Cogitations

This stuff blew into my head today:

• Paul Krugman’s column praises Edwards as a man of ideas. He’s absolutely right. Edwards stuck to core Democratic principles even while he delivered some angry populist speeches. But Krugman also continues his skepticism regarding Obama. I think he’s getting at something that goes deeper than policy. Obama is reaching out to libertarians, moderate Republicans and Independents in a year when he really doesn’t have to.  Most voters are fed up with Movement Conservatism and know when they’ve been had.  Plus, the media isn’t going to care how much bridge building he did during primary season. He’s going to get flayed anyway. RonK wrote a great post on Obama’s political philosophy yesterday with The Audiology of Hope: Dogwistling Economics. The change that Americans are so eager to embrace is away from free market/personal responibility/punitive harshness and towards strong social safety net/shared risk/optimism. It’s the policies that can deliver that change, not the other way around. Hillary has them; Obama don’t.
• I’m still taking suggestions for a new name. I like The Confluence because it suggests flowing together, meeting at a common point, convergence. It is exactly the opposite of Republicanism and Movement Conservatism, which focussed on individualism and division and everyone for himself. And when people are divided, they are weak, which is just the way the rulers like it. With Confluence, you get contributions to the whole and we go forward together strengthened. “There is power in a union.” But I’m open to more ideas. Eventually, I’ll make it permanent and spring for the domain name.
• Speaking of bridges and confluence, take my advice, Democratic nominee. There is no better place to kick off the fall campaign than Pittsburgh. It is rich with Democratic symbolism. There is the flowing together of the two rivers to make the Ohio, the many bridges joining diverse neighborhoods, it is still paved with the Belgian brick laid during the Depression by FDR’s WPA and it is evolving from an industrial union town to a high tech hub. What better place to kick off the general than at The Point with the 150 ft fountain at your back, looking forward and bringing everyone together behind you?
  Think about it.