Sharp Skirts

NY Times blog, The Caucus, included just a short note on Ted Sorenson, once Kennedy’s speech writer. On a book signing tour, Mr. Sorenson responded with poetry when asked to compare Senator Obama and President Kennedy.

From a Seamus Heaney poem, “The Cure at Troy”:

History says, Don’t hope
On this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up
And hope and history rhyme

Sorenson added one final thought, ““I’ve seen it two times in my lifetime.”

Citing President Lincoln’s quip, “If I didn’t laugh, I couldn’t stay in this job 15 minutes,” President Reagan used his own political wit to great effect. Some of his remarks are even funnier in retrospect. Don’t miss the line about the Taxpayers’ American Express card the big spenders never leave home without. Would he be talking about his own party today?

With all the recent talk about votes who want change, both in policies and in their pockets, I’d like to get that credit card back in my wallet! I’d also like to cut up the card that’s keeping Hillary’s campaign going!

This post has already weathered a number of incarnations. From celebrating a couple of tough women to hating their mangled faces to reveling in the independence they represent. I may still not know how this is going to end but it begins with yesterday’s Oprah show. The stage was set in Las Vegas and the show began with a sequence of clips celebrating the musical careers of Cher and Tina Turner.

Did you know Cher is the only female performer to have top ten hits in every decade since the 60’s? I didn’t but it doesn’t surprise me. From my perspective, it does seem like she has always been there.

It felt something like flipping through my mother’s forgotten album collection and I was too curious to stop looking. I haven’t been an avid fan of either of these ladies so I won’t be able to dance with you over their accomplishments. What I began to see, however, is the role these women played as touchstones. That too seems to be something stretching across generations.

When Cher claimed the stage with electric blue hair, she was the picture of celebrating who you and where you are. Who can’t fall in love with that? She sat down to talk to Oprah and I was struck by her soft and quiet responses. I think this has puzzled me before, this quietness that’s as solid as stone and says I’ll hold my ground against any of them. Oprah’s appreciation of Cher’s daring is present throughout the conversation. I think my mother, who completed her entire education at St. Wendelin’s Catholic School and Ohio Dominican College, secretly admired that brazen sexiness too. My mother would never admit it, but Oprah is now reveling in it. Her eyes are on fire throughout the interview as though she now has electric blue hair.

I remember Cher’s attempt to turn back time in the 90’s. I didn’t care much for the music but knew I wanted to be able to rock like that when I was 50, if that’s what I decided to do. As a young woman just starting college I wasn’t sure I’d have my own internal combustion engine. That’s what I saw in Cher, unbridled horsepower.

Next on the show was Tina Turner. Apparently these two women first performed together nearly 30 years ago and would sing “Proud Mary” together one more time for Oprah. Tina, now 68, sat next to Cher for a chat amongst girlfriends. Sonny and Ike were mentioned as only one event of their long careers. Oprah asked about the money either of them owed to their exes after the break-ups and Tina turned to Cher to ask, “How could you have owed Sonny anything?” These were two women who knew they had it and now wondered how they ever doubted themselves.

In this celebration of two larger-than-life divas, this was a perfect “every woman” moment. Cher spoke about her stage fright and how daunting it was to consider dancing on stage with Tina Turner, “it’s like dancing with a hurricane.” There is something more natural about Tina’s raw power. Read the rest of this entry »

Hillary is trying to buy votes at the cost of $.30 a day by repealing the federal gas tax. That’s an annual price tag of $28 she has put on her desperate campaign and it’s an idea running on empty.

This sorely underestimates the intelligence of the voting public as well. Who believes oil companies will pay the gas tax reinvented as a windfall profit tax without raising the price at the pump? There’s nothing prohibiting the oil companies from adjusting their price after the government adjusts their costs. And, there are just a few of us who remember the gas lines the last time Congress tried to fix the price of gas.

On ABC’s This Week today, Hillary said she doesn’t need an economist’s approval to know this is an idea that works for working Americans. This is more governing from the gut directed towards earning the allusive political capital she thought she had in the bag. I’d like to hear the new ideas experts believe could work for all of us, something that works for the next three months and the next three years.

Hillary’s proposal isn’t just about the short term as she insisted. It’s simply short sighted. This proposed holiday will put a few extra pennies in the average American’s pockets for a few days but that change will continue to do less and less for us without real solutions.

She can keep my thirty cents because I want more. I want 50 mpg to be the norm the next time I shop for a car and I want a concern about global warming to drive government decision making like it drives my decisions at home. Is it hard? yes. Is it more expensive? Yes. But I believe I’m worth it and protecting our future quality of life is more important than empty rhetoric about punishing the oil companies.

This isn’t their problem, it’s ours. They’re the suppliers and we’re the addicts and those roles will persist until we do something to break that addiction. We don’t need a price break. We need an intervention.

This starts with a confession. Getting ready for work this morning, I heard John Cougar’s “Jack and Diane” and enjoyed it. A cloud of powder had settled settled across my nose and the miracle eye cream had just infiltrated fine lines and wrinkles. In an instant, that reality disappeared as the song convinced my head I was thirteen again with a world full of possibilities.

It isn’t a new phenomena but the power of the right song to transcend the continuum of time and space amazes me every time. One of Einstein’s theories of time provides for every instance of ourselves to continue to exist in each moment we’ve lived. A song with the perfect wavelength provides a wormhole that transports you directly back to one of those moments. As if admitting a moment of joy over “Jack and Diane” wasn’t enough, I’ve been contemplating what other songs work as mile markers like this.

Here’s a mildly unashamed walk through my life via the music that somehow defined it. If you snicker even once, you owe me your own confession in the comments…

“I Want a New Drug” by Huey Lewis and the News takes me back to a pivotal moment in my family life. We were moving from Ohio to Texas in the early 80’s. Part of the moving plan included my dad driving his 1979 Ford Mustang to Texas and then taking a Greyhound bus back to Ohio to drive the U-Haul. I was a lucky fifth-grader who was able to tag along for the adventure. I imagined myself to be a great writer and wrote a story about Pac-Man while we were on the road. When I hear the heartbeat of this Huey Lewis and the News song, I can imagine the wheels spinning down the road, the red vinyl, and my incredible journey….with my dad and Pac Man!

Ok, this one hurts a little. You might snicker but then you owe me your owe me!

I can’t hide my middle school self’s joy when “Footloose” gets time on the radio. A very good friend of mine died our freshman year of high school and I’m pretty convinced she would point to this 8th grade slumber party at her as one of the best times of her life. Our small group of friends danced and danced and danced in the living room that night. We played Light as a Feather with St. Elmo’s Fire playing in the background. When I hear this song I can still see all the stuff in her mother’s china cabinet bouncing back and forth with us as we…uh…cut footloose.

Yeah, I’m groaning over that one too but sometimes you just have to embrace it.

And the Beastie Boys’ “Paul Revere” is an instant celebration. I still know all the words to it too. A friend and I spent most of our time in Algebra trading lines from Beastie Boys songs. We were trying to figure our lives out and it was easier to imagine this song would reveal a secret than it was to think Algebra would have anything to do with it.

I still don’t understand how that cynical student became a teacher but I did. Rancid’s “Time Bomb” takes me straight back to those first three years of teaching when I was on the verge of becoming a statistic. 50% of our new teachers leave the profession within the first three years. I understood why and Rancid helped me funnel the rage through their frantic and driving music while I made sense of my adult life.

Before this becomes “This is Your Life the Mixtape,” let me ask…what song takes you there?

Watching PA results this evening. I have to admit I’m disappointed it wasn’t closer but it’s still a clear testimony to the strength of Obama’s candidacy. He was behind by double digits just a week ago. The days since then have included many swipes by the Clintonistas, and Senator Obama provided an opportunity with his careless remarks about rural voters.

PA was Clinton’s to run with from here to the convention but she can’t do it despite miserable media for Obama. She doesn’t even have the kitchen sink left for the next two weeks and is millions of dollars in debt. And, what about those pesky math problems?

Chuck Todd reported Clinton would need to win more than 80% of the vote in the remaining primary states to walk into the convention with the competitive tone she has imagined. In everyone else’s book that equation works out to a zero chance of winning the nomnination.

A tight Obama win in IN and maintaining a double digit win in NC should take care of it, even for those who believe math is open to debate.

David Brooks started it on Meet the Press this Sunday. He suggested we’re all tired of the debates and he has never been so right. He then questioned why we use this model for selecting a president. When the phone rings at 3 A.M. will it be a national security crises or another question from the media determined to draw blood?

His proposal was war games. With the next debate on ice, perhaps we can consider this alternative.

Lock the presidential candidate and a team of advisers in a make-believe bunker. Saudi Arabia has military vehicles in motion and appears to be preparing to fire a nuclear weapon at Israel. What do you do? Have the writing team for West Wing provide the responses to the candidates’ proposed actions. Who launches our military firepower the fastest and what steps do they take first?

That might tell you something that matters about the would-be President.

Whatever you thought of the moderators last week, does anyone really want to listen to another 20 minute discussion about universal healthcare with and without mandates? Plenty of people are watching this primary who have never watched before and we’re all tired of the nuanced arguments that make a negative ad positive. This is politics as a spectator sport and the spectators are bored.

Let’s give them something to see…What should replace any remaining debates?

A reality TV show where candidates are charged with growing a financial investment or charitable contribution? Don’t forget the popular vote by phone or text at the end of each episode!

A smackdown in the wrestling ring with silly slogans and threats tossed at opponents?

A monster car event with a fire breathing robosaurus whatever his opponent would be?

A NASCAR race? Ask the candidate to explain the winning strategy in terms of balancing resources and maintaining position to win.

It’s easy to take great music for  granted in a city like Austin. During South by Southwest (SXSW), the whole city was a stage. I saw Spoon and NOFX for free. Caught a few minutes of Matt and Kim and finished the weekend with a local favorite, Firekills, at The Tiniest Bar in Texas.

While Austinites strut around like they own the market on live music, independent music, and supporting hard working artists, it’s hardly something confined to these coordinates. Today, our local independent music stories need your help. Celebrate Record Store Day!

Back to the theme of spoiled Austinites, I can tell you one of my favorite ways to spend a Sunday afternoon is cruising the listening stations at Waterloo Records. My husband and I make our first stop at the new releases from local artists and then paw through the shelves looking for other interests on our radar screen. I am ready to throw a tantrum over Homespun after catching them on an Insomnia Radio podcast and have decided I want the original album from The Vue. That might be one of those things that’s more interesting to hunt for than it will be once it lands on the CD rack at home. For now, I’m enjoying the hunt.

It’s that hunt in and amongst well-loved used CDs, eclectic new and local music, and the opportunity to listen to stuff you would have never considered before that makes the local record store more of an excursion than a shopping trip.

Shopping is nearly suffocated in plastic. Exploring new music at the local music store is sure to bring you a brand new beat.

[Need an idea for new music? Follow the links and don't forget this list from last week]

Geared up with ice cold beer, pizza, and half a dozen links open in the browser, I was ready for tonight’s debate. I have to admit I wanted a meltdown. Mostly because I want this to be over on Tuesday.

So far, the moments slipping by haven’t been any more remarkable than other debates. Oh, they have some different talking points. Let’s talk about elitism and sniper fire because those are the questions burning in our belly tonight. And no one lost their temper over any of it. What’s the point?

I’ll keep posting my thoughts but wanted to start by sharing a couple of interesting ways to watch the debate:

ABC is streaming the debate along with dial responses from undecided PA voters. I’ve found it interesting and can imagine it would turn any candidate into mental mush to watch their game like this. Clinton seems to get higher jumps quicker while Obama’s increases are more slow but sustained. Interesting.

You probably have to be some shade of insane to have two different audio tracks going as you watch the debate. I can’t get the televised debate to line up with ABC. I’ve never claimed to be particularly sane.

And, I’ve mentioned my addiction to Twitter. You can see what the Twitter masses are saying about the debate at Politweets. I might never come down off of this high.

Waiter (aka darling husband), another ice cold beer please! Crikey! He just declared that he loves Obama more than I do and showed me the coolest Obama desktop. Need to open another tab! Where’s my beer?

2nd Amendment quoted coming back from the commercial break. Gibson points to Virginia Tech anniversary to ask about gun control. HRC is the first to respond:

She will bring back the cops program. I wonder if that includes providing the funds. Austin police are tapped to the max. Already trying to cover a budget deficit.

Obama given the question in a constitutional context. Is the D.C. ban in line with the 2nd Amendment. He just threw the constitutional law professor a constitutional question. Go figure that Obama now sounds professorial! He says the Constitution does confer an individual right to bear arms. BUT that doesn’t mean it’s an unlimited right. Eyelids are getting heavy. Dial response is going flat. Wedge issues work so much better for the other side.

Now both candidates have admitted to not knowing the facts of the D.C. ban. HRC is making the case that the federal government shouldn’t be making this decision for states. George and Charlie keep trying to confront candidates with facts of previous statements and votes. Parsed words are scattered along the ground. Is anyone getting something out of this?

Wow…from this to affirmative action. Be still my heart.

Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve all heard the mainstream press take off with the elitism storyline. I think they’ve had that one ready to roll for months. I hate, however, to hear Obama supporters, Democrats, and others pick up this theme.

There isn’t a story there. Put Obama’s story against Kerry’s or Gore’s. This elite thing won’t work. Mainstream media, this is a tough one to puzzle through. It’s been a difficult lesson for Mrs. Clinton too but this isn’t 2004.

We’ve also heard plenty about being bitter or not being bitter. Honestly, these two Sharp Skirts thought the best first response was something like “F-yeah! I’m bitter!” But, that doesn’t take this conversation anywhere either. We happen to think we’re better than that, is that elitist?

That’s that about what everyone else is saying. I’ve consumed an inordinate amount of the blogosphere on this topic. My head is spinning but I haven’t yet found what I think the story is. If I had a dime for every time someone asked “will Obama’s words resonate with voters?,” well, you know…

Here’s what resonates. Senator Obama isn’t trolling bars for photo ops and telling stories about his father teaching him to shoot a gun. He is talking from his heart about where he believes the hearts of many Americans have retreated. Here’s the truth in his words that we’re not talking about when we accpet the established memes of bitterness and elitism.

Imagine if the quote read something like this…(words in bold are my suggested revisions)…

But the truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there’s not evidence of that in their daily lives. You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they VOTE to PROTECT THEIR gun RIGHTS or RELIGIOUS VIEWS or TO EXPRESS antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

Politics as a spectator sport is leaving most of us behind. We can’t send our kids to school or afford the prescriptions are family needs. Our credit is a mess because lenders were there with easy money when we needed it and had nowhere else to turn.

Good, hard-working and hopeful people report to duty at the ballot box thinking, “she probably won’t do a damn thing about college tuition but at least I know how she’ll vote on immigration.” Some issues are kept very simple for this very purpose. Those in-the-know call them wedge issues.

Obama didn’t invent them but the words getting all the press threaten to reveal them for what they are: tools to exploit voters. Some of us still believe we deserve more than that.

[full disclosure: author was raised in a small Ohio town where all male relatives owned guns. Attended the same Catholic school her mother and her mother's entire family graduated from and will proudly vote for Barack Obama this November. That's right....I said NOVEMBER.]