Maybe we did "help in the turning"

[TayTay]

Wonderful http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/esaslaw/2009/01/the-west-wing-comes-to-life.php">"think piece" over on TPM. Definitely worthy of a look.

Just a portion of it:

There is awfully serious business before the new administration, of course, but it would truly be a mistake to ignore the celebratory mood of the country. If we were somewhat disappointed when the Iraqis we "liberated" by removing Saddam Hussein did not seem as excited to see us as we though they might (the Vice President may have been a bit over exuberant) there is no mistaking how our own "liberation" is being received.

And why not? The week begins with a new chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee being the same person who, as a young Navy officer, asked the same committee

how do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam

SNIP (Aw, it's a http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/esaslaw/2009/01/the-west-wing-comes-to-life.php">good piece of writing. Go read it already)

More from TPM article:

We have our work cut out for us and we are not without blame for the mess we are in. Watching this sad spectacle of a man not even remotely fit for the office slink away from the presidency in a wave of more nonsense and foolishness than could even be imagined from him, we can laugh (Letterman's recap of his "Great Moments" series was spectacular ) until we realize how he got there: There were people who voted for him because of Vice President Gore's stiffness on a stage, because he sighed during a debate and had an advisor who instructed him on the "earth tones" he should wear. There were millions of people who could not see a "dime's worth of difference between him and the idiot who was elected. This is the country in which we live.

But maybe Lt. Kerry's prediction from so long ago has come true. Maybe we have turned a corner. It will be an exciting, historical and, I am certain, memorable week to come.

Bring it on.

[TayTay]

1. Also, a great article from The Field

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/clinton-ready-day-one-advocate-obamas-positions">written by Al Giordano. There is an enormous amount of info in this article, feel free to discuss. (And read the http://narconews.com/Issue55/article3338.html">companion piece in NarcoNews for more Kerry Commentary from Al. Another thing to think about in the New World of 2009.)

And it was also very encouraging to see Kerry begin to stake out his turf newly as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee:

And one of Kerry's written questions to Clinton suggests he's soured considerably on "Plan Colombia" - the multi-billion dollar US military intervention in that country - which after nine years has not shown results at what was stated as its main goal: impeding the production and trafficking of cocaine. Kerry's question also revealed his evident concern about repeating the mistakes of "Plan Colombia" now with "Plan Mexico," also known as the "Merida Initiative":

An October 2008 report by the GAO concluded that, although Plan Colombia improved security conditions in Colombia, it has not significantly reduced the amount of illicit drugs entering the United States. What lessons can be drawn from Plan Colombia, not only to improve its effectiveness, but to improve other U.S. counternarcotics policies, including the Merida Initiative, in Latin America?

That question was a friendly but tough shot across the bow from Kerry, who in the 1990s led the Senate investigation exposing US government involvement in cocaine trafficking through the Iran-Contra case. It put Obama and Clinton on notice that he, their political ally, and now the most powerful voice on foreign policy in Congress, is not going to sit back quietly if Plan Colombia marches on as before, or if Plan Mexico repeats its grievous errors...

[YvonneCa]

2. Leadership. It's all about leadership. I like to ...

...think that a collective 'We' all played a part in the turning. And we know it's important to continue because it isn't finished yet.

But it is leadership that makes the difference. John Kerry, in asking those questions in 1971, BECAME the leader he was seeking. Even after 2004, he continued to lead. So did Al Gore (with so many policy ideas as well as his speaking out against Iraq, torture, and domestic spying). He may not have had much media coverage at the time, but his voice MATTERED. Having a former Vice President voice the wrongs I felt in my heart gave me back my hope.

There have been many others who stepped up, from Olbermann to Krugman and many more. And now Obama, with his talent to inspire, will lead. With support from the inspired. And us.


But it all started with right leadership. JMHO. :7

[MH1]

3. Yes, I think we did help. :)

I saw a lot of things that Kerry tried to do, mature and come to fruition in Obama's campaign; and I think this group, by establishing the relationship with JK that we did, showed the value of certain outreach methods and communication technologies, and the power of building online communities that exist for other than fundraising. I have no doubt that experience was communicated to the Obama campaign. Although Obama clearly was already strongly grounded in community organizing, every bit of experience that he could assimilate into his own campaign, had to have been a help.

Thanks for posting these articles, Tay!

[sandnsea]

4. That just makes me smile n/t

[cadmium]

5. Barack Obama a was a long shot for the right reasons.

Senator Kerry was attacked persistently and personally by small minds.

Things are better. As I have stated before, I a very pleased and I am fully satisfied to see John Kerry as the head of the Senate Foreign relations Committee. They will keep taking potshots at him but after a couple yrs of magnified incidents I think it will be easier to deal.

Obama is already getting it from all corners --actually more from the purity trolls than from the right.

Remember things were once, not long ago, looking fairly bleak for liberal democrats.

[YvonneCa]

6. Things are definitely looking up. And I am another...

...who will never forget how deep a hole Democrats were in after 2004. At certain moments, the fact that we are HERE after only four years is pretty amazing. (And then...at other moments...that four years seemed endless. :7 )