Bright Eyes Light the Way

Artificial Luminescent Eyelashes - Nadya Lev @ Coilhouse


In probably my favorite posting of the day I present to you some cyberpunk fashion tech via the lovely women of Coilhouse. Ms. Lev notes the socio-political implications of the design in South Korean society as the push for biggers eyes through plastic surgery also pushed artist Soomi Park to create a design that does the very same while turning the strange 'big eye' fetish back on itself. Politics aside, I love it. This is the sort of tech I'd love to see take off in the States by the more fringe hipster crowd. Cyberpunk fashion mixed with hipster fashion could be quite interesting.

Obama in New Hampshire

Rallying For Obama - Ezra Klein

The renewed attention on Obama's pure campaign speech isn't surprising. What is surprising is the change in tone as Sen. Obama's win in Iowa has made what seemed like a laughable pitch for change and unity has proven a winning formula, at least for Iowa. Ezra admits his criticism has foundered a touch as Sen. Obama "speaks much more concretely" on his approach to politics and politicking. Ezra also points to
Sen. Obama's use of young volunteers as examples of how he acted as a community organizer holds a dual purpose. By lauding the actions of youth, Obama endears himself with the youth vote. Additionally, by talking about the process of community organizing itself Obama indirectly educates the audience on how to join, organize and vote in a primary. It's a subtle but clever stroke for pulling new voters into the Obama pool. This renewed attention for the next few days will, I believe, prove immensely beneficial to Obama's potential win in New Hampshire. Once this kind of wave gets rolling it becomes very hard to stop and only through some serious anti-Obama politicking from the Clinton campaign can stop it. But those sorts of actions can cut both ways by presenting Sen. Clinton in as much a negative light as Sen. Obama. This horse race just got very interesting.

Obama's Iowa Speech

Obama's Gift - Ezra Klein
Obama's Speech - Matt Yglesias
Believe It - Andrew Sullivan

While watching Sen. Obama's speech in Iowa tonight I realized I was experiencing the same feeling I do when I see a great band live playing to expectations. It's not the feeling of disappointment, but of aural satisfaction, knowing that you are witnessing something amazing even though you were never in surprise or doubt of that. Sen. Obama's speech was lyrical, rhythmic and spot-on. No hesitation or doubt in his voice, no moments of collecting his thoughts and no meandering bits. He was presidential (well, except for the moment when he gave thanks to his wife and then gave her a look that said, "I'm going to plow you so hard tonight"). His message was both directed at New Hampshire and the wider national campaign. He hit his policy points quickly and effectively without belaboring anything. Finally, his thanks to the precinct captains and other supporters who did the heavy foot work was a stroke of brilliance, calling upon his own experience and reinforcing it with the words 'calloused hands' that make you recognize he knows what he speaks of. It was a great speech and will play well when broken into sound bites. How New Hampshire shakes out for Sen. Edwards and Clinton is the key to what happens next. I can easily image an Obama/Edwards ticket if they both place the same in New Hampshire. As soon as Sen. Obama's speech hits YouTube I'll post it.

And here it is:

The Iowa Caucus

Iowa Democratic Party Caucus Results
The image and link are provided to you via Andrew Sullivan

I think Sen. Obama's victory in Iowa is an amazingly good thing in its own right, but with the possibility of Sen. Edwards edging out Sen. Clinton is even more astounding. The 'air of inevitability' that has surrounded Sen. Clinton is going away but a third place finish with do away with any hint of that so-called 'inevitability'. Sen. Obama now has the momentum needed to bounce into New Hampshire and continue on into South Carolina. I haven't forgotten, in all of the talk of hope and change in the Obama campaign, that the senator is still a politician, but he is the politician I would be proud of voting for. As for the Democratic party as a whole, Sen. Obama's win is a great thing as it pushes the establishment back on its heels and severely damages the 'netroots' belief that they can make or break candidates. It also means that there are Democrats who want something new more than they want revenge against the Bush administration and the rest of the Republican party. This is history in the making, perhaps the revolution being televised. It is the first sign that the American public want a change more than more of the same. I like it.

A Diamond is Worth as Much as You Pay for It

100% - Matt Yglesias
What Desperation Looks Like - Andrew Sullivan

"If Clinton's going to run on her alleged greater experience, surely it's fair to point to the content of that experience and ask whether or not it's all good experience. " Matt Yglesias

Matt makes a salient point about experience and how the Clinton campaign's harping on it has the potential of blowing up in their faces. The amount of experience someone has is only a good as how that experience has allowed that person to make wise decisions. It's the wisdom gained from experience that makes experience something worth looking at. But when it's obvious that while someone has a great amount of experience but continues to make poor choices then you can tell such a person hasn't gained anything through experience. And that actually makes such 'experience' more worthless, and dangerous, than no experience since you already know the track record is pretty poor.
It's also worth it to point out that Matt's comments on experience came from a recent Charlie Rose interview with former President Clinton, something that Sullivan believed spoke for itself through the YouTube video.

The Calm Generation

The World-Spirit Through History - Matt Yglesias

Of course, David Freddoso is right in a way, a wacky way though. After the English Civil Wars the whole country tacked towards an anti-polemical attitude that was reflected in the debated and the creation of the public sphere in the English coffeehouses of the period. It was also after the fall of fanatical religion that some of the greatest works on liberty and democracy were written such as Hobbes Leviathan and Locke's Two Treates On Government along with the addition of an informed and politically active public that did not take to extremes. Of course, someone like Freddoso will overlook all of these facts just to make his argument, which both undermines his argument and his critical thinking abilities if he believes that citing one point in history is sufficient evidence. Besides, it was when nationalism became a religion of sorts that fascism took off. And it was when capitalism was at its worst that Marx wrote, only to have his work overturned by moral revolutionary Georges Sorel at the end of the 19th century. But that's neither here nor there, now isn't it?

The Obama Ascension

Decency and a Generation - Andrew Sullivan
'My Commentators Is Smarter Than I': Go for the Jugular Edition - Ezra Klein
Depends On What You Mean By Surprise, I Guess... - Alex Masse
Known Quantity - Matt Yglesias

I have a couple more links to add when those site are back up again. I wanted to gather some of the latest posts about the whole issue of Sen. Obama's past drug use and the Clinton campaign's efforts to use that as a smear on Sen. Obama's character. A lot of the issue concerns the differences between Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton, both in leadership style and campaign style. I have no qualms about Sen. Obama's past drug use, both due to my own past usage and the completely forward nature in which Sen. Obama has conducted himself with the matter.
A lot of digital ink has been spilled about the growing fight between the Obama camp and the Clinton camp, with most of the more critical posts pointing to the faults of the Clinton campaign. In particular, the last couple of weeks have shown a Hilary Clinton people remember from the smears she suffered from during her time as the First Lady. She has gone on a serious offensive against Sen. Obama in attacking his experience, his 'known quantities', his drug usage and even some underhanded smear emails sent out by her own campaign staff (of which two have already resigned over, and another over the cocaine issue). Her husband has joined the chorus as well, arguing that much like his wife, he was for the war before he was against it, which considered how laughable it was when Sen. Kerry made that claim I don't know why President Clinton would attempt to do the same now.
Suffice to say, one would have expected Sen. Obama's polling numbers to have dropped in the key primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire. Yet the opposite has happened as Sen. Obama has overtaken Sen. Clinton in Iowa and has closed in to a statistical tie with her in New Hampshire. The negativity with which Sen. Clinton has assaulted Sen. Obama has reflected in the polls as Obama has remained cool and collected, i.e. he has remained on message as a candidate of hope and change.
What several people have noticed is that Sen. Obama is seemingly not afraid of the Republican party while Sen. Clinton still is. Her campaign style reflects an attitude of negativity and offense that is better suited for use against Republican candidates. In other words, Clinton doesn't know how to campaign against her own and that has led to the perception that Clinton is too cut-throat for the tastes of many liberals. Meanwhile, Obama continues to push his message forward with strength and conviction, and with seeming disregard for whether his position appeases everyone.
Another element, of which I can't link to at the moment, of Obama's current success comes from his ability to talk to conservatives on their own terms, acknowledging their positions and then rebutting them in such a way that most conservative listeners come to agree with. He growing stronger in his speeches and in the debates themselves while Hilary has begun to look more like the Mitt Romney of the liberal side.
All of this is to say that Sen. Obama has has some great fortune in the last couple of weeks, both due to his own abilities (see, The Moment) and Sen. Clinton's mistakes. As the primary dates come closer (Iowa is on January 3rd) Sen. Obama has a good chance of upsetting the presumptive frontrunner and turn that momentum into an even greater upset in New Hampshire.