Molly Ivins, she ain't.

I miss Molly's words so very much and always thought that she struck a good balance between good-natured humor and "snarkiness" with common-sense, insightful political commentary. She too had a somewhat "politics as spectator sport" writing style, but what was never lost was her true passion for politics and her sincere desire to get people to THINK.

I do like Maureen overall and have read her for years. I think she's quite bright and there are times her insights are spot-on, but my greatest disappointment with her is a sense that she does not demand enough of herself as a writer these days, and that she's capable of delivering a lot more but has allowed her "lighter style" to substitute for true analysis.

Puns and other wordplay, cultural references - these are all literary tools that can be very effective, such as the time Dowd compared Rudy Giuliani's campaign death throes to a scene from an opera, but she overuses those literary gimmicks to the point where they just become tiresome and too cute by half, and the writing overall becomes stale and outdated.

Posted at June 23, 2008 1:34 PM in response to Times Public Editor Hammers Maureen Dowd's Coverage Of Hillary

Love the song title analogy!

I appreciate that Obama seems to be a well-centered individual, who possesses the focus and ego-strength to resist getting caught up in other people's dramas or waste time engaging in belly-bumping contests where having the last word is a psychological necessity. Apparently his campaign calls him "no-drama Obama" and then there is his amazingly low 90/60 blood pressure.

To be sure, his campaign hasn't been flawless, but he does seem to have a sense of picking his battles carefully. These qualities will stand him in good stead in times to come.

Posted at June 2, 2008 1:23 AM in response to Obama's Strategy. Keeping Cool. or Killing Her Softly WIth His Song

Just a clarification that there ARE ballot drop-off boxes at various locations so the procrastinators can still get theirs in by the 5/20 8 p.m. deadline.

Ruth in OR, you do know that Obama did have a huge rally here in Portland awhile back? (That was the day Bill Richardson endorsed him.) It didn't take long for the tickets to be snapped up.

Once upon a time I was a "pink collar" worker, and ended up a single mom when my son was just a baby. Found a way to go back to school, get a college degree and work my way up in a professional field until I could finally afford those lattes. Now I seem to have landed squarely in the camp of those non-president-needing boutique "elitists" worthy of Clinton scorn.

Posted at May 13, 2008 1:15 PM in response to Polls Give Obama Big Lead In Oregon

My support for Obama is predicated on several factors.

1. I used to work in the local political/government arena, and so my own philosophy of leadership was heavily influenced by those experiences. I am always keenly interested in "what makes people tick" and so spent a lot of time observing those individuals in leadership and support staff roles who seemed to be particularly effective and well-respected, and from those observations I developed a sense of what qualities they seemed to have in common. Because I live in a very diverse community I had an opportunity to observe women and other minorities in leadership roles, and what they did to transcend the usual perceptions, biases, barriers that go along with that. I also live in a community that has a very active citizen involvement (in fact I had some community liaison responbilities) so I've seen what a difference an inclusive, collaborative leadership style can make in a community.

2. I read Obama's first book right after he came to national attention at the 2004 Democratic Convention, and I was very impressed with his life story (at least as it stood at the time the book was published, before he entered public office). I was very impressed with his writing which revealed a high level of intelligence, but combined with warmth and humor that suggested this is a person who has achieved a real balance in life. I admire that quality in people.

3. I've since followed Obama's career, his speeches and his writings, and though I think I'm realistic in assessing his missteps and gaps in experience, he also most closely embodies the qualities and leadership philosophies that I look for. I have no crystal ball to predict how he'll actually perform as president, but then neither does anyone else, so I do look at other factors in his background, as well as the way he and his staff has managed his campaign. I don't expect perfection or infallibility, but I do look for an ability to learn quickly from mistakes, I look for how a candidate grows and evolves through challenges.

4. Although I was initially willing to support Hillary as a close second choice, I have been increasingly disappointed in her and her surrogates choices and rhetoric. I'm in her demographic group (I'm a white middle-aged grandma) but she has fallen short in my estimation, in a number of ways. I truly wish she had a better sense of herself, and I also wish she would have made the choice a difficult one for me.

Posted at May 12, 2008 1:36 PM in response to How did you choose your favoured candidate?

Inspectormerlot, you ask about the potential Limbaugh effect in Oregon. As a resident if the Portland metro area, I would predict that Limbaugh has very little influence in this his blue state with its liberal/progressive demographics.

Also, this is a closed primary, which means no independents/undeclareds are able to vote, and the deadline has already passed for Republicans to re-register as Democrats if they wanted to make mischief.

Thirdly, Oregon has mail-in voting and ballots were sent out last week, so there will probably be a steady stream of ballots coming in between now and 5/20.

Posted at May 7, 2008 8:14 PM in response to Obama Campaign Manager: On May 20th, We'll Have Won Majority Of Pledged Delegates

Don't forget, Oregon uses mail-in voting, and the ballots have already been mailed out to registered voters for their declared party and they can be completed and returned from now until the actual postmark deadline.

Posted at May 3, 2008 6:56 PM in response to Rasmussen: Obama Ahead By 12 In Oregon

Received my ballot in the mail today, and no way will I vote for Hillary. I don't see her as "tough" or a "fighter" in the good sense of the word; I see her as someone who thrives on chaos and conflict, much of it her (and her husband's) own making. I've worked with people like that before, and it's a huge energy drain and terribly unproductive.

Thank goodness for Tivo.!

Posted at May 2, 2008 10:25 PM in response to Hillary's New Oregon Ad: "It's Going To Take A Fighter"

Great post! As a woman who is very aware of the battles my suffragette predecessors waged to secure the vote and fight gender discrimination, I'll be darned if I will substitute someone else's judgment for my own when it comes to casting my own precious vote. Why on earth would I allow a "Good Old Girls Club" to be the boss of me? NOT!

Posted at April 26, 2008 12:44 PM in response to Women are jealous because I'm beautiful

Excellent post, and I know exactly what you are saying here. I have worked in government and the political arena myself, and I've seen first-hand how these qualities -- that may seem nebulous in theory -- play out in practice. I've also witnessed some of what DOESN'T work. It's these personal experiences that have influenced my thinking about what kinds of qualities I look for in a leader, and that in turn is a large part of why I support Obama. At the same time, it is true that a lot of voters may not understand the value of some of these qualities.

For example, there are those who get heartburn over the notion of Obama's willingness to sit down at the table with our enemies; they interpret that as a sign of weakness, as a sign of "capitulation" -- perhaps because they can't envision what that kind of conversation might look like. However, if one has any experience with dispute resolution / mediation processes -- if the right skills and traits are brought to bear, the results can sometimes surpass expectations. That whole thing about starting off finding common ground even while acknowleding/working through hostility, and then using that to build upon -- that really can work in amazing ways. Even the worst of the worst want to feel listened to and understood, even if there's disagreement.

Also, a candidate can be intellectually brilliant, but there are different kinds of intelligence and I'm sure we can all think of someone who is a genius in a particular discipline, but a hopeless mess when it comes to interpersonal skills. I've witnessed this in my career -- someone may be the most wonkish of wonks, but if that person lacks other types of intelligence, including intuition, emotional intelligence, listening skills, negotiation skills, flexiblity, and the ego-strength to be able to give thoughtful and respectful consideration to dissenting viewpoints -- even the most brilliantly conceived policy proposals can go down in flames. An inclusive, collaborative process seems to have achieved much more effective results from what I've observed, than bullying strong-arm game-playing.

And yes, there is something to be said for the grass-roots "bottom up" collaborative/inclusive model. One of the city offices I worked for was really big into community and neighborhood programs. It took some coordination, organization and regular communication -- but I was always humbled and grateful to see how much ordinary citizens were willing to give of their time, money, talent -- all they needed was some coordination, specific direction, sometimes training, regular communication -- and they were thrilled to find that they could make a difference. Whether it was community policing, helping families in need, clean-up efforts, mentoring, literacy programs, even tapping into the valuable life experience of retired senior citizens to help the overburdened Child Protective Services work as child advocates . . . well that is what I think of when Obama talks about "we are the change." Obama's experience as a community organizer naturally gets bigs snaps from me because I've seen how it CAN work.

Sorry this post is so long.

Posted at April 25, 2008 10:38 PM in response to It Is the Process, Stupid: The Unappreciated Power of Obama's Empathic Problem-Solving Method

Jweb, you said:

"Their defense of the debate was precisely one of the thigns that set me off. It was unbelievable how disconnected they were, how they were so quick to write off the outrage as overblown and, basically, naive."

You know, I had precisely this same reaction when I listened to George "Tiny Debate Failure" (nod to Linkins) write off the criticism as "comes with the territory." I thought "what smug arrogance, he writes off his critics and listens only to his echo chamber. . . why, who does that remind me of? GASP!!! George W. has taken over George S's body! George S is now a receptacle!"

I have to say, Tivo is a great invention and I find myself fast-forwarding through a great deal more dross these days. (I DO work out on the elliptical during Meet The Press but perhaps if I made a rule for myself that I had to work out ANY TIME I have one of those shows on, I'll either be very fit or I'll be a lot more judicious in which shows I pick.)

Posted at April 21, 2008 2:20 PM in response to I realized this weekend that I am part of the problem