, that's serious cross-over appeal. And after a glowing endorsement by the La Times that sounded like it was written by Obama's mother, http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-dem3feb02,0,3530861.story , you could be forgiven for thinking that the Obama Train was really becoming unstoppable. But not so fast. The NY Times printed a potentially damaging expose of Obama's proposed nuclear legislation spurred by grieveances that an Illinois nuke company, Exelon, did not report a leak. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/03/us/politics/03exelon.html?ref=politics
The article points out that the final legislation was not only toothless, but it died. And Obama has bragged that he passed this legislation on the trail, as proof that he'll take on special interests and lobbyists when President. Problem is, Exelon is one of his largest contributors and his main advisor, David Axelrod, worked for them. If all of this info in the article is true, this could really hurt Obama because it strips him of his "new kind of politics" mantle and exposes him as just another political insider playing the game. It also opens him up to charges of not being truthful. I think we'll be hearing more on this and rightfully so, if it's true.
The Specter of More Cheating
In addition to allegations surounding the Patriots alleged videotaping of a Ram's walk through before Super Bowl XXXVI, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/03/sports/football/03spy.html?ref=sports , Sen. Arlen Specter (R., PA) wants to investigate the Patriots organization for more videotape violations, this time involving Super Bowl XXLI against his Eagles. http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/ He says it's uncanny that the Pats seemed to have the perfect response for every defensive wrinkle Philly threw at them. Hey, maybe the Pats also slipped some Tylenol PM into Donovan McNabb's Gatorade and that's why he was so "tired", as he claimed after the game.You gotta read the article, it's pretty good.
See, I told you I could ruin a perfectly good Supe Sunday by mixing politics and sports. Anyway, have fun, be safe. And get ready for the other Super Bowl, on Tuesday.
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For those of us who were coming of age in 1968, there are many familiar emotions in play during this year's presidential campaign. At the top of my list are outrage about an ill-advised war abroad and injustices here at home -- countered by hope provided by an inspirational candidate. There was a feeling that our generation could bring about change. But for me and many of us during that summer, the day the music died, hope was supplanted by cynicism and apathy.
Fast forward. It is Monday morning after the Super Bowl. On the Today Show, the first segments feature clips about the underdog Giants' remarkable win over the highly-favored Patriots, followed by a review about who won the Super Bowl of Super Bowl TV commercials. Adman Donny Deutsch said that it was not even close: the uplifting CocaCola/Charlie Brown was the big winner in his opinion and that "positive is the new black."
Positive. Hopeful. A sense that the underdog good guys can win. While I'm not about to climb up into the attic and look for my Birkenstocks and bell-bottoms (not that they'd fit), boy, this feels familiar -- and good. I look at this feeling of hope not out of nostalgia but out of a sense that it is long overdue.
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