Democratic Denver: A Prelude

October 25, 2008. In the plaza across from the state Capitol, a crowd was gathering. Blue signs had been taped to the concrete columns lining an amphitheater. An impassioned speaker told of the troubles he and his families had faced, and what it would take to overcome them. Signs read, "Red to Blue", "Obama/Biden", "Renewing America's Promise". Later a woman sang a song, "Living My Life Like It's Golden".





Later, on a walk through an older neighborhood, lawns were littered with leaves and Obama signs, and there was an Obama campaign office on every corner. Maybe holding the convention here two months earlier really paid off for the democrats. Or maybe Denver was just undergoing a political change.

In the coming days, when not overtaken by holiday festivities, Obamathon Man will examine the city of Denver. What has happened here during the last eight years? What do the people here want of their new President-elect? What about the Republicans in town, who lost this round, but are still a powerful force? I've already sent out requests to local political organizations (Democratic and Republican) asking for their take on these questions. But I'll also be speaking to as many of the good citizens of Denver to see what they think as well.

And to those of you from Denver, feel free to write in! let's hear your take. The comments section is open!

The Road to Change - Travel Log 10/20

Here it is, the 20th of December, one month before the big event. And today we set out from the comforts of home, toward the rising sun. We left town on the 210, past a strange city of gravel quarries known as Azuza, then through the desolate land of Foreclosia. At least the mountains were snow-covered and pretty.



Onward and upward, over the Cajon pass to Victorville, Barstow, and a coffee break in Baker, home to the world's largest thermometer and Alien Fresh Jerky!



Then, the bright lights and rapidly emptying wallets of Vegas! Obamathon Man salutes the citizens of Las Vegas this year for helping to push the state of Nevada over to the Obama Column. And apparently, Vegas is still stoked over the Obama win - they had a giant O poster right in the center of town! We regretted that we couldn't stay longer, but we had to press on as family is expecting us tomorrow night in Denver.



We passed through miles of nondescript desert, then through the canyons of Arizona and Southern Utah. Stopping in St. George, we ate our premade sandwiches outside of the Utah Welcome Center and Nature Museum, aka the Dixie Center. St. George has always been fond of calling itself the Dixie of the west - leave it to a city in Utah to wish it were part of the South.



I kid St. George, with love. Back in the day, before the election, I had the opportunity to drive through town on another LA-Denver trip. And there were signs out for Obama! Never thought I'd see divergent viewpoints in Utah. Unfortunately, on the outskirts of town we passed what could be described as the world's greatest eyesore: the Wal-Mart distribution center. Spreading Wal-Mart to every corner of this great land! I've always thought that Wal-Mart would make a great monster for a sci-fi movie.



We pressed on through snow-covered hills and valleys, ultimately spending the night in Richfield. Tomorrow, the majestic rocky mountains await.

Leaving Tomorrow

Tomorrow Obamathon Man and his associate depart for Denver. To celebrate our last day in LA before Obama takes office, we took a leisurely afternoon stroll through some of our favorite LA haunts. We took a bunch of pictures, not all of which will fit in a blog post. But you can find all of our fine photographic works at the new Obamathon Man Flickr Page, which also includes the previously shown DC pictures and some photos from Chicago as well. Look for plenty of roadside photos from all across the country, coming soon!




We rode the metro to Pershing Square in Downtown, then visited the skating rink. Unfortunately the zamboni was called out before we had a chance to skate ourselves.




We then hopped back on the Metro and rode to Los Feliz, picking up coffee and heading to the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Hollyhock House/Barnsdall Park. It was a clear day and we had a nice view from the hilltop park, formerly home to a wealthy oil heiress.




Then, acting on a heavily misguided whim, we ventured west to Hollywood and Highland, aka Toruisttrapistan. We were hoping that an Obama impersonator who we'd seen earlier might be there again, and that I could use that as material for this otherwise meandering blog post. But alas, all we found was a guy trying to sell cds, and a bunch of foreign tourists. That's the one cool thing about H&H. you're surrounded by foreign languages. Portuguese to your left, Tamil to your right, and in front of you a gaggle of British tourists who can't figure out who Jackie Chan is. Surreal.



After that disappointing turn on Wax Museum Way, we were entreated to a nice holiday scene on the subway: holiday flowers and a hipster in a santa hat.




I'm thrilled to be trekking, but I'll be a bit nostalgic for my home town. If for no other reason, for the weather.

In other LA-related news, congratulations to Hilda Solis, who has been appointed by Obama to head the U.S. labor department. Solis is an LA native and long time representative of the San Gabriel Valley's 32nd congressional district. Way to represent Hilda, and Solis Navidad!

Links for 12/19

War Games: Military builds giant map of DC for inauguration. Sadly, model doesn't include Obama figurine. (Washington Post)
Speaking of Obama figurines, its' the Obama action figure! (Jailbreak Toys)
Warrengate: the saga continues (Salon)
Areatha Franklin to pay her respects at inauguration. (Christian Science Monitor)
DC Metro to charge extra for inauguration day (Washington Post)

This is a Test

Obamathon man will be blogging remotely tomorrow. This is a test of google's text blog service. Fingers crossed...

Yay, it worked! All hail the mighty cell phone!

Merry Christmas, Jerry Brown

The big news today is that Rick Warren was invited to the inauguration, to shed a little holiness on DC and to balance out the marching heathens who will also be in town. Many Obama supporters aren't particularly pleased with Warren officating at the ceremony, present company included. But we must keep in mind that His Holiness Reverend Warren has nothing against gay people. He loves them so much, he gives water and doughnuts to gay marriage supporters. Praise the lard!

In more California-centric news, we are bracing to hear from a less holy but equally controversial figure tomorrow regarding the California Supreme Court's upcoming hearing on the constitutionality of Proposition 8. Jerry Brown, California's Attorney General, will reveal his official position on proposition 8. Although he has opposed the prop before the election, he is duty-bound to argue based on whether or not it is a big enough change to the state constitution to count as a "revision". In Obamathon Man's not-so-humble opinion, he would still be correct in arguing against the proposition, since not doing so would set a precedent for discriminatory constitutional measures. However, Obamathon Man is not exactly a great legal scholar since he plays by his own rules.

Of course, this is a sensitive issue for both sides - no, not those sides. What I find most interesting about the aftermath of prop 8 is the ensuing war for the sympathy of the public. The anti-gay marriage side's primary tactic is to make themselves seem even more discriminated against than the pro marriage side, both during and after the campaign. While I may not agree with their methods, I deeply respect their desire to do good. However, the reason why dealing with religious discrimination is so very difficult is that the most faithful believe that their faith is never wrong. Thus, whatever can be shown to them as their true religion is no longer subject to earthly reasoning or laws. What this means is, if God's will is discriminatory, the faithful will follow it anyway. Try to stop them, and you are discriminating against religion. You're damned if you do and damned if you don't, as it were.

Religious freedom is one of the cornerstones of our democracy. But just as with freedom of speech, there are limits to freedom of religion. When religious doctrine becomes destructive of the rights of others, it no longer deserves protection from the law, or sympathy from the general public. I really hope the righteous, like those of Warren's flock, will allow gays the dignity to choose their own courses of action. Other peoples' actions will have no effect on whether or not you get salvation. That's between you and God. And God, if you're reading this blog, I hope you can coax Jerry Brown into seeing Prop 8 for what it is, a revision of the California constitution. Oh, and Merry Christmas to everyone, even Rick Warren.

Obamathon Man Gets PWNED, Then Pays Tribute to the Majesty of the Bicycle

So apparently Ryan Bowen, a guy from the LA Area, is also going to the inauguration. But he's doing so in an even more awesome way than Obamathon Man: by bicycle. NOOOOOO! Augh, the acrid sting, the agony of defeat - which in this case means being out-awesomed. Obamathon Man has done several mid-distance bike trips, such as multiple solo rides to the San Diego area. But the day when I have the time, money, and calories to bike cross country is still far off. Well, there's always 2012! In the meantime, I wish Ryan the best and look forward to seeing him in DC, a good city to end a bike tour in because of its new bike sharing program. Perhaps we can all do a ceremonial ride around DC, if we don't get crushed by crowds.

If Cars Could Sink: Obama and the Big Three Bailout

Obama has yet to take office. But when he does, the big 3 bailout and all the problems it presents are going to hit him like a Hummer. Or maybe a Chevy Suburban, or some other gas-guzzler. One thing's for sure, they won't be hitting him like an EV-1.

By January 20, GM and Chrysler will (probably) have received $14 billion. However, this is only a "stop-gap measure" to keep them alive until March. By then, they're probably going to need another bailout. Unless something crazy happens, like people buying their cars. And it will be up to Obama to decide whether or not to funnel them more cash, which the US Government doesn't even have in the first place.

Those of you following this will probably be familiar with some of the background here. U.S. automakers have taken flak for focusing too much on the "light truck/sport" vehicle market at the expense of less, uh, thirsty cars. In the past, their response had been that the light trucks, SUVs, and other vehicles suitable for urination-themed bumper stickers were the only thing that they made money off of. And they were making money. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, or you'll be broke. Besides, fuel efficient cars are ugly.

Then came that nasty 3 year long spike in fuel prices. People realized that not only did trucks cost more, but they used lots of gas. And since the truck/suv/good ol' boy demographic was also dealing with rampant foreclosures at the time, the profit margins of the guzzler-reliant Big 3 were in the toilet. If cars could sink, the Hummer would be the Titanic of our time.

Now, gas prices are back to where they were in 1998, which according to everyone five months ago was supposed to fix everything. If the whole world were a TV Show, the government would just give the car companies a chunk of money, they would start making trucks again, and everything would be back to normal in time for next week's episode. But it doesn't work like that. Even with low gas prices, it's unlikely that truck/SUV sales will rocket back to where they were - trucks still cost significantly more than smaller cars, and the general public doesn't see them as a worthwhile investment. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that gas prices won't shoot back up, leaving truck owners in the same mess they've now completely forgotten about. To become viable once more, the big 3 will have to find a long term source of income that gets more than 15 miles per gallon.

Enter Obama and the US Government. As many have pointed out, it would be really cool if we could take some of the oil companies' record profits from earlier this year and use that to bail out the car companies. Making this happen would be like getting Karl Rove to serve prison time: it would be logical, ethical, and completely impossible. And as we already know, there is no way the Big 3 could get back on their feet themselves, despite the fact that top execs from each company kept using private jets until they were scorned for doing so. If only they were executives at Cessna!

But the fact remains that a collapse of the Big 3 would spell doom for the 1-point-something million people who work in the business, and would be bad for the economy as well. I say, go through with the bailout, but make sure we get our money's worth. We the people agree to bail out you the car companies, for the benefit of us both. That makes every taxpayer a stakeholder in our great American industry, and we all need to keep car companies from doing stuff that isn't so great. First off: new executives. We need to send a clear message that the past actions of the car companies have consequenses. Not for the lower and mid-level workers, but for those who had a hand in putting their companies in the mess they're in now. They could have lowered the potential damage by investing more in fuel efficient cars, but instead they made things worse. If the car companies really are like sinking ships, shouldn't their captains go down with them? Second, undo all the damage you did. In the 50s and 60s, GM killed all but a few of the nation's streetcar systems and replaced them with less efficient buses - built by GM. Then in the 90s, they famously killed the electric car. Would you guys please stop killing things? The planned Chevy Volt is a step in the right direction, but who's to say that GM won't pull the plug, leaving the company 30 miles or so before it reverts to all-gas mode again? As for rail lines in our cities, they are an oft-maligned but much needed infrastructural investment, whose reconstruction would make life better in all of our cities. If GM begins making money again, a small portion of that money should go to rebuilding mass transit. And since train cars are usually made by private contractors, there's no reason GM couldn't make those cars themselves and recoup some cash.

Some might complain about the bailout on principle, and point out that the government is just wasteful. But having seen the effectiveness of how Obama ran his campaign, and the ineffectiveness of American car companies, I have trouble taking that statement seriously. Bottom line is, I trust the new chief executive more than any car executive.