Urbanagora » Dennis

The uber-significance of Obama

Dennis — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 02:01:15 +0000

Omitted from all the furor of the brownshirt behavior of the right, the rabble, and the Rush is the more important governmental philosophical perspective that Obama made explicit in his quotation from Sen. Kennedy’s letter and his invocation of national character. The prime distinction between the FDR-LBJ era to the Reagan-Shrub era was the shift from a Social Gospel, “I am my brother’s keeper because I am my brother”, “we’re all in this together” v. the Neo-Puritan, every man for himself, social Darwinism. Obama throughout the campaign and in his policy approaches is moving public policy back to the Social Gospel. He made it clear in the speech that his Health care interest is in government as helping those who can’t help themselves and need some assistance. Not the Bush approach of only giving help to those who “deserve” help based upon some, generally, theological moral basis. The book “Hellfire Nation” by James Morone elaborates on these themes, though for a pre-Shrub era.

The Tale of Patrick Quinn

Dennis — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:35:45 +0000

(with apologize to Sweeny Todd and Stephen Sondheim–this was written for a well known annual parody show, but is not being used and I didn’t want it to go to waste):

Attend the tale of Patrick Quinn

His job was tough, but his talent thin

He sent his plan to the gentlemen

But his ideas were never then heard from again

He didn’t win the spot that he’s in

Our Patrick Quinn, The Bumbling Gov’nor in Spring….field

He went to work with honesty

And told the truth for all to see

But that doesn’t work in Illinois

Where everyone thought it was just a ploy by Patrick

By Patrick Quinn, The Stumbling Gov’nor in Spring….fieldRaise the taxes high, Patrick

Graduate the pie

Don’t be nervous, social service we supplyHis needs are few, but the mansion great

His “Betsy” case & a Super 8

No security guard or private plane

But a campaign staff and ads that explain

What he has done and why he’s been

This Patrick Quinn, The humbling Gov’nor in Spring….field

The Return of Scott Fawell

Dennis — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 01:51:30 +0000

Anyone interested in the George Ryan story should watch the clip of Carol Marin’s interview w/ Scott Fawell and his squeeze from tonite’s Chicago Tonite: http://www.wttw.com/main.taf?p=42,8,8&vid=082609y

This brings back all the questions of what is politics and what is government and where are the lines. That discussion has been lost w/ the total political and governmental incompetence of Blago. But w/ Ryan there was a serious debate lost on where has the line shifted w/in the criminalization of politics and the redefinition of ethics. Fawell was the downfall of Ryan and Ryan was the ghost of politics past and Patricks Fitzgerald/Collins were/are the ghosts of politics/government future. Discuss….

Memories of Teddy Kennedy

Dennis — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 01:17:54 +0000

I worked the Kennedy ‘80 campaign in Champaign-Urbana (I’ve forgotten what Congressional district that was then) and co-organized a campus campaign visit. The campaign was rough and the visit was rougher as the Senator was stuck in Chicago by weather and a firemen’s strike. He was almost two hours late and the crowd in the Auditorium got rowdier and worse. It came close to recent town hall meetings and the Senator had a lousy cold. But, he came on, after introduction by, I believe, Penny Severns, who was running as both a Kennedy delegate and for Congress. After comments, he took questions. The one I vividly remember was from some know-it-all grad student who asked something specific and technical about a bill from a committee hearing four years earlier. Not only did Kennedy remember, but he corrected on the details and responded w/ a technical answer to the scientific point made. Several others have made the same point today about his incredible memory for legislative details and how it made the difference in his ability to negotiate legislation.