The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Thursday, November 5, 2009 -- 3B The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Thursday, Novemher 5, 2009 - 3B The fall of the Obama Age ell, it was a good 12 months for the Demo- crats. They had their fun: their Nobel Prizes, their Equal Pay Acts, their Portu- guese Water Dogs. But all good things O must come to f. an end. And Tuesday night, the Obama Age ZACH ended not with SMWVTZ a whimper, but with something significantly qui- eter than a whimper. On Tuesday night, Republican governors swept into power with wins in both Virginia and New Jersey, states soon-to-be-former President Barack Obama won just a year ago. In Virginia, state Sen. Creigh Deeds got the Creigh beat out of him by Attorney General Bob McDonnell. McDonnell ran a smooth and positive campaign on issues like jobs, taxes and, well that was actually it: just jobs and taxes. Meanwhile his opponent, Deeds, brought up irrelevant points about whether gays and women deserve equal rights just like the rest of us. Deeds pointed to McDonnell's 1989 master's thesis wherein the now governor-elect wrote, "gov- ernment policyshould favor mar- ried couples over 'cohabitators, homosexuals or fornicators.' " But this was just the guy's 93-page thesis. As college students, we've all faced due dates and in a fren- zied panic, and with three or four Red Bulls in us, we have likely written some pretty wacky stuff. Who hasn't, as the witching hour approaches, scribbled down a page or two saying that working women and feminists were "detri- mental" to the American family? Who cares if McDonnell spent lit- erally years working on the thesis and gave it the meaningless title "The Republican Party's Vision for the Family"? These were just Bobby's wild college years when he was 35 years old and attend- ing televangelist Pat Robertson's Regent University, a fundamental- ist Christian safety school. Before the election, McDonnell said, "Like everybody, my views on many issues have changed as I have gotten older." Of course, his views have changed. Except on gay rights. And abortion rights. And whether government policy should favor married couples over cohabitators, homosexuals or fornicators. But beyond that, he's a changed man. Congrats, Virginia. You guys must be partying like it's 1949, because your new governor cer- tainly thinks it still is. A bigger upset came in the solidly blue home state of Zach Braff: New Jersey. There, former United States Attorney and Tony Soprano look-a-like Chris Christie ousted incumbent governor and all-around unlikable person Jon Corzine by a five-point margin. This race was a dirty one, even by New Jersey standards. (Fun Fact: New Jersey is dirty.) First, Corzine made thinly veiled attempts to point out Christie's, let's say, ample car- riage. After running ads accusing Christie of "throwing his weight around" while U.S. attorney, a reporter asked Corzine, "Is Chris Christie fat?" to which the gover- nor responded, "Am I bald?" (Fun Fact: Jon Corzine is very bald.) Christie, usinghis ownbrand of dirty tricks, called Corzine a failed governor who broke numer- ous campaign promises including a promise to lower New Jersey's property taxes, which are the highest in the nation. Christie also brought up the fact that Corzine spent tens of millions of dollars of his own money on his re-election campaign - money he made while helping to lay the foundation for the complete deci- mation of the world economy as co-CEO of Goldman Sachs in the mid-1990s. Sometimes politics is an ugly, dirty, fat, bald business, all right. In his concession speech Cor- zine concluded, "There's a bright future ahead for New Jersey if we stay focused on people's lives, and I'm telling you, I'm going to do that for the rest of my life," before adding: "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to finish reinforcing the floor boards at the Governor's Mansion before Chris Christie moves in. Ohhhh!" In New Jersey, even the political winds have an unsafe level of toxic materials. There was only one gloomy spot in what was otherwise a total rebuffing of Obama and his socialist agenda. In New York's sleepy 23rd district, Democrat Bill Owens squared off against Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman. Hoffman became Owens' only opponent after Dede Scozzafava, the Republican nomi- nee, dropped out after weeks of hammering from the True-Right- Wing-Nut wing of the Republican Party. Scozzafava, who is pro-choice and supports equal rights for same-sex couples, infuriated real conservatives who looked to Hoff- man to save the cause. Storied public servants like Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, who of course all understand the intricacies and cultural differ- ences between, say, Wasilla and Watertown, New York, joined the fight against the GOP candidate and gotbehind Hoffman. What a win for the Tea Party move- ment and those who see some eerie similarities between Barack Obama and Chairman Mao. Everyone assunted that Hoff- man, the conservative, would walk to victory with a wide fund- raising advantage and the fact the North Country of New York hasn't voted for a Democrat for Congress in a while. The last Democratic congressional candidate to win upstate was almost 150 years ago during the Civil War. (Fun Fact: The previous sentence is true.) But those pesky voters, upset that Hoffman didn't actually live in the district, received most of his funding from out of state and has policy positions that makes Phyllis Schlafly look like Kim Kardashian, decided to vote for the Democrat. But the Conserva- tives made their message loud and clear: If the Republicans don't nominate the exact same candi- date with the exact same views in every, single race, they'll have no choice but to let the Democrat win every time. "But why," I hear you cry, "does this threaten the Obama agenda?" Well, it's simple: because everyone says it does. In politics, it doesn't Fun fact: Politics is an ugly, dirty, fat, bald business. matter if it's true, it just matters if you invent a compelling narrative and repeat it ad nauseam through- out the news cycle. It doesn't mat- ter that the president's approval ratings in Virginia and New Jersey are exactly the percentage of the vote he received last November. It doesn't matter that Virginia has voted for the opposite party for governor than it did for presi- dent for the last eight elections. It doesn't matter that this grab bag of races has absolutely no bearing on and indicates nothing about what will happen in next year's mid- terms or Obama's reelection bid in 2012. All that matters is that these races are seen as a referendum on the president and his policies, no matter how untrue that may actu- ally be. Eric Cantor, Republican House Whip and runner-up for world's greatest self-hating Jew - coming in a close second to Joe Lieberman - put itbest Tuesday night. He deftly interpreted what America was saying in these off-off year, low turnout elections: "Enough with the spending. Enough with the waste. Enough with the government overreach. They've rejected the policies that have been what this administration in Washington has been about." It's a perfect story. Just ask The New York Times, which ran this headline Wednesday: "Governor's Races Seen as Jolts for Obama." It's good to know that whether it's the Republican Party or The New York Times, politicos never let the facts get in the way of a good story. Smilovitz is partying like it's 1949 in his bomb shelter. To join him in his rally against the Communists, e-mail him at zachis@umich.edu. Aunt Agatha's is one of only two mystery-themed bookstores in Michigan. Mysteries admr Aunt Agatha's Mystery Bookstore offers a peculiar haven for whodunit enthusiasts By Molly McGuire ( Daily Arts Writer Jamie Agnew had a collection of skulls before he and his wife Robin opened Aunt Agatha's Mystery Bookstore in downtown Ann Arbor 17 years ago. But stacked on top of a bookshelf near the entrance, sur- rounded by old movie posters and mystery authors' signatures, the collections looks like it was assem- bled specificallyto add to the store's eclectic ambiance. A sign near the door on the store's Fourth Street location says "the game is afoot," and upon enter- ing one gets the sense that it really is. Classic jazz cassettes play jaun- tily in the background as custom- ers stand enveloped by wall-to-wall books. Mysteries of all kinds are piled chockablock on the shelves. Partially inspired by Uncle Edgar's Mystery Bookstore in Min- neapolis, Jamie and Robin Agnew drew on their mutual love of books and mysteries to open up a kind of sister store in Ann Arbor. As a great book town, Ann Arbor seemed a good fit for Aunt Agatha's Mystery Bookstore. Playing off of Agatha Christie's unofficial title as The Queen of Crime, the bookstore has an "Agatha" movie poster over the front desk and an avatar of a woman with a handbag and a dagger in the window. The sounds of Louis Arm- strong, Duke Ellington and hits from the '20s and '30s emanate from a cassette player to evoke the golden age of detective fiction. As a niche bookstore, Aunt Agatha's has books belonging to almost every mystery subgenre. From noir to true crime, thrillers to all-American cozy mysteries, the bookshop has everything a who- dunit enthusiast might want. "We try and keep the definition as broad as possible as to what a mystery is," Agnew said. "I mean, we have spy books, we have sus- pense books, we have murder books. We're not in the business of excluding people - we're in the business of including people." As one of the only mystery book- stores in Michigan, Aunt Agatha's is sometimes burdened with piles of donated mysteries. The books seem to be overflowing off the pur- ple bookshelves. Serving as a sta- tion for people to leave their most beloved mysteries, Aunt Agatha's is full of amateur gumshoes' old treasures. If you're lucky, you might even find a thriller peppered with the notes of a reader from long ago. Specializing in a genre like this helps ensure that, despite all the competition from online retailers, other local stores and the library (the main competi- tion in today's lean times), Aunt Agatha's still has unusual items that Borders can't offer. Agatha's also sells mystery novelties of other forms like puzzles, games and themed greeting cards. The bookstore has even been focus- ing on events, likebook signings, to keep up with the rest of the book-world. "Book business is becoming isore and more event-driven, and so we've gotten on that bandwagon," Agnew said. "We start out with authors when they're relatively unknown and then hopefully they continue coming here when they become better known. We have a good reputation in the mystery com- munity of having a good book signing and good customers so a lot of people who are starting off come here." Author autographs adorn the walls of the bookshop. Local writ- ers like Loren D. Estleman and Steve Hamilton come in for sign- ings often along with other mys- tery novelists. The shop has two to three events a month, with signings by Estleman and Hamilton coning up in the next few months. This Sunday, authors Sharon Fiffer and Libby Fischer Hellmann will be coming to the store to sign their new books as well. But this quirky Ann Arbor sta- ple seems to be unknown to many people, especially locals who don't realize what's right around the corner. "We're unique," Agnew said. "We're the only mystery store in Michigan and people from out of town always come in here and their eyes bug out. If their kid is going to the 'U,' every time they come to visit they come here and they love it. But people from town kind of take us for granted:" As much as it's fun to imagine, there's no typical mystery book- store patron. But undergraduate students rarely take the time to stop in the store, accordingto Agnew. "To me, you have to have a cer- tain maturity to enjoy mysteries," Agnew said. "They're about life and moral decisions and real people in the real world. We get grad stu- dents, we get professors. A lot of women read mysteries, but it's defi- nitely an older crowd." But perhaps the most charming thing about Aunt Agatha's Mystery Bookstore is the enthusiasm of the people who work there and their extensive knowledge of the genre. The evidence is covering the walls. "You can go into Borders and it's like any other Borders in the world, but you go in here and it's like noth- ing else," Agnew said. "Whether that's good orbad, I don'tknow." Bad it certainly is not. University of Michigan's Largest ____ Selection of REALTY Units Available for Immediate Occupansy Off Campus Now Leasing for 2010-20 1 Hn Hses up to 14 bedrooms Hous n 66 hch t (3) 9-20 s'www arch realtyco.com H--- Pole Dance & Fitness Classes for Women Open House November 14th (Ladies Only) 1795 Washtenaw Rd. 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