Another modest suggestion

The Occupy movement has done a lot to draw attention to the problems of income inequality and the flush of big money in politics. But in some ways they remind me of cardiac fibrillation; the effects are impressive on the surface, but little blood actually gets pumped and the patient eventually dies. 

So may I humbly suggest that my friends in the Occupy movements consider some alternatives or adjuncts. 

First of all, check out Occupy the Voting Booth. 

Get behind a candidate that shares your values, such as Elizabeth Warren.

Register as Republicans and get behind Buddy Roemer who is the only Republican presidential candidate to come out in support. Move the poll numbers and demand he be allowed join the follies otherwise known as Republican presidential debates.

One last thought: join the Republican Party and get active at the state, local and precinct level. Take the GOP back from the crazies and return it to the party of Nelson Rockefeller, Everett Dirksen, Dwight Eisenhower, William Scranton, John Love, Jerry Ford, even Goldwater and Reagan (who were both too far to the left for the current crop of "conservatives").

Street theater is lots of fun, but sooner or later someone will go to Washington and affect our lives for better or worse. Lets try to make it better in the voting booth.

What is all this about teleprompters??

One of the attack themes from President Obama's stronger critics (dare I call them haters?) is his use of teleprompters. It is a ready chestnut that they grab onto at the first opportunity. Given that every president, presidential candidate, and many other political figures and speakers in general use teleprompters, what is the big deal?

There are a lot of things that Obama can be criticized for, that are substantive. But honestly, from the unhinged I don't hear much substance, just snark-- and of course unmitigated hatred. But why teleprompters? Why a device that every other pol uses too? Heck, even the politicians that the Obama-haters say they like use teleprompters. 

So, I figure that it is because it is the only way that they can rationalize the fact that the man is a pretty good speaker much of the time. The assumption then, is that he is a good speaker when he has his teleprompters and an inarticulate boob when he doesn't. Of course that isn't true, as any observation of Obama at the podium will reveal. Some of his lamest speeches have been with teleprompters, and some of his better speeches have been without. 

Personally, I think  the damn things degrade the quality of speeches and rob them of spontaneity. Bill Clinton's best speeches were when he blew off the teleprompters or didn't use them at all. 

I think that Obama's haters -- and I draw a distinction between critics and haters -- lock in on the teleprompters because they are so invested in the idea that this particular man cannot successfully speak on his own, that they truly believe he can't give a speech unless someone else wrote it for him and feeds it to him on a spoon -- or teleprompter. It is that simple, and that hateful. 

This sort of criticism has never been leveled at another president. That it is leveled at this president says far more about the haters than the hated.