Obama keeps sending me emails. It’s been two months since the campaign breakup, and while I appreciate that he still relies on me, talks to me, thanks me — it’s just time for me to move on. He’s getting desperate, I know — even getting his Davids to approach me (the Plouffe, the Axe), asking […]
Barack Obama
Posted inCommunity/News
New Politics, New Media
August 13, second day on the job. The 12th I spent in Barack Obama’s Iowa City office, blasting his Facebook supporters with mass emails. The promotion du jour: the senator’s “Be the first to know!” text-message program, a nifty campaign to buzz cell phones “the moment Barack makes his decision” for a vice-presidential candidate. I […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Barack the Table
I have read a seemingly unending stream of open letters to the President-Elect, each doling out copious amounts of advice and admonition for the new administration. While I realize that President-Elect Obama has a lot on his plate, I hope he’ll consider the metaphor a bit more literally. Many of the issues we face can […]
Posted inCommunity/News
McCain, Palin, Socialism
Lately McCain and Palin have been hammering Obama for having “socialist ideas.” Now of course, they don’t actually care whether Obama really advocates Socialism or Capitalism or Communism. They are just using words with negative connotations to describe their opponent, as though they were magical spells. They count on their constituency being ignorant, and not […]
Posted inCommunity/News
The Sit-Down with Paul Street
Iowa City author Paul Street’s latest book, Barack Obama and the Future of American Politics, is a critical report on the phenomenal rise of the junior senator from Illinois. Street is a historian and former Chicagoan who worked for the Chicago Urban League as a policy researcher. Obama fanatics will read this book at their […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Numbers and Real Numbers in the Presidential Race
Amid the media fiesta over the latest Presidential poll, we’ve seen McCainites and Obamans alike push to drive the narrative about the polls. In this case, we all should have learned by now to ignore the story that follows the phrase “According to a poll released by Zogby….” The firm has a lackluster record of […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Iowa City Weekender: August 1-3
Sometimes the natural course of things set in and your weekend options are dictated by the turning of the earth. This is such a weekend. Summer is closing fast (school starts when?) and Iowans love a good festival. In that vein, your weekend options all depend on where you want to spend a care-free August […]
