Showing posts with label Russell Crowe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Russell Crowe. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Competing With Hillary Now

Democracy index according to The Economist, 20...Image via WikipediaHillary has no stated goal of a Nobel. She does not need the money. Her net worth is north of $100 million, thanks to Bill Clinton's (and her) book writing, speech making, and lobbying foreign governments. She does not need the name recognition. She is one of the most famous people on earth as is, and has been for two decades now. But there's just something about the Nobel, it is not the money, it is not fame. It is something else. And when you connect the dots of the work Hillary has embarked upon, it leads to a Nobel if she is successful. She has decided to tackle the thorniest issue in global politics. (Hillary's Peace Efforts In The Mideast)

I have a stated goal of a Nobel. I feel like I am owed one for my Nepal work. I am reminding the committee in Stockholm through my Iran work that I am owed one. I don't much care for name recognition except when it helps with work. But I do need the money, like Russell Crowe says in a movie. (110 Knocks)

I have been talking in terms of Iran for a while now. Hillary's seriousness towards Mideast is more recent. So it is not like I am getting into Iran to spite her. It is just the stars have so aligned that now I find myself competing with Hillary. 2008 was Barack's turn to compete. Now it is my turn. No more proxy battles. Let's go head on.

This is, of course, friendly battle. I am going to erupt with joy should Hillary succeed. And this is nothing to do with 2008. For me the Democratic primary of 2008 never ended. It is going to end after Charlie Rangel is no longer in the public eye, and I have personally wiped out DL21C from the face of this city. I have reduced it to irrelevance. But that is another topic. That is a New York thing. All I need is for political winds to keep blowing like they always do. And me. I don't need any help.

My only point of contention with Hillary is this. She possibly could repeat the mistake of people who tried to do the same work before. The mistake has been to think that if only the Israel guy and the Palestine guy could sit down and learn to love each other, or at least not hate each other, then there would be peace. That is why peacemakers have organized meetings and picnics and what have you. That is such an unscientific approach to take.

I don't see the Mideast mess as people from different religious, cultural backgrounds disliking each other. It is more a clash of political systems. The lone democracy ends up having to tussle with an entire neighborhood of non-democracies. Turning Iran into a full fledged democracy, not trying to bomb Iran's military installations, is the way to get rid of the existential threat Israel claims to feel from Iran. The threat is nothing to do with weapons. The threat is political. And the primary solution is political.

It is the nature of a non-democratic state to find a perennial external threat. The Soviet Union needed an America to hate. North Korea needs South Korea. It needs America even more. The more massive the object of hatred, easier the dictator's task. The Arab states need their people to hate Israel. It serves their political purpose.

A neighborhood of democracies will no longer be angling to push Israel into the sea. But if the Arab countries don't become democratic, they will never stop trying. It is not about succeeding, it is about keeping at it. Actually it is important to not succeed. If they manage to push Israel into the sea, that particular external threat will disappear. And why would you want that? A threat that no longer exists is no longer useful. So it is not true the Arab countries really, truly want to push Israel into the sea, metaphorically speaking.

And that is why it is so very important to turn Iran into a democracy. It is also important because you are not having to do the Iraq thing or the Afghanistan thing. In Iran's case it is not about a superpower spending trillions of dollars it does not have.

Long story short, I am competing with Hillary. I want to get the Nobel before she does. I want to be able to tell Barack I too beat Hillary.

The First Time I Heard The Obama Name
How My Grandfather Became Mayor The First Time

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Sunday, September 12, 2010

110 Knocks (2)

Norwegian Nobel CommitteeImage via Wikipedia
Saturday I showed up at the Astoria Reshma 2010 headquarters after lunch. Reporting for duty, Sir! Or, rather, Ms. I reported to Lwiza.

When staffers compete over you - work my turf, work my turf, work my turf - you know you are smoking it as a volunteer.

Lwiza first game one map. I told her I had plenty of time. I was going to stick around for as long as it takes. So she gave me three maps. I ended up knocking on 110 doors. This was just the best canvassing I have ever done, like ever ever ever. The best part was working the housing projects. These housing projects were the exact opposite of their movie images. You could actually see little kids playing around on the green lawns between buildings.

I said to Lwiza before heading out, when I was a kid, and when somebody ran, and I needed to catch that person, I would go after that person, and I would send another kid to run around the building from the other side. You guys are already making the phone calls, and knocking on doors. Let me just go talk to people wherever I can find them, in stores, on the sidewalk, parks, wherever. She said no. We have a list of potential voters, and I need you to go talk to them specifically, she said. I said okay. She said she had already flooded the stores with Reshma 2010 literature.

But I did a little of both. I did everything she expected me to do. I knocked on every single door she asked me to knock. But I also talked to some random people in some random places. The two best ones were in two small parks.

The first one was this senior woman, she had seen Reshma on TV. I kept meeting people who had seen Reshma on NY1. That NY1 appearance by Reshma has been the turning point for the campaign, I think. Ends up this woman had sat on all sorts of committees while she was still working. She said she had friends among local labor organizations. I asked her to get 10 people to vote for Reshma. She said fine. After I left I had regrets. I should have asked for 20, I thought.

The second such talk was in another park when I felt like I was half done knocking on doors, and I took a small soda break. I found myself talking to these two elementary school teachers. These two women were special ed teachers. They said they were not even planning to vote on Tuesday, but now they were going to vote for Reshma. I got them to also promise that they will get 10 others to do the same as well.

The idea is that if one person will talk to 10 people, those 10 might talk to five each on average without even being asked to.

When I got back Lwiza had vitamin water for me. For me vitamin water is acquired taste. I learned to drink vitamin water when I showed up to make phone calls at the Reshma 2010 headquarters.

There was tremendous energy in the office. You could sense this quiet confidence among everybody. These people were plugged in all the way to midnight. And they come back to work early in the morning.

Reshma 2010 has felt like a tech startup to me from day one. It sure acts like one. Tech startups are known to burn the midnight oil.

I am going to keep showing up day after day. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. I am going to the Hudson Terrace party Monday evening.

In knocking on doors for Reshma 2010, I am rescuing myself. Slowly but surely my atrophied social muscles are building back up.

110 Knocks

My personal plan is to raise 150K plus to do Iran democracy work. Third World dictators are my absolute favorite things to hate on this planet. Do the work, win the Nobel Peace Prize.

"I need the money," like Russell Crowe says in a movie.

I already did Nobel quality work in 2006, but they did not "get" it. Maybe after they see a repeat in Iran, they will "get" it. (Iran: A Brief Survey Through Time Magazine)
Russell Crowe - The Cinderella Man: "What the hell, I'm a working man," the former champion explained today. "I worked as a longshoreman before I was a fighter, and now I need the money, so I'm working again. I always liked hard work; there's nothing wrong with it."













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