Buttermilk & Molasses

Diradour Inserts Tweet In Mouth

It'll take a lot to convince me that Charlie Diradour is the right guy to represent the 7th District in Congress, but not as much as it would take to convince me that the current occupant of that office -- the winsomely arrogant Eric Cantor -- deserves to keep the seat.

I suspect that "Anybody But Eric" would be my campaign slogan of choice.

At any rate, Diradour announced his campaign with a shot across the tweeting bow of Cantor, who was seen fiddling with his Blackberry during President Obama's recent address to Congress. Diradour quickly retracted his initial accusation.

Needless to say, I was more than amused by this recent catch by the Life in the 804 weblog:

Did Charlie Diradour break the law tonight by Tweeting while driving? Check out his Twitter feed and you will see the following:

Doing what I'll be doing everyday when we get honest change. Driving 95 south.
about 6 hours ago from TweetDeck

A Few Notes on Kennedy

It's been interesting this week, reading Thurston Clarke's book on Robert Kennedy's 82 day campaign for the presidency in 1968 as the media finds itself consumed by the life and times of the last son of Joe Kennedy, Senator Ted Kennedy. Interesting, because as great and lasting an imprint that Ted Kennedy has left on America, I continue to be struck by the emotional impact that Bobby Kennedy's assassination had on the American psyche -- and fascinated by the mercurial charisma of the third Kennedy son. Here's an ominous snippet from the campaign trail:

Before returning to the Kansas City airport, the Kennedy press corps stopped for a quick restaurant meal. Jimmy Breslin asked a table of reporters, “Do you think this guy has the stuff to go all the way?”

“Yes, of course he has the stuff to go all the way,” John J. Lindsay replied. “But he’s not going to go all the way. The reason is that somebody is going to shoot him. I know it and you know it. Just as sure as we’re sitting here somebody is going to shoot him. He’s out there now waiting for him And, please God, I don’t think we’ll have a country after it.”

There was a stunned silence. Then, one by one, the other reporters agreed. But none asked the most heartbreaking question: Did Kennedy himself know it?

Bobby Kennedy proved to many that out of trauma can come hope, that from despair emerges vision. But it was Ted Kennedy -- the only son to go the distance -- who died a natural death. He wrote more than 300 pieces of legislation over his long Senate career, and was both a lightning rod and a champion in American liberal politics over multiple generations.

Below are a few items that have caught my eye this weekend about Ted Kennedy:

TIME Magazine reports that Kennedy's memoir will be published in mid-September, less than a month after his death. The 532-page volume is sure to be one of the best selling books in America this fall.

Talking Points Memo has published President Obama's eulogy of Kennedy online:

What we can do is to live out our lives as best we can with purpose, and love, and joy. We can use each day to show those who are closest to us how much we care about them, and treat others with the kindness and respect that we wish for ourselves. We can learn from our mistakes and grow from our failures. And we can strive at all costs to make a better world, so that someday, if we are blessed with the chance to look back on our time here, we can know that we spent it well; that we made a difference; that our fleeting presence had a lasting impact on the lives of other human beings.

This is how Ted Kennedy lived. This is his legacy. He once said of his brother Bobby that he need not be idealized or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life, and I imagine he would say the same about himself. The greatest expectations were placed upon Ted Kennedy's shoulders because of who he was, but he surpassed them all because of who he became. We do not weep for him today because of the prestige attached to his name or his office. We weep because we loved this kind and tender hero who persevered through pain and tragedy - not for the sake of ambition or vanity; not for wealth or power; but only for the people and the country he loved.

I'll end where I often end in poignant moments of national importance -- with the depth of reporting often found on National Public Radio.

Our Future Leaders Are Doing Their Practicums in Afghanistan

Thomas Friedman is hanging out in Afghanistan this week, pontificating about the need to hang in their and continue to hammer stability into one of the more unstable corners of the world. I could launch an entirely new blog with that conversation.

But what Friedman really got me thinking about was the next generation of leaders that will emerge from the streets of Baghdad and the mountains along the Pakistan border. I suspect they will be as pragmatic and out-of-the-box dealing with issues both domestic and foreign when they are out of uniform as they have been in firefights and humanitarian missions in uniform. Pragmatic and out-of-the-box are rare enough qualities in leaders these days, especially when they are combined.

The reason for optimism? All those deployments have left us with a deep cadre of officers with experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, now running both wars — from generals to captains. They know every mistake that has been made, been told every lie, saw their own soldiers killed by stupidity, figured out solutions and built relationships with insurgents, sheikhs and imams on the ground that have given the best of them a granular understanding of the “real” Middle East that would rival any Middle East studies professor.

I’ve long argued that there should be a test for any officer who wants to serve in Iraq or Afghanistan — just one question: “Do you think the shortest distance between two points is a straight line?” If you answer “yes,” you can go to Germany, South Korea or Japan, but not to Iraq or Afghanistan. Well, this war has produced a class of officers who are very out-of-the-box thinkers. They learned everything the hard way — not in classes at Annapolis or West Point, but on the streets of Fallujah and Kandahar.

Friedman is optimistic about the mission in Afghanistan. I've spent time with some of these folks, and I can't wait for the military to cut them loose so they can come home. I'm optimistic about the mission that follows -- reshaping our own country in the years to come. It's not like we're doing such an excellent job with the leaders we've been getting out of our business schools...

140 Character Leadership Is a Dangerous Thing

God save us from politicians with 140 character attention spans.

That's the verdict of Dana Milbank's Twitter-inspired look at last night's Congressional response to President Obama's address. The only good news, as far as I can see, is that our national leaders struggle just as hard to say something meaningful in a tweet as they do in a press release or public hearing. There is something to say about consistency.

President Obama spoke of economic calamity and war last night in that solemn rite of democracy, the address to the joint session of Congress. And lawmakers watched him with the dignity Americans have come to expect of their leaders: They whipped out their BlackBerrys and began sending text messages like high school kids bored in math class.

"One doesn't want to sound snarky, but it is nice not to see Cheney up there," Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) announced as Obama entered the chamber.

"I did big wooohoo for Justice Ginsberg," Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) broadcast, misspelling the name of the ailing Supreme Court justice. McCaskill could be seen applauding with BlackBerry in one hand.

"Capt Sully is here -- awesome!" announced Rep. John Culberson (R-Tex.), spotting the US Airways pilot in the gallery.

Then there was Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.), in whose name this text message was sent at about the time the president spoke of the need to pull the country together: "Aggie basketball game is about to start on espn2 for those of you that aren't going to bother watching pelosi smirk for the next hour." A few minutes later, another message came through: "Disregard that last Tweet from a staffer."

Milbank nails it with his last two grafs:

And how many were reading these dispatches? Those following Congressman Wittman at 9:40 p.m.: 44. Senator McCaskill: 1. Congressman Blumenauer: 0. The live-streaming Culberson topped them all with 8,216.

All of which raises a question: Should these guys maybe spend time fixing the country and leave the Twittering to somebody else?

The Noble Opposition Is Floundering

It's always a little amusing to watch a professional operation that hasn't had to field an effective defensive team in a decade when it is suddenly confronted with a competent opponent. For instance, the Republican Party's approach to the political wizardry that is President Obama.

Whether it is the Republican's dead-end philosophy on the role of government during times of genuine national crisis, or their inability to deliver a credible response to a new president's prime time address, it has been beyond amusing to see the veil fall away.

Want some in-your-face evidence? Look no further than the solidly Republican state of Utah, whose governor had the following to say about his own Congressional leadership:

"I don't even know the congressional leadership," Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. told editors and reporters at The Washington Times, shrugging off questions about top congressional Republicans, including House Minority Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. "I have not met them. I don't listen or read whatever it is they say because it is inconsequential - completely."

And that was even before Huntsman fellow Republican governor, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, fumbled last night's Republican response to Obama's address to Congress. Here's how moderately conservative columnist David Brooks summed Jindal and the Republicans up last night on PBS:

But to come up at this moment in history with a stale "government is the problem," "we can't trust the federal government" - it's just a disaster for the Republican Party. The country is in a panic right now. They may not like the way the Democrats have passed the stimulus bill, but that idea that we're just gonna - that government is going to have no role, the federal government has no role in this, that - In a moment when only the federal government is actually big enough to do stuff, to just ignore all that and just say "government is the problem, corruption, earmarks, wasteful spending," it's just a form of nihilism. It's just not where the country is, it's not where the future of the country is. There's an intra-Republican debate. Some people say the Republican Party lost its way because they got too moderate. Some people say they got too weird or too conservative. He thinks they got too moderate, and so he's making that case. I think it's insane, and I just think it's a disaster for the party.

While the Republicans were able to deliver a bit of party unity in opposition to the stimulus package earlier in the month, evidence is mounting that the party is not only split on how to effectively work with or against the administration, but it is utterly confused. Here's how senior political analyst Robert Kaiser of the Washington Post described last night's Republican in-the-moment responses to Obama's speech:

Wasn't that fascinating? I saw a real change as the speech unfolded. Initially the Republicans tried to sit on their hands and avoid cheering for things they disapproved of. But I sensed that as the speech went on they must have realized that he was effectively reaching his audience, and began to act as though they felt they should join the cheering.

I suppose that's what happens when you haven't had to bring anything credible to the table since 2001. I sure hope the Republicans enjoy their time in the wilderness.

What Daschle's Departure May Really Signal

Like anyone else watching the national political scene, I was shocked to see Tom Daschle pull the rip cord on his nomination so quickly. And I went through the various stages of political grief -- the Republicans nailed him; Rahm Emmanuel must've knifed him in the back; boy does that Obama make quick, rational decisions.

In the end, I think I like Robert Reich's take on the whole affair -- the whole world is in transition, and you either get it or you don't. This is what change looks like -- good people run up hard against new standards; tolerance for the old ways vanishes like mist; apologists for the status quo lose ground.

What's going on here? Maybe official Washington, much like most of Wall Street, is still not quite getting it.

Typical Americans are hurting very badly right now. They resent people who appear to be living high off a system dominated by insiders with the right connections. They've become increasingly suspicious of the conflicts of interest, cozy relationships, and payoffs that seem to pervade not only official Washington but our biggest banks and corporations. In short, many Americans who have worked hard, saved as much as they can, bought a home, obeyed the law, and paid every cent of taxes that were due are beginning to feel like chumps. Their jobs are disappearing, their savings are disappearing, their homes are worth far less than they thought they were, their tax bills are as high as ever if not higher -- but people at the top seem to be living far different lives in a different universe.

Huge Megapixel Image of Inauguration

This huge, megapixel image of the Inauguration last week is amazing. You can zoom in and see Dick Cheney's heart valves strain.

Fourth and Long for Victory Farms' White House Takeover

Earlier this week, I made mention that Victory Farms' own Charlie Collins was in the running for a proposed "White House Farmer." He's now running fourth in the field. Go give Charlie some local support. The names of the top three will be forwarded to the Obama Team.

Vote for Charlie (of Victory Farms) for the Next White House Gardener

I know, it seems a little like reverse sharecropping. But it's actually all about following up on food guru Michael Pollan's call for a White House Farmer -- to showcase good gardening, local food, healthy victuals and the value of knowing where your food came from.

Charlie Collins of Victory Farms (if you shop at Ellwood-Thompson's or pick up produce at any number of farmer's markets around town, you know the Collins family) is the only Virginia farmer to make the list. Go check out his nomination, leave a friendly comment and cast your vote. Polls close January 31.

As of today, Charlie had 668 votes, which put him in fourth place. Here's what the nomination says about Charlie:

Charlie has been a highly successful market gardener in both Phoenix, Arizona and Hanover/Richmond, Virginia. His dedication to sustainable agriculture, natural/beyond organic methods, community involvement, and sound business practices make him a perfect candidate. He has also grown for over 25 fine restaurants in both Phoenix and Richmond, working one-on-one with award-winning chefs to provide the highest quality products (Chris Bianco of Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix would happily serve as a reference). His fervent support for President-elect Obama inspires his perspective on the country’s green future. Additionally, his farm is only 1 1/2 hours from the White House allowing it to continue to serve the community here while he provides a beautiful, abundant and thoroughly productive garden on the White House grounds.

Even an Obama Administration Can't Stifle Milbank

I've enjoyed Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank's well-honed, satirical observations on all things political for some time now. They helped relieve the political heartburn I experienced throughout much of the Bush administration. This week, Milbank demonstrated that even the breath of fresh air sweeping our nation's capital is not immune from being ribbed.

And then he had this to say about the taped performance by Yo-Yo Ma, et al, during a online chat:

I must say I was quite dismayed to learn that Yo-Yo Ma was doing the cello equivalent of lip-synching. I did notice that he was smiling an awful lot while he played. I thought this was pride originally, but now I recognize it as the smile a prankster make when his practical joke is going well.