While Obama claims he will be supremely competent to be President, many think of Jimmy Carter. Although the Peanut Farmer was a governor *and* a disciple/survivor of Hyman Rickover. Meanwhile, the Kool Aid Kids and Talk Radio are claiming that Obama is the new Robert Kennedy. That’s more absurd than Team Mitt’s explanations over his conservative credentials.
Bobby Kennedy, first and foremost, was a mean, lean fighting machine capable of going into a knife fight with a spork and leaving nothing but detritus behind. This was BEFORE he became attorney general or senator from NY. To compare Obama’s lightweight whiff of I’m-Not-Hillary-Eau-De-Cologne to Bobby Kennedy proves America indeed remains a child-like Nation.
We have always admired the netroots and stand by them as the few who held the line during the Dark Time. They’re right. Truly a change is needed in the most fundamental way. We just don’t think a kid with one year of federal, non-executive experience, a few as a state senator and the a year running a law review is gonna cut it. That’s not carrying water for any other candidate, just a recognition that the Imperial City eats up brash, eager “change agents” for lunch. Obama had not demonstrated the will, toughness and even basic understanding of where all the bodies are.
And if you think about it, the worst possible outcome is for a campaign of change and hope beginning to govern and then get torn to shreds in short order — by both parties, the permanent bureaucracy and the Warlord’s stay behinds. Complete undercutting. Now can’t you see Pat Buchanan saying the funeral rites with his hand chopping motions?
‘Nuff said.
A Random Quote says
“One of the questions we’ve been thinking about in advance of the New Hampshire primary is whether a case can be made for Senator Obama. We understand that, in respect of these columns, the notion sounds improbable. He is running on a war plank — withdrawal — that is almost the polar opposite of ours and on an economic approach that is Keynesian. But he is such an attractive individual, speaks in such an inspiring way, and uses language in a way that evinces such intelligence that it would be short-sighted to fail to look for the upside of Mr. Obama and the aspects of his candidacy on which one might make common cause.”
~NY Sun 1-7-08
Comment says
Speaking of Chris Matthews – we saw him in the middle of trying to start a false narrative for Rudy when he was expecting Paul to finish ahead of Rudy. But Keith had just corrected him – gently – on an earlier falsehood. It’s just amazing how many lies Matthews spews. Anyway, Rudy was on earlier when Keith was on and Rudy honestly noted that he did in fact campaign hard and frequently in New Hampshire and that he spent as much time there as all the others etc.
But Matthews came on and he started spouting falehoods in passing – he repeated an earlier falsehood saying Rudy did not really campaign in NH at all. It was the opposite of truth and no very meaningful anyway. Anyway – he dropped this when Rudy did a bit better than he expected.
We think Keith dislikes Matthews and vica versa/
Comment says
Congrats to HRC – We feel foolish for falling for those polls without thinking them thru. HRC looked very happy for the first time in the campaign – Interesting that Tweety had difficulty pronoucing the word “ebuillent” when describing her. On the left blogs the Tweety Factor is being discussed as a partial backlash motive helping HRC. Maybe.
We have long felt Barack had to win Iowa, NH, and SC to make it even odds for the nomination because HRC will go the whole way, no matter what, and she has super-delegates and potential future leverage over Edwards delegates (assuming he does not drop out, thus allowing Obama to get the delegates himself). We shall see.
We think Barack is the anti war candidate – We doubt Dennis Ross would call himself a neocon and he could probably win in court on that charge. In any event, it matters not – the neocons did not determine Bush’s choice to invade, Rather (IMO) Bush used them to implement what he wanted and to serve as blame recepticals, while preventing their work for other candidates. Barack was wise to hire Ross anyway – because Ross exists and he would otherwise work for someone else.
Colin Powell was far more responsible for the Iraq war than any so-called neocon – no matter how expansively defined (arguable Cheney is one). We notice Powell nods approval at Barack’s win in Iowa – Obama knows what Powell is all about, but he must respect his commodity value in the media (unaffected by 25 falsehoods to sell a bad war he supposedly opposed that hurt the country that he says he loves – Tweety levels of sadness embedded)
cato90025 says
Barak does have the anti-war position earliest–do not know for what reasons. But why have Dennis Ross on board as a foreign policy adviser?
Is this his olive branch–irony intended–to the Aipac/zionist bloc? He lacks the gravitas, but who knows.
May be like a Supreme Court nominee–or like Beckett. Once in office strange things can happen. Lots of upside however.
Whom is an anti-war anti-neo-con citizen to vote for–what say you Comment?
Aldershot says
“re “tested” by Russert, we meant to include [irony] [/irony] tags.”
No worries, I chuckled three separate times…that line had staying power.
*wink*
Dr.LeoStrauss says
re “tested” by Russert, we meant to include [irony] [/irony] tags.
It’s with mixed feelings seeing McCain win NH. As long time readers know, we were on the ground in 2000 and saw the Warlord’s dirt first hand. Later we worked with his office on some fairly prominent legislation in defiance of McConnell et al. McCain was truly the Anti-Christ. Then the 2004 embrace of the Warlord and his bizarre recent comments about staying in Iraq.
At the moment we have no sympathies for him one way or the other but value his role as a hand grenade in the process. Let’s hope for significant political collateral damage from tonight.
Dr.LeoStrauss says
Today the conservative bandwagon started tagging Obama as an Alinsky acolyte on Talk Radio. It’s hilarious.
Great clip and that hug and final comment to Tweety pitch perfect. Right now, at least Olbermann is preventing Tweety’s ego from overflowing and burying the actual primary.
Aldershot says
Did you see the clip Tweety showed last night, where he asked her a question comparing her and Obama on something or other? The follow-up exchange was perfect. He didn’t post it on his site, but the way she said, ‘yeah, right,’ when he asked if she’d come on his show was great. Followed by something like, ‘I don’t know how to deal with people who are obsessed with me.’ And when he denied his obsession, she walked up to him and said chidingly, ‘Chris.’ And then gave him a semi-hug…it was PERFECT.
Comment says
Well only time well tell – While we support Obama over HRC for a variety of reasons, we do agree that Russert of full of s*** when he said he was tough with Obama. We can think of a lot of questions that OBama that woulld be tough and possible hurt him. With Mrs. Clinton = it’s the opposite. Rusert and Tweety and all the others of her generation , dump on her all the time. The loath her in so many ways and its so obvious self loathing on a certain level. Mrs. Clinton has often received a more respectful hearing from conservatives than from her peers. Not always – but often.
Aldershot says
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRlj5vjp3Ko
Jon H says
“But per above, until Obama is tested by Russert again and emerges triumphant from that cauldron of fire”
Tested? By *Russert*? What a load of crap.
Dr.LeoStrauss says
Aldershot, good questions about HRC. The image of Dick Morris and triangulation can’t be dismissed. We do happen to think that when push comes to shove, she is tougher, which is why perhaps she is less attractive as a candidate. Tougher and reversing the Warlord is good. Tougher and harnessing the Warlord’s remnants not so good — which is perhaps the Joe Trippi p.o.v. — she’s taken PAC money, etc.
Obama like Carter is campaigning about restoring something after terrible administrations, Nixon and the Warlord. Carter was cool at the time, with Hunter Thompson approving, and even SNL would do skits with Carter and Cronkite taking calls on CBS and Carter talking down a tripping citizen with great knowledge of the various kinds of LSD and the best means of a soft landing.
Carter was also strategically and domestically a disaster. (The best ex-president, however). Our p.o.v. is that with the economy, world situation and the governing apparatus all in perilous condition, we don’t need “cool”.
What the remedy is precisely, we don’t know. But per above, until Obama is tested by Russert again and emerges triumphant from that cauldron of fire, we remain skeptical and sad that the American people are so fast to embrace such ephemera.
Dr.LeoStrauss says
Russert this morning all but offered the crown to Obama, declaiming that Obama “had already been asked all the hard questions, that is what Meet The Press is all about.”
The horse race stuff has never interested us much except when we were inside a campaign or aligned in some way. The observations above are strictly on principle. The kid simply doesn’t know enough to do the job or have demonstrated the cajones to drill down and purge the Warlord’s stay behinds and reverse Addington’s wreckage, etc.
We may be destined for 4 years of Obama, Ivo et al. After the Warlord, a pivotal 4 years. Too bad they will be likely squandered by inexperience, on-the-job-training and a suddenly less compliant Congress.
It would be terrific if the above is proved to be unjustified pessimism. Perhaps over the ensuing months Obama will return to Meet the Press and over 12 minutes allay all these concerns.
Alex says
The first thing is to win. It’s all gravy unless and until the bums are kicked out. Kicking out bums at higher levels of resolution is a job best left until after the macrobums have been kicked. There’s an 80-20 rule for bums, ya know.
Comment says
Besides – If Barack stayed in the Senate he’d become Senitized (Kerry/Kerrey/Biden/etc) – If he ran for Gov of Illinois he would win, but he’d eventually be tarred in that state – Or at the end, wind up like Jim Thompson – historically discgraced in the Conrad Black trial. We cannot see any other path. What else or where else? He could wind up like Dick Gephardt screaming ineffective blather then winding up taking Turkish cash in exchange for denying the Armenian genocide. Barack has to run now – Now – Bush made him necessary. He has to cleanse the neocon taint (they will soon try to hop on board his train).
Comment says
(“That hurts my feelings”-HRC)
Hillay had a great response to a dumb ass reporter who asked her a stupid and disrespectful question at the last debate.
Comment has long believed that candidates should tool on people like Chris Matthews and others when they ask dumb questions. The old rule no longer makes sense. But you have to be clever
Stewart was awesome when he mocked Tweety – Tweety is still talking about it. Time to keep pushing.
Comment says
A few weeks ago in Iowa – a witness told Comment that there was spontaneous applause from foreign media when Obama said, in passing, that when he’s President the world will believe him when he says “we don’t torture.” That is a fact –
The Bush regime has so rottted the ‘conservative’ mind that they have no idea what they sound like the past few years. A few days ago we were reading Frum and he was gleeing about some Max Hastings anecdote about GIs Murdering Whermacht troops during interrogation – David Frum was trying to suggest this was manly and serious and a rebuke to the anti waterboarding pussies.
If the Hastings anecdote was correct , it was a lamentable crime that could be forgiven over time – But it was NOT policy to murder German soldiers no matter what Frum thinks. Frum went on to ridicule vets from ww2 who take pride in their civilized behaivor against the most terrifing army imaginable, while Europe was being destroyed. Then he compares this to the Cheney crew trying to legalize torture (while not admitting it) for no good reason at all.
That’s what Obama is defeating – That nastiness. Obama is a conservative solution to the disgraceful war criminals we’ve allowed to stink up our country.
Comment says
Bush and Cheney stay behinds? Like Gladio – embeds in all the campaigs – For those of you who cannot support Obama, we hope you enjoy Huckabee. Huck was a bit old fashioned yesterday when he was bragging about his parents use of corporal punishment on him and the way he linked it to patriotism
“They showed stripes and I saw stars” saith Huck – Great way to lead us into the 21st century. Too bad Mitt decided to act like a rustic wierdo instead of a HBS suceess. Double the size of Gitmo! Doc, that’s your competition. Oh of course you have Podhoretz and his fantasies of Arab and Iranian genocide via Rudy.
Aldershot says
Doc, do you think Hillary will attempt to work within the permanent bureaucracy for the common (and her own) good? Does she have the savvy to deal with the Bush stay-behinds? How about Edwards?
Comment, the thing about Obama is that he is SO COOL. And I’ll go out on a limb and agree with MoDo…he’s smooth jazz, but I mean it as a compliment. Did you see Edwards getting buddy-buddy with him during the debate?
Comment says
Stylistically Obama is the opposite of Carter. Carter, at his best, was like a good doctor with a bad bedside manner. Consider the fact that he may have been the best President for Israel, but he is loathed by a big bulk of Israel advocates. Obama is the opposite – people like him for no reason in particular. He’s just cool. We recall watchin Carter on c-span talking about his book of poetry. Listening to Carter talk of his preparation to write poems was like listening to nails on the backboard. Audacity is the opposite. He is not ‘smooth – jazz’ like MoDo says. But he has a unique and compeelling delivery. Bonus – MoDo & Co. cannot grok Obama – MoDo cannot find a thread. She will be come increasingly irrelevant in a Obama age. He memes are toast.
Comment says
We are not discounting your concerns about Obama – Indeed we think he will stumble big time at some point. But he has a chance and he is the only plausible candidate that was against the war in Iraq and that is just so important in so many ways. Barack will likely be challanged early on from abroad and Cheney & Co will leave all sorts of stink bombs around the Imperial City.
We do disagree with you in that we think Obama does know where the bodies (some) are buried. He is very aware of things and he will be mindful in his hires.
Politically Obama is very vulnerable on foreign policy and he knows it – especially Mid East issues. But these things all are known by everyone who follows these things.
Obama was politically astute to hire Ivo Daalder – He is aware, we think, that Daalder will leak against him and/or operate at some point and that his clique has to be respected as a force and managed well.
Comment says
Well we have to disagree. Obama is gonna go huge tomorrow. No doubt about it – HRC is not to be. Edwards? Not even Susan Sarandon can save him now. McCain. An interesting personality and admirable patriotism, but …. Rudy? Marinating in a cask of Second term mayoral bile with a 9-11 elixer does not a President make. Romney. He could have succeeed Donahue at Chamber of Commerce, but will go down to defeat amidst cackles of schadenfreude.
No wonder the NY Sun is talking up Blooomberg. But excellent Mayor that he is – he is and was pro Iraq war and that’s the whole point