Random Detritus: Going Negative Edition

I watched the second half of Frontline last night, Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story. Thanks to the wonder of DVR technology, I'll watch the front half tonight. Lee Atwater's life is a modern Faust morality play. As a political king-maker, he rose from obscurity to national prominence by doing anything and everything to ensure his side won. And it worked. Really, really well. From the top of the world, things came down hard and fast. After fainting during a speech, doctors discovered a tumor in his brain. In a matter of months, he lost his vitality, his strength, and then his life. Atwater died mostly alone, regretful, vilified by his detractors and never truly embraced by the kings he had made. It's a powerful story.

In other news, Sarah Palin called out bloggers as "kids in pajamas sitting in the basement of their parents' homes" being all mean-like. Oh, really? I for one do not favor PJs. I blog in the raw (a lovely image, I know). Way to make the Republicans seem even more curmudgeonly and out-of-touch, Ms. Palin! You're a pajama-wearing parents's-basement-living bloggers dream!

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And now for something completely different: a girl on a pogo stick!

I didn't even know someone still made pogos but nobody told this girl who was happily pogoing down Greenwich Street during my lunch hour yesterday. Out with the new, in with the old! The pogo stick is the new Segway. You heard it hear first.

Obama Wins, Brooklyn Celebrates

Congratulations to the new president, you've got a lot of work ahead of you and, goodness knows, it's not going to be easy.

Many observers and pundits wondered morbidly what might happen if Obama lost after having the comfortable lead in just about all the polls leading up to election night. Thankfully, we don't have to worry about that. What we will need to worry about is the poison of partisanship that is boiling in this country's life blood. It's endemic on both sides of the two-party fence and it has to stop.

In his speech, Obama inserted a plea to an end of partisanship in his speech but a glance at Politico.com or any other of the campaign-tracking websites will show that his campaign was as guilty as McCain's of playing dirty with spins, half-truths, and outright falsities. It remains to be seen if, having now won the office, he can put down the tools that helped get him there.

My fear has always been that Obama will prove to be an ordinary president, not much different than any other of recent history. However, one thing cannot be understated or forgotten: his election marks a sea change in what is demonstrably possible in the nation. And more, that the youth of this nation can be galvanized behind a cause that they believe in- that such a cause exists at all- and can, in ways that even eluded the promise of the generation of the 1960s, see that cause to conclusion.

My neighborhood has been pro-Obama almost from jump street. From my bedroom, I could here cheers and car horns reverberating from down the block. While I waited for Obama's speech, I snuck out to see what was up.

Even 350 Year-Old Wounds Never Completely Heal

If there was any doubt that George Orwell got it right when he said, "who controls the past controls the future", this could be the clincher.

A 350-year-old cavalry battle has become the latest irritant between Russia and its neighbor Ukraine after Russia's foreign ministry on Tuesday accused Kiev of using the clash to foment anti-Russian feeling.

The ministry said the 1659 battle of Konotop, in which a Russian invasion was repelled, was being distorted to fit the political agenda of Ukraine's leaders, who have angered Moscow by seeking NATO membership.

In the battle, a Russian force was defeated when it tried to stop a Ukrainian leader from entering into an entente with Poland and Lithuania -- with whom Russia had waged wars.

Source: reuters.com

The whole scene is decidedly Orwellian, down to the Russians claiming that Ukraine is twisting history to fit their current goals ("who controls the present controls the past"). I always find it odd that people claim the past has no meaning or import in today's affairs. The past always matters, whether it happened yesterday or 350 years ago. Let's hope both these countries learn from it and not try to repeat it.