Confessions of a Political Junkie

It's time I came clean. I can't quit, man. I didn't want this blog to be all about politics, but that's what's happened lately. I know that writing about politics is a dead-end street. I know it has no future. There are plenty of political blogs out there. People don't want to hear me rant about my personal political views. I know that I'm either (a) preaching to the converted, or (b) making the sound of a tree falling in the forest with no one around to listen. Do I still make a sound? Hell if I know. So why, why, why do I do it? Because I just can't stop. I can't stop writing about politics, political shenanigans, the abuse of power and the unbridled hypocrisy that goes with it. I've got the fev-ah, man and it won't leave! It won't go! I want more, I need more. More news. More sound bites. More personal attacks on character. More slurry from the bottom of the privacy barrel to feed my appetite. I gots ta have it!

So... dear reader, more likely than not, you'll be enduring more politically-themed entries than you'd like until November 4th. For I admit it. I have a problem. I am a political junkie and I cannot -- I WILL NOT -- stop. I know you're sick and tired. So am I. I can't stand myself. I want this election to be over already, you have no idea. I want to get on with my life, writing about metrosexual crapola, why murses and men go well together, the angst of the single life, all the usual important stuff. But the political season keeps getting in my way. We're about to elect a very powerful group of people to run our country, and it's the first time in four years that we, Americans, have a chance to rectify our past wrongs in twice electing an idiot for President, and I have to let it out, I have to let it ALLLLLL out.

What's addicting about this election is the people running: Obama, Biden, McCain, Palin. Each is compelling in his or her own own way. Each has a story to tell, and it's not a boring story. McCain the Prisoner-of-War, the post-Charles Keating mea culpa reformed politician; Biden, the gaffe-prone plagiarist, the aneurysm-survivor who lost his first wife in a car accident; Palin, the small-town girl from Wasilla with Big World dreams but no passport stamps; and Obama, the smooth operator who has Tefloned his way to the precipice of becoming the first black President. It's easily the most compelling Presidential election I've ever witnessed. There are fantastic story arcs here and we're about to reach the climax. How will it end? How??

But it's not just the stories. It's the psychology of the campaign that interests me. The tactics of persuasion both sides are using to convince people to vote their way. Lying about the other side as a political tactic is nothing new. It's existed since John Adams ran against Thomas Jefferson back in the 1800s. But since the 1980s, when Republican operative Lee Atwater worked Michael Dukakis over with Willie Horton ads and hilarious replays of him riding around in a tank like a 6 year-old with a new toy, it's been elevated to an art form. Since Dukakis, the powerful strategy of "going negative" and destroying an opponent by any means necessary has greased the path to political victory. Rumors of George Bush Sr. having an affair, John McCain fathering a black baby out of wedlock, the Swift Boating of John Kerry, all stepping stones to new power.

Yes, we are living in an era of political character assassination. Why do they do it? Because it works. Human nature dictates that when people hear enough bad things about someone and they're repeated often enough, people will believe them, regardless of whether the statements are true or not. It seems ludicrous now, but back in 2000, people actually believed that John McCain may have fathered a black baby out of wedlock. (The black baby is the sine qua non of political arrows. No one, it seems, can withstand the dreaded black baby rumor.) The truth, which no one cared about, was that he and his wife had ADOPTED a baby from another part of the world. I think she's on her way to college now. Anyway, after besting Bush in New Hampshire, McCain lost the South Carolina Primary and his Presidential campaign was over soon after that. And we got Bush as the Republican nominee (and later President) as a result.

I bring this up because we are less than 30 days away from the election and McCain is losing. He wants to change the subject from the economy, something he's admitted he knows little about and whose fundamentals he believed a few months ago were "sound." So he's getting desperate and has said the gloves are coming off. You can bet your sweet patootie, therefore, that things are going to get U-G-L-Y (with no alibi) over the next three weeks. Even worse than they've already been. Early indications are that they're going to work the "guilt by association" angle with Obama. You can expect to hear more about Reverend Jeremiah Wright and some guy named Bill Ayres, who apparently was a "domestic terrorist" back in the 1960s when Obama was eight years old. But Obama considered Wright family and attended a fundraiser with Ayres, so it's guilt by association.

Personally, I think this strategy will blow up in McCain's face, just like his recent kabuki theater with the recent economic meltdown, where he made a big show of suspending his campaign (he didn't, really). The results of his dramatic, but ultimately fruitless, efforts were made embarrassingly clear when the bill didn't pass, due primarily to his Republican colleagues' refusal to get on board. If McCain goes the guilt-by-association route, it'll be a rocky road, because he's living in a glass mansion and Obama's shown that he's not afraid to throw a few rocks of his own. All he needs to do is bring up the Keating Scandal and McCain's going to be dealing with a bunch of shit that he's put behind him and would be better off leaving there. And I read today that McCain used to be a member of an anticommunist organization who were knee-deep in the Iran-Contra scandal in the 1980s and whose members included more than a few Nazi sympathizers. Nice. See how nasty it gets when you can't, or won't, talk about the real issues facing people? But McCain's a gambler and he's desperate, so if he keeps slipping in the polls, I think he's going to say fuck it and unleash the dogs of war. Hope he's got some armor on. He's going to need it.

Finally, a word about the VP debate. Palin certainly performed better than expected, I have to say that. Of course, I've never seen lower expectations going into a debate, so that's not saying too much. For someone who easily could be President of this country, and Commandress-in-Chief, it's daunting to think that people actually thought she might freeze up, cry, vomit, or run off the stage last week, and anything above that was a "victory." Is this how low we've sunk in our expectations of our leaders? Sad. But she handled herself well, even if she didn't answer any questions and basically gave a stump speech the entire night. It's like back when I was in college and I was taking a class I didn't like very much and so, two days before the final, I had to cram my ass off to remember as much as possible before the test. When it was over and I took home a "C," I was relieved. That doesn't change the fact that I had no business taking the class in the first place. Lack of interest breeds mediocre performance.

I find Palin distasteful for other reasons though. Putting aside her obvious lack of readiness for the most powerful job in the world, my grievance with her is she pretends to be sincere and real -- in fact, she's staking her entire personality on being "one of you" -- when she's as fake as they come. She showed it at the debate. Two examples. First, at the beginning of the debate, she asked Biden if she could call him "Joe." Biden, nice guy that he is, said "Sure." It soon became clear why she asked. Twice, she tried to use pre-crafted "zingers" against Biden that made use of his first name: Joe. In response to a question that Biden answered (unlike Ms. Lipstick, he actually tried to answer questions during the debate), Palin said "Say it isn't so, Joe." Another time she said, "There you go again, Joe," in a pathetic attempt to imitate President Reagan's similar retort to President Carter in 1980. Fake, fake, fake.

The other example came when Biden got choked up as he was describing the near-death of his son in the car accident that killed his first wife. After listening to this emotional moment, Palin, mother of five, is it? including a baby with Down's Syndrome that she carts around like a Saks Fifth Avenue bag before handing the poor child off to one of her daughters, didn't acknowledge Biden's moment at all, or even his humanity as a father. What she did instead was fly right back into her stump speech, as if nothing had happened. If you don't believe me, go watch it on YouTube. Sure, she comes off as a down-home, simple person. But she's a calculating politician, just like any other. Who are they kidding?

And they're trying to slip this bill of goods past voters by severely limiting her interviews and not allowing her to hold a single press conference before this election. It's unconscionable. McCain handpicks this woman and they won't let anyone see how smart or dumb she is, how she handles herself under pressure, how she answers legitimate questions from the populace about their plans for the country and what she's all about? What are they hiding? I'll tell you: her incompetence and remarkable lack of knowledge about the economy, foreign policy, and the world in general. Shit, even Bush gives press conferences, give the man credit. And he's no scholar. Is it "putting country first" to hide this potential-President behind two handcrafted national stump speeches (one at the RNC, one at the VP debate) and three one-on-one interviews, one of which doesn't count because it was with that right-wing hack Sean Hannity, who fed her softballs the entire time? It's totally irresponsible.

McCain gambled with her, and she paid early dividends. Now they're trying to cash out their chips before we find out that the Emperor has no clothes. Too late. I don't care what anyone says, the real Sarah Palin is the one who couldn't handle Katie Couric -- Katie fucking Couric -- without Daddy McCain by her side. And the real McCain doesn't put country first, he puts himself first by hiring the same a-holes who were responsible for starting the false rumors that he'd fathered a black child back in 2000. Why? Because he wants to win. Badly. It all comes back to psychology. Just like George W., who invaded Iraq when he didn't need to in order to avenge his father and exceed his accomplishments by taking over Iraq when his father would not, McCain wants to surpass his father's (and grandfather's) military successes by becoming President of the United States. That's all we're dealing with here. Daddy complexes. I'm sure Obama has a few of his own. After all, he grew up without a father.

Oh shit. I did it again. I started off writing about my political addiction and rather than face it head-on, I went off on another disagreeable tangent. Another bender. I feel so ashamed. I just wanted to dabble, wet my beak a little, and look what happened? I went on and on. I've got a serious problem. That's the first step, isn't it, admitting it? I need to dry out somewhere. Maybe shuffle off to Montana for a few days. How many days left now? Twenty-eight? Oh, I don't think I can wait that long for another political entry. Ooooh, there's another debate tonight, right? And one more in a week? Mmmmmm, yessss. Daddy like.

Drill, Baby, Drill!

T. here, reporting live from the floor of the Republican National Convention. I'd like to share with you a few of my favorite moments from the kum-ba-ya fest that's going on here in St. Paul:

1. Governor Sarah Palin's speech. Ooooh, red meat. I love's me the red meat. What better way to deflect attention away from your inexperience and lack of a plan for the economy than by attacking the "liberal elite" and mocking the man who more than half of the country is currently supporting. Give 'em hell, Sarah! She sounded like someone running for school board president, not Vice President of the country. But I hear she's getting high praise for her speech. Some are calling it reminiscent of Ronald Reagan. Oh me, oh my, the spin, the SPIN!!! We'll see how she does during the VP debate when she'll be flying without a teleprompter.

2. Rudy 9/11. Man, this guy gets nastier and nastier every time I hear him speak. For him, a guy who based his entire presidential campaign and post-political career on profiting from one of this country's greatest tragedies, to criticize ANYONE for pursuing political office for selfish reasons, is laughable. I actually used to respect the guy, but now, the sight of him gives me dry heaves. He is insincerity personified. To his credit, he did wait until 2/3 of the way through his speech to bring up 9/11. As he stood in front of a beautiful New York backdrop during sunset. Of course, it wasn't midtown they showed. It was downtown, so you could see the empty space where the Twin Towers used to be. Nice touch. Real subtle-like.

3. The Hottest Governor From The Coolest State. Delegates were actually wearing pins that said this. Sexist much? Dang that Palin is making HUGE strides for women. Here's to you, ladies! When's the swimsuit competition?

4. Drill, Baby! Drill! Yes, I heard Republicans chanting this on the convention floor. They want us to drill for oil, environment be damned! Drill in Alaska! Drill off the coast of Florida! Drill in your backyard! Drill in mine! Gasoline costs are through the roof and they want us to keep injecting the oil needle into our thick, blue vein. They sound like drug dealers cajoling us into another hit. "Just one more, baby, c'mon! You know you like it! Drill, Baby, Drill!" You think this party is going to get us off of foreign oil? Riiiiight. We'll be wearing oxygen tanks first.

5. Mitt's speech. Mitt Romney gave a great speech tonight. For 1984. Liberal this, tax that, America's the greatest country in the world. Annnnnd, that's a wrap! I thought I fell into a time warp for a second there. I also think he forgot that the Republicans have controlled the Presidency for the last eight years and Congress for six of the last eight. So WTF are you talking about? I'm quite pleased we don't have to hear from Guy Smiley for another 4 years, at least.

6. They've got nothing to say. Nothing on the economy. Nothing on foreign policy. Nothing for the future. They have no plans, no new ideas, no goals for this country. It's more of the same. So what do they do? They mock and tear down the other side. When the Democrats do it, they're called "The Angry Left." When Republicans do it, it's perfectly fine.

7. Speaking of The Angry Left... Georgie called us out last night, called us the "Angry Left." Fuck yeah, we're angry. Angry about an incompetent President, a senseless war, billions of wasted tax dollars and dead Americans and Iraqis, lobbyists controlling power in this country, an energy policy that's driving us to extinction, and a fucked up health care system. Most of all, we're angry about a political leadership that is doing NOTHING to fix these problems because they're too busy playing whack-a-mole with each other. So yes, we're angry.

But not as angry as Rudy Guiliani. Someone give that dude a lollipop. Or better yet, a high colonic. Get all that bile out.

8. I have now memorized every second of John McCain's captivity in Vietnam. Give it to the Republicans, not a single speaker in the past two days left the stage without walking us through "John's Story." I actually heard Fred "boop boop" (that's the sound from Law & Order) Thompson talk about how the Vietnamese knocked out McCain's teeth "at the gums." McCain's a hero, okay, I get it. John Kerry had three purple hearts and was running against a man who DODGED service (unless you count ten minutes of working on planes on U.S. soil "service"), and no one gave a fuck. Actually, it was worse than that. The right wing tried its best to turn those purple hearts into a deceitful lie. Now we're supposed to award McCain the Presidency because of his service? Idontthinkso. He's a perfectly decent Senator. That's reward enough.

9. Lieberman. Et tu, Joe? Two years ago (when he was trying to get re-elected), he was singing Obama's praises. Now, Obama's not fit to lead. What a difference two years makes. Just ask Sarah Palin.

I'm glad these conventions are over. I've gotta start writing about something else.

President Palin

The bullshit factor of American politics never ceases to amaze me. More and more, I'm realizing that no one actually believes anything they say about the other side. It's all about tricking people, the easily persuaded American sheep who listen to radio personalities like Rush Limbaugh, into doing what you want. And it's gotten to the point where they're barely hiding it anymore.

The latest example of this involves McCain's pick of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate. For the past three months (and even before, if you count the Democratic Primaries), I've been listening to McCain criticize Barack Obama for being too inexperienced to be President. Paper thin resume, he said. Not qualified to be "Commander in Chief," he said. To be fair, it wasn't just McCain saying this. Hillary Clinton, his own VP pick Joe Biden, and numerous self-loving talking heads on Fox and CNN said the same thing. And I considered it to be fair criticism. Obama's assent has been rapid, and it's a legitimate knock to say he doesn't have enough political experience to be President, even though I've always felt the criticism was overblown. If that's how you feel and it's all you care about, my view was, go ahead and vote for McCain.

Well you can throw that out the window now. McCain, who is 72 years old, just chose as his running mate a woman with exactly two years of political experience. And we're not talking experience in a state like New York or California or even Pennsylvania. We're talking Alaska, of all places ALASKA. Alaska is a huge territory but it has like 5 people living in it. It can hardly be said that Alaska represents the United States. And Palin's last significant political position before becoming governor TWO YEARS AGO was her service as mayor of a small-ass podunk town. Before that, she was a news anchor. And McCain was criticizing Obama's lack of political experience? What a joke.

I have nothing against Sarah Palin. In fact, I kind of like her. She's got that down home thing going, which American voters seem to like in their leaders. She seems genuine and nice. And I like the way she stuck the Bridge to Nowhere up Senator Ted Stevens' wrinkled ass. She's easy on the eyes, too. I don't like her political views (she thinks both evolution and creationism, i.e. intelligent design, should be required to be taught in school, for example), but she's not abrasive and has a bright future in the GOP. But are you kidding me? Vice-President???

McCain, God bless him, has been diagnosed with cancer four times. If elected, he'll be the oldest person ever elected President of the United States. I heard Doris Kearns Goodwin say today on Meet the Press that nearly 1 in 3 American Vice-Presidents have become President through assassination, illness, or resignation. With this pick, that's scary to think about. McCain and his minions have spent the better part of his campaign against Obama criticizing his lack of experience. And then he goes and picks as his number two someone who has even LESS experience than Obama? Either he never meant what he was saying about Obama or he is in serious panic mode in this election, because this pick was about as knee-jerk as you can get. You can say it doesn't matter. You can say the Palin pick "energized" his campaign. You can say that chances are, McCain will be fine and he's only running for a 4-year term anyway. But we have two wars going on and an economy that's in the shitter and this is the best he could do? It wouldn't matter if McCain was 50 or 60 or even 65, but the man is in his 70s for crying out loud. It's fair to say that this situation poses a more likely than typical scenario that McCain either will not live out his term, or could be sidelined for a substantial portion of it. Does President Palin have a nice ring to it for you? Not for me. And more importantly, what does this pick say about McCain's judgment?

Before picking her, McCain met Palin exactly twice. Why was she chosen? And how much involvement did McCain have in that choice? I can hear it now: "We need someone young, preferably female, who's pro-life, evangelical, and likes to shoot guns. Get on it!" This pick was like ordering a pizza. It's the way most people date on Match.com: pick all the personality traits you want in a person and then click on the picture you like the most. Scary. There were a bevy of Republicans, including women, who were more qualified VP picks than Palin. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Liz Dole, Tom Ridge, even Governor Huckleberry were more qualified. What was McCain thinking? He couldn't find a conservative woman with a more substantial resume than a two-year governor of a sparsely-populated state? This pick gets him no electoral states that he wasn't getting already, no security if something happens to him, and no one knowledgeable on the economy, like Romney would have been, though Palin does have some experience on the energy front. All this pick did was perk up some conservatives and solidify McCain's evangelical support. I submit that the Republican Convention and almost any other pick besides Lieberman would have accomplished the same thing.

McCain's bad judgment isn't my only point here, though. My larger point is about political hypocrisy. I've been laughing my ass off the past two days watching the political shows and seeing the very same conservative pundits who'd been criticizing Obama as inexperienced -- THE SAME EXACT PEOPLE -- bending over backwards, stttttreeeetccccching the facts about Palin's experience to somehow justify this crazy pick. Their response to her clear lack of international experience (did I hear correctly that she got her first U.S. passport in 2007?): she's an "executive" who's "tough" and "very popular" in Alaska. One jackass on Fox News actually tried to suggest that Palin had international experience because Alaska is very close to Russia. It's a fucking farce. Can you imagine this woman facing down Putin or bin Laden if something happens to McCain? Shit, call Obama inexperienced, but at least he's a Senator of a major American State who has a national presence and clear positions on foreign policy, even if you disagree with them. And any lingering doubts most people could have had on this front had to have been addressed by Obama's pick of Joe Biden. Palin is going to have to prepare for her debate against Biden like a college senior cramming for a final.

As a Democrat and Obama-supporter, I'm thrilled with McCain's choice, because it's an act of desperation and shows that McCain thinks things through about as much the Republican he's trying to replace: George Bush. Actually, credit to Bush, at least he picked Cheney, who, as much as I hate the fucker, actually had some foreign policy experience under his belt. If something happened to Bush, I wasn't worried that we had another Dan Quayle on our hands. But that's exactly what Palin is: Dan Quayle 2.0.

I don't know what McCain was thinking, but if he wins, he'd better stay healthy, or I'm getting the hell out of Dodge and moving to..... ALASKA.

American Dream

When it comes to politicians, I'm as cynical as they come. They're all rich. They're all corrupted by power. All they care about is themselves. And most of the time, even when they're actually trying to do the right thing, they manage, either through misguided policies, or personal failings, to muck it up. Sure, once in awhile, one of them stands out, talks a different talk, walks a different walk, and gets my hopes up. I get excited and I start believing. I start drinking the Kool-Aid. But sooner or later, no matter how high the best leaders may fly, he or she will succumb to one of the seven deadly sins -- usually greed, pride, or lust -- and fall back to earth. Case in point: Gary Hart. Gary Hart was a Democratic Senator from Colorado who ran for President in 1984 and 1988. He was a breed apart, an idealist who was solid on national security issues and ran on a platform of "new ideas," which included a bold economic and social agenda. Back in the 80s, Gary Hart was the man. I bought into him hook, line, and sinker.

Then The National Enquirer published pictures of him on a yacht, cavorting with a 29 year-old model named Donna Rice. They showed her sitting on his lap, her long, shapely legs dangling over his. Both of them were smiling. They looked really happy. Problem was, Gary was married. So, uh, after a laughable attempt to continue with his campaign, he was forced to resign before the New Hampshire primary. The irony was, he'd long been accused of womanizing and he actually dared reporters to follow him around and try and catch him at something. He said they'd be wasting their time. The joke was on him because The Enquirer has lots of time on its hands and loves nothing better than a challenge like this. So follow him they did, and they caught him in the act. And get this: the yacht's name was "Monkey Business." You can't make this shit up. So instead of Gary Hart running against George Bush, Sr. in 1988, we got Michael Dukakis riding in a tank. The rest is history.

So yes, I've been hurt before. I've been burned and now I'm wary. I'm afraid to love again. I can't count how many Gary Harts have passed by since and I've given them nary a glance. Bubba was the most promising one and look what happened to him. The pee pee wants what the pee pee wants. It always seems to get in the way. Whatareyougonnado? Now things have hit rock bottom. People hate politicians with a passion. No one believes a word they say anymore. People hear what they want to hear. Washington has been in gridlock for years. Nothing's getting done. The country's infrastructure is falling apart while we get bought up by Europe and China and hemorrhage money in two wars as oil prices go through the roof. And Congress is about as popular as George Bush, who's despised.

But this is what makes Barack Obama so special. In an age of political cynicism and apathy, he's making people believe. He came out of nowhere, rode the wave of an inspiring DNC speech four years ago to an unlikely political campaign for President, and now, he's achieved an historic nomination. The sheer improbability of his candidacy continues to amaze me. First off, he's black. The last black Presidential candidate to show any semblance of national political success was Jesse Jackson. Jesse Jackson. I think Jesse may have won one or two primaries. Nothing remotely close to this. Seven years removed from 9/11, and we have a Presidential candidate whose last name sounds like "Osama." A man who spent part of his early life as Muslim. A man whose middle name is "Hussein." A man who's been in the Senate less than four years. A man who ran against and defeated a well-organized, well-financed Clinton MACHINE. Improbable doesn't even cover this guy.

How did he do it? How is he doing it? Many people have opined on this far more eloquently than I'm going to. Obviously, he gives a great speech. He knows how to use words. I listened to him tonight, like I have many times before, and this time I paid attention to how he conveyed his words. He doesn't just speak. He tells a story. Actually, in any one speech, he tells many stories. Stories about himself, about Americans he's met, about American history, and about America itself. Stories imbued with powerful rhetoric and supported by a strong voice that is both powerful and inspirational. It's not just the words that he chooses, it's the way he conveys them; it's the logic and passion behind them. Obama makes sense. He has vision. He knows what's wrong with this country and where he wants to take us. He has bold ideas: getting us off of foreign oil, making the environment, energy, and education priorities, reducing lobbyist power, revamping the tax code, fixing our embarrassingly bad health care system, and ending the Iraq War honorably and safely. He doesn't care if people don't think these things can be achieved. He's going to try. What else are Presidents for?

Obama reminds me a lot of Ronald Reagan in both the way he comes across and the way he inspires people. I couldn't stand Reagan, but the aura he carried was undeniably powerful. Obama is similar. It's the combination of his voice, his words, and his delivery. It's a mind-meld. He says what we're thinking and he says it better than we could. He embodies what we want our politicians to be and how we want to see ourselves. It's funny to see Republicans complain of Obama's "cult of personality" and donning mock togas comparing him to Caesar. Talk about sour grapes. They'd kill to have an Obama in their party. What the hell do they think happened with Reagan? The guy was a mediocre President at best -- all ideological flash and very little substance -- and still he's as revered in some circles as President Lincoln. In contrast to Reagan, Obama has ideas that rise above ideology. Whether he'll achieve some or all of them if he wins remains to be seen. Personally, it's going to take more than one man to make these things happen. What matters is he has the drive to try and change this country, and after eight years of detachment, unilateralism, stubbornness, negativity, secrecy, incompetence, and cronyism, we have nowhere to go but up.

Obama's appeal goes deeper than that though. After eight years of Bush and his fucked up policies, most of us feel like the country needs a shower. Obama is so different, in so many ways, that no one saw him coming. If Bush had been anywhere near a decent President, Obama wouldn't have the heightened appeal that he has. What makes him so powerful is that he's proposing something that is the polar opposite of the one-sided, political Machiavellianism of the Bush Administration, which won two elections (one, actually) by a nosehair, yet governed as if it had won two landslides. Obama is talking about working together, crossing party lines to get things done for the good of the country. He's a change agent who has come along at exactly the right time. Just like Kennedy. Just like Reagan. Any other time, if he followed a competent President who hadn't made so many mistakes, he probably doesn't get this far. But we are where we are, and that's how history is made. Clinton begat Bush and Bush will beget Obama.

Forty-five years to the day after Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech, the most unlikely candidate with the most unlikely of names and the most unlikely of backgrounds is on the verge of becoming President of the United States. If MLK were alive, I wonder if he'd be surprised that it took this long, or if he'd just be happy that it happened in his lifetime. Maybe both.