I learned something this morning: I am in the worst shape I’ve been in all year. I ran three miles after nine days of inactivity and finished, but only barely. I guess the lesson is that I need to pay closer attention to what I eat again, and I need to just keep on training hard.
Author: hankkalet
Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie.
Talk, talk, it’s all talk
Watching MSNBC’s coverage of the Democratic Convention, one thing is clear — there is way too much down time for the talking heads, who insist on talking and talking and saying nothing. Ugh.
Obama no longer Biden his time
Barack Obama is a liberal centrist — always has been. In fact, the Democratic primary featured just two candidates who could not be characterized in that way — the progressive Ohio Congressman, Dennis Kucinich, and former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel, who cannot be categorized.
So the short list of vice-presidential candidates — and the eventual choice of Joe Biden — fits within the world view of Barack Obama.
Biden offers several pluses on the electoral front, as all the pundits point out: He is willing to go on the attack and he has long experience in foreign affairs, Obama’s weakest area (experience-wise).
And there are negatives — speaking his mind sometimes means speaking to much.
(TPM Election Central has the most interesting take on the Biden pick.)
What I find interesting, however, is the impact that Biden could have on governing. He offers Obama someone who is respected in the Senate, who has a history of working across party lines (with arch-conservative Jesse Helms, for instance), but who is not afraid to tangle with the GOP, to battle for what he believes in.
In the end, however, Obama’s choice will matter little. The election will not hinge on the choice of Biden — orMcCain’s eventual choice — but on the candidates at the top of the ticket.
Attacks and responses
Josh Marshall offers an interesting take on the GOP strategy of attacking Democratic presidential candidates that seems to make sense. The gist is that the substance of the attacks is not important — only plays to the committed conservative — so much as the attack itself and the response it engenders. A poor response creates the impression of a weak candidate, which dooms the candidate in the mind of voters.
Dispatches: A dream not yet realized
Dispatches is about the 45th anniversary of the March on Washington and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous address.
