Editor’s Note: I asked Fe Bongolan to provide us with a campaign news roundup as Obama and McCain go into the final stretch. The next 48 hours will be a telling spell of astrology. Tuesday at about 4 pm the Moon reaches its exact full phase, and 24 hours later Mercury stations direct. On the personal front this is a time to back off, not push anything you can avoid pushing, and ease through the astrology.
This stretch of time is a true hot spot of the year, and it is clear that many things hang in the balance; Mercury is stationing in Libra and the Moon is full in Aries with the Sun in Libra. Despite the Libra presence, the Aries energy makes this a potentially angry and self-centered Full Moon, particularly given that it’s conjunct Eris. Eris is not an asteroid; she is a planet larger and slower than Pluto, to my thinking the most important advance in planetary astronomy and astrology of the 21st century so far. Between this lunation and the associated Mercury station direct, we may have a good bit of mental chaos, identity crisis and relationship twisting and turning on our minds.
People wonder how a 12-sign horoscope can work; the truth is most of us act like puppets as the planets tug us around, no matter what sign we are. Pay a little extra attention as these days unfold. Expect things to go a little more slowly, leave space for the occasional bungle and change of even important plans, and let’s see what develops. And remember that the third and final presidential debate is happening right in the thick of it all. Fe is the most tapped-in person I know, well connected and obsessively informed…so you can count her observations for a little extra.
Thanks for tuning in…
Dear Friend and Reader:
I’M FINDING myself having an increasingly hard time imagining what’s been going on in John McCain’s head.
He was forced by the religious right in his party to make the worst choice of his political career by having unvetted Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate and next in line to the Presidency (McCain wanted Joe Lieberman as his choice for VP, the same Joe Lieberman who ran on the ticket with, yes, Al Gore). The Alaska Troopergate investigation revealed last Friday that the governor abused her position in a relentless vendetta against her former brother-in-law Mike Wooten defying governmental ethics laws, and providing the country further evidence of her amateurish leadership.
McCain “suspended” his campaign mid-September to fly up to Washington and “save the economy,” disturbing a fragile balancing act between both parties needed to sustain a majority vote to pass a bailout plan. His one-day interjection of political showmanship caused further delay in creating an accord between the parties, adding more days of economic anxiety for the nation. It shone an unwelcome light on the Republican Party that allowed deregulation to flourish for decades and helped create the crisis, solidifying the perception that this “suspension” by McCain was yet just another campaign stunt.
Then you have McCain’s campaign on the stump asking “Who is Barack Obama?” whipping red-meat craving right-wing throngs into a frenzy by Palin proclaiming “Obama is palling around with terrorists,” and getting responses that “Obama is a bomb-carrying Muslim,” “He’s an Arab!” and “Kill him!” In a just and perfect world, words like Palin’s would at least garnish you a trip to your local Secret Service headquarters for further questioning. But its October 2008 and there’s an election to win.
The media storm and public outrage over the Hate Talk Express (hat-tip to Democratic Underground for the term) during the last week-and-a-half caused a further drop in the polls and high unfavorability ratings. Its more than likely McCain was pressed hard by Republican Party leadership to ratchet down the race-baiting which was hurting not only his chances, but down ticket races for other Republican congressional candidates. Party first.
Caught between trying to please the base and winning the election for his party, McCain’s campaign is now painted into a corner. When he dialed back the diatribe before his political base, they booed him. The genie has been released, and now its hard to put back.
Looking at the Obama campaign’s strategy, one can see a level-headed, unflinchingly deliberate and focused drive towards staying on message, getting validation that the message is sinking in on the ground and reinforcing that message when pressed. The results of that strategy is apparent in the polls and in the dollars. By current accounts not yet official, Obama looks to have raised at least $100 million during the month of September alone and has reached a safe polling haven (at least for now) of over 50% in recent polls.
Looking at the McCain campaign strategy, after the Palin bounce, the air deflated roughly around the time the economic woes started to erupt. He’s stuck with an unremorseful running mate caught in a series of scandals. He’s caught with a party history that’s one of the worst on record since the last Depression. He’s carrying the weight of one of the most unpopular Presidents on his back. He had no plan to improve the nation’s economy which he described as “its fundamentals were strong”, then promptly turned around on his white unicorn, practically on the same day in an attempt to save it. (He was sent out of Washington quietly by his own party, with the unicorn’s horn up his umm…pants.)
He has now resorted to continuing racist and bigoted innuendos to be used on his behalf. As a narrative, McCain is living out the line penned by Massachusetts Senator John Kerry on Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 at the Democratic National Convention when he said: “Before he debates Barack Obama, John McCain should finish the debate with himself.”
I wonder if Kerry knew how prophetic that moment of character assessment was. McCain’s lack of a solidified, unconflicted message is making a formerly acquiescent mainstream press take notice, at least in part. It appears the biggest political conflict McCain has is with himself–from caving in on his own principles by appealing to the religious right he once scorned, to resorting to methods even he despised when he first ran for President in 2000.
The Obama campaign has capitalized on using the term “erratic” to describe John McCain. Kerry’s words and Obama’s framing of McCain are working like a slow-acting poison on both McCain and the minds of the American public towards the once reputable McCain “brand.” No longer the Maverick who buckled against the party establishment, but the Erratic.
No wonder I have had such a hard time crystallizing McCain’s narrative. It’s everywhere and nowhere. It’s incoherent. He is now like liquid mercury unbottled. Once spilled, hard to contain, even harder to keep a finger on and lethal to swallow. But at that point, when cornered as he is, a political animal becomes all the more dangerous. This will be explored in Part 2 of this series.
Yours and truly,
Fe Bongolan in San Francisco
“I don’t think McCain meant to give permission, but as you say, its out there now, it can’t be rescinded, and it is scary.”
anomaly:
You know, I think there’s a lack of consciousness operating here with McCAin’s message that plays so well amongst the far right of this country. In a way, I think its good that these views get blasted by the press, and that hopefully, even blaming the press for calling people on their racist extremist crap will finally peter out.
We do live in a powderkeg nation. I wonder if thinking of ourselves as land-mine retrievers, or even white cells attacking viruses, there’s danger and opportunity in confronting these demons instead of sweeping them under the rug.
One has to be stronger than the other, though, and the walk needs to come together, hopefully somewhere in the middle. Maybe the stars can lead us to that road. One can only hope.
Fe, have to agree with your post about “the Other”. Don Miguel Ruiz explained this simply: we are taught from childhood to be victims and judges. We apply this in our own lives and with others on a daily basis. During times of stress we need a scapegoat, “the Other”. Unfortunately, we have seen all through history how being part of a group makes it easier to act in ways we would find difficult to apply as an individual. I don’t think McCain meant to give permission, but as you say, its out there now, it can’t be rescinded, and it is scary.
marymack:
The hate-speech did swing alot of the moderate undecideds into Obama’s camp, but there are lingering after-effects wheich I will discuss in the next part of this series.
I feel as though they don’t know what they’re dredging up when they use (and they continue to use the hate speech, only in less overt forms) these terms. When I said genie is out the bottle–McCain Palin gave folks permission to feel and act out their rage against ‘the Other”. And that in and of itself is very scary.
McCain “suspended” the hate-express because it didn’t work, period. All that angry riotous talk did nothing but solidify his base and send the swing voters in droves to Obama.
Jude had the stone article up on polwaves last week. I was seriously nauseous after the read. I’m still considering printing out multiple copies and distributing them throughout my city….. except that it’s a rather lengthy read, and I’m not sure those who truly need to read it have the attention spans!?!
jinspace:
Thanks. I’ve caught references and excerpts of that article since it came out, but haven’t read the whole thing.
My word, another Administration with a titular head with a Daddy complex? Please spare me from more Greek tragedy.
Safe to say Gary Hart knew precisely what he was talking about. He’s known McCain for a long time, and doubtless knows his true military record. If you want more insight into what motivates John McCain (a deep-seated desire to one-up Daddy), take a look at Tim Dickinson’s article in Rolling Stone. Revealing biographical (and Hart is quoted there, too) and based largely on information he got from McCain’s own book: http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/make_believe_maverick_the_real_john_mccain
At age 72, McCain’s life’s work and agenda should have been crystal clear, not utter chaos.
I just hope we don’t have to watch 4 years of Obama infomercials. It really is wearing thin. (yeah I know, but we are retired and our damn tv is on all the time).