Spousal Support

The Obamas Speak, We're all Costco Shoppers

In 2004 in Boston, I was part of a group of Bloggers who were credentialed to cover the DNC. In a small, drab hotel meeting room, our welcome breakfast featured a couple of speakers, including a young, soon-to-be senator named Barack Obama. Later that week, that same speaker gave a keynote speech that captivated his party and in many ways still drives it. At each subsequent convention, pundits, experts, and observers have wondered, "Who will be this year's Obama." The question is easy to answer in 2024: It's Michelle Obama. I was in the building for her husband's 2004 address and I still think Michelle Obama may have given the best speech I’ve ever seen at a convention. Even Barack Obama began his remarks by saying, "I am the only person stupid enough to speak after Michelle Obama."

Michelle Obama strayed a bit from her famous line, "When they go low, we go high," and delivered a few effective lows. "Most of us will never be afforded the grace of failing forward. We will never benefit from the affirmative action of generational wealth. If we bankrupt the business or choke in a crisis, we don’t get a second, third, or fourth chance. If things don’t go our way, we don’t have the luxury of whining or cheating others to get further ahead. No. We don’t get to change the rules, so we always win. If we see a mountain in front of us, we don’t expect there to be an escalator waiting to take us to the top." And Barack Obama delivered a few blows of his own, including a [crowd] size joke gesture that hit right below the belt. But it's very worth noting that both of the Obamas also aimed some strategically placed shots toward their fellow Democrats. Michelle Obama on the habit of Democrats to pile on and eviscerate their allies when the going gets tough: "We cannot be our own worst enemies. No. See, because the minute something goes wrong, the minute a lie takes hold, folks, we cannot start wringing our hands. We cannot get a Goldilocks complex about whether everything is just right. And we cannot indulge our anxieties about whether this country will elect someone like Kamala instead of doing everything we can to get someone like Kamala elected." And even more importantly, Barack Obama addressed cancel culture and the contempt we often feel (and display toward) our political opponents. "To make progress on the things we care about, the things that really affect people’s lives, we need to remember that we’ve all got our blind spots and contradictions and prejudices. And that if we want to win over those who aren’t yet ready to support our candidates, we need to listen to their concerns and maybe learn something in the process. After all, if a parent or grandparent occasionally says something that makes us cringe, we don’t automatically assume they’re bad people. We recognize that the world is moving fast, that they need time and maybe a little encouragement to catch up. Our fellow citizens deserve the same grace we hope they’ll extend to us."

I'm hardly immune, but there's just too much hate and contempt in modern politics. If a group of people feel looked down upon, maybe it's worth wondering why instead of giving them more reason to feel that way. It's not just that this contempt is unhealthy for our society, it's also counterproductive when it comes to the name of the game: attracting votes. You can’t beat divisions with divisiveness. You can’t beat hate with more hate. You can’t overcome what you’re convinced is the terrible reality about your fellow Americans by furiously screaming about them from a distance.

+ Here are the two speeches in full: Michelle Obama ... Barack Obama.

+ Maybe the night's MVP was whoever came up with the idea to combine the usually boring roll call with a DJ playing songs associated with each state. Here's what your state chose. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris accepted her party's official nomination while addressing one packed arena in Chicago from another packed arena in Wisconsin. Two full arenas. No AI. I hope someone locked down the ketchup at Mar-a-Lago.

2

Nothing in Moderation

"When it opened in 1984, the Costco on West Dimond Boulevard in Anchorage did not seem like the future of food. A glorified shed the color of stale coffee, the warehouse offered the sort of products and deals Alaskans go crazy for: mammoth quantities of staples like peanut butter and tomato sauce, along with local favorites such as caribou sausage. The state’s extreme environment and the need to travel hours or even days for groceries made it a hit right off the bat." It turned out the concept worked pretty well across the country. NYT (Gift Article): How Costco Hacked the American Shopping Psyche. "Ostensibly, Costco is a discount store, a place to save money and stretch your grocery dollar, but it is also an aspirational shopping experience, feeding that most American of appetites: conspicuous consumption."

3

Ford Fusion

"The announcement underscores the challenges facing U.S. automakers as they seek to boost sales of EVs, a crucial technology in the fight against climate change, despite flagging consumer demand, supply chain challenges and increased competition with Chinese carmakers." Ford went all-in on the electric vehicles. It's notable that it's now reversing course. The focus moving forward: Hybrids. WaPo (Gift Article): Ford revamps electric vehicle strategy with push into hybrids.

4

Another One Kites the Dust

"To try to fend off the danger, motorcyclists affix thin antenna-like posts equipped with razors at the front of their bikes to snip wayward kite lines. The company that administers one of Rio’s main highways regularly hands them out to motorcyclists. But cases of motorcyclists having a limb severed or throat slit remain common." Whoa. Here's a sport I'd never heard of and that I'd only watch from a very safe distance. Brazilian kites are endangering lives and prompting a push for a national ban.

5

Extra, Extra

Nuke Warm: "President Joe Biden approved in March a highly classified nuclear strategic plan for the United States that, for the first time, reorients America’s deterrent strategy to focus on China’s rapid expansion in its nuclear arsenal. The shift comes as the Pentagon believes China’s stockpiles will rival the size and diversity of the United States’ and Russia’s over the next decade." Biden Approved Secret Nuclear Strategy Refocusing on Chinese Threat.

+ Pain Relief: "Gehrig struggled with thoughts of suicide. 'For many with chronic pain, it’s always in their back pocket,' she says. 'It’s not that we want to die. We want the pain to go away.'" There's a promising new class of drugs that could offer some hope for chronic pain sufferers. SciAm: New Painkiller Could Bring Relief to Millions—Without Addiction Risk.

+ Health Careless: "Over two days, two emergency rooms turned her away. When she arrived at the second ER, her jeans were soaked in blood." Women denied care for miscarriages and other crises are getting involved in this election.

+ Shirts Shouldn't Cost the Shirt Off Your Back: "A T-shirt is one of the simplest and most ubiquitous pieces of clothing in the world, but like many apparently simple things, it turns out to be incredibly complicated, especially if you’re set on making it entirely in the United States." GQ: Can This $13 Walmart T-Shirt Save the American Garment Industry?

+ I Guess She Wasn't on Social Media: "María Branyas Morera, a U.S.-born Spaniard, died in her sleep. Her family said she recently spoke of nearing death and that she would miss daily mundanities like drinking coffee." World’s oldest person, whose secret was avoiding ‘toxic people,’ dies at 117.

+ Meloncoly: $5 million worth of meth disguised as watermelons found at California customs checkpoint. (I don't think I could ever let meth get in the way of my watermelon addiction.)

6

Bottom of the News

Now this is a lede: "Among corporate America’s most persistent shareholder activists are 80 nuns in a monastery outside Kansas City."

+ "The 88-year-old, who died on Sunday, had asked for his pet dog Loubo, a 10-year-old Belgian malinois, to be humanely killed and laid in his grave." The family of Alain Delon have overruled the late French actor's request for his pet dog to be put down and buried with him.