Personal Observations on the ACORN Presidential Forum

Yesterday I posted my notes on the ACORN presidential forum. This afternoon I'd like to share some personal observations. Keep in mind that, as regular readers may have noticed, I am very detail oriented and often see the trees (leaves, pine needles, and bark patterns in particular) and not the forest. If you are looking for political philosophy, go somewhere else.

Sen. Hillary Clinton -- She used a lot of expansive hand gestures which I thought interesting. Of course it's hard to do that on televised debates so I wondered if she were restraining herself there or pushing herself here. We all style shift, changing our language, wording and persuasive techniques based on the people or audience we are talking to. This is a trickier proposition in the Internet age when so many things are taped and made generally available. I thought the senator did a lot of style shifting in her ACORN talk. Not that this is a bad thing but I tend to be a little less trusting of people who do this in a noticeable fashion. I've watched a few televised debates and some YouTube clips of some of the candidates. Clinton started out with a Bible verse. She references her faith sometimes in other settings but this stood out since it was the first thing she said. Of course, we were in a church, but if you are going to wear your faith on your sleeve it should be there consistently. She also said "raisin'" for "raising" several times. She was brought up in the Chicago suburbs and went to Wellesley. I doubt "raisin'" was part of her childhood or college vocabulary. It's possible she picked it up in Arkansas but in her autobiography she skimmed over that period of her life in a very cursory fashion. If you say "raisin'" only when you are in a African American Baptist church I question your qualifications for saying that word. To the best of my memory she did not drop the final "g" on gerunds and verbs during any of the debates or other places I have heard her speak. It's nit picky but I'm a nit picky person.

In her remarks she mentions Bill Gray who was the pastor at the church for many years and that Martin Luther King, Jr., gave the first sermon at the church. It shows that she did her homework. It is a pet peeve of mine but I always cringe just a little when white people are talking to African Americans and mention Martin Luther King, Jr. He was a great man and an American hero and I have no doubt she was right about him speaking there, I just think we need to widen our list of allusions to include a few other names. She also said she had followed ACORN since their first office opened in Arkansas just down the street from the governor's mansion and that she is honored to be ACORN's partner. Funny, ACORN is not included in the index of her autobiography (on my bookshelf as I type), but as I say, the Arkansas years are mentioned very briefly. Her policy remarks were nuanced and I do not question their veracity. The senator does her homework and that is a quality I admire. There is no question that she works hard on behalf of her constituents.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich -- I only caught part of his answer to the last question he was asked. One of the ACORN organizers sent me the URL for his opening remarks on YouTube and I have watched that as well. In the opening remarks, well, wow, is that guy animated. The sound quality is not that great so the first time I watched it; the body language came through better than the words. Try watching it with the sound down. Yowza!! However, his words were very good. He describes poverty as a weapon of mass destruction. In his last answer he says we can afford all of the programs he mentions if we re-order our priorities. That is an excellent point. I was impressed by his ability to say a few things in Spanish. Some of his ideas are revolutionary (for profit health care is over?). I do tend to find it a little tiresome when people compare apples and oranges for affect. He calls poverty a weapon of mass destruction. That's interesting but I'm not sure it is accurate. A weapon of mass destruction is usually a fast acting quick change agent. Poverty would perhaps be more like a virus, always present, though sometimes suppressed or dormant then mutating to something that spreads and causes collateral infections. But I digress here. Kucinich is interesting and worth a closer look at another time.

former Sen. John Edwards -- Let me start by saying I like Edwards and am especially fond of his wife. He seems to be aware of her popularity as one of the first things he said was that she sends her love and is doing great. He also said at the start that poverty is a moral issue. The person introducing him said he had toured the country with ACORN's president and Edwards mentioned he had met with the ACORN board. Reading people is not my strong suit but I thought he was greeted more warmly and with more familiarity and excitement (though I thought they were trying to mute this) by the ACORN people on the podium than the other speakers. One of the questioners thanked him for walking the walk as well as talking the talk. He praised ACORN's past work and said if elected president he would work with ACORN and similar groups but he didn't try to present himself as a partner or someone who was a part of their organization. I respect that. You can honor someone's work without trying to say you are one of them.

He said ending poverty is the cause of his life and not a political issue. I have read his autobiography and followed some, but not that much, of his work in North Carolina and would not dispute this statement. I don't agree with all of the promises he makes or policies he espouses but I admire his consistent passion and heard nothing in his remarks that would change my good opinion of him.

Other remarks -- The more I see of Michael Nutter the more I like him. I'm trying not to get my hopes and expectations up too much, but, oh golly, he could do some real good in Philadelphia as mayor. Rep. Chaka Fattah is a good speaker, very polished. His remark that elections are not about personalities but about programs and plans and that Nutter will be a great mayor were wonderful. Of course, elections are also about personalities, but we'll let that slide. I thought I saw Sharif Street out on the grass talking to people as I left. But I thought I saw him a week ago in the Franklin Institute with a little boy who looked about 8, so I must have Sharif Street on the brain for some reason.

In the words of Forest Gump, that's all I have to say about that.