Standing At The Crossroads....

James McMurtry - "We Can't Make It Here"

America is standing at a crossroads, and the devil is pushing us to make a deal. Do we replace the worst Presidential administration in history with a doddering old fool and his bimbo sidekick, or do we choose the young, intelligent, and admittedly imperfect alternative?

The Devil You Know....

Under the Bush regime, we've seen the sins of the father magnified by the son...extraordinary rendition, the war in Iraq, Gitmo, spying on citizens, the lack of response to Hurricane Katrina and the burning and looting of New Orleans...the list is tragically long. John McCain has attempted to distance himself from an administration that, bluntly, history will rightly judge a dismal failure. But McCain has sold out what shred of dignity that he ever held, auctioned off his scruples to the right wing of a party that long ago lost its relevance to the average person. The G.O.P. stands for nothing more or less than a military-industrial complex that makes a few sycophants wealthy while ignoring the needs of the country.

McCain's choice of the Alaskan "Barbie Doll," Sarah Palin, as his running mate is as blatant a political move as I've ever witness in nearly 40 years of being aware of such things. The so-called "hockey mom" is nothing more than an ignorant appeal to the extreme Christian right that has controlled the Republican Party for several decades, a special interest group that wouldn't fully support the candidate until now. Heaven forbid that McCain get elected President and die in office...the completely unprepared Palin would have the rich hunting the poor for sport, shooting at them from black helicopters leased from Halliburton. Aggression and charisma don't make a good leader...the last eight years have proven this true...I'd prefer a modicum of intelligence, some common sense, and a little humility in my President, personally....

Barrack Obama is a great speaker and a charismatic individual, and although an imperfect candidate in many ways, he's the best shot we have to break the rule of the right, which dominated Congress from 1994 to 2006, and has sat in the White House for eight years. Obama, perhaps, is not aggressive enough, and afraid of being necklaced with the flaming label of "liberal," he keeps the Democratic Party's "special interests" – unions, gay Americans, feminists, etc – at arm's length.

Obama's health care proposal is laughable, relying on the largess of corporations unwilling to provide such concessions, and other Obama policies are equally naive, preferring to tread the middle-of-the-road rather than attempt to upset any apple carts. Even Obama's choice of Joe Biden...a long-time Demo party hack...seems to be calculated to "win back" disaffected Clintonites. Still, he's a much better choice than his rapidly aging opponent....

James McMurtry & Willie Nile

My opinion of singer/songwriter James McMurtry was formed entirely after listening to his first couple of major label records, unspectacular efforts that showcased a young, talented voice but just didn't knock me out. McMurtry has released six albums after leaving the major label ranks, and I know that he's become somewhat of a demigod in Americana circles. After doing a little reading, it's seems that McMurtry has honed his songwriting and performing skills to a surgical precision. Watching the video provided above, "We Can't Make It Here" (from McMurtry's 2005 album Childish Things), it's clear that McMurtry understands the pain in the heartland and the effect that "politrix* as usual" has had on American families, better than any politician. Perhaps it's time for me to pick up a couple of recent McMurtry albums and refamiliarize myself with a talent that I had originally written off....

Willie Nile, on the other hand, has been a long-time favorite of mine, a folk-rock poet that has long understood the hopes and dreams and fears of the average American. Signed in 1980 by Columbia Records – who thought that they had the next Springsteen in their hands – Nile has seemingly emerged from his three-album major label career with his sense of humor intact. Although I didn't hear much about Nile during the '90s...I heard that he had come to Nashville for a while to look into songwriting opportunities...he is enjoying a career renassaince of sorts during the new millennium, releasing the excellent Streets Of New York in 2006, and more recently the incredible Live From The Streets Of New York CD and DVD.

The video below, for Nile's insightful "Hard Times In America," was taken from the live DVD, but the song itself dates back to a five-song EP by that name that Nile released in 1992. I found a copy of the EP at The Great Escape in Nashville a decade later, musing that perhaps Nile had sold it to the store himself. I find it sadly prescient that the song has as much relevance today as it did when he wrote it....


Willie Nile - "Hard Times In America"

Click on Shepard Fairey's "Obama Progress" image to go to the Obama website

(Click on the CD covers to buy either album from Amazon.com)