36 Comments

1. Lifeofthemind:

I have met many politicians. No great boast there and it doesn’t make me important, just a matter of time and place. By observation I am convinced that most are basically lazy slobs who have found a good way not to work. Joe Biden is the man whose photograph is in the dictionary when you look up “Pol.” PJ O’Rourk was correct, they are genuinely interested in people the same way fleas are genuinely interested in dogs. That can make them good company as long as you do not make the mistake of expecting any results. My suspicion is that some of these men have found themselves thrust towards the Presidency. Usually that has been because some ambitious woman was pushing them forward. We have always had a soft spot for the Presidents, Truman and Ford, who did not want the job and whose families were appalled that the ended up there.

Clinton was different. On paper he fit the role perfectly, big slob who you would like to play cards with. Knows how to tell a dirty joke and is chained to a harridan. But there is something deeper working in him. He really lives for the game. He is like Obama in that he is a predator. not in the sense of having any physical or moral courage, but in that he is devoted to manipulating people. That is true of all successful politicians but in Clinton it is taken to a higher order of magnitude. Obama has the sociopathic edge of Clinton but he is a very typical politician in his basic laziness, lack of alternative opportunities, and devotion to the machine.

Hillary and McCain are similar in that they are not primarily organization politicians seeking the comfort of job but use the job to achieve power. Hillary would use the power to create programs, not for their effect but to increase her own visibility and power. McCain seeks the power largely to keep the idiots he meets every day from getting the job and doing more damage. He chooses Palin because she is cut from the same mold. Reagan also was goal and not machine oriented.

Sep 22, 2008 - 8:39 pm 2. Dave:

Lifeofthemind: Would you please cut that out? It is not nice to post brillant comments I can’t disagree with. My poor fragile ego will now have to go and hide under the bed until a soft target presents itself. Oh, woe is me.

Sep 22, 2008 - 8:49 pm 3. G.R.Langworth:

I wonder if it is going to be true, this year, that the American people recognize who is what and vote that way.

Sep 22, 2008 - 8:49 pm 4. exhelodrvr:

G.R. Langworth,
“that the American people recognize who is what and vote that way.”

The problem is that so many of us don’t care enough to fight through the smoke, chaff, and radar jamming that the MSM is putting out to confuse the situation to get the true picture of the candidates.

How many is “so many”?

Sep 22, 2008 - 8:56 pm 5. trangbang68:

I loved watching Joy Behar squirm. She is truly an obnoxious person. She reminds me of Bette Midler without a sense of humor or a singing voice. The girls were strangely quiet in the presence of the Great Clintoni. I bet Bill and Hillary are really relishing their chance to dig the knife in Obama. I wonder what Rosie O’Fat would have said in relation to Clinton’s praise of McCain and Palin. That would have been funny.

Sep 22, 2008 - 8:59 pm 6. Dave:

All Hands: You should go to mysa.com.

Homepage of the San Antonio Express News.

Find the opinion page and columnists. Check out T. R Fehrenbach “Culture Above Politics”.

Note his comments on the Pelagian Heresy.

Those that think politics will determine culture are the same people who dislike Sarah Palin because she is living proof of what Fehrenbach says.

This is one of the Wily Old Soldier’s best essays in a dstinguished career.

Sep 22, 2008 - 8:59 pm 7. wretchard:

The link to TR Fehrenbach is Culture Above Politics

Sep 22, 2008 - 9:12 pm 8. Annoy Mouse:

As a putative republican I have found McCain tart medicine for what ails the nation. On the contrary I was actually looking forward to a Hillary candidacy, if not a presidency. For that reason I really thought that O would be Machiavellian enough to appoint her his vice president. I never dreamt that O would make the top of the ticket though I thought he’d would be a perfect Vice president… like a hip Dan Quayle. I think His choice of Biden as a running mate is outrageous. As a Repug, I only hold Harry Reid in less regard. It is unbelievable. Could He have picked a less likable character? I hardly believe so. Now, Palin… it is so crazy, it might work. I liked Mitt but few else did.

Sep 22, 2008 - 9:19 pm 9. Charles:

OT: Crony’ Capitalism Is Root Cause of Fannie And Freddie Troubles

Sep 22, 2008 - 9:21 pm 10. Tcobb:

Annoy Mouse
I really wonder how many options Obama had for VP. I mean–you have to CONSENT to be a VP candidate. I suspect that the big O will lose underneath a landslide, and that a lot of ugly secrets about him that the press has covered up, but that those on the “inside” already know, will suddenly spring to light. And no one with any sense will want to be associated with Obama in any form or fashion when that day comes.

I said “no one with any sense”–that’s where you get Biden.

Sep 22, 2008 - 9:42 pm 11. Annoy Mouse:

As far as the admixtures of cultural orthodoxies when it comes to relationships, I have found that most of my friends are liberal and most the people I work with are conservative. I am not sure that it is self-explanatory because I have struggled with the dichotomy myself. I guess I can say that my political sensibilities are not altogether connected to my social circles. I always liked the self identifier; Fiscal Conservative/ Social Liberal.

“Liberals think that humanity can be improved by good laws or decent government, and when things go wrong, it’s due to poor policies or politics”

I think that recent events in the financial markets are proof of this – It’s “due to poor policies and politics” portion that I’d have to agree with and that counters Mr. Fehrenbachs premise. Though I love this line, “Americans are coarser and less purposeful than yesterday. But they change slowly, usually far more slowly than radical reformers desire — and when they change it is not because of elections or shifts in government. Each culture creates the kind of society and government it deserves” The elitists on the Coasts can’t ignore “flyover America” forever and prevail… or survive in the long run.

Sep 22, 2008 - 9:45 pm 12. NahnCee:

LOTM – excellent analysis and observations. Both about the sociopath and the power. I just don’t see Obama as a predator, though. I guess in the same way as a snake-oil salesman maybe, but more and more I get the feeling that he’s fallen into his current position by the sheerest of damned luck and is straining to merely hold onto the tail of the tiger without a clue, really, as to how he got this far or how to proceed.

I think the reason the females of “The View” got quiet in Clinton’s presence is that *all* women expect to be propositioned (or sexually harassed) by him any more and they are, in a sense, girding their loins to repulse the effort. Even more important, however, is the lurking fear underneath that they will not be attractive enough to tempt the notorious womanizer.

Barbara Walters used to be a notorious flirt, from Castro to the Shah to Kissinger to Clint Eastwood. I’ll bet she could still widen her eyes and lean innocently closer to the Big Dawg if she thought it would get her a scoop.

Sep 22, 2008 - 9:59 pm 13. Annoy Mouse:

Tcobb

“you have to CONSENT to be a VP candidate.”

I may have missed some of the cues but I would have thought that Hillary could have been talked into a position on the ticket. But perhaps there was too much acrimony. If so, too much acrimony to win over petty differences and bickering show a tactical inelasticity that bids poorly for success in the running and portends worse potential performance in the case of a win.

Personally, should the loss be inevitable, or worse, a landslide, I’m afraid that there will be a blowback of disappointment that will lead to a situation that the next president will have to be a woman or a person of color, African American, and preferably handicapped, Jewish and Lesbian, maybe from Somalia, but not Ayaan Hirsi Ali. They’d need to be a devoted Marxists as well.

Sep 22, 2008 - 10:01 pm 14. heather:

Since 2 of my brothers have been and are politicians, and so was my grandfather and his brother…and to my certain knowledge none of them were/are sociopathic nasty people, but on the contrary worked really hard, and honestly, for the people who voted for them.

The trouble with being a politician is that if you make a decision – any decision – you will make enemies. It seems to me that Obama’s rise has been in large part the result of never making a decision. Ditto Biden.

The “Maverick” thing about McCain is that he has, over the years, made decisions. Ditto Palin.

Sep 22, 2008 - 10:12 pm 15. heather:

Although given that the Clintons are not hiding their distaste for Obama, it MAY mean that they know something I don’t know: that Obama has not a chance in hell of becoming president.

Sep 22, 2008 - 10:14 pm 16. Ex-fetus:

I never could figure out what self styled conservatives found so peachy about Mitt. He is much less conservative them McCain. BOTH are RINO’s.
The left thought they had this one sewed up. A Marxist one one side and a Democrat on the other. Heads I win, Tails you lose. They forgot that McCain has his own drum and bugle corp to set the cadence.
The only hard line conservative in the race was Senator Fred and he really didn’t have the fire in his belly. He scared the left and didn’t excite the base so when the MSM gave him no traction and a little push, he slid right off stage.
No, Big Mac isn’t very conservative, but he is the right guy for this period in US history.
Obama might be bearable in more peaceful times, a Jimmy Carter without the drawl or Redneck brother. But we don’t need a war time President that can’t fight his way out of a paper bag. He’s a classic great hair guy.
Can anyone here imagine Obama running across a flight deck with armed missiles bouncing along it, rounds from exploding planes whizzing by, to jump up on the wing of a burning fighter to pull a buddy out of the cockpit?
President is where the buck stops ( which might be why they get their picture on them) and you can’t vote present.

“It’s a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it’s a depression when you lose yours.”
Harry S Truman, in Observer, April 13, 1958
33rd president of US (1884 – 1972)

Sep 22, 2008 - 10:20 pm 17. Lifeofthemind:

@Dave,
@Nahncee,
Thank you for the kind words.
The big puzzle with Obama is where is the reality? Is he the ultimate self made man, the new Gatsby? Is he really an empty suit, the new Chance from Being There? Is he a sociopath creating a reality he gets others to submit to, the Talented Mr Ripley? Is he truly the product of long term planning and training by Frank Davis, Bill Ayers and Islamists in Indonesia and Pakistan, a Manchurian Candidate? These choices become increasingly bizarre and unlikely. The problem is that we begin to reject them based on the very intolerability of their implications and not because of anything we know about the man himself. After this election I expect that there will be a push to ensure that we have a healthier system in which politicians are carefully observed over a period of time. That would produce a more Parliamentary form of government with stronger party organizations. The problem is that system would have produced only one of the four national candidates now running, Joe Biden. Neither McCain nor Palin, or any other reformer, would have been raised to the top in a British system of strong party controls. The wonder is that Thatcher did.

Sep 22, 2008 - 10:24 pm 18. Lifeofthemind:

@heather,
Consider yourself teased about your family confession.
Fascinating website.

Sep 22, 2008 - 10:32 pm 19. Ex-fetus:

Annoy Mouse,
Hillery has enough skeletons in her closet to start her own cemetery. Did you know that she was caught cheating 4 times in this campaign. Paid the fine, said it was all a mistake by one of her workers and promised to be more careful in the future. Sort of like Lucy and her football.
Who wants to be Charlie Brown? Obama doesn’t.
And then there is Bill.
Ohhh…..BAAMA would have spent 4 years waiting for the knife to go in. Hillery is ruthless, naked ambition incarnate. As VP, all she needs to do it get rid of the chosen one and she gets a promotion.
Billery would be a leak per day machine until they caught Ohhhh…..BAAMA doing something impeachable, at which point they would gut and fillet him so fast you would think the White House was a Benihana franchise.
From the Obamaessiah’s POV, it’s better to lose then have Billery standing behind you. He’s a great hair guy and not real smart but he is as clever as they come.

“Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.”
Henry Kissinger
US (German-born) diplomat & scholar (1923 – )

Sep 22, 2008 - 10:36 pm 20. Annoy Mouse:

Ex, maybe you have captured the essence of O’s preemptive paranoia but politics makes strange bedfellows. I can’t imagine though the grab for power. Maybe that is the insolubility of alpha candidates.

I love the Kissinger quote. Then again there are people who divide people into two groups and those who don’t.

Sep 22, 2008 - 10:51 pm 21. Wadeusaf:

Very telling what President Clinton said about his role now. yeah, sure.

Sep 23, 2008 - 12:39 am 22. RWE:

I think that Bill Clinton and Obama are very similar in some key ways. Both are Ultimate Liberals – ones who have become so PC about their own philosophy that they are not even willing to say it is the best.

And I think that both are like a dog who has finally caught that garbage truck that he has been chasing: Now that he has it what is he going to do with it? I think that Pres Clinton even described his situation in much those same terms.

The Clintons invented the Continuous Campaign not so much to ensure support for their policies but because they did not know what else to do next.

“McCain seeks the power largely to keep the idiots he meets every day from getting the job and doing more damage.” You may be right about that – and in my opinion the only legitimate reason to aspire to leadership is the sure and certain knowledge that you are the only one who can do the job correctly.

Sep 23, 2008 - 5:38 am 23. Gordon:

Fehrenbach has also written a very good history of Mexico as well as having led quite a life himself (combat in Korea, as I recall).

Sep 23, 2008 - 6:54 am 24. cedarford:

I always will think of Clinton like I did Nixon. All that vast potential, brilliant mind – compromised somewhat by character flaws. Both had consequential Presidencies and accomplished wonderful things – but they could have been truly great but for those character flaws.

I won’t get into the Gordian knot of Nixon’s insecurities and which of the enemies that persecuted him for decades because he went after Communists were right or wrong. It’s complex, like the times and the Man.

But Bill Clinton might have had the “holes” in his behavior and psyche fixed or at least patched up if he had done the one thing he said he “loathed” – Stepping up and serving in the military during the Vietnam War.

He might have died. He might have dishonored himself as Kerry did. Or he might have had the irresponsible, sleazy, grasping “narcissistic little brat” behavior pounded out of him.

As was, Clinton remained incomplete as a person in office – and still is incomplete, now.
But a person well worth listening to, because the brilliance, talent, and some true wisdom is there. Just as Nixon in his Twilight was the guy who clawed his way back to write 6 important books and become the guy whose phone started ringing again by 1976 and never stopped ringing. Too many people, from 4 Presidents to academics to foreign leaders to academics thought Nixon was an invaluable source of advice on a range of subjects. After Nixon died, William Safire gave him tribute for delivering such usually on-mark advice to Dems and Republicans alike, by having the Nixon persona in Purgatory opine on a range of issues in his column.

Sep 23, 2008 - 7:11 am 25. Dave:

FYI: Fehrenbach was an enlisted man at the end of WWII, destined to spearhead an invasion of the Japanese mainland.

Came back for Korea, earned a battlefield commission. Came to prominence with his Putlitzer-winning “This kind of War”.

Best known for “Lone Star: History of Texas and the Texans”. Also noted for “Destruction of a People”, which concerned how McKenzie defeated the Commance around 1874. (That campaign was the inspiration for a James Warner Bellah story which John Ford turned into “She Wore A Yellow Ribbon”. )

I have learned that one ignores Fehrenbach at one’s own peril. He related how in the latter stages of Korea, Lieutenant Colonels would personally direct platoons so the young Platoon Leaders would not made mistakes leading to casualties. He said that this would mean that those young officers would now make their mistakes when they commanded battalions. I was there when one example of what he meant came true with a vengeance.
We took 22 dead and 32 wounded in a matter of seconds. Of my 8-man group, two survived.
Pay attention to what the old boy says, would you? Might pay off.

Sep 23, 2008 - 9:02 am 26. NahnCee:

Life/Mind – the problem with your scenario on choosing future candidates is who gets to define what’s a “healthy” personality for a candidate to have? More and more, Buckley’s first 2,000 people in the phone book seems like the way to go; at least we could be fairly certain they weren’t bribed by the Saudi’s or brainwashed by the Chinese / Russians.

Sep 23, 2008 - 9:04 am 27. Dave:

The Financial Crisis: Have been thinking: Believe this will work:

The Secretary of the Treasury will be given a $1.5 Trillion Dollar line of credit. (Take your prozac, everybody.) He may issue bonds
up to that amount, but preferably less.

The cash from the bonds, or the bonds themselves, will be used to satisfy the statutory requirements of Fannie and Freddie,
and the “credit swaps” of AIG. And no more. The unused portion of the line of credit will be in reserve for 18 months to two years in case something else pops up.

Now these bonds will be revenue bonds. The kind that pay interest and return principle
when, as, and if, earned. They are to be serviced directly from Fannie/Freddie income,
from AIG investment banking income and so forth and so on.

They are to be sold at an original discount
(say 75% to 80% of face value) and pay a hefty 10% to 15% on the face value—–all tax free of course.

If after a certain period of time—5 years say—- if they are not serviced/retired adequately a randomly selected portion of the unserviced may be surrendered each year at face value in lieu of federal taxes owed.

This means that those responsible for the mess
turn themselves into indentured servants until
they pay what they owe. While the taxpayer
escapes any direct draines on his or her income.

I now await my well-deserved accolades, not to mention the inevitable number of brickbats
from the narrow-minded.

PS I have run into a misconception in the last few days. Namely that the Federal Reserve is taxpayer-funded via Congressional appropriations. “Taint so. If any of you all run into this, please try to correct. It won’t be easy. But it is the type of misconception that makes corrective actions more difficult.

Sep 23, 2008 - 9:25 am 28. mark_b:

Annoy Mouse:
As far as the admixtures of cultural orthodoxies when it comes to relationships, I have found that most of my friends are liberal and most the people I work with are conservative.

————————————————–

That’s because they have jobs.

(disclaimer:I’m conservative and “unemployed”)

Sep 23, 2008 - 10:06 am 29. mark_b:

Lifeofthemind:

I have met many politicians. No great boast there and it doesn’t make me important, just a matter of time and place. By observation I am convinced that most are basically lazy slobs who have found a good way not to work. Joe Biden is the man whose photograph is in the dictionary when you look up “Pol.” PJ O’Rourk was correct, they are genuinely interested in people the same way fleas are genuinely interested in dogs.

—————————————————————–

As funny as PJ O’Rourke is as a political commentator, I wish he had kept his “day job” as a writer for National Lampoon.

Sep 23, 2008 - 10:10 am 30. fred:

I really liked the Fehrenbach article. I managed to find it before Wretchard posted the link.

I think it is safe to say that before I was a Jesuit seminarian, during my time as one, and for awhile afterward, when I was still on the Left, I was a Pelagian heretic. It took awhile, but when I finally could not get around Michael Novak’s criticisms of Liberation Theology and I had done some reading of psychology, neuroscience, and genetics I came around to the view that human nature cannot be changed and that the utopian fantasies which are the core of Marxism are permanently disabused. I had hoped to find a way around it. There is no way around it. I glad I did go on my journey into the Left and out of it; there is value in it. What is discouraging is to see so many of today’s young Leftists wallowing in intellectual sloth. They don’t take ANY critiques seriously. Just pick up the banners and slogans and march. Truly useful idiots.

Culture does shape politics. Any serious thinker knows this, since politics are a reflection of the values, principles, and myths of the dominant culture. Politicians appeal to portions of that milieu.

Sep 23, 2008 - 12:00 pm 31. J David:

Der Schlickmeister knows that the coming disasters are better hung around the RINO scapegoat Juan Amnesty McVain’s neck, as the lap-dog MSM will certainly do. The Maverick will everything he can do to help them defame him, and destroy Saracuda potential against Hitlery in ‘12. He may be a sociopath, but he is a very clever sociopath…

Sep 23, 2008 - 12:09 pm 32. Paul:

@Lifeofthemind:

“The big puzzle with Obama is where is the reality?”

Frankly, I think the reality is that his original ambition was to sell a few books, make some money, and get known a bit. He didn’t count on depth of identity politics in the Democratic party and the ranking system that places blacks at the head of the line, even in front of women, regardless of worth. Now he’s riding a train that he really can’t control with tons of advisors who are pulling him along as a excuse for their ambitions.

Sep 23, 2008 - 5:41 pm 33. NahnCee:

Paul – agree. And he’s scared to death because whoever’s funding him will be really really annoyed if he blows it. And in those circles they don’t just leave a horse’s head in your bed as a warning when you’ve screwed up.

Sep 23, 2008 - 7:23 pm 34. Brian H:

Paul and NanCee;
Disagree. His ego is plenty big enough to have had Imperial ambition, and his upbringing and youthful inspiration were pure Socialist Manipulative. “Direct the masses for their own good, and prosper mightily doing it.”

The head tilt, displaying his nostrils for all to admire, is highly revealing.

Sep 23, 2008 - 11:46 pm 35. Brian H:

P.S.
A black commenter on blog.pumapac says AA slang for his type is “Slick Rick” — all shine, all the time.

Sep 23, 2008 - 11:48 pm 36. mariner:

Dave:

Were you in the 2/7 at Ia Drang?

Sep 25, 2008 - 8:57 am

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