Saturday, October 18, 2008

On reading political yard sign tea leaves.

While it is profoundly disturbing to contemplate local election year politics solely as the dully repetitious practice of efficiently distributing campaign yard signs, such a low common denominator is as much a fact of New Albanian life as television, light beer and non-ironic disingenuousness.

That said, there are three campaign yard signs on my property. It may surprise most of the city’s 37,000 residents to learn that two of them are for Republican candidates: John Click (coroner) and Larry Summers (county council at-large). As an added note, more Republican than Democratic prospective office holders came to Fringe Fest last weekend, and their presence did not go unnoticed.

Longtime readers will recall that while I can generally be depended upon to vote against Republicans at the state and national levels, primarily owing to their lockstep tendencies to abjectly fail my personal litmus test of unequivocal support for church-state separation (contrary to uniformed opinion, atheists have consciences, too), up-close local political races are another matter.

Verily, local Democrats cannot always depend on my support even if I generally vote for them most of the time. The reason? They simply aren’t always ideologically Democratic enough to suit me, which is to say that from my perspective, they aren’t sufficiently strident in liberal, progressive terms. As an example, Steve Price fancies himself Democratic, which makes about as much sense as George Clooney playing the role of Marilyn Monroe.

Anyway, if you’re wondering what the third yard sign says, it’s Obama/Biden. The first one placed out front of the house survived Hurricane Ike and a half dozen botched vandalisms until it finally was stolen outright during Harvest Homecoming. The second one probably won’t make it past the publication of this column, but the detestable proclivities of random blithering idiots in the populace aren’t the reason for my bringing it up.

Rather, it is my yard sign’s relative isolation in the context of a city that remains heavily Democratic in terms of voting preference. Of course, Floyd County beyond the city limits is another matter, having long since been thrust into a whole different demographic by the twin influences of wealth and superstition.

Is it just me, or have you noticed that in New Albany, clusters of yard signs touting the same familiar local Democratic faces are seldom accompanied by Obama/Biden signs?

Rather, as is the case in my yard, Obama/Biden campaign signs are most often seen standing alone, and absent other Democratic placards.

At two prime spots on Spring Street, virtually every perennial Democratic candidate has a sign grouped in a cluster like Conestoga wagons circled on the prairie, except the one that points to the ultimate party leadership position residing at the very top of the national ticket.

What does this mean?

This phenomenon may be coincidental, and my mention of it is not the result of a scientific sampling. But I cannot help concluding that at least some local Democrats are completely incapable of elucidating the platform planks that differentiate them from Republicans.

Label me unimpressed by selective memory of this stripe, and even if the passion’s missing, I wouldn’t mind seeing a few better actors hereabouts.

Of course, being on the wrong side of history isn’t a lamentable coordinate restricted to New Albany, but a clueless egregiousness is unbecoming when it’s your own neighborhood.

I’m proud to say that at-large councilman John Gonder isn’t among the prevaricators, and in spite of our differences over workplace smoking, his advocacy of Barack Obama is to be commended. Faith, Love and …

Indiana in play? Wow. Who’d have thunk it?

Unfortunately, many hidebound local Democrats can’t think.

16 comments:

  1. Interesting thoughts...I just placed my 4th Obama sign and finally realized that I had to move them inside the fence or this would just keep going on. I've lost 3 Obama signs, 1 Hill and 1 Clere sign so far.

    Being a newer New Albanian, I'm trying to talk with as many people as possible to learn what's going on. The next step is to start going to some of these council meetings instead of hearing accounts of them. My voting philosophy has always been this...nationally, I will always vote Democrat. Voting for the person in a national election or congressional/Senate races doesn't mean a whole lot. For the most part, your representative will vote with the party and you're voting someone in who is at least close to your own ideology.

    When it comes to local races, individuals play a much larger role for me. I will support Republican candidates that I like, party ideology plays a much, much smaller role in these races..i.e., the New Albany City Council is not going to vote to outlaw Roe v. Wade. Alot of times, party affiliation doesn't really seem to matter anyway, the perfect example would be my councilman, Mr. Price. You put it more eloquently than I with regards to him.

    My yard sign count at the moment is 3 Dems, 1 Republican (2 is Mr. Summers puts a sign in my yard as well).

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good on ya.

    If you discover what it means to be a Floyd County Democrat, let me know. You're on Spring; I'm on Elm, where I can often find McCain/Palin signs side-by-side with a cornucopia of signs supporting nominal Democrats. What's up with that?

    Andy? What makes you think the New Albany council won't vote to outlaw Roe v. Wade? Clearly, you DO need to drop in on the third floor a couple of times a month before you make such striking declarations.

    We'll never, of course, know for sure, but I'd be willing to bet that if the New Albany City Council were the electoral college, Sen. Obama would not be elected. Which just proves Roger's point. 8 Dems, 1 GOP'er, and Obama couldn't muster even 5 votes.

    And forget about church-state separation, not to mention voting rights and equal representation. Nothing Democratic or democratic going on there, either.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lipton iced tea bags don't leave any leaves.

    ReplyDelete
  4. "Andy? What makes you think the New Albany council won't vote to outlaw Roe v. Wade? Clearly, you DO need to drop in on the third floor a couple of times a month before you make such striking declarations."

    Point taken. I guess I meant that it would have no effect as a matter of law. However, I will start stopping by this "meeting of the minds" to see if there's a complete brain among them (excluding Mr. Gonder, of course, who obviously can and does think for himself and is concerned about the future of our fair city)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I just wanted to take the time to thank Roger for letting me put a sign in his yard. Also, Andy, I will try to be by your house later today to meet with you and put up a sign.

    It is my goal that anyone that directly requests a sign or personal meeting with me, gets the opportunity. I would want that from whomever I am voting for so I should provide that as well.

    I don't know how many signs I have lost throughout the year, but I would venture to guess it is nearly 75. I don't know if it is just pranksters or someone feeling threatened, but I do not touch other people's signs so I wish people would extend the same courtesy to me.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Larry wrote:

    ... I do not touch other people's signs so I wish people would extend the same courtesy to me.

    Fully agreed.

    I do not go to Obama rallies and yell "kill the senile old man," so I wish people would extend the same courtesy to my candidate.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dear Roger,
    This in an interesting year for yard signs. I have not seen so many presidential yard signs stolen. On the local level, I even had an unauthorized Larry Summers sign in my yard leading to a question, why do something like that?

    The Obama signs in my yard have been stolen twice,once in the primary season and current presidential election. In 2004 not one Kerry-Edwards yard sign was stolen.
    The point that concerns me is the selective nature of stealing signs. In the past if a local political race was hotly contested, one could expect to see widespread destruction of yard signs of either political party and not in just that particular race.

    A candidate for political office would expect to see signs use for other reasons, stolen or forgot to be return once the grass is
    mowed. But to be selective in which sign to steal is another issue.

    Maury

    ReplyDelete
  8. Larry,

    My guess is that someone feels threatened.

    I say that because of the six or so signs I have in my yard, yours is the only one thus far that has been disturbed. I've had to pick it back up 3-4 times now.

    Admittedly the location could have as much to do with it as does who it is promoting.

    Either way the action is despicable none the less.

    ReplyDelete
  9. "Unfortunately, many hidebound local Democrats can’t think."

    Roger, I like you, but sometimes the generalizations and assumptions on your blog push this "hidebound local Democrat" right over the edge.

    For instance, you assume because the two in your neighborhood who currently have every democratic sign but Obama's means that they are not for him and perhaps racist. If you are talking about the two that I can think of in your neighborhood, I know that one of them has had their sign stolen and he just walked out of headquarters with a new one. So, that assumption is wrong and in the words of Steve Prive "you know what my grandmother says about people who assume...."

    I have spent many hours working very closely with many of our local candidates this year and in doing so have had some of the most honest and insightful conversations regarding race, religion and many other "taboo" subjects then I've ever had. I have watched them go out day after day working not just for themselves but for Obama too, and yet those of you who think it's enough to put his sign in your yard and not volunteer to work with the campaign sit at home comfortably insulting them on this and other blogs while they are out busting their humps for actual change. I'm sorry if what I have to say offends some of you, but right now that just doesn't sit well with me.

    Roger, I'm sorry we didn't make it to your fringe fest. There were many, many times over the weekend I could have really used a good cold beer and entertainment, but there were just many more important things to do. I, along with the rest of the central committee, have been working (and fighting) to get Obama elected and to try our best to turn Indiana blue. It might not happen, but it won't be because we didn't try.

    Did you know that we gave away over 600 Obama signs and 4000 stickers at the Harvest Homecoming? Yeah, and that was the easy part. What was difficult was all the phone calls I had to make just to find out that there were not enough obama materials in the State of Indiana for us to have even 50 signs and a roll of stickers from the campaign. I had to have these things printed locally to get that done, and if it wasn't for the generousity of another "hidebound local democrat" we wouldn't have had the money to even pay for them.

    Since Harvest Homecoming I have been working my ass off to get people to volunteer on election day, and you would think with all the Progressive, high minded Obama supporters we have in town that would be easy, but it's not. I find it interesting that about 90% of the volunteers we have working in the Obama HQ are from Kentucky. You all want to prove to me how much of an Obama supporter you are? Why don't you volunteer. Hell Roger, your place can't be open on election day, volunteer to be a poll watcher or a Data Reported for the GOTV effort. If my friend from Chicago can pay $150 to fly in to volunteer for a few days, I would think that a few of you who live right here in town and talk about needed changes could give a little bit of your time as well.

    Are there small minded racist in the Democratic Party? Yes, there are and it pisses me off, but in the words of my dear friend Tony Toran, "no matter how hard you try you can't change stupid". However, that doesn't mean that all of us are small minded racist. Just because we're not in your faces or blogging everyday doesn't mean that some of us aren't working and striving to better our community, our State and our Country.

    Honestly guys, if you truly want to make change happen, you can't just sit around and bitch and moan about it, you have to get off up your butts and do something about it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I can't disagree, Marcey, but just to be fair to the NAC editors, I know Bluegill canvasses for Obama regularly and Roger has hosted Obama events at NABC. The Smith family is short on time, but we try to make up for it with treasure.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Maury wrote:

    On the local level, I even had an unauthorized Larry Summers sign in my yard leading to a question, why do something like that?

    Maury, I do not condone placing my signs anywhere without the property owner's permission. Please contact me privately with your location so I can identify who placed said sign.

    I apologize if one of my volunteers placed it there without permission. I will find out who did it and determine if there is an explanation as to why a sign was placed there.

    Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience of having a sign in your yard that you did not authorize.

    ReplyDelete
  12. So, in other words, Marcey knows how a lot of the rest of us feel when we're out working to improve the community and the local party refuses to take even a basic position, let alone advocate, on any number of issues affecting our daily lives because they just might upset some of those hidebound "Democrats" to whom the current system has historically catered.

    Get up off your butts, indeed.

    As was the case when Randy Stumler was chairperson, any time current local party leadership would like to put forth something resembling a platform, I'll publish it here verbatim and bloggers and readers alike can have a constructive conversation about it.

    Until then, defensiveness about the party will be regarded by this writer as not much more than a manifestation of Stockholm Syndrome. The same goes for the local Republican party as well.

    And, for what it's worth, I've already agreed to volunteer for the Obama campaign on election day as I have in the past.

    To be fair, I received an email from Marcey about doing so on October 16th, after I'd already committed. To memory, it was the first communication I've had with anyone representing the local party about volunteering for the campaign, even though I started in March. NABC hosted its first Obama event in April.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thanks, Jeff. Couldn't have said it better.

    Brandon's comment about treasure for time resonates with me, too.

    NABC's current reputation as an Obama bar probably has cost us some business. I've heard things, and they may or may not be true.

    But ... I'm perfectly willing to stand for Obama because Obama is willing to stand for something. It's why I've donated cash of my own and donated company time and pizzas on a couple of occasions.

    Two consecutive city councils have had 8-1 Democratic majorities.

    The results so far?

    Do I really need to go any further?

    To my simplistic minds, the reason for having a party platform is so that voters can compare aims with results.

    Wait ... could it be ...

    ReplyDelete
  14. As much as I hate to post it-- from today's Chicago Tribune, which refers to us as "the culturally conservative south":

    Cultural issues are powerful forces in southern counties currently represented by two Democrats in Congress, Brad Ellsworth and Baron Hill, each elected in 2006. For Kenneth Hodge, a muffler shop employee who lives in New Albany, the most important issue is gun ownership. He'll be voting for McCain because "I like my guns" and he's afraid Obama will take them away.

    For others, like David Ward, who runs an antique shop with his wife in New Albany, the issue is race. Ward, a registered Democrat, said he will vote for McCain "mainly because he's not black."


    GOP stronghold Indiana a surprise toss-up

    ReplyDelete
  15. And don't think they didn't notice up there:

    I Just Had To Share This...

    ReplyDelete
  16. Lost first Obama sign....only lasted a week..got another ..tempted to wire it for voltage..shock those chickenshits....

    ReplyDelete