The Obama campaign just launched a new website, Change.gov, to help Americans understand the transition process as well as Obama’s policies. Enjoy.

Aside from McCain choosing Sarah Pailin as his running mate, probably the single thing that has made me so excited about Barack Obama (and holy shit am I excited) is the plan he lays out in his “Blueprint for Change” on using the internet for greater transparency, accountability, and citizen engagement.

In that spirit here’s a great article from Popular Science on how the next president can harness the largely untapped power of the internet for the ends of a greater and more properly compelled and informed democracy. The article arguably reaches it’s apex in it’s citing of George Mason University research fellow Jerry Brito and his paper on converting all government documents to XML format for greater extensibility and usability. Enjoy.

The new season of Frontline opened last night with an in depth look at the careers of Barack Obama and John McCain. There were surprises and insights about both of them that I didn’t fully expect. Obama is tougher, and more underhanded than one might think, and John McCain might actually be (or was) honorable. Unsurprisingly, it turns out that both of them are ridiculously ambitious.

As Douglas Adams said:

Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.

Watch it on the Frontline website here.
Watch it on youtube here

I’m a guy that likes to admit when his opinion changes. And I’m a guy whose opinion changes quite a bit.

So I think it’s only fair, based on the harshness which I’ve judged the Obama camp so far, to give equal time to the protected optimism I’m feeling after this week of the DNC and especially after Bill Clinton’s great speech last night. Seriously, Clinton fucking SLAYED last night. What a treat it was to see old Slick Willie back, in all his self-milking glory, drunk on the ambrosia of his own bad self. To me, it was like watching Dr. J back in his prime after years of age and decay or having a front row seat to when the drummer from Def Leapord played his first show after he relearned drums with one arm. It was wonderful - hillarious, smart, and spot fucking on. Kudo’s comeback kid, you outshined your past 8 months of dumbness with change to spare.

But the whole week has been great so far. Michelle Obama’s speech seemed almost sincere, a very rare stone in the mined quarry of politics. Her nervousness offered a credibility to her character that I don’t think you could articulate with a script. And, I must admit, I felt a strong swelling of home town pride as I listened to her tell the story of a south side girl from Chicago making good. Booya! What’s up my favorite fat city?! Plus, Michelle Obama, is smoking hot! I don’t think it’s been since George H.W. Bush since we’ve had such a fine piece of ass for a first lady.

Hilly did great, Biden was ok and his story about his mom telling him to punch the bullies in the nose was perfect. I’m cautiously reconsidering my complete disdain for Biden, both because Phil Zimmerman replied sanely to the original CNET article which made him sound opposed to Biden, but also because Biden will be a great ally in keeping those cocksucking Republicans out of office for a third term.

I’m still baffled by the whole RAVE Act thing. I would give my big toe to have a one on one, off-the-record, sit-down with Biden to find out what his real beef was there. I just can’t believe that anyone would really pick people eating drugs that make them feel amazing while dancing, hugging, and feeling good about the world as the war they would want to champion. I would love an honest answer on that.

So yes, here it is, your fat, curmodgeonly, cynic is stating once and for all that I feel that Obama could indeed make a splash large enough to push our drowning vessel closer to the right direction. However manufactured and creepy all of American politics have become - and especially these conventions - I feel like through that vaseline gauze I saw something I haven’t seen in our country in a terribly long time. I saw a youth and an excitement and an INTELLIGENCE that could make me proud to call myself an American once again. Maybe I’m just snowed by the moment, but I’m willing to be as honest with my whimsical optimism as I am with my much easier whimsical pessimism.

If you’re a praying type, pray hard now. If you send energy, send strong mother fucking protective energy. If you’re working security at this event work REALLY FUCKING HARD. We need to keep Obama alive and working his ass off and give him the opportunity to fail us terribly and reaffirm the world-wide malaise or, possibly - maybe (mother of all that is unholy i fucking HOPE) - renew this country and give us a chance to be the people and the country we really could be.

I loved this political cartoon strip when it grew out of “My New Filing Technique is Unstoppable” - which grew out of “My New Fighting Technique is Unstopable”

Now “Get Your War On” by David Rees is animated. Let’s hear it for clip-art-driven social and political commentary!



http://www.236.com/video/2008/get_your_war_on_you_are_loved_8200.php

As the Democratic National Convention kicks off today I thought it would be interesting to go back and read our fair and sensible president’s charm for the Amurhican peoples back when he was still just an unpopular governor of Texas and the pride of a nation had yet to be fully skinned and hung to tether beneath a constant banner of war and lost jobs.

It’s got everything you’d expect: folksy aphorisms, stupid fucking jokes, a diminutizing attitude toward the office, and a temporal rhyme scheme that could make your skin crawl. It’s classic W. even as he was still very early in discovering his true latent identity as the Decider.

But hindsight is 20/20, right? So, using this retarded rag of a speech as a template, I think it will be fun to hear Obama & company’s bombastic, sincere-sounding orations, as well as the RNC’s snivelling contributions, and fantasize about how these seemingly well-intended words will be dialated and fucked over the next few years.

Come on, Washington, how you gonna let us down next? These are very big shoes to fill.

Constitutional lawyer Glenn Greenwald has thorough breakdown of Barack Obama’s latest position statement regarding the FISA bill. From the article:

Barack Obama has issued a new statement on FISA in response to the growing number of his supporters objecting to his position. Genuine credit to him for being responsive this way and for having his site be a forum for disagreement among his supporters and himself. Providing a forum for those sorts of debates is a sign of a secure and healthy campaign.

Despite that, the statement contains many dubious claims and, in a couple cases, outright misleading statements. Worse, Obama’s statement only addressed the objections to the telecom immunity provisions of the bill, while ignoring the objections to the (at least) equally pernicious new warrantless eavesdropping powers the bill authorizes.

read the whole article here