20

Feb

by Moonage

I finally read someone who’s better at writing than I am comment basically what I’ve been saying here:

It’s hard not to be dazzled by Barack Obama. At the 2004 Democratic convention, he visited with Newsweek reporters and editors, including me. I came away deeply impressed by his intelligence, his forceful language and his apparent willingness to take positions that seemed to rise above narrow partisanship. Obama has become the Democratic presidential front-runner, precisely because countless millions have formed a similar opinion. It is, I now think, mistaken…..

The contrast between his broad rhetoric and his narrow agenda is stark, and yet the press corps — preoccupied with the political “horse race” — has treated his invocation of “change” as a serious idea rather than a shallow campaign slogan. He seems to have hypnotized much of the media and the public with his eloquence and the symbolism of his life story. The result is a mass delusion that Obama is forthrightly engaging the nation’s major problems when, so far, he isn’t.

I don’t know who Robert Samuelson is.  I have no clue what his politics are.  However, he seems to have hit my concern on the head.  It’s easy to like Obama.  It’s hard to figure out politically why.  The crux of the primary so far is it’s easy NOT to like Hillary, politically there’s no real difference between her and Obama.  That leaves the biscuit being Obama is riding on a wave of people just liking him better I think.  However, where it gets problematic to me is I’ve never seen a candidate people just liked do too terribly well once reality sets it, either during the race or after.  If you pin him down on purely political issues, which is what voting is supposed to be about to some degree, his rhetoric is purely very liberal canned stuff.  Tax the rich, spend more on entitlements, give tax breaks to the poor working familes, etc..  As a REAL Republican who eschews smaller government, that’s bad news.  I’ve got real issues with his platform that he rarely mentions.  But, it’s hard not to agree that the country needs to come together, blah, blah, blah.  If he’s expecting “change” to be only what he envisions, the country can’t, and won’t.  So, I get concerned with this cult of personality where people are obviously very excited about their candidate, but can’t really say why.  What happens if after the fact, his “change” isn’t what they expected?

Tags: Filed Under 2008 Presidential Race 

Comments

Comments:

  1. Kent on 02.20.2008

    <<<>>>

    I do……Contributor for WPA and Newsweek…..Occassionally writes on economics [from the "Laugher" perspective - note mis-spelling intentional] Politics are right of center……always have been. Never met a Dem he could like…ya’know the sort….LOL I’d label him a neo-CON but then I’d offend neo-CONs everywhere.

    <<<>>>

    No relation [as far as I know] to Paul Samuelson one the economists that taught me years ago.

    Check him out….you might enjoy some of his writings.

    Regards,

    Kent

    PS: See I use more then 1000 words to….LOL

  2. Moonage on 02.20.2008

    Letters, Kent, you use more than 1,000 letters. If you use more than 1,000 words on a comment, I’ll have to force you to write all of Robert Samuelson’s works on the blackboard. But not my blackboard.

  3. Kent on 02.20.2008

    OK….NOW! I’ve got it….LOL

    BTW you might be interested in this piece?

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/19/AR2008021902700.html?nav=rss_politics

    <<>>>

    Kinda interesting at least to moi….that when we discuss “backlash” it’s in reality Hispanic & Black……sorta cuts across my ethnic perceptions from the old days. Course with OBama cutting into Clinton’s core base, this may be moot?

    Anyway, time to get into strategies…

    Regards,

    Kent

  4. Moonage on 02.20.2008

    I don’t think it’s moot at all. However, it opens a whole can of worms that would merit a blog all its own. Regardless of what organizers and recruiters might try to do, overcoming societal biases is next to impossible to do immediately. I don’t think the Latinos in Florida voted for a Bush for much of any reason other than they spoke fluent Spanish. The issues that your article mentions, immigration and border control, was just as much an issue then as it is now. Kerry was weak on border control, Bush wanted a fence that was sealed tight. Bush carried Florida anyway. So, I don’t think a single issue is going to sway long standing societal norms anytime soon. It’ll be interesting to watch how this plays out and how it affects the future. And, I’m not talking about border control.

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