Confessions of an Errant Mind

Got this article from Andrew Sullivan's blog, noting how Obama's campaign has been notably free of division and distractions. I'm not sure that always is a good thing--some dissention can be creative, as the Bush administration has amply demonstrated through their tight ideological control. Still, I think it's further evidence that there's some seriousness here about the "different kind of politics" tag.

Now recently, Sarah and I have been rushing through season 4 of The Wire, which has to rank as one of my favorite TV shows ever. One consistent theme of the show is that systems break everyone in the end. I'd like to claim I have no illusions about this with Obama--any president has to make deals with the devil to get elected. Still, he seems better than most. If he can manage to hold on to this more pragmatic, unpolarizing style, I think there's potential. His policies aren't the most creative, but I think that's part of the point. And recent discussion about his multicultural identity has convinced me that he'd take a substantially different stance toward the rest of the world than his predecessor. As he's said, it's different negotiating about poverty when everyone knows he has extended family living on very limited means in Kenya.

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Well, it wasn't the easiest semester, but another group of students have completed my ongoing service learning partnership with North High School in Minneapolis. The project changed significantly this year: rather than creating jazz radio programming, students primarily worked on audio profiles of significant places in the city. They're not without rough edges, but I'm impressed with what they come up with. You can see the project on the partnership's website, which will continue to expand. Here's the address:

http://www.passthepeace.net

Just click on U of M Audio Portraits on the left hand side.

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Well, after about two months of work, the final pieces of my grad school application (to Minnesota's Geography Dept.) were submitted on Wednesday. While I'm only applying here, I also had a couple of fairly involved fellowship applications (to the Javits Fellowship and the National Science Foundation). But I can definitely say the whole process helped me clarify both my reasons for pursuing grad school and what I'm interested in studying. Now it's just the waiting game--I probably won't hear much until the end of February on any parts of this. But it's a relief to have it done!

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It's been awhile since posting, but I'm breaking the silence with the much awaited endorsement for the Democratic primary. I'm siding with Oprah--Obama's my man. I have concerns with his experience. I know that for all his lofty rhetoric, he is, after all, a politician. Yet the reading I've done has convinced me that he actually believes what he says about setting a new tone. And on policy, he seems nuanced (perhaps too much so) in a way that the current administration lacks. That is, he views policy as more than a one liner for a political campaign. He needs seasoning as a campaigner (his flubbing of a recent debate question on immigration is inexcusable), but there's time for that--a full year before the election. In terms of economics and foreign policy, I probably differ with him in some significant ways, but that's true for most of the candidates. At worst, he's the next Carter. At best, a Lincoln. Probably somewhere in between. An article from today's NY Times backs me up.

As for Hillary and Edwards, both have failed to impress. While Hillary certainly has experience, her paranoia when it comes to the media and the checkered ethical history of her husband's administration give me pause. Edwards has good ideals, but is too much of a demagogue for my tastes. So, at least for now, I'm hoping for Obama in '08.

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