Lawrence Lessig is a professor of law at Stanford Law School and founder and CEO of the Creative Commons and a board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. I highly respect his opinion in matters of free speech and freedom of information.
Recently, he announced that he will stop focusing his attention on copyright and related matters, and will instead work on corruption in the political system. This is a video he put together to explain his support of Barack Obama. A lot of it is a contrast between Obama and Clinton and points out exactly the reasons why my heart hurts every time I think about another 4 years of the same kind of bullshit that’s been going on in Washington for the last 16 years!
Despite being a New Englanduh, I am not and have never been a big Patriots fan. (I just ain’t into football that much to begin with.)
I didn’t watch the Super Bowl. (I know. I know. It’s un-American, but I am a Commie bastard after all.) Well, I tried not to watch it. In fact, we went out to dinner last night specifically to avoid it and wound up being seated in the bar area with the game on 2 TV’s.
I bet on New York to win. The most traitorous cut of all! In fact, I kinda thought they might win, but I really did it because I was behind in my office football pool. So, I figured I’d at least get some points by betting against the rest of the gang.
During the course of this blog’s 5+ years of history, I have generally avoided political talk as it just leads to childlike exchanges of “no, you’re a doo-doo head!”
In case you haven’t figured it out, I’m a bleeding heart liberal. However, I’ve managed to keep most of my conservative friends, because I don’t believe that shouting louder than those you disagree with and closing your ears to their ideas makes you a winner. (It’s a two-way street, of course, and those conservatives who are still friends believe the same thing.)
I think I’ve found a candidate for President who feels the same way.
I’m not entirely naive. I know that there is a difference between rhetoric and action. But at this point, I’m willing to take Senator Obama’s words at face value and have a little bit of hope for the future.
I don’t usually watch campaign or acceptance speeches, but in Obama’s case, I dropped what I was doing and rushed to the TV to hear this:
I want a president who understands that his responsibility is to articulate a vision and encourage others to achieve it; who holds himself, and those around him, to the highest ethical standards; who appeals to the hopes of those who still believe in the American Dream, and those around the world who still believe in the American ideal; and who can lift our spirits, and make us believe again that our country needs every one of us to get involved.
I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president
It’s hard to believe, but even after almost eight years there are still stories about our Fearless Leader that make me laugh and go “No whu-hay!”
Take for example the story of the President’s favorite painting. According to him, it depicts a Methodist missionary charging up a hill. The reality is that it was an illustration in the Saturday Evening Post of a horse thief running from a lynch mob…
It’s time for the ultimate showdown! Grab ahold of your change purses and put the kitties to bed! The most awesometastic, orgialistic contest this side of Tyson vs. Perdue!
