The Cult of Obama

[U2democrat]

I was watching last night when that happened and immediately thought of Laura when Brian Williams came back with his little comment.

 

[LPU2]

no one is questioning his ability to lead based on his star crazed supporters. a few years ago Obama was a member of the IL state legislature. he has limited experience and his speeches continue to be composed of mostly grandiose platitudes with little explanation of how he'll implement policy. if it weren't for his rockstar persona, he'd have been out of the race a long time ago.

That's not what these speeches are for. If I were his campaign manager—and I obviously don't need to be—I would advise him to avoid too much detail at a rally.

That's what the debates are for, that's what the website is for, that's what the townhall meetings are for. In those venues, he's been very specific about his public policy. If you haven't seen it, you haven't looked very hard.

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

I think if I were his campaign manager I'd focus on the debates more, as Hillary has been pretty damn good in most all of them.

But now that the pendulum has swung in his favor perhaps that will change, too.

 

[maycocksean]

Max isn't a Hillary supporter...

I don't see how that matters.

This idea that Obama can't explain where he stands is simply untrue. If he's maintaing that it is then he should be able to illustrate how Clinton (or any candidate) is doing a much better job of stating their position than he is.

 

[U2democrat]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/cartoonsandvideos/telnaes/telnaes02062008.html




There are some other good cartoons in there.

 

[Varitek]

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/daniel_koffler/2008/01/substance_not_style.html

great article on the substance behind obama's economic policies

 

[Carek1230]

^interesting article, albeit in a UK publication. I especially like the last line:

"Stand for change"? I think I will.

 

[sulawesigirl4]

I just read a very interesting interview with Samantha Powers over at salon.com. She is the Pulitzer-prize winning author of "A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide" and professor at Harvard. Now she's serving as the senior foreign policy advisor to Obama. Some excerpts...

What is the biggest foreign policy challenge for the next president?

The next president is really going to have to walk and chew gum at the same time, because no long-term peace in the Middle East is possible until we get some kind of modus vivendi in the Arab-Israeli situation. And then the singular challenge is being handed two wars, two live battlefields -- and one of them in the heart of the Middle East. It can't be an afterthought as it was in the Bush administration.

...

In light of all the questioning of Obama's "experience," you've said he has dirt under his fingernails, and that he would bring a new America to the world. How would he do that?

The idea that he doesn't have experience is nuts to me. He's a constitutional law professor. I happen to miss the Constitution; I thought it was a good document. That's a huge component of being a president when you're combating terrorism and you're trying to restore American values.

The fact that he used to work in the inner city, that's the dirt under his fingernails. If people are an abstraction to you, it's going to show. If you're living with people, if you're working in the inner city, you see the human stakes of it all. He's also worked abroad, so he's comfortable crossing boundaries.

You've said that the Bush administration has diminished the U.S. government's credibility among its own citizens. Can the next president fix that?

I don't think the next president can just show up and have it restored. Whoever wins is probably going to win by a narrow margin. One of the reasons Obama is so appealing to me is that he doesn't take the American people for granted; you don't stop having this conversation when you enter the White House. None of the major foreign policy challenges on the horizon can be tackled if we don't have a thick domestic base. We can't do foreign aid, we can't get out of Iraq, succeed in Afghanistan, close Guantánamo and end torture policy without actually talking to people about the costs of that.

Entire article is at salon.com (you have to watch a commercial before getting access to read)

 

[BVS]

 

[Utoo]

In terms of the "experience" bit, I loved these quips on Meet the Press this weekend regarding the two "more experienced" candidates:

- During her husband's administration, Hillary was given the task of working on healthcare. She had 8 years to make her view of healthcare happen. She failed. 8 years.

- Both Clinton and McCain, at some point in this race, have each bankrupted or nearly bankrupted their campaigns. That's fiscal responsibility!

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

I'd just like to add: nice sig, Utoo

 

[U2democrat]

Oooooooh that is nice.


Mine still makes me laugh.......

 

[Utoo]

I'd just like to add: nice sig, Utoo

thanks i've been quite around interference for the last few weeks, and am almost posting everywhere now just to display the new sig

 

[U2democrat]

I don't blame you one bit

 

[Anu]

wow wow and wow. Has anyone not seen the stats showing that Dems with post-college (ie MA or PHD) education are all going for Obama while those with a high school education are Clinton people?

All this "it's just rhetoric" or "it's a cult" crap is just crap. Hillary is much more self-centered and ambitious and narcissistic than Obama and the fact of how patently obvious that is can be studied in her rhetoric.

So, suddenly, the man says "It's not about me. It's about you," so we accuse him of making it about him? We love him because he's smart enough and generous of spirit enough to know it's not about him.

Is that Christ-like, King-like, and Kennedy-like. Of course it is. Is this a bad thing?

Tonight, more than 20,000 showed up to see him at the same arena where the Houston Rockets play.

Meanwhile, Hillary packed a high school in Ohio.

 

[anitram]

Obama looked presidential tonight.

Meanwhile MSNBC poll says 2/3 of the people want Hillary to drop out.

Stark.

 

[Anu]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8UTKH580.html

 

[U2@NYC]

I laughed my butt off at a bumpersticker I saw today:

"OBAMA

(Come and peel my banana)"

 

[Varitek]

I laughed my butt off at a bumpersticker I saw today:

"OBAMA

(Come and peel my banana)"

I might be missing something obvious here, but the only allusion I can think of with this is the black people = monkeys thing. Even if that's not what it intends, the fact that it can be interpreted that way is not good.

 

[U2@NYC]

I might be missing something obvious here, but the only allusion I can think of with this is the black people = monkeys thing. Even if that's not what it intends, the fact that it can be interpreted that way is not good.

I think "banana" meant something different... and nothing related to the monkeys.

Don't overreact, dude.

 

[2861U2]

How long is Obama going to talk? It's going on 40 minutes.

 

[anitram]

How long is Obama going to talk? It's going on 40 minutes.

Why don't you change the channel?

It's what I do anytime I see Bush, for example.

 

[2861U2]

Why don't you change the channel?

It's what I do anytime I see Bush, for example.

I'm just waiting for it to be over.

And I'm praying that he'll finally explain what "change" and "hope" and "unity" mean.

 

[U2@NYC]

I agree. These speeches are a little tiring.

Politicians have mastered the art of not saying anything at all and yet speak for 2 hours...

 

[U2democrat]

It's beautiful, but he does need to wrap it up.

 

[corianderstem]

I think "banana" meant something different... and nothing related to the monkeys.

Don't overreact, dude.

My first thought was the sexual connotation, but I can totally see the bumper sticker being bought or sold with the intent being the racist interpretation as well.

 

[Varitek]

My first thought was the sexual connotation, but I can totally see the bumper sticker being bought or sold with the intent being the racist interpretation as well.

I got the sexual connotation as well, but I didn't see any particular connection between Obama and banana as opposed to other sexual words that could be used, so I didn't find it very clever, and was searching for some sort of pun or something.

 

[Anu]

At least you have TV. I never get tired of listening to him talk. Sorry.

Check this on topic piece:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=PktRhDdWuaY

 

[Anu]

So far, I have only found 2 minutes of the speech on YouTube.

 

[Irvine511]

And I'm praying that he'll finally explain what "change" and "hope" and "unity" mean.

the exact opposite of what Bush means when he says "terror" and "evildoers" and "we just built too many houses."