Posts with the tag 'hope'
David Brook’s excellent article The Two Obama’s does an excellent job laying out how Senator Obama talks reform and inspiration, but plays old school politics as well as anyone out there…
“God, Republicans are saps. They think that they’re running against some academic liberal who wouldn’t wear flag pins on his lapel, whose wife isn’t proud of America and who went to some liberationist church where the pastor damned his own country. They think they’re running against some naïve university-town dreamer, the second coming of Adlai Stevenson…”
“…But as recent weeks have made clear, Barack Obama is the most split-personality politician in the country today. On the one hand, there is Dr. Barack, the high-minded, Niebuhr-quoting speechifier who spent this past winter thrilling the Scarlett Johansson set and feeling the fierce urgency of now. But then on the other side, there’s Fast Eddie Obama, the promise-breaking, tough-minded Chicago pol who’d throw you under the truck for votes…”
Brooks goes on to explain Obama’s history of old school politics. That he is smart and calculating, and has laid out a path for himself that any old-school Chigago politician would be proud of…
“…Back when he was in the Illinois State Senate, Dr. Barack could have taken positions on politically uncomfortable issues. But Fast Eddie Obama voted “present” nearly 130 times. From time to time, he threw his voting power under the truck.
Dr. Barack said he could no more disown the Rev. Jeremiah Wright than disown his own grandmother. Then the political costs of Rev. Wright escalated and Fast Eddie Obama threw Wright under the truck.
Dr. Barack could have been a workhorse senator. But primary candidates don’t do tough votes, so Fast Eddie Obama threw the workhorse duties under the truck.
Dr. Barack could have changed the way presidential campaigning works. John McCain offered to have a series of extended town-hall meetings around the country. But favored candidates don’t go in for unscripted free-range conversations. Fast Eddie Obama threw the new-politics mantra under the truck.
And then on Thursday, Fast Eddie Obama had his finest hour. Barack Obama has worked on political reform more than any other issue. He aspires to be to political reform what Bono is to fighting disease in Africa. He’s spent much of his career talking about how much he believes in public financing. In January 2007, he told Larry King that the public-financing system works. In February 2007, he challenged Republicans to limit their spending and vowed to do so along with them if he were the nominee. In February 2008, he said he would aggressively pursue spending limits. He answered a Midwest Democracy Network questionnaire by reminding everyone that he has been a longtime advocate of the public-financing system.
Full David Brook’s article The Two Obama’s
Tags: change, chicago politics, hope, Obama
June 20th, 2008
Barack Obama’s total lack of experience or legislative accomplishment has forced him to run a very different kind of Presidential campaign, mainly using abstract concepts like hope and change. When he was finally pressed to campaign on something concrete, Senator Obama decided to campaign on his “judgment” which seems to begin and end with a speech he gave in 2002. But that’s not the point. Senator Obama has the Judgment to Lead! He even puts it on spiffy banners!
Now, you would think that if a candidate wants to run on his judgment, the thinks he says, does, lies about and the company he keeps would all be valid topics of discussion.
You’d be wrong, of course.
According to Team Hope, anything pertaining to Obama’s friends, pastor, lifestyle, wife, or even his own actions and comments have nothing to do with Barack Obama’s judgment. No, they are manufactured distractions, that distract from the real issues, which is apparently Barack Obama’s judgment that one time and not all the other times.
It makes no sense to me, and Theo Caldwell agrees.
The bumper-sticker slogan “dissent is patriotic” has for decades been employed to legitimize any insult to America, no matter how hateful or moronic. But Americans understand that their president’s instinct ought to be to defend the nation against unfair invective, not embrace those who purvey it — or, in the case of Ayers, seek to blow it up altogether.
With his demonstrable view of America, and considering his cohorts, Obama would be wise to make himself very comfortable in the Senate.
Barack Obama can continue to dismiss any criticism as a distraction. I certainly hope he does. When January comes around, he can stew over all these distractions with Michelle, Bill and Jeremiah while John McCain takes the Oath of Office.
Tags: Barack Obama, change, experience, hope, John McCain, mccain, president, Senator Obama
April 22nd, 2008
In the days since Senator Barack Obama’s remarks at a San Francisco fund raiser have become widely known, Senator Obama and his surrogates have been fiercely trying to spin the Leader of the New Hope’s latest example of what he considers the “politics of hope.”
Unsurprisingly, Team Hope has focussed largely on the word ‘bitter’ and tried their very best to make everyone forget about the troubling snobbishness and elitism of the full statement, one I’m sure Senator Obama never thought the general public would ever hear.
Jake Tapper at the Political Punch writes about this and the Obama Campaign’s attempt to convince us that he said something other than what he actually said.
A robo-call on behalf of the Obama campaign from Mayor John Brenner of York, Pa., says that, “Barack Obama understands us. He’s got it right, we are frustrated — frustrated with polices that enable businesses to leave our community, pensions to be stripped, health care benefits to be taken away and homes foreclosed. Unlike his opponents, who have been part of the Washington establishment that are out of touch with us, Barack Obama will change Washington. It is policies that hurt us. He will take on the special interests and fight for us.”
On Obama’s Web site, a public letter from 21 Pennsylvania “elected officials and community leaders from small towns and rural areas throughout Pennsylvania” defend him, saying, “What Sen. Obama said is that over the last 25-30 years, working class people in places like Pennsylvania have been falling behind, and that politicians in Washington haven’t been looking out for them. He also said that, as a result, many people have become frustrated, angry and even bitter about all the broken promises. He was right.”
No mention of the “cling”-ing to guns or religion.
If Barack Obama, his campaign, and his surrogates really think that they can gloss over and whitewash his comments, and expect he American public to just forget that these condescending comments, where he accuses religious voters of “clinging” to religion, he has another thing coming.
Frankly, if Obama and his campaign and The Audacity of Hope is just too good to accept these voters, I’m sure John McCain will gladly take them, warts, bitter religiousness and all.
Tags: Barack Obama, bitter, Campaign Issues, elitism, hope, John McCain, mccain, politics, spin
April 14th, 2008
The Campaign of New Hope is lying yet again.
Barack Obama desperately wants to become President of the United States. But because his record in the Illinois State Senate and the United States Senate is as embarrassingly thin as it is radically liberal, he was smart enough to know that the American public would not vote on him based on record.
So Barack Obama created the myth of a “New Kind of Politics.” For almost a full year, Barack Obama talked as little policy as he could, preferring to yell words and phrases like ‘Hope,’ ‘Change’ and ‘Yes We Can!’ all the while promising to end the old-style politics, including partisan bickering, double talk and dirty tricks.
Since then, Barack Obama has lied about just about everything he can, no matter how big or small.
Perhaps the worst of Obama’s lies, and something we have covered repeatedly on this blog, is his insistence that John McCain wants a one hundred year war in Iraq. McCain supporters have been crying foul for months now, but the fact checkers and mainstream press have finally started calling him out on it.
The Obama Campaign needed to respond, so they did what they do best,
Lie.
David Axelrod went onto “Morning Joe” today to respond to accusations such as “rank falsehood” on Obama’s part.
“Senator Obama hasn’t said that Senator McCain said we would be at war for 100 years.
Really David?
Somewhere along the line the Campaign of New Politics has become a forty year old Simon and Garfunkle concert.
Lie-la-Lie, Lie-la-Lie-Lie…..
UPDATE: According to Red State Obama himself is continuing this line of deception. From his appearance on Today.
MEREDITH VIEIRA: “Senator, both you and Senator Clinton have said Senator McCain favors 100 more years of war in Iraq. On Sunday in The New York Times, Frank Rich wrote, ‘really, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton should be ashamed of themselves for libeling John McCain.’ That in fact he never said he wanted a 100 more years of war, he just felt American troops should be a long-term presence, the way they are in Japan and South Korea. So are you willing to admit that you’ve distorted his statements?”
SEN. OBAMA: “No. That’s not accurate, Meredith. We can pull up the quotes on Youtube. What John McCain was saying was, that he was happy to have a potential long-term occupation in Iraq. Happy may be overstating it — he is willing to have a long-term occupation of Iraq, as long as 100 years, in fact he said 10,000 years, however long it took.” (Barack Obama, NBC’s “Today,” 4/8/08)
Can we pull up the quotes on Youtube? YES WE CAN!
I always wanted to say that.
Tags: Barack Obama, change, election, foreign policy, hope, iraq, iraq war, John McCain, liberal, mccain, Obama, politics, president
April 7th, 2008
Well, no.
But if The Leader of the New Hope is going to at least be consistent with his lies and distortions, I expect a riveting speech on how Colin Kahl promises an endless war.
The theme of the Obama campaign seems to be that the candidate will give his speeches and present a world of hope and change and unicorns and rainbows. Then his advisers will either point out privately that Obama has no idea what he’s doing, or assure people that Barack is lying to the American people. Again.
But remember folks, Barack represents hope and change and new politics.
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
Tags: Barack Obama, hope, iraq, iraq war, John McCain, mccain, politics
April 4th, 2008
The problem with the Obama candidacy is that the public doesn’t know much about him. We know he’s an excellent speaker, a charismatic and charming guy; but we don’t know much about him of substance. To his credit his campaign has brilliantly utilized this by featuring change as a theme. The change theme promises something new and different without really having to say what that change is. The question becomes are people going to be satisfied with the promise of change without any real clue to what that change entails.
I have to admit that I’m one of the people that started out simply liking the idea of a President Obama. I love the idea of a non-white and/or non-male president. It promotes the idea that anything is possible and it shows that the country is showing signs of growing up and getting beyond past prejudices. Senator Obama’s message of unity is also very appealing to many of us who are fed up with political divisiveness and bickering. However, there is a lot more to being president than broad concepts. There has been little focus on the who’s, what’s, where’s, why’s, and how’s of change. Understandably some people have been caught up in the grand speeches and broad concepts, but responsible voters need to also consider the policies and experience of a candidate.
The reality is that Senator Obama would have a difficult time being a ‘uniter and not a divider’ because he is so liberal. He’s ranked as the most liberal senator and his positions reflect that. Whether it is health care or taxes, his positions are not ones that engender compromise. In foreign policy, it appears that Democrats have taken to pandering to the far left, and forgotten to listen to the experts. Withdrawal plans put forward have not only been unwise, but functionally impossible. The lack of knowledge and experience in foreign policy matters is problematic. The presidency is not for beginners, and while Senator Obama has tremendous promise, earning ones stripes as president is risky at best, as it leaves citizen hoping we won’t need another change candidate.
Published at Purple People Vote
Tags: Barack Obama, candidate, change, experience, foreign policy, hope, left wing, liberal, primary, speaches, speaker, uniter, unity, voters
March 19th, 2008
