http://www.inthesetimes.com/archives/tags/election+2008/ In These Times features award-winning investigative reporting about corporate malfeasance and government wrongdoing, insightful analysis of national and international affairs, and sharp cultural criticism about events and ideas that matter. en-us Expression Engine jessica@inthesetimes.com seamus@inthesetimes.com Mon, 23 Jul 2007 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3274/the_unions_man/ Dressed in gently faded jeans and a solid dark-blue sport shirt, John Edwards sauntered across the stage of the Northwest Junior High School auditorium on a hot Saturday morning in June, talking to a labor union audience that was warm to him from his opening words. "My view is not that complicated," Edwards told the charter convention of Iowa's Change to Win labor federation in his polished but folksy manner. "If we want to strengthen and grow the middle class in this country, if we want to grow America economically, if we want to see millions of people lifted out of poverty, the organized labor movement is a critical component of that. That's the reason that wherever I am, I… labor election 2008 Susan J. Douglas Tue, 24 Jul 2007 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3269/bloomberg_could_tie_centrists_in_knots/ When New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg looks at himself in the mirror, what do you suppose he sees? A hard-nosed, no-nonsense businessman? A non-partisan political operator? Perhaps a nuts-and-bolts manager? Kingmaker, spoiler, billionaire? The next president of the United States? It's a perplexing picture that offers up a cornucopia of possibilities. Bloomberg has newly declared himself an independent. Independent runs for the presidency can be treacherous. "Ralph Nader" became two very dirty words after a certain megalomaniac ensured the debacle of Election 2000. His ill-timed and ill-conceived independent bid ushered in an eight-year horror story. What does the man in the mirror mean for the left? How will a Bloomberg candidacy--or even its potential--affect the role of the left… election 2008 politics Susan J. Douglas Thu, 26 Jul 2007 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3268/the_squandering_of_obama/ I have known Barack Obama since the early '90s. My various conversations with him had convinced me he was an indelible progressive. I celebrated his entry into politics with his first election to the state senate from Illinois' 13th District, and he compiled a strikingly progressive legislative record during his seven-year stint. Conditions conspired perfectly to grease Obama's route into the U.S. Senate and then into the presidential race. Those of us following the "Obama phenomenon" from its inception were amazed by the magical, dreamlike quality of his ascent. A local astrologer explained it by noting a propitious celestial alignment in Obama's chart. Perhaps astrology could best explain his meteoric rise. After all, what rational pundit would have predicted that… election 2008 race Susan J. Douglas Tue, 21 Aug 2007 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3293/the_crafting_of_obama/ To my esteemed colleague, In These Times Senior Editor Salim Muwakkil: I love your work, but I have to call you out on your missive in the August issue, "The Squandering of Obama." You suggest that America's first serious black presidential candidate is running away from race. "Perhaps he came to believe that political success was incompatible with efforts to promote a serious racial reckoning," you wrote last month. You also argue that Obama's handlers are reining him in and steering the candidate away from "a progressive revolution." Salim, give the brother some credit. Obviously you have never built a staircase. I'm no carpenter myself, but I know the drill. Carpentry is an art that can illuminate the task of… election 2008 race Susan J. Douglas Mon, 17 Sep 2007 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3329/obamas_in_the_eye_of_the_beholder/ Every August for 46 years, until she retired two years ago, Duffy Lyon carved the butter cow sculpture that has occupied a place of honor at the Iowa State Fair. But newly inspired, this summer she crafted 17 pounds of butter into the campaign logo of Democratic presidential aspirant Barack Obama, proudly displaying her creation at an Obama forum on rural issues here. "He's the kind of person who will represent us the best, better than Hillary," she says. "He's for people who haven't got things." Prominent dairy farmer Joe Lyon, like his wife an active 78-year-old independent who Bush turned into an ardent Democrat, adds, "We've got to have a change in Washington. I think it's been a calamity--war,… election 2008 labor politics Susan J. Douglas Wed, 14 Nov 2007 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3429/rudy_guiliani_criminal_or_liar/ Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani raised serious questions about his record as a public servant when he announced on television that he had used "intensive questioning techniques" on New York mobsters and other criminals, and that his brand of intensive interrogation was difficult to differentiate from torture. Giuliani put on his best tough-guy act in an interview with Al Hunt on "Political Capital with Al Hunt," which aired on Nov. 2: I can't say that I [know more about torture than Sen. John McCain], but I do know a lot about intensive questioning and intensive questioning techniques. After all, I have had a different experience than John. John has never run city, never run a state, never run a government.… election 2008 torture Susan J. Douglas Tue, 20 Nov 2007 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3415/tax_and_spend_hell_yeah/ I have a proposal for the next Democratic debate--hell, the next Democratic and Republican debates: Get rid of the TV personalities and have Paul Krugman moderate the thing. That way, "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert won't be asking Rep. Dennis Kucinich if he's really seen a UFO, or Sen. Barack Obama if he believes in E.T.s. And NBC anchor Brian Williams won't be asking Obama what he plans to be for Halloween. (And why is that what he asked the black guy?) All Krugman would have to do is ask questions based on his important new book, The Conscience of a Liberal, which unabashedly calls for a new New Deal and for "expanding the social safety net and reducing… election 2008 media reform Susan J. Douglas Wed, 28 Nov 2007 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3421/hounding_the_bush_dogs/ Mark Pera is not one to back down from a challenge. The son of a steelworker, Pera toiled in Northwest Indiana's mills to put himself through college and law school. As a Cook County assistant state's attorney, he worked on environmental criminal prosecution and public utility regulation, diligently fighting special interests. Now the broad-shouldered, 52-year-old father of four is setting his sights on the 2008 Democratic primary in Illinois' 3rd congressional district, which encompasses southwest Chicago and nearby suburbs. By the looks of it, he's not messing around. Five full-timers staff his campaign headquarters, a two-story brick house outfitted with stickers and schedules. In August, Pera took a leave of absence from his job to run full time. He also… congress election 2008 Susan J. Douglas Tue, 04 Dec 2007 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3438/primary_importance/ It was the best bit of electoral agitprop of its generation. And it helped unleash what movements coveting legitimacy and long-term influence must hold as a gold standard: measurable impact on the presidential primary. In late 1991, the AIDS advocacy group ACT UP produced a sticker to dramatize what leaders hoped would be the visible involvement of its loose, ungovernable chapters in the Democratic nomination of 1992. Sixteen years ago, as today, the implacable sense of change was in the air. Voter disaffection with what singer Rufus Wainwright calls "an ogre in the Oval Office," so unfeeling in the face of inequality and a health-care crisis that he could not even guess the price of milk, gave permission for more… election 2008 politics Susan J. Douglas Thu, 06 Dec 2007 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3423/the_democrats_path_to_victory/ Voters are likely to choose the next president primarily on economic issues, especially if the financial crises deepen. But they will also decide the election based on concerns about the war in Iraq and, more broadly, America's place in the world. On both counts--the pocketbook and the globe--Democrats hold an advantage. But to retain that advantage, Democrats will need to redefine the terms of debate on America's global role. That's happening in small, if inadequate, ways on both the war in Iraq and trade issues. The danger is that the Democrats will defensively hedge against the inevitable Republican attack machine on foreign policy and pander to their newly generous corporate financial backers on trade. They would then fail to connect… election 2008 politics Susan J. Douglas Fri, 11 Jan 2008 13:42:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3478/stay_classy_huckabee/ "The uncool subject is class," author Bell Hooks once wrote. "It's the subject that makes us all tense." What an understatement, considering the two leading "change" candidates in the latest presidential polls. Barack Obama is contending for the Democratic nomination as a candidate who avoids focusing on economic class. He asks us to believe -- nay, to "hope" -- that the interests of Wall Streeters underwriting his campaign can somehow be "brought together" with the interests of workers harmed by corporate America's wage, job and pension cutbacks. By contrast, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is competing for the Republican nomination on a call for proletarian solidarity. Next to John Edwards (D), he is the "classiest" presidential candidate, explicitly deriding "plutocracy"… class election 2008 Susan J. Douglas Mon, 14 Jan 2008 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3479/mr_ms_change_goes_to_washington/ If Mr. or Ms. Change were a candidate for president, they would be the Democratic nominee by now. But we would not know precisely what candidate Change looks like. It's an idea--or image--that is as ambiguous as it is popular with voters. Polling and early votes in the presidential race show that Democrats, many independents and some Republicans want a sharp break with the Bush era on both domestic and foreign policy. The data also show that they're ready for a departure from the conservative paradigm that started with President Reagan's declaration that "government isn't the solution; government is the problem" and went on to encompass President Clinton's supine acceptance that "the era of big government is over." Now a… election 2008 Susan J. Douglas Tue, 15 Jan 2008 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3495/pollsters_and_puppets/ For Sen. Hillary Clinton, Iowa and New Hampshire are chapters of a story that began at 10 G Street in Washington, D.C. In October 2002, the Bush White House was preparing to march the country off to another war. In Congress, the Democrats, on the whole, dithered. Should they or should they not support the president's Iraq war resolutions? Should they follow the road map prepared by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's Office of Special Plans, accept the rationale promoted by the Weekly Standard neocons and believe the "evidence" supplied by the prevaricating Judith Miller of the New York Times? To the rescue came Democracy Corps, a nonprofit organization "dedicated to making the government of the United States more responsive… election 2008 Susan J. Douglas Tue, 15 Jan 2008 13:28:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3508/meaningless_in_michigan/ LANSING, Mich.--In a state suffering from the country's highest unemployment rate, and home to the nation's murder capital in Detroit--with automobile manufacturing expatriated Flint close behind--one would expect Megan Piwowar, media relations coordinator for the Michigan Republican Party, to point out that the state's governor (Jennifer Granholm) and senators (Carl Levin and Debby Stabenow) are all Democrats. But Piwowar and the GOP in Michigan have another ace to play, as the state holds its primary election today. "The irony is that Republican voters can really establish their values, ideals and plans for the future. Democratic voters really can't," she says. "That's quite the predicament." In a bizarre situation caused by a frontloaded primary season, the Democrats are fielding only New… election 2008 Susan J. Douglas Thu, 31 Jul 2008 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3833/big_media_hectors_obama_on_surge/ For six years, with few exceptions, the Washington press corps has been cheerleading for the Iraq War – and the pattern is continuing in Campaign 2008 with the endless demands that Barack Obama apologize for not supporting the troop "surge." On Sunday's "Meet the Press," NBC's Tom Brokaw became the latest Big Media star to hector Obama about his opposition to George W. Bush's troop "surge," which the U.S. press corps and Republican John McCain credit with reducing violence in Iraq. Obama's efforts to point to other factors that predated the "surge" – such as the Anbar Awakening (the Sunni tribal rejection of al-Qaeda extremists) and cease-fires ordered by radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr – fall on deaf ears. Even… election 2008 media war in iraq Susan J. Douglas Mon, 04 Aug 2008 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3806/dont_tase_me_gop/ The St. Paul Police Department is arming itself with Tasers. Local activists and media say that the department ordered 230 stun guns in late February -- adding to the 140 already in its possession -- in preparation for protests at the upcoming Republican National Convention (RNC), which St. Paul will host from Sept. 1 to Sept. 4. Police spokesman Tom Walsh denies any connection between the arrival of the Tasers and the upcoming RNC. "They are not related to the convention in any way," says Walsh. "A patrol officer suggested months ago that we supply our force with Tasers." But some demonstrators are wary of such assurances. "Our concern is that they'll have them and that they'll use them," says… election 2008 policing republicanism technology weapons Susan J. Douglas Fri, 15 Aug 2008 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3870/will_obama_wave_bayh_bye_to_the_white_house/ If you believe the chatter, Barack Obama is desperately seeking a white guy -- any white guy -- to be his running mate. Democratic sources have floated vice-presidential trial balloons for every pale-faced stiff in the D.C. region -- from Delaware Sen. Joe Biden to Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine. But with Obama needing his "change" brand to overshadow his recent flip-flops, no pick would be more self-defeating than Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh -- the career politician who best personifies "more of the same." The son of Sen. Birch Bayh, Evan has no discernible political skills (unless "skills" include being the cure for insomnia and having a famous last name). In the decade since this prince claimed his daddy's Senate seat,… election 2008 politics Susan J. Douglas Tue, 19 Aug 2008 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3854/keep_the_heat_on_obama/ In 1992, when Bill Clinton won the Democratic nomination, Washington progressives -- the leaders of unions, think tanks and advocacy groups -- fell over themselves to rally around the man from Hope. Part of this support was, no doubt, to make sure that he got elected -- after 12 dark years of Presidents Reagan and Bush. Washington's notable liberals also decided to act as FOBs (Friends of Bill) so as to ingratiate themselves to the future administration. Once at the left hand of power, the reasoning went, they could use their influence for good. So the progressive community closed ranks around their "friend" -- or the man who was a friend of their friends. Friends like Derek Shearer, an In… election 2008 politics progressivism Susan J. Douglas Mon, 25 Aug 2008 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3859/moving_obama_left/ After Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) secured his party's nomination in June, his tightly knit campaign message began to fray at the edges. Critics from across the political spectrum charge that Obama has shifted to the center or right on a host of issues, and that the flip-flopping was -- take your pick -- good, bad, inevitable or duplicitous. Progressives, whose hopes for Obama grew from his early opposition to the war in Iraq, and the youthful movement his candidacy inspired, wondered how much they could trust him on Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, civil liberties, gun control, the death penalty, trade, government funding of faith-based groups and other issues. Disappointed as some progressives may be, Obama has not made a dramatic… election 2008 politics Susan J. Douglas Thu, 04 Sep 2008 10:34:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3889/a_post_rational_society/ The Republican Party, which has defined modern-day negative politics, was back at it again this week, bashing Barack Obama and the news media in an ugly display that rivaled the old days of Nixon-Agnew – or George W. Bush's last convention where GOP operatives passed out "Purple Heart Band-Aids" to mock John Kerry's war wounds. After a slow start because of Hurricane Gustav, the convention in St. Paul, Minn., has turned into an anti-Obama hate-fest with a nearly all-white gathering laughing at and mocking the nation's first African-American presidential nominee of a major party. However, beyond the pulsating contempt visible on the faces of the GOP delegates, many of the nasty attacks on Obama – as well as the effusive… election 2008 politics Republican National Convention Susan J. Douglas