Degrees of misogyny, bolting trading partners, initially inapparent rightness, fee schedule for press access to Obama and “street money” to “get out the vote”

1) While the MSM general consensus seems to be the American messiah is at hand, there are some signs that should he become President, Obama will have a few real-world issues to deal with that won’t be solved by his very presence. One of those is that other countries don’t necessarily like his economic dog whistles.

The IBD today has an article about what the problems could be.

As Obama makes political hay off protectionism and promises a new Smoot-Hawley era, it’s no surprise our trading partners are beginning to look to other markets — such as Europe. It’s a warning.

Our No. 1 trading partner, Canada, isn’t stupid. When Obama threatened last February to rewrite the North American Free Trade Agreement on his own terms, our northern ally started looking abroad to other markets.

They found a big one in Europe, which seems to have few hang-ups about increasing exports and signing free-trade treaties. Last Friday, Canada and the European Union held the first talks toward an eventual free trade agreement between the two.
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Canada isn’t the only one responding to these chill trade winds blowing in from the Washington elites in election season.

Read the rest ->

Colombia is also preparing to sign a free-trade deal with Europe, as its own free-trade accord with the U.S. languishes after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi blocked it in Congress last April.

U.S. allies are wise to seek other partners no matter what the U.S. climate — the U.S. downturn no doubt plays a role too. But it started with noises out of the U.S. about pulling up the drawbridge.

Hey, I’m sure we shouldn’t be worried. Canada, after all, is a very unreliable trading partner. . . . . .

2) CNN has a story today about the Democratic Republic of the Congo. While you may be familiar with “rape as a weapon,” the natural progression to what may come next will still take your breath away.

She talks about a woman being gang-raped by 15 soldiers. Some violated with sticks and knives. Cannibalism. She has returned from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where thousands of women and girls have been systematically raped during a 10-year war that some say has cost more lives than any other war since World War II.

“It’s ‘femicide,’ ” Ensler says, using another word to describe the treatment of Congolese women. “It’s the systematic destruction of women. It’s an economic war fought on the bodies of women. It’s the destruction of the Congolese people and life itself.”

Femicide – a new word and a stunning description. I had to stop everything else I was doing and pay attention to this story. The author quotes Eve Ensler, who has visited the Congo when asked why this story hasn’t gotten more attention:

The world’s reaction has been muted so far and Ensler, best-known as the playwright of “The Vagina Monologues,” says she knows why.

“A lot of it is flat-out racism,” she says. “When we see conflicts that involve white people, the world responds faster. Bosnia is a perfect example.”

I’m going to have to disagree with Ms Ensler here. I think the overarching problem is misogyny not race. We’ve become used to “honor killings,” “female circumcision,” and burqas in “less advanced” countries. We’ve seen inequality of income, position and rights in other countries and a reduction of women to a one word physical description in the “most advanced” country.

What is the thread running through all this? Is it race? No. It’s gender. If it weren’t gender, then Congolese women would be respected by their countrymen and family members while the atrocities were committed by outsiders, right?

Not so much.

Rape has become a primary weapon in that war, says Geoffrey Keele, a UNICEF spokesman. Keele says rape is designed to destroy the Congolese community. Husbands, families and villages often shun rape victims. A weak and divided community is easier to conquer.
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Congolese women have traditionally held such low status that many expect violence from their husbands and men, Keele says.

“A lot of the women we talked to had said that this is just their lot in life and it is something to be endured,” he says.

The US isn’t the Congo. We don’t have that country’s savage war. But we do seem to enjoy some of the same retrograde attitudes to women. And no one seems to be held accountable for those attitudes. If it’s about a woman, you can say pretty much anything you want. Check that. You CAN say anything you want. Quite frankly, I’m not sure what HASN’T been said about either Hillary Clinton or Sarah Palin here in the “enlightened” US.

3) Over at Commentary, Jennifer Rubin talks about Biden’s gaffe regarding Obama’s “first test” as US President.

Joe Biden may have the inside track on the real “Obama doctrine.” His mega-gaffe may actually have revealed something more than his own inability to keep his lips sealed. Aside from predicting that the world’s “evil doers” will take advantage of the young President (not a bad prediction), he also tells us to be prepared for a poor reaction. In his words, “it’s not gonna be apparent initially, it’s not gonna be apparent that we’re right.” What does that mean?

Bill Kristol suggests:

In other words, Biden is forecasting inaction by Obama in the face of testing by a dictator. I suspect he’s right in this forecast. McCain might want to clarify this point. It’s not just that Obama’s own running mate expects an international crisis early in his presidency. It’s not just that Obama has a weak foreign policy record. It’s that Biden himself expects what will appear to be a weak response from Obama to testing by a dictator.

Biden after all is watching Obama in action — receiving briefings with him and presumably discussing both national security policy and personnel. Biden, famously unable to keep to himself any thought that pops into his head, has now let slip out what’s troubling him. But we don’t know what prompted this spasm of honesty. Was it mulling over the Obama non-reaction to Georgia? Was it some reaction to developments in Iraq? Has he heard about Obama’s intentions on Iran or North Korea? It would be nice to know.

For whatever reason, Biden clearly told people that an Obama reaction to some undetermined event some time in the future would not initially appear to be the “right” decision. WTH? So now we’re down to lowering expectations for a President Obama too? Great. . .

Of course, John McCain had a response too.

We don’t want a president who invites testing from the world at a time when our economy is in crisis and Americans are already fighting in two wars,” McCain, a 72-year-old Vietnam War veteran, told a crowd Monday in Belton, Mo.

“What is more troubling is that Sen. Biden told their campaign donors that when that crisis hits, they would have to stand with them, because it wouldn’t be apparent Sen. Obama would have the right response,” added the Republican nominee, who was spending Tuesday in Pennsylvania, another battleground. “Forget apparent. Sen. Obama won’t have the right response, and we know that because we’ve seen the wrong response from him over and over during this campaign.”

4) Here’s something amazingly lame. The best funded political campaign in the history of the world will be charging media to cover its “election-night celebration in Chicago.”

A memo sent to news organizations on Tuesday by the Obama campaign says credentials will cost $715 to $1,815, depending on whether electrical and phone lines are needed and whether an indoor or outdoor seat is requested for the event, which is expected to be held outside the evening of Nov. 4 in Grant Park.

The only free admissions are for a “general media” area. But, the memo says, “Please note that the general media area is outdoors, unassigned and may have obstructed views . . . standing room only.”

The area also does not include access to top Obama campaign officials, whose statements likely are to be in hot demand on Election Night. They apparently will be available only in the “press file” tent, to which an additional admission fee of $935 per person is being imposed.

Obama aides declined to answer questions about why a campaign that raised $150 million in the month of September is demanding such payments. But the memo already is drawing some protest.

A whole new definition of “pay to play” and of “presidential access.” And just cheesy. Classless and cheap. At the Sun-Times is a list of the “coverage resource packages available for purchase” from the Obama campaign.

FROM THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN….

The following coverage resource packages are available for purchase:

* Main Riser Position – $935 (Includes 4 Main Riser Credentials, 5′x8′ Slot on Covered Main Riser and one 20 amp circuit)

* Main Riser Position with Telecommunications – $1870 (Includes Main Riser Position services, PLUS two unlimited long distance/local phone lines and one wired high speed internet connection)

* Cut Riser Position – $880 (Includes 4 Cut Riser Credentials, 5′x8′ Slot on Covered Cut Riser, one 20 amp circuit)

* Cut Riser Position with Telecommunications – $1815 (Includes Cut Riser Position services, PLUS two unlimited long distance/local phone lines and one wired high speed internet connection)

* Press File Seat – $935 (includes 1 Press File Credential, seat in heated Press File Tent, Power, Cable Television, High Speed Wired Internet Service, Catering)

* Satellite Truck Position – $900 (includes 35′x20′ parking position and 100 amp electrical service)

* Radio Position – $715 (includes table space and chair behind the riser, power and an ISDN BRI line for radio — comes with two credentials)

Billing information must be submitted at as part of the request. Your credit card will not be charged until the campaign confirms your coverage resource package request. Coverage resource packages must be requested at:

http://www.barackobama.com/pressbilling

Additional services may be purchased a la carte:

* Unlimited Long Distance Phone Line – $300
* High Speed Wired Internet – $275
* One 20 amp circuit – $165

For telephone service internet connectivity and additional power, orders must be placed by October 23rd, 2008. For questions on pricing or additional telecommunications assistance, please contact (deleted)

The following credentials may be requested at no cost:

* General Press Area – No Charge (Includes access to bike racked press area with standing room only)

You must fill out the form to the right to request each individual General Press Area credential.

Request media credentials for the Election Night event:

Credentials to access the General Media Area are available at no cost. Please note that the General Media Area is outdoors, unassigned and may have obstructed views. General Media Area credentials do not include access to riser positions, satellite truck parking or the press filing center.

Huh. Kind of like charging for the bar mitzvah or a slice of the wedding cake ($5 for a slice, and extra $2 for icing), huh? I wonder if MSNBC will get a sweet deal. Think Obama will install a toll booth at the White House press room? Does he get a cut of the fees? Silly me, I thought that the President worked for all of us. And the press, no matter how lame and crummy, is made up of, (mostly) humans who happen to be citizens. But for some reason, Obama thinks they need to pay to have access. There are sooooo many things wrong with this I can’t even list them all. Please, have a shot at it.

5) FiveThirtyEight says the PUMA movement is dead.

This is really the key theme of the whole post-Lehman Obama surge. Between his more populist talking points on the economy, the backlash to McCain’s attacks, and — I’m guessing here — a deep level of antipathy among Democrats toward Sarah Palin (Battleground has her favorability ratings at 12/78 among Dems), Obama has really brought the Democratic base home. By contrast, Obama’s support among independents varies quite significantly from poll to poll, ranging from essentially even in the Rasmussen tracker to a +15 in Zogby.

6) And lest we forget that money makes the world go ’round – or at least on election day in PA.

When the Philadelphia Democratic Party’s faithful gathered for their pre-election fundraiser last night, conversation among many anxious ward leaders kept coming back to the same question: Would Barack Obama come up with street money?
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Street money, typically between $100 and $300 per voting division, is used to pay expenses such as meals and transportation and sometimes pay election workers for their day’s work.
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“Honestly, they’d be crazy not to do it,” said Lou Agre, leader of the 21st Ward in Roxborough and Manayunk. “We’re the ones who can get those last five, six hundred people [in a ward] who haven’t voted, and that’s a big difference for the campaign.”

City Democratic chairman U.S. Rep. Bob Brady said he’s confident the Obama campaign will come up with the money.
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“The single most important thing you can do to get elected is to have street money!” Rendell shouted, adding, “There are people from the Obama campaign here, so let’s all say it again. The most important thing you can do to get elected is have street money!”

Ah. The reason for the ridiculous amount of money at last. “Street money!” Pay everyone to “get out the vote” and hope they actually vote the way you want them to. I wonder how much it really takes to get people to “get out the vote.” More change you can believe in.