Obama to cancel "As the Wingnut Turns" this fall
I watched Obama’s speech at the Xcel Center in Minneapolis following his clinching of the Democratic nomination. On Fox. It was stirring. He basically said if America is to be great, then Americans have to be great. So when I’m president, let’s be great.
Yes, let’s. Of course, he knows better than to get pinned down on any of this. So it’s all inspirational sermonizing about the qualities of a “new” America rather than the actions that would put meaning behind the ideals.
Obama's speech made it abundantly clear that he cannot be torpedoed by the media. And that is remarkable. He merely has to do what he has been doing for months – play the consummate politician and brilliant speaker.
After the speech, the Fox News talking heads tried to pretend it was just another liberal delivering pie-in-the-sky liberal promises. Doesn’t really know what he’s talking about, too inexperienced to do it anyway, etc. But when you consider the source, it just falls flat. Even, I suspect, to a significant portion of their traditional audience. After two terms of a republican presidency, any republican nominee must answer for the record of the last eight years. And it is blindingly obvious that McCain, or surrogates such as Britt Hume, can’t. Those Fox News pundits had to pretend that it is foolish to change course from what the Bush administration has done. And what was so funny to me as I watched following the speech, was the looks on their faces. They knew their material was crap. They knew they had to really sell it, after watching Obama, and they just couldn’t do it. They were flopping, and it was like they could see already that it was gone – their brand, their memes they had been using for so many years, their labels. All of it was losing power right before their eyes.
Obama has declared that he is not going to play that game.
And without an opponent in "liberals suck" arena, the jabs become self-important posturing, rather than strongman slams. (Republicans must look back at the John Kerry punching bag with particular fondness.)
So, it will continue to be interesting as power shifts to the other wing of the corpocracy. We’ll have smart people in charge. Our government will become a bit less vicious at home. Abroad? I haven’t seen anything that tells me Obama has a problem with America as a thug on the world stage who will slaughter you and your family in order to take the home entertainment system, while hanging a sign on the mailbox that says the property is now “free.” It’s all part of our “interests,” and so in the end that makes it okay. Sort of. Somehow. To some. But we could possibly start to change, and at least a demented freak such as McCain won’t be in charge of the most potent nuclear arsenal on the planet.
At least there's that. That’s because right now, republicans are choking on their kool-aid, gasping for air in front of the cameras. Call me shallow, but I'm enjoying the show.
I watched Obama’s speech at the Xcel Center in Minneapolis following his clinching of the Democratic nomination. On Fox. It was stirring. He basically said if America is to be great, then Americans have to be great. So when I’m president, let’s be great.
Yes, let’s. Of course, he knows better than to get pinned down on any of this. So it’s all inspirational sermonizing about the qualities of a “new” America rather than the actions that would put meaning behind the ideals.
Obama's speech made it abundantly clear that he cannot be torpedoed by the media. And that is remarkable. He merely has to do what he has been doing for months – play the consummate politician and brilliant speaker.
After the speech, the Fox News talking heads tried to pretend it was just another liberal delivering pie-in-the-sky liberal promises. Doesn’t really know what he’s talking about, too inexperienced to do it anyway, etc. But when you consider the source, it just falls flat. Even, I suspect, to a significant portion of their traditional audience. After two terms of a republican presidency, any republican nominee must answer for the record of the last eight years. And it is blindingly obvious that McCain, or surrogates such as Britt Hume, can’t. Those Fox News pundits had to pretend that it is foolish to change course from what the Bush administration has done. And what was so funny to me as I watched following the speech, was the looks on their faces. They knew their material was crap. They knew they had to really sell it, after watching Obama, and they just couldn’t do it. They were flopping, and it was like they could see already that it was gone – their brand, their memes they had been using for so many years, their labels. All of it was losing power right before their eyes.
Obama has declared that he is not going to play that game.
The other side will come here in September and offer a very different set of policies and positions, and that is a debate I look forward to. It is a debate the American people deserve. But what you don't deserve is another election that's governed by fear, and innuendo, and division. What you won't hear from this campaign or this party is the kind of politics that uses religion as a wedge, and patriotism as a bludgeon — that sees our opponents not as competitors to challenge, but enemies to demonize. Because we may call ourselves Democrats and Republicans, but we are Americans first. We are always Americans first.
Barack Obama at the Xcel Center June 3, 2008
And without an opponent in "liberals suck" arena, the jabs become self-important posturing, rather than strongman slams. (Republicans must look back at the John Kerry punching bag with particular fondness.)
So, it will continue to be interesting as power shifts to the other wing of the corpocracy. We’ll have smart people in charge. Our government will become a bit less vicious at home. Abroad? I haven’t seen anything that tells me Obama has a problem with America as a thug on the world stage who will slaughter you and your family in order to take the home entertainment system, while hanging a sign on the mailbox that says the property is now “free.” It’s all part of our “interests,” and so in the end that makes it okay. Sort of. Somehow. To some. But we could possibly start to change, and at least a demented freak such as McCain won’t be in charge of the most potent nuclear arsenal on the planet.
At least there's that. That’s because right now, republicans are choking on their kool-aid, gasping for air in front of the cameras. Call me shallow, but I'm enjoying the show.
