| record of m. |
| random words and sounds. |
I already posted President-elect Obama’s speech in Chicago, but I also want to point out Senator McCain’s concession speech. For the first time in a long time, the man respected by many across the political spectrum reappeared to be gracious and eloquent. I’ve heard that in stressful times (such as a presidential campaign), people become more themselves. I hope this isn’t true for McCain and that the man who gave this speech is the real thing.
Taking a break from politics (now that the election is finally over after 200 years), the WSJ BizTech blog has an interesting (to me, at least) post on delaying the PC lifecycle:
http://blogs.wsj.com/biztech/2008/11/14/how-old-is-your-work-computer/
I’ve been through this a number of times in the last 10 years, and short-term cost cutting always wins. In a way, it makes some sense if the timing is right (for instance, when it’s year-end and delaying the purchase by a month or two can improve the balance sheet). But delaying by a year or more becomes expensive, particularly when those computers are used by non-salaried employees or when deadlines are affected by slow computing resources. Unfortunately, it’s harder to quantify the money lost by workers twiddling their thumbs than the fixed purchase of computers, so cost cutting wins.
Companies are even more likely to not buy computers (and other assets) because of the declining economy. But this is the exact time to buy! Computer vendors are going to be desperate to sell anything, and prices are better than ever. Also, computers are assets and should be depreciated over at least three years, so the hit to the balance sheet is low. The hard part for managers will be to overcome the natural hesitation in a recession to stop doing anything when doing nothing just feeds the downward spiral.
All right, I’m done being a computer (and business) geek for the moment.
They’re still counting votes, but it’s official - Barack Obama will lead our country for the next four years.
Normally, the only time I beat the professionals is when I’m watching football and call the play before the play-by-play guy does. But when reading “Following the Script: Obama, McCain and ‘The West Wing’“, I am happily reminded that my obsessive watching of the television show in question was reflected some time ago on this site.
Of course, I’m saying this as I (for the umpteenth time) watch the third season of The West Wing.
I’m a little worried about overconfidence in Obama’s chances of victory (as represented by the incredibly large headline on The Huffington Post – Wash Post: Obama, Democrats Hold A Commanding Position). The polls are showing some tightening as both candidates bear down and spend what they have left. I’m of course a little concerned about the assault on Obama’s patriotism — it resonates with a certain segment of people that are looking for a reason to vote against a candidate instead of for one.
Pollster.com’s national tracking indicates that Obama is maintaining his proponents while McCain is gaining the undecideds. I can only hope this is not a direct result of hearing some automated call say that Obama is a dangerous man that pals around with terrorists.
With just over a week until Election Day, prominent Republicans seems to be concentrating less on campaigning and more on concocting new lines of loyalty within the GOP.
I don’t get it. If this election is showing anything, it’s showing that people want to decide between two issues-based visions for our future rather than who can most effectively bury the other person in mud and slime. An Obama vs. “McCain 2000″ could have been the best campaign in decades. So why are Republican party members intolerantly closing ranks around Sarah Palin? She seems to be a blast from the neocon past, not a fresh breath of air. I may not like Romney, but he’s accomplished (Bain, 2002 Olympics, governor of Massachusetts) and isn’t the apparently reflexive ideologue she is.
On top of this, isn’t party splintering what doomed the Democrats for years? And weren’t the Republicans basically gloating over this in the mid-nineties? So why are they condemning themselves to the history repeat?
With nine days to go, the polls are starting to show a steady trend in favor of Obama:
Ultimately, I think (and hope) this shows that Americans are responding to a positive message of change rather than to increasingly nasty tactics (such as the various robocalls, the mutilation hoax, and increasing untruths about Obama’s plans). America is also seeing the McCain campaign (and the Republican Party) turn on itself:
One of these days I’m going to get back to blogging regularly. As I think about it, I should have been blogging throughout the election season (my preference is pretty well known at this point). I earlier compared this campaign to the last season of The West Wing. Unfortunately, Sen. McCain walked away from the principles that made him a compelling candidate in 2000 and decided that the sleazy tactics that worked for GWB (and McCain denounced then) would work for him as well.
Meanwhile, Sen. Obama is picking up endorsements left and right:
Chicago Tribune (which has never endorsed a Democrat for president):
It may have seemed audacious for Obama to start his campaign in Springfield, invoking Lincoln. We think, given the opportunity to hold this nation’s most powerful office, he will prove it wasn’t so audacious after all. We are proud to add Barack Obama’s name to Lincoln’s in the list of people the Tribune has endorsed for president of the United States.
We may one day look back on this presidential campaign in wonder. We may marvel that Obama’s critics called him an elitist, as if an Ivy League education were a source of embarrassment, and belittled his eloquence, as if a gift with words were suddenly a defect. In fact, Obama is educated and eloquent, sober and exciting, steady and mature. He represents the nation as it is, and as it aspires to be.
Republicans love to mock Obama’s history as a community organizer. But here was a man with no money to offer, no patronage to dispense, no way to punish his opponents. All he could do was to work with people from all walks of life, liberals and conservatives, business people and the unemployed, and bring them together in common cause for a better community. Could there really be better preparation to reunite a worried and divided America to again pursue our “more perfect union”?
…and Colin Powell:
Graduation from the University of Chicago GSB was yesterday.
According to the New York Times, today’s caucus put Clinton and Obama at just about dead even in the delegate count. Clinton, the former prohibitive favorite, is now on the defensive after her campaign manager resigned. On the other hand, the young, inexperienced Obama is gaining momentum in the primaries. Over in the GOP, the socially moderate John McCain is running away with the nomination, leaving social conservatives like Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee.
How is this not like the West Wing’s sixth season?
Barack Obama News