Re: Assessment

Has it really been a week since the election? A certain heaviness has been lifted from the air... or make that uncertainty... not just about who would win, but what the majority of the general public was looking for in terms of policy and governing style. I'm happy to say that I seem to be on the right side of that equation this time out. 

Of course, now both sides (especially Republicans) are dissecting what went right and wrong with both candidates' campaigns. Most agree with President Obama's assessment that he might have had "the best campaign team and volunteers in the history of politics." I have heard several news reports discussing the very smart way that they focused their ground team since the last election. Even if I thought the emails about contributions could have been a little more elegant, I was always reassured by the common sense style of the President's  campaign advisor David Axelrod, during his frequent appearances on the Sunday talk shows. 

Here is a rare moment, captured on video, that the Obama team sent its supporters via email this past week. We see the President visiting his campaign headquarters in Chicago, and getting quite emotional while thanking his team:

On the flip side, it is also fascinating to hear the assessment of how Mitt Romney's team ran his campaign. NPR reporter Ari Shapiro, who followed the campaign for the past year, filed a fascinating postmortem on how the former governor's campaign seemed to get derailed on several occasions, and how his team often made rather poor choices in its attempt to get it back on track. It is not only an interesting analysis, I think it is also stellar reporting/writing... click here to listen.

So, I guess there are still plenty of interesting discussions to be had... will Obama be able to work with Congress to avoid the fiscal cliff? What will happen to the Tea Party? Who will run in 2016? What will be done about the millions that are going into political campaigns? What will be done about ongoing concerns about voter fraud and the long lines some voters had to endure this past election? All questions that will soon be answered... but for the moment, this liberal-minded voter feels relieved...

Related Links:

"'Let Mitt Be Mitt': But Who Was He?," NPR, November 9, 2012 

"Hillary's next move," The New York Times, November 11, 2012

"Stephen Gottlieb: Jajja's Kids," WAMC, November 13, 2012

To The Man Cave

Up until a few minutes ago, Sarah and I have been curled up on the couch, just reading. Ah... one of the perks of married life. Last night it was a movie... a nice reward after another long week at work.

We rented the film Dark Horse, which had recently played in the Berkshires. The director, Todd Solondz, is known for some edgy work like the film Happiness, but this was classified as a comedy. Again, I figured a dark indie comedy was a better bet than some of the dopey Hollywood fare.

Well, the film did amuse me. The lead character Abe (Jordan Gelber) is a clueless, spoiled man-child, who still lives with his parents, and has others take care of his work for him. He reminded me of George Castanza from Seinfeld, who I think is one of the funniest characters of all time. The difference is that Abe felt more real... more clueless... more pathetic-- and it gets worse as the film goes on. He meets a girl named Miranda (Selma Blair) who is chronically depressed. I wouldn't say they hit it off, but they  get together, and Abe is so much in his own world that he asks her to marry him on their first date. 

There are a lot of undercurrent themes happening in this movie-- Sarah thought that Abe also suffered from depression, constantly feeling inferior to his more successful brother. Abe's father (the awesome Christopher Walken) also seems to resent his son, finding him to be an embarrassment. At the same time, his father and mother (played by Mia Farrow) seem to enable him to coast along... I laughed every time Abe would pull up in his shitty yellow Hummer and hit the door lock.

There were some pretty wild dream sequences, but not much stylization-- it was a different kind of movie. It was a comedy, but also quite devastating. Gelber pulls off such an strong portrayal, it's hard to remember that he is just acting. 

The things about the movie that are so harsh: I know clueless people like Abe. It's like they are running around in their own world-- they're annoying, even when you do feel somewhat sympathetic. That's the other thing: everyone has their own tastes... their own reality... and passions like Abe's collecting of action figures and such can seem odd to some, and normal to others. Is that wrong?

I started to think of my own passions for certain music groups from my youth, and such things as comic books that still can get me excited... my God, am I like Abe? Am I in some sort of stilted adolescence? Anyone watching the film with some sense of empathy towards the character, will marvel at the "bad luck" this dark horse has. You get to think about people who seem to have it so easy... things come so naturally, and others who can't seem to get a break. Is it because they don't try hard enough, or follow the wrong "societal rules?"

I won't give away the ending of the film, but it's crazy. One of those films that you have to let settle for a while... I'll probably watch it again sometime. In the meantime, let me get back to my new adulthood... that's "happily married man."