It's About "School" (Updated)

Pandora, over at DelawareLiberal has posted the text, as prepared for delivery, of the President's planned speech to students on Tuesday. I took the liberty of running it through wordle to see what the top 75 words would be.

Apparently, it's all about "School."

So much for "indoctrination."

There is an argument developing in the comments on Pandora's post that seeks to change the story about why there was an uproar. But one thing seems clear to me: It (the uproar) is pretty much just a load of crap and should be ignored. The problem I see is that uproar appears to be the preferred mode of public discourse these days.

It's a shame, really.

UPDATE: DelawareDem was kind enough to add a link to this post in another post on the subject on DelawareLiberal (turn-about=fair play?). The argument that ensued led me to try to do exactly the same wordle word cloud of a Ronald Reagan speech to students when he was president, back in 1988:


Please forgive the line on the left. I did a less accurate job with teh screen capture. It looks, from this, like Mr. Reagan's topic was a bit more political than Mr. Obama's.

Hawaiians Are Proud of Native Son Barack Obama

We had two tourist activities while in Honolulu that involved tour buses and tour leaders. In both cases, the ride through the city included a drive-by tour of "places from the President's early life." We were driven past the hospital where he was born, the apartment he lived in with his mother, the apartment he lived in with his grandparents, and the high school he attended.

One tour guide, an older gentleman and a vet, started his Obama-iliad this way (I paraphrase):

I did not vote for Barack Obama, but now that he is the President he has my support 110 percent. I understand there are some people on the mainland who think he was not born in the United States -- I think they are called "Birthies" or something? But here is the hospital where he was born. I was born here too!

And then we continued to circle around his various apartments and schools.

I also heard similar sentiments from a cabbie and from the older contractor I sat next to on our flight out of Kona.

Words Matter

There will be plenty of other people parsing the security/terrorism speeches by President Obama and Dick Cheney today. There are substantive differences in policy, of course. But I wanted to keep it simple and just look at the words.

To the right is a word-cloud of Dick Cheney's speech. Note the largest word. We spent the last eight years having that word, "terrorists," shoved down our throats.

At left is a word cloud of President Obama's speech. His largest word is "people."

A note to Dick Cheney: go away.

What a Great Problem to Have

The Washington Post this morning reports that the Obama White House is having difficulty reaching its goal of an open and transparent White House web site that serves as a clear channel for communication between the president and the people (Web-Savvy Obama Team Hits Unexpected Bumps). The fast, light team that took full advantage of the web as a central part of the Obama campaign has bogged-down in a mess of old technologies and is having to cut its way through the internet age version of red tape. But they are trying.

Wherever this experiment leads, what's certain is that, in the same way Franklin D. Roosevelt harnessed the power of radio and John F. Kennedy leveraged the reach of television to directly communicate with the public, the BlackBerry-carrying Obama wants to use the Internet to redefine the relationship between the presidency and the people.

The Washington Post article does a great job of outlining the problems the Obama team has had. They have had too dial-back expectations, for now, and are learning the patience that all newcomers to government seems to have to learn.

But what a great problem to have. Here we have a White House that is straining against the bonds of tradition to try to establish a new form of openness. I plan to watch, and cheer them on, and participate where I can.

After all, it is my government.

It's Getting Serious

Here's an odd thing I noticed about myself. Since January 20, I find that I am once again wearing a tie to work every day (except casual Fridays).

I had gotten out of the habit. I told myself that my open-collar look reflected my creative and free-thinking approach to my job. I kept ties around. I wore them when I had a speaking engagement or a big meeting. But I rarely wore a tie over the last few years.

Since Inauguration Day, I have worn a tie every day but Fridays. It was the second week before I realized that I had started a new pattern. It's a small thing, but I think it reflects a new sense of purpose and seriousness. It is related to new leadership at both the state and federal level. We're starting fresh. There's a great deal of work to be done and we'll tackle it in a professional manner.

And, as an aside? I look pretty good in a tie.

That was One Hell of a Speech

I've watched Barack Obama's inaugural address twice today and listened to it on the radio once and I'm still digging it. It is a hell of a speech and well worth reading as well.

This is the part that keeps sticking in my mind:

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness.

We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth.

And because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

I watched the speech as it happened on a television in a Dover restaurant this noon. I was with several work friends and we were all thrilled. I will always remember the tracks of tears down cheeks when I remember this day.

On my drive home this evening, NPR played the whole speech again. I listened as I drove south through the Delaware countryside.

Karen and I watched the whole ceremony this evening on Tivo. I had set it to record C-Span from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.; we were able to scroll ahead through the introductions of varied VIPs and stop for the cute things, like the Obama girls. We both wanted to hear the speech again and to hear the performance by Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Gabriela Montero, and Anthony McGill.

We also wanted to hear the Rev. Joseph Lowery's inauguration benediction. We loved this part:

Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around ... when yellow will be mellow ... when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen.

This has been a good day.

A New Day

I have no idea how to approach an Inauguration Day blog post. This is such a huge day. I'm killing time this morning at home before a visit to Dr. Amy to hear her words of caution about weight and blood pressure and things like that. And waiting for the inauguration of Barack Obama

My state already has its new leader. Jack Markell was sworn-in as Delaware's Governor at 12:01 a.m. today. Jack was joined by Matt Denn, his Lt. Governor, who is already being noted as a man of humor (which appeals strongly to me).

Mr. Markell has a huge challenge ahead of him. We have a large deficit and need a strong and wise leader. I think he is up to it and I, frankly, really like the guy.

Meanwhile, there are reports that hundreds of thousands are already on the Mall in Washington. I hope to find a spot near a television at mid-day. I expect I'll have tears in my eyes.

We are about to change, I think. The cynic in me cautions that politicians are politicians and the world will be as it has always been. But I still am touched. An hope-filled. And ready for a new start for our community, our state, our nation, and the world.

The Perfect Toy for the Moment

I give you obamicon.me, an on-line imagery toy that creates an iconic (Obamiconic?) version of any image you care to upload. It mimics that icon-like (Obamicon-like?) image by Shepard Fairey of the President-Elect seen recently on the cover of Time magazine.

I expect there to be a flurry of activity on this site. It perfectly captures both the mood of anticipation that marks this last week before the inauguration, and our national love of looking at ourselves. I know I found it charming.

And, we're just waiting. Sure, there are news stories to follow (if you are a political junkie), and football playoffs (at least in our region), but aren't we all just waiting for January 20?

So when an on-line toy that is appropriate to the time, we jump right in.

I tried a few different nihilistic inspirational posters, including the celebration of silly at right. I also tried for outdoorsy and for thoughtful. But I liked the goofy one the best.

It's All In the Choices We Make

Sometimes the smallest details stand as editorial comments. Looking through Tuesday's front pages on the Newseum web site, I found several different photographs of a cute moment Monday in the Capitol Rotunda.

Mr. Obama was walking through the Rotunda with Nancy Pelosi and her crew. He stopped to talk to 5-year old Carter Metz, of Tennessee.

I was interested to see how that was played in different papers.

I was struck by the caption the editors of the Kansas City Star chose to put just above one version of the picture: "Obama meets with Capitol Hill leaders." Placed above this particular photo, this suggests that maybe the 5-year old is the leader.

By contrast, The Washington Times chose what I think is a cuter photo of Mr. Obama bending down to talk to young Carter and includes just a descriptive caption below. This highlights the fatherly Obama and the charm of the moment.

I may, of course, be reading way too much into these design choices. But that "meets with leaders" looks like the sort of thing I would have wanted to try to get away with.

I should also note that I Find the Times' version, with Pelosi and Rahm Emmanuel and the rest of the suits relegated to the background while the President-Elect speaks to a child, really cute.

Really High-Level Etiquette

President-Elect Obama and VP-Elect Biden met today in Chicago with former VP Al Gore. I'm sure there's a great deal of important news related to this meeting.

But that's not what this post is about. This post is about a basic question that troubles me as I look at this picture.

When a group of people this powerful gets together, which one drinks from the water glass first? The most important person? Or the least?

An On-Line President

Barack Obama's candidacy was one of the most web-enabled we've seen and it looks like his transition and presidency will be as well. The transition, for example, will be on line at change.gov.

There are several cool spots on flickr that are focused on our president-to-be. There's a group called "A message for Obama" that invites users to post photographed messages for the President-Elect. I made mine with wordle.

There's also a fascinating set of photos from back-stage with the Obamas, the Bidens, and friends on election night. This photo of Joe Biden greeting Sasha Obama is my favorite.

I think this web-connectedness is part of why I'm so excited about Obama. It's not just that he's using the web the way it can and should be used. It's also the fact that it doesn't seem at all forced; his techie-ness is natural.

Mo Dowd Muses on The Changes to Come

New York Times Columnist Maureen Dowd has a sobering take on the Obama presidency this morning. In her column, Bring on the Puppy and the Rookie, she starts with the scene outside the White House Tuesday night and considers the nation's history, our recent past, and the challenges that lie ahead.

She suggests that Obama has already taken on the needed mantle of leadership; that his Tuesday night speech was the start of his presidency:

His somber speech in the dark Chicago night was stark and simple and showed that he sees what he’s up against. There was a heaviness in his demeanor, as if he already had taken on the isolation and “splendid misery,” as Jefferson called it, of the office he’d won only moments before.

It is a hopeful, if thoughtful, column and stands in tonal contrast to the more usual mocking Maureen Dowd columns.

An Election Collection

I picked up some interesting election-related items in my normal scanning routines today. I thought I'd offer some links here, in no particular order.

The text of both Barack Obama's and John McCain's election night speeches are on-line. I made wordles of each (yes, I am a great big techie-geek). As I've said, I was impressed by John McCain's speech, the wordle of McCain's speech does suggest that he puts (at least the word) "country" first. The wordle of Obama's speech suggests that he used the words "tonight," "people," and "America" most often.

There's a cool illustration of one of the changes that Barack Obama represents on the web site of Mathhew Buchanon. It shows, in a set of simple caricatures, the progression of faces of the 43 presidents so far, and the face of the 44th-elect.

I also enjoyed reading Matt Haughey's take on the election results. He used the graphic at left, which I have seen in a few other places. I like it.

Matt writes that he also missed the earlier version of John McCain:

I don't recall much of any talk from McCain from the last two months about his detailed plans or reasons why someone should vote for McCain, instead all I heard about was why I should against Obama. That's never a good path to take -- when you don't accentuate your positives and instead focus on negatives, even if you convince others to avoid the opponent you end up with followers that don't have much to be proud of.

Matt has a very young daughter:

I'm glad my daughter gets to grow up and will remember her first president being an inspirational guy that proves anyone can still make it in America.

Finally, there's an inspiring set of images of President-Elect Obama on the Boston Globe's "Big Picture" site. I particularly like this one (as a fan of artsy photography) and this one, because I like fist-bumps.

Today We Made History

I am happy, and proud, this evening. My country has made a change, I think for the better. We have made history and taken a step into a new generation of leadership.

I'm watching large celebratory crowds from all over the nation on television. I just watched a gracious concession speech by John McCain; I'm glad to see that that John McCain has come back to us.

This has been a good day.

Please Vote on Tuesday

It is terribly important that you vote in this year's election. It is always important, of course, but this year even more so. I won't pretend to be neutral; I hope you will vote for Barack Obama in the presidential election. I trust you won't be deterred by the many lies that are being spread around about him. If you are a Delawarean, please also vote for my friend Jack Markell; he's going to make a great Governor. (Not to mention Matt Denn. Vote for Matt too.)

Make sure that you have all the identification required to vote in your jurisdiction. Bring more than you need; don't be surprised at the polls.

Make sure you know where to vote. Google has deployed a Voter Info tool that uses Google Maps to geocode your address and relate it to your polling place. Don't trust this tool alone.

The image at right is Google's voter tool telling me that our polling place is the Department of Transportation building in Georgetown. It is not.

Our polling place is the old Lewes School building on Savannah Road, in Lewes. I know this because that is where we have voted in every election since we moved to this spot 14 years ago. I also know this because I checked the Polling Place Locator (at left) provided by the Delaware Commissioner of Elections office, which is a simple database look-up tool. It is not as cool and geo-techie as the Google tool, but it is accurate. I am a long-time geo-geek, but where-you-should-go-to-vote is too important to use only the cool Googly thing.

To their credit, Google is quite clear that you should always check with your local elections officials. And they have included a link to submit corrections. I did so, politely.

I will also note that I checked the Google tool using my parents' address in Maryland and it got their polling place right -- Bannockburn Elementary School. At least, that's where I went to vote in my first-ever election back in 1980, when I still lived at home. I assume Mom or Dad will correct me in the comments if I am wrong.

So make sure you know what is required to vote. Make sure you know where to vote. Make sure you vote for Barack Obama (and Jack Markell, if you can). Most importantly, please make sure that you vote.

Bruce Springsteen on Barack Obama

Ryan Cormier has posted the text of Bruce Springsteen's short speech in support of Barack Obama on his Pulp Culture blog. Springsteen spoke, and sang, yesterday at a voter-registration rally in Philadelphia. The News Journal's straight news section has the story as well (Springsteen rocks Obama rally in Philly). Both feature some impressive photos of the crowd that gathered.

Springsteen spoke about how his job has been to observe, and sing about, the promise of America. And he noted that he has observed a growing distance between the promise of the our nation and the reality of life lately.

I believe Senator Obama has taken the measure of that distance in his own life and in his work. I believe he understands, in his heart, the cost of that distance, in blood and suffering, in the lives of everyday Americans. I believe as president, he would work to restore that promise to so many of our fellow citizens who have justifiably lost faith in its meaning. After the disastrous administration of the past 8 years, we need someone to lead us in an American reclamation project.

It is worth noting that Springsteen went on to remind the crowd that it will take more than voting for Obama to turn things around.

But most importantly, it needs us. You and me. To build that house with the generosity that is at the heart of the American spirit. A house that is truer and big enough to contain the hopes and dreams of all of our fellow citizens. That is where our future lies. We will rise or fall as a people by our ability to accomplish this task. Now I don't know about you, but I want that dream back, I want my America back, I want my country back.

Word Clouds of the DNC Speeches (Some of Them)

I've been creating word clouds of some of the major speeches from the Democratic National Convention. That's Joe Biden's speech at right.

I'm using Wordle, which I've been having a great time with this summer both here and in a newsletter (PDF) I created for work. Word clouds present the most frequently used words in any body of text. They are often sorted by frequency of use, with the most used words in the largest font.

So far, I have created the following word clouds:

• Michelle Obama's speech on 8/25/08
• Hillary Clinton's speech on 8/26/08
• Bill Clinton's speech on 8/27/08
• Joe Biden's speech on 8/27/08
• Barack Obama's speech on 8/28/08
  

I find these things kind of addictive.

This is Just Sad

The Washington Post has a story this morning on the increase in hate-group and white-power activity in response to the candidacy of Barack Obama. In Hate Groups' Newest Target, the Post reports that hate and white supremacist web sites are seeing more traffic and are giving the credit to Sen. Obama.

"I haven't seen this much anger in a long, long time," said Billy Roper, a 36-year-old who runs a group called White Revolution in Russellville, Ark. "Nothing has awakened normally complacent white Americans more than the prospect of America having an overtly nonwhite president."

I'd like to pause here, if I may, and marvel at the idea that someone can be "overtly non-white." Should he be more covert about his racial background? Would it be okay if Barack Obama tried to "pass" for white? I shake my head in disgust, but I have to admit I'm fascinated by the lengths folks will go to, and the pretzilization of the language that they will employ, to try to make a hateful point without seeming hateful.

The story notes the many hate-filled smears that have been floated on-line about Sen. Obama. There's no need to catalog them here, though I should note that they do turn up in the Delaware blogosphere from time to time.

On a positive note (though the term feels wrong in this context), the Post story does point out that the hate groups are also angry with John McCain "for his moderate views on immigration and his willingness to stick with the Iraq war."

And, the Post reports, they have a slight hope for a President Obama because, they feel, that could galvanize the hate groups into action and help them elect a president of their own (like David Duke, who ran for president in 1988 and got less than 1% of the vote). Or, they say, an Obama victory could be the final blow.

"Maybe people see him in office, and it's like: 'That's it. It's just too late. Look at what's happened now. We've endured all these defeats, and we've still got a multicultural society.' And then there's just no future for our viewpoint."

I think the white-supremacist movement is behind the times by a generation or two, frankly. The United States is already, and has long been, a multicultural society. It is what makes us strong. A President Obama would not be the end of "white-power," it would be the period at the end of the sentence that summarizes the historical footnote that was the white-power movement.