MOMocrats

On citizen journalists and the validity of accounts

The fireball that has erupted over a comment made at a fund raiser has knocked me off my feet. Over the past few days, what amounts to a standard, though creatively written account of another political event/fund raiser by a citizen journalist has become the fuel for an insane amount of intolerance described here that is almost as hateful as the thinking Barack Obama is being labeled for with his remarks on economically disadvantaged small-town people.

Do I need to get into all the reasons why one might expect a man who has campaigned for last 15 months or so all over the U.S. to know better than to phrase his remarks as such? Well, that is not where I'm headed, and quite frankly, I say this with all honesty, it often falls on deaf ears. However, I do intend to speak out for my citizen journalist colleague, Mayhill Fowler, with whom I, and a number of other of other contributors, have written on The Huffington Post's Off the Bus since June of last year.

Mayhill, as far as I have known, is unabashedly supportive of Obama. She also has very keen eyes and ears as her writing attests. She is very artful at describing the scene and the atmosphere as well as the reaction she experiences at campaign events. Over the last several months, I have read her many posts, of which a vast majority are favorable to Obama's campaign efforts. And I have followed with a slight sort of envy her outright dedication to covering the campaigns, which isn't always possible when you have young children under foot as I do.

Therefore, I am appalled at the amount of backlash she has received for having written her account of this expensive San Francisco fund raiser. I have attended numerous campaign events and throughout my years training as a journalist, I've covered events, people, issues I did and did not care about, much as a citizen journalist or any journalist for that matter would cover. Some were favorable to an idea or candidate I supported, some were critical. But, all were written from the truth as I believe Mayhill's account was written.

What I don't understand is how ordinary Americans can go on the defensive over the work of a citizen journalist, who is more like they are, than any big name paid reporter on any big news operation anywhere.

The value in the citizen journalist's account is that, unlike the paid reporter, they work for free. They are beholden to no one but themselves. And therefore, they are under no  obligation to write, cover or opine about subjects but from their own unique perspective.

We must remember the amount of varying viewpoints, accounts, thoughts and questions citizen journalists may pose is the very cornerstone to the idea a free press, most crucial in this age of corporate controlled big media.

Let us not become so embedded in our support of a candidate at the expense of free thought and dissent that we forget the underlying foundation that allows our candidate his or her platform in the first place.

-Christine Modern English

What's A Progressive To Do Now? Take Aim At McCain

The uncertainties abound. Obama leads, with Clinton, some say not far behind. We look now to Pennsylvania and unbelievably April 22nd. Could it come down to Puerto Rico as the Clinton campaign hopes? What will happen in Colorado this summer? It's not a season ending cliffhanger, it's the Democratic primary.

John McCain has 243 days to prepare to challenge Obama or Clinton, and the GOP is, as you read this, testing out their attack plans. Do we wait for Obama, Clinton and the Democratic Party to get their act together? Do we stand idly by watching the two tear each other and the party down for McCain? I'm not talking about campaigning for a single candidate anymore. My vote was cast long ago.

What progressive voters know is to get a president elected to the White House who will (at the very least) be a listening ear to progressive causes, we must become a force united with the goal in sight.

WWJED: What Would John Edwards Do?

For those of you still mourning the loss of John Edwards from the presidential campaign trail, a new blog of Edwards die-hards was launched recently.  It's called the EENR:Edwards Evolution, Next Revolution, and is written by bloggers who supported Edwards on Daily Kos, The John Edwards for President Blog, and other sites.  They are committed to keeping Edwards' progressive agenda alive in this campaign and beyond.

Check it out, Edwards people!

"Just Call Me Hussein": The Meme

Thanks to everyone that has participated in the latest MOMocrats Smackdown: "Just Call Me Hussein" Day.

Why all the fuss? Some ig'nant fools apparently think it's helpful to their cause to liken Barack Obama to a "terrorist" because his middle name is "Hussein." And we ain't havin' none of that. Why? Because "bitch is the new black," and we? Are bitches.

We've decided to extend the reach of this important blog action by making "Just Call Me Hussein" a meme. If you are reading this and haven't posted, consider yourself tagged. All you have to do is post your "Hussein name" in the title of your blog and share a story about how someone tried to make you feel bad about your name. (See examples below.) Help put childish bullies like Bill Cunningham in his place by declaring yourself a "Hussein!"

When you post—whenever you post—be sure to link us so we can find you. Now, go! Spread that meme far and wide, sistahs (and brahs)! Bitches get shit done!

[Grab a button!]

Or some code:

button 1
<a href="http://momocrats.typepad.com/momocrats/2008/02/just-call-me-hu.html"><img src="http://momocrats.typepad.com/Hussein-Button-Large.gif"> </a>

button 2
<a href="http://momocrats.typepad.com/momocrats/2008/02/just-call-me-hu.html"><img src="http://momocrats.typepad.com/Hussein-Button-3-Large.gif"> </a>

Special thanks to everyone who kicked the meme off "correc'":

Just Call Me Mini Hussein Van Bohemian (Minivan Bohemian)
Just Call Me Erzsebet Katkics Hussein Thompson (This Full House)
Just Call me Elizabeth Anne Hussein Edwards (Table for Five)
Yeah, That's Right, I'm Girl Hussein Con Queso, (Girl Con Queso)
Relieved to Be Called Amy Hussein S. (Up With Moms)
Just Call Me Hussein (Gunfighter: A Modern Warrior's Life)
Just Call Me Hussein-Marie (A Mama's Rant)
Self-Made Hussein Mom (Self-Made Mom)
Hussein-ematic Says: Oh...Snap! (P i l l o w b o o k)
Just Call Me The Lovely Mrs. Hussein Davis (The Lovely Mrs. Davis Tells You What to Think)
Just Call Me Mom "Hussein" 101 (Mom-101)
Barack Hussein Obama: A Name You Can Trust (Black Women for Obama)
If My Grandfather Had Been Named Hussein... (Len Edgerly)
Tulip Shennandoah Smithington McVargas Pennington O'Toole (katydidnot)
Just Call Me Kim Eilleen Hussein (Professor Kim's News Notes)
Just Call Me Hairy Fat Hussein (The Eleventh)
Just Call Me Rosenblum Hussein (Needs New Batteries)
That's Ms. Hussein, If You're Nasty (Woman on the Verge)
Call me Michele Hussein (I Got Two, Babe)
Just Call Me Ern Hussein (Sights and Ramblings)
Just Call Me Lauren Lori Laura Loreen Hussein Baytty Batty Bee-A-ty Beatty (Sweet Beans)
Hussein's Dice (Kady Liang)
Just Call Me Lady Hussein Liberal, (Life, Liberty and Vodka Tonics)
Just Call me Summer Hussein (Wired for Noise)
Just Call Me Ammie Hussein (Sleeping Mommy)
Just Call Me Husseinlien123 (The Lotus Life)
Just Call Me Ana Hussein (Bongga Mom)
Just Call Me Erin Elizabeth Hussein Kotecki Vest (Queen of Spain)
You Can Call Me Glennia Hussein Campbell (The Silent I)
Who's Sayin' Hussein? Florinda Hussein Vasquez, that's who (The 3 R's: Reading, 'riting, and Randomness)
"Just Call Me Moondance Hussein Anne" Day (Sea Change)
Just Call Me Astacia Hussein Mamikaze (Life on the Run)
Today is Just Call Me Hussein Day (Anachroclysmic)
Just Call Me Twizzle Hussein Mussolini Adolph Fidel Mao Bin Laden! (Baboon of Magnesia)
Just Call Me Karoli Hussein (Drums and Whistles)
MotherTalkers (see comments)
Just Call Me Erin Hussein (Creation Halt)
Benny, when you call me you can call me HUSSEIN (Julie Pippert)
Just Call Me Hussein Donna Hussein Schwartz Mills (So Cal Mom)
Deborah "Glo-bra" Hussein. (i-obsess)
Joanne Hussein PunditMom (PunditMom)
Just Call Me Sheila Hussein Bernus Dowd (Xiaolin Mama)
Stephanie "The Stripper" Hussein (Lawyer Mama)
jen hussein plus two (One Plus Two)
Just Call Me Stefania Hussein Butler (CityMama)

If you aren't listed here and want to be, leave a comment below and we will add you!

Chris Dodd on VP list? We need his class of dems.

Sen. Chris Dodd is rumored to be on the VP list for one of the two candidates running and most of the talk seems to center around Dodd as a choice of Obama's. If this is true, Dodd would be an asset to his running mate.

Strong on domestic issues, he's served on the senate foreign relations committee for several years. Most notably, he's in favor of paid family leave, an idea which the U.S. has been painfully slow to consider in contrast to other countries. Dodd says he plans to introduce a bill on this in the coming weeks.

Recently I wrote about the 15 year anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act and how the Department of Labor wants changes made to the law that would set control in the hands of businesses who contend that family/medical leave is bad for the bottom line because employees abuse it.

I read this response by Chris Dodd on the Wall Street Journal to a pro-business editorial on family and medical leave, and I must say, I'm glad to have him on our side.

If you're interested in helping document the ways that the FMLA has helped families and send a message to politicians, you can share your story here at the National Partnership for Women and Families site.

Dean thinks someone should step down soon

If I were a candidate and asked by Howard Dean to make an "arrangement" for a nominee, I'd be very reluctant to even consider it. It's also interesting to contemplate how the Democratic Party might put forth this type of deal: by bringing up the various negatives weighing against each candidate, trying to convince them of their inadequacies?

Dean remarked that he was not in favor of taking the decision for a nominee to the convention and that it would weaken a democrat's strength in the general election.

He was quoted, in the NY Times as saying, “if we don’t, then we’re going to have to get the candidates together and make some kind of an arrangement."

In Obama Country, IL: I vote JRE today

I can't really say it better than this, but here is one of the most well-written arguments I've read thus far, written by Christopher Cook, former city editor at the San Francisco Bay Guardian and posted by Steven T. Jones on SFbg.com:

Dear Friends,
Please pardon this last-minute note on the elections, I hope you can take a
quick glance before heading to the polls.

Politics is about negotiation, leverage, power and ideas, among other
things. In my estimation, both Obama and Clinton have failed to exhibit a
strong consistent commitment to progressive ideas--and thus need to be
pressured on this front, and held as accountable as possible to progressive
ideas such as universal healthcare, strong sturdy anti-war policies, and
economic justice. Neither candidate (not even Obama, who has since voted for
war payments) has been clear and consistent on the war and when/how to end
it. Neither candidate has taken a strong clear stand on a universal
healthcare plan that truly breaks the insurance industry's hold over
America's healthcare system. To the extent that either has mentioned issues
of poverty and workers' rights, and corporate greed/power, it has been by
virtue of prodding by the Edwards candidacy. Both these candidates have
consistently shown they are willing to sell out progressive causes in the
name of power politics and centrism, or, in Obama's case, some vague appeal
to moderates and Republicans.

This is not an anti-Obama or anti-Clinton appeal; rather, I encourage you to
consider voting for Edwards tomorrow on the basis of representing
progressive ideas in the electorate, and sending as many delegates his way
as possible, in the hopes that he will be that much more empowered to exact
some pledges for his endorsement of either candidate.

I believe progressive ideas win only when they are strongly represented, not
when they are tucked in the back pocket and slipped in on the margins later,
if at all. Politics is largely about the bargaining and wielding of power
and ideas; you don't start the negotiation by bargaining away your ideals,
you start with your ideals and work back as little as possible. It may seem
that the pragmatic thing to do tomorrow is to support Obama or Clinton and
rally the party toward a quick nomination of one or the other; but if we
want progressive policies to be promoted by either of these two, they need
to hear from us -- and tomorrow we can speak through our votes by telling
both of them that they need to be more accountable to the progressive ideas
promoted by Senator Edwards.

Ultimately Democrats will rally behind whoever takes the nomination -- but
right now, in the primaries, this is an important time to impact not only
who gains that nomination, but what they say they stand for, and to whom
they are accountable. So I say let's bring a little pressure on these two
and vote for Edwards tomorrow -- and as his pile of delegates continues to
accrue, even at small levels, so will at least some small measure of
pressure for more progressive policies in the party platform.

---------------------

"The rights of one are as sacred as the rights of a million."
Eugene V. Debs

I can't really say it better than this, but here is one of the most well-written arguments I've read thus far, written by Christopher Cook, former city editor at the San Francisco Bay Guardian and posted by Steven T. Jones on SFbg.com:

Dear Friends,
Please pardon this last-minute note on the elections, I hope you can take a
quick glance before heading to the polls.

Politics is about negotiation, leverage, power and ideas, among other
things. In my estimation, both Obama and Clinton have failed to exhibit a
strong consistent commitment to progressive ideas--and thus need to be
pressured on this front, and held as accountable as possible to progressive
ideas such as universal healthcare, strong sturdy anti-war policies, and
economic justice. Neither candidate (not even Obama, who has since voted for
war payments) has been clear and consistent on the war and when/how to end
it. Neither candidate has taken a strong clear stand on a universal
healthcare plan that truly breaks the insurance industry's hold over
America's healthcare system. To the extent that either has mentioned issues
of poverty and workers' rights, and corporate greed/power, it has been by
virtue of prodding by the Edwards candidacy. Both these candidates have
consistently shown they are willing to sell out progressive causes in the
name of power politics and centrism, or, in Obama's case, some vague appeal
to moderates and Republicans.

This is not an anti-Obama or anti-Clinton appeal; rather, I encourage you to
consider voting for Edwards tomorrow on the basis of representing
progressive ideas in the electorate, and sending as many delegates his way
as possible, in the hopes that he will be that much more empowered to exact
some pledges for his endorsement of either candidate.

I believe progressive ideas win only when they are strongly represented, not
when they are tucked in the back pocket and slipped in on the margins later,
if at all. Politics is largely about the bargaining and wielding of power
and ideas; you don't start the negotiation by bargaining away your ideals,
you start with your ideals and work back as little as possible. It may seem
that the pragmatic thing to do tomorrow is to support Obama or Clinton and
rally the party toward a quick nomination of one or the other; but if we
want progressive policies to be promoted by either of these two, they need
to hear from us -- and tomorrow we can speak through our votes by telling
both of them that they need to be more accountable to the progressive ideas
promoted by Senator Edwards.

Ultimately Democrats will rally behind whoever takes the nomination -- but
right now, in the primaries, this is an important time to impact not only
who gains that nomination, but what they say they stand for, and to whom
they are accountable. So I say let's bring a little pressure on these two
and vote for Edwards tomorrow -- and as his pile of delegates continues to
accrue, even at small levels, so will at least some small measure of
pressure for more progressive policies in the party platform.

---------------------

"The rights of one are as sacred as the rights of a million."
Eugene V. Debs

Suspended, Not Ended?

I just had to bring this up, it's too tempting and I'm curious as to what others think. A great many voters, (at least over 300 people who've added their names to this list so far) will still be voting for John Edwards in their respective primaries and caucuses.

Edwards has asked that his name remain on ballots in several states, though he has suspended his campaign. There is also talk among supporters on the johnedwards.com blog of purchasing ads in support of a primary vote for Edwards.  The blog, as of this post, remains up and has over the last several days been experiencing fervent discussion about soldiering on as a community despite Wednesday's announcement.

I mean, I'd like to think this would still garner him enough delegates to impact the outcome of the democratic nomination process. Some things are still up in the air, however. Edwards' national campaign manager, David Bonior was recently interviewed on Democracy Now, and acknowledged it's unlikely there would be an Edwards endorsement of either Clinton or Obama at this time. Bonior said instead:

"My sense is that probably it’s not going to happen—if it does happen, it won’t happen right away, and if it happens at all. And so, we’re listening, and we’re waiting. We’ll be continuing to pressure our two candidates in the party to speak out forcefully, with passion, and—on these issues to make them essential parts of their campaigns. And we’ll see what happens from here."

So, is voting for Edwards in your state's primary now the ultimate path to getting your voice heard and standing up to corporate control of our election process? Or is shock and disbelief getting the best of some of us?

I say, either way, you've got to admire the determination behind it.

Crossposted on Modern English

What Edwards Meant, by Ezra Klein

Ezra Klein is a blogger and writer at The American Prospect.  He has penned a blog entry entitled, "What Edwards Meant."  It's about both John and Elizabeth Edwards and is worth a read, especially with regard to this thoughts on Elizabeth Edwards.

Enjoy.

WHAT EDWARDS MEANT.

   

A beautiful, gracious speech. It was deeply fitting, and for me, affecting, for Edwards' final address as a presidential candidate and national politician to focus on the One America, the more decent, more just America that we believe in, and that he's fought to build. Watching him on that stage, there was no artifice to his claim that he's now forced the other candidates to embrace his passions and adopt his causes. Whatever their assurances to him on the phone, John Edwards set the terms of this race, and the contours of their agendas, many months ago. Here are three articles on what John Edwards meant to the campaign:

• First, my column on his role in the health care debate. "[Edwards'] insistence on centering his campaign around a bold vision for health care reform bettered the campaigns of his opponents. It made them more courageous, and showed that a serious commitment to health care reform was popular in the party and viable in the press. If he fails to capture the nomination, but sees one of his fellow candidate's plans pass, he will have helped enact Harris Wofford's dream from over a decade ago: That one day, we would be a country, in which if you are sick, you have a right to a doctor." Whole thing here.

• In The Guardian, Matt explains "if he hadn't been in the race we would have missed him a great deal. Indeed, despite his consistently lagging polling and fundraising numbers, Edwards has arguably been the decisive policy influence inside the Democratic party."

• Over at The New Republic, Jon Cohn writes, "if Edwards wants to blame somebody for his defeat, he shouldn't look at the media. He should look at himself. And I mean that in the best sense possible. Edwards' biggest problem may have been that he was too compelling—so compelling that his rivals effectively adopted his agenda."

And, finally, a word on Elizabeth Edwards. The first time I came to Washington as an adult, I came because she invited me. An avid blog reader, Elizabeth asked a handful of bloggers to come have dinner at their home in Georgetown. I'd just been hired by the Prospect, but wouldn't start for months yet, and so imagined this a good opportunity to visit my new city. I remember standing on their porch, ringing the doorbell only to have John Edwards answer. I remember looking behind him, to the older women with short, spiky grey hair -- Elizabeth, after a round of chemo. I remember John Edwards trying to have us convince her that her hair looked wonderful the way it was, and she needn't color it. I remember the evident bond, and deep affection, their interactions displayed. But more than that, I remember how impressive she was, how quick and articulate and argumentative. It was her, not him, who made the biggest impression on me. He was the politician, but of the two, she was the political thinker, the one who devoured commentary and information, the one who conceived of their campaign as a product of the contemporary progressive moment.

Most of the commentary on her will focus on her health, and I pray that it is superfluous, and she is well. But beyond that, she deserves to be remembered as a political force in her own right, as the member of the partnership who made the Edwards campaign a progressive, rather than merely populist, force. A couple weeks back, I sat down with her, in New Hampshire, for a quick interview. In 15 minutes, she said more than most politicians do in 15 days. The transcript is here.  It's the best read of any of the links on this list.

While we're on the subject of celebrities and candidates...

There's been an array of celebrities endorsing candidates in recent days. As a voter, I'm interested in hearing specific reasons why people support a candidate, not just watching them show up to cheer them on based on broad rallying cries. Take a look at this clip from Tavis Smiley's show of Danny Glover talking about poverty in America and why he supports Edwards.

The most interesting part, for me, is when Glover talks about how it's wonderful to support the idea of a black president or a woman president, but what do these ideas on their own mean? Do these ideas become just a novelty in the race? And how does this directly impact the one problem that faces all Americans of any race and gender: poverty?

Crossposted on Modern English