1. I came across a fantastic piece on the Georgia-Russia war by Michael Totten. It is long but I assure you it is worth it for perspective on the conflict.
2. Ok, this Obama thing....
I have seen some hero worship of politicians in my past 12 years as a voter but I am truly amazed by the degree to which people are nuts about Obama. I have seen college classmates act like giddy 14 year old girls when Bill Clinton was on Leno. I have seen kids not old enough to vote volunteering massive hours to the re-elect GW campaign with little or no actual grasp of issues or policies; just a dislike of those with a (D). But this....
I am going to post an excerpt from a recent blog I read. I don't see any reason to give the source but I will say that it's someone I know and respect. If he/she reads this and recognizes their words they are welcome to claim them but since I am being critical, I will just leave them anonymous for now.
i finally get it.
no more petty attacks or judgments on those who are on the other side. we don’t have time, like obama says, to play games and villify those who differ from us in politics, social issues, religion, anything…there is no time and space in the urgent circumstances today to fight about republican or democrat, conservative or liberal…red or blue. we have bigger fish to fry. yes we do! yes we can!
…it’s quite a moment. on the day of mlk jr’s speech about his dreams of black and white joining together as the US of America, obama is on the same thread articulating it in terms of red and blue…coming together as americans who love this country and want to make a change for the better…a new day is surely dawning…
I really can only say...
He is just a man! A significantly flawed and unwise man from my perspective, but surely a man. He is a politician and he will not change how politics works because he's beholden to the system; it's gotten him where he is today. His speech last night in the halls of the Greek gods (haha) may have been beautiful but it was only words.
Let's have some perspective.
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I couldn't agree more with you!
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you say, but I must argue that there is something for a unifying, passionate oratory. I don't like JFK personally--speaking of flawed--but whenever I hear his speech, "We choose to go to the moon, and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard!" I am totally swept up in the emotion to work with Kennedy, to make anything happen. I believe a lot of people, including myself a bit, feel that way about Obama.
ReplyDeleteAmanda,
ReplyDeleteI can't disagree with that. Oratory is powerful thing but Kennedy was speaking of actual events, successes, policies ("Ask not..." etc). Obama is an orator with no substance. He is largely what I dislike about the left in our country. They emote when actions and results are called for. There is something to be said for emotion in a speech and I do understand the value but emotion doesn't change society or lead a nation and it surely doesn't keep our people save in a dangerous world.
He is already doing something different. It has been the nature of American Politics since at least the advent of TV Advertising that national campaigns are very expensive.
ReplyDeleteAnd in this age, politicians have always had to rely on big money donors and people who could bundle donations from lots of big money donors. Thats how campaigns have been financed.
That changed 4 year ago with the Howard Dean campaign. And Senator Obama has made the small donation the centerpiece of his fundraising. Now, instead of being dependent on large donations and bundlers he is dependent on (literally) millions of small donors.
He still gets legal limit donations. There are still bundlers out there raising money in $100,000 chunks. But thats not his fund raising base.
And that is fundamentally different. He is and will be far less beholden to big money because they didn't finance his campaign. And that creates the opportunity for him to be far more independent of lobbyists and interest group demands than the John McCain's of the world.
There is something fundamentally different here.
And it, among other things, is reason for hope.
Matt,
ReplyDeleteI know you are not going to vote for Senator Obama, but I would think you know better than this:
"Obama is an orator with no substance"
Along with the soaring and inspiring oratory Senator Obama is proposing very significant and important things. You may disagree with his propsals, but there is substance there. Everything from withdrawl from our occupation of Iraq to tax policy to a fundamental change in the way health care is funded in this country.
I don't know, perhaps Senator Obama's opponents dont' want to debate the issues, so they just claim that he is form without substance. But its not true and you are actually smart enough and well enough read to know that.
Walt, good to hear from you.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Obama has tapped into a cash cow with his small donor base. In reality it's the same people as Dean's, just 4 years later. I did some checking on his fund raising v. McCain and while he has more total donors, he also has a PILE more money. He is the first to refuse federal campaign assistance because it would limit him to $85 mill. (presumably in the actual election, not primary).
He appears to have raised $170 mil from 165K individual donors, with McCain getting $120 mil from 92K. This represents a difference in average donation of about $270. While this and the sheer numerical advantage of his small donor base are interesting and important, what I was shocked by was the rest of his funding.
Obama has raised a total of $390 million to McCain's $180 million, $120 and $60 million respectively above their individual donations. TWICE as much from industries, unions, PACs, bundlers, etc... ie special interests. That is his real donor base
He's just as beholden as anyone else.
As to his substance, I'll admit that I haven't listened or watched much of his stuff (he doesn't get much coverage over here... funny...). That said I really have a hard time figuring what his positions actually are.
I know he was opposed to the Iraq invasion but I've seen a wide variety of exit proposals attributed to him. During the primaries against the real anti-war folks he was saying yesterday would be too late. Now he has tempered that to somewhere between 6 months and whenever the situation allows. Say was you will about McCain but at least he is clear where he stands on that one: when the Iraqis are ready to defend themselves, we will go.
Tax policy and socialized medicine... I'm spending too much time on the computer and not enough with my family. If you could clarify his positions on those for me I would appreciate it. I suspect that even if he does have a coherent plan I will be opposed to it anyway but it will be good to know.
We've played the game before, you and I, and I think we've both given up on coming to an agreement... and I love you anyway!!!!! Talk to you soon.
I'll add my take: Obama, along with the rest of the left continues in their emotionally powered appeals for something different than the last 8 years. They continue their emotion filled generalities and cliches with, as Matt says, very little substance. The "hope"/"change"/"hope for change"/"change for hope" rhetoric is enough to make me sick. The little substance that does exist is simply a list of empty and unfulfillable promises. The president cannot do half the things Obama preaches he will do. Let's remind ourselves about the role of the President vs. the role of Congress -the very Congress that has been a Democrat congress for the last 4 years and maintains a stellar approval rating of less than 20%.
ReplyDeleteAn emotionally charged listing of issues does not represent substance. Changing your stance for the purposes of winning votes does not represent substance. I particularly enjoyed the talk about so many people living in houses and driving in cars they can't afford - must be the governments fault and responsibility to fix. Or how about the whold Katrina deal - must have been Washington's fault, couldn't have possibly been the local government or neighboring states. Nevermind personal responsibility (which, to his credid, Obama referred to later on in his speech).
After all, Hillary's words ring true, that the only thing Obama brings to the fight is experience in giving speeches - ie emotion filled Oratory. Let us all remember the words of Lincoln - "Government OF the PEOPLE, BY the PEOPLE, and FOR the PEOPLE, shall not perish from the Earth." Note he did not say Government of the goverenment, by the government, and for the government. No, Obama or Clinton, or the rest of the Left - the Constitution is not something we simply change to fit the current situation - it is something our Founding Father's poured their hearts and souls into, and we have strayed so far from what they intended in both the Constitution and so much else. When are we going to stop being victims, blaming the government, and start taking responsibility and coming alongside each other has Americans.
Obama has done an incredible job of brainwashing folks and drawing them into this emotionally charged dream of hope and change, etc etc. Just look at the setting of his speech - 84k people in a football stadium set to appear as Washington and the Oval office - it was an absolute Spectacle. Words and emotion are incredibly powerful, but they are also incredibly dangerous. May we be careful not to get caught up in the emotion and words, but rather the issues that are so vital to our country - issues for which I believe Obama's stances are absolutely frightening, and morally questionable.
it's my day off today, so i thought i'd check out the rest of your blog [of course, the politics category!]. Wow, fun to see my words made it!
ReplyDeletecan i say that i'm not deifying obama? i know he is no god. but i'm not going to deny, along with millions of others, that what is powerful and moving about him, besides his integrity and intelligence, includes his words, his way of seeing and articulating things, his being a symbol [symbols and language are significant] of greater things to come, his ability to inspire and unite across the board.
again, i was getting "giddy" not really about him, but about me, about us as Americans, that is, our potential, which I believe he is awakening in us again, reminding us that Americans are better than what we have been these last 8 years, these last few decades, these last few hundred years. the change is with us. the work has to do with us. the words and vision are about us.
if you don't see substance in the hope of that, i feel sad for you.
Hey Stumblin... weird talking to you on my side of the internet. Please know that I have thoroughly enjoyed our exchanges over at your site. You are a thoughtful person (as I have know for years) and your civility is welcome in any discussion.
ReplyDeleteI specifically didn't attribute that section to you because I hadn't asked... not sure if that's unethical so I apologize if I should have handled that better.
I want to clarify that no where in your post did you succumb to the deification of Obama that I have seen in others. I'm sorry if I implied that.
I cannot deny the man's intelligence. For most of his career he has succeeded on the merits of his intellect and effort and he is to be applauded for proving that the American dream was and is a reality.
My take on his integrity is a little different. By definition, integrity is the trait of being the same person and exhibiting the same values in one situation as you do in another (ie having an INTEGRATED life). It would seem that the man he was in 1995 when he was raising funds with the help of unapologetic terrorists (Ayers and wife), the man he was when he bought his house with the help of a convicted fraudster and the man he was in the front row of Rev Wright's church for 20 years is not the man he his as a presidential candidate. He has all but disowned all of these associates because it was politically expedient.
I am all for hope but I don't do it blindly. I firmly believe that Obama can't and won't bring about any of the utopian changes that you're attributing to him and my disagreements with him on standard issues of governance don't add to my sense of hopefulness.
Am I to be pitied for being a realist with differing opinions on the role of government in lives of it's citizenry? My hope lies in the people of this nation not the government.