t.
Both Obama and McCain have pulled off the once unthinkable. The former dethroned some 16 year of Clintonian political hegemony by the sheer force of personality and charisma, when initially all the hierarchy and political machinery were against him. The latter by sheer force of will, stubbornness, and a certain courage, never gave up when most had written him off, and simply out toughed his opponents.
There is a certain irony here. In a year that for historical and contemporary reasons should be a Democratic shoo-in, the Democrats have nominated about the only candidate who can lose in November, the Republicans the only one of their own who can still win it.
Obama
The Chicago Past
Obama either out of misplaced loyalty or because of 20 years of Chicago racial politics, simply cannot deal with the continuing embarrassments of Wright, Pfleiger, Trinity, et al. He either gets defensive and blames the messenger of the latest embarrassment, or makes silly announcements of support. They are followed by qualifiers, followed by eventual “disowning”—but always with a twist of pique. Wright’s madness was mischaracterized by unfair video “loops” and “snippets”—before he refuted Obama’s apologia by sickening America with the entire racist rant at the National Press Club.
But by now all of America fathoms the truth: Obama made a devil’s bargain with a number of racists to establish his own street credentials in the rough and tumble world of Chicago politics. He now finds that what started his career could well end it. Bottom line: the voters will have to decide whether these skeletons are the usual embarrassments that all candidates deal with as they evolve beyond their diehard bases, or instead disturbing proof that Obama himself got a certain psychological high from hearing ministers and congregation members routinely trash whites and the so-called establishment, as attested by his attendance at and subsidies to the Wright ministry.
Rule One for Obama’s campaign: Don’t let Obama rush to the defense of any dubious character in his past, since he inevitably will have to disown him sooner or later. The impression that Obama inevitably changes his storyline (while a Wright or Pfleger remains absolutely predictable and consistent) is beginning to tire the American people.
Gaffes Galore
Anyone who lived his first 18 years out of the continental United States, and then attended politically-correct Ivy League schools before jumping into Chicago politics might not have a broad view of American demography and indeed, U.S. history—much less the sociology of the United States.
But the number of Obama’s slips are staggering. They range from geographical ignorance (Kentucky is not contiguous with Arkansas, but it is with Illinois), to US history (there are 50 states in the Union; the US army did not liberate Auschwitz) to foreign affairs (the election of Hugo Chavez predated George Bush) to simple political ignorance (you don’t trash the lower white middle class to San Francisco elites) and common decency (you don’t put your own grandmother on the same moral plane as the racist Wright, or a U.S senator in the same category as the terrorist Ayers.)
Rule Two: Get Obama back on a script. He may sound catchy and smug in repartee and ex tempore give and take; but he has already made candidate George Bush’s much caricatured inability to identify a Pakistani president seem like a very tiny Dan Quayle proverbial potato.
Michelle
Michelle, as America learned, cannot give a speech without either (1) claiming that her husband is a saint and a genius, and we are all lucky to have him; (2) whining about the unexpected “raise the bar” pressures on the young urban yuppie careerist couple; (3) trashing the United States; or (4) defining world or national problems in terms of herself or her kids.
Rule Three: Do not confuse her ability to wade boldly out into audience in the manner of Phil Donahue with either savvy, wit, humor, or enlightenment. One or two more performances of the tired Princeton-Harvard-Reverend-Wright take on contemporary America—and the campaign is over. All the talk about whether she is a “legitimate” target will be about as relevant as whether a woman who joins the military will sometimes be in harm’s way in wartime.
The Agenda
Obama’s team must not confuse Republican problems of the economy, war, fuel, and 8 years of an unpopular candidate with voter lust for a liberal agenda. Who wants vast increases in payroll, income, and inheritance taxes—not to pay down the debt but to fund billions in new entitlements that will only create greater dependency and stifle initiative? Or who wishes to throw away all that was won in Iraq by quitting now, when a slow withdrawal won by victory is within our grasp? And who wishes hyper-liberal judges and appointees, more “oppression studies” in our schools, or the same old, same old on’t drill, mine, or use nuclear power, while enriching our enemies and singing sonnets to wind and solar?
Rule Four: Keep talking about Lord Hope and Saint Change and Holy Possibility—and don’t get into specifics. Jimmy Carter didn’t and it worked in 1976 for him. The problem is not that Obama simply talks in platitudes, but rather that he must—given the most leftwing agenda in modern memory.
McCain.
The Base and the Extra twist
John McCain can hold his base—if he resists the extra twist of the dagger. The rumors of his flirtation in 2000 with independents were probably based in fact. His Ace in the Hole is the Democratic attack machine that calls him hypocritical in moving right, and serially trashes his moderate views as reactionary.
Rule One. Resist the temptation to show outrage at some right-winger he finds too gung-ho. Silence is golden. Go on Limbaugh sometime in October. Find a way to appeal to the middle by not gratuitously slandering the base as protectionists, nativists, or religious zealots.
Energy
I don’t see how opposing ANWR helps anyone other than empowering those in the Middle East who intend us no good. If McCain won’t drill here at home, then he should push nuclear power and coal as transitions to the next generation of clean, renewable fuels. So far, the energy issue is wide-open since the voter doesn’t have a candidate who is clearly pro-production.
Rule Two. Find a way to branch off from Obama on the energy. Americans will support drilling off our coasts, in Alaska, burning clean coal, using nuclear, and developing hydro—if all that is balanced by calls for more conservation, and support for alternative fuels.
Age
How a 71-year old cancer survivor makes it through 20 hr. campaign days 24/7, I don’t know. I am returning from two weeks in Europe, co-leading a tour of 65. And the 18-hour days, jet lag, occasional kidney stones (McCain has them, no doubt to a worse degree) at 54 is a real task. I don’t plan to be doing this if I make it to 71. No wonder McCain shows the wear and tear—and he will have five more months of this.
Rule Three: Each time Obama hits him with the age issue, McCain must remind us that he at least knows how many states there are in the Union or the difference between Memorial and Veterans Day. And McCain should learn from Reagan—smile, relax and take two days a week off.
The War
So far the reminders of his support for the surge are salutary, especially as things continue to improve and may soon devolve into a Kosovo sort of policing. At this point there is no loner a need to demonize Rumsfeld for the 2003-6 troubles, or all the old generals like Franks, Sanchez, and Casey who played McClellan and Hooker to Petraeus’ Grant and Sherman. Talk of the future, not the past.
Rule Four. Keep reminding Americans that this is 2008, not 2003, and Obama’s claim the surge won’t work or Iraq is lost or we must get out now is simply not based on fact—and by October will blow up in his face.
Bush
It is hard for any incumbent party to continue a regnum for three terms. George Bush, Sr. did it, but even he sort of distanced himself from Reagan (“kinder, gentler nation”), or at least for a while. McCain has an advantage should he seek such distance, since Bush has for now far fewer defenders than did Reagan, despite coming off Iran-Contra. But McCain must be careful: should the economy continue to avoid recession, should gas prices fall, and the war seem won, then we may see Bush’s numbers go up a bit. For now he has about the right distance, any more and he will seem small and petty, especially if he must backtrack a bit by October. On the key issue of our times—Iraq—McCain has fashioned an interesting position: for the war, and so much so that his theories about the surge won over George Bush himself.
Bottom line?
If things continue as they are Obama will come close perhaps in the popular vote, but lose the electoral vote by a wide margin. Why? I just don’t see how such an inexperienced candidate can rein in his wife, curb his own slips, monitor all of his past dubious role models, and avoid the growing divide between utopian rhetoric and pretty down-to-earth tactics and embarrassing past associations. And I don’t think he has yet to figure out that unhappiness with Bush’s spending, appointments, and inability to articulate a message, and defend himself does not really equate to a desire for billions in new taxes and unworkable new programs.
Note:
I thank readers for offering the corrections; I have been traveling the last two-and-a- half weeks overseas, and posted this too soon from the Paris airport. I just landed in the US (and won’t try to post again while leading a tour of 65 around Europe). These posts go right on the site without editing, and I will have to do a much better job in eliminating typos and other sorts of error. And one reader is correct: in the past I haven’t been as generous as I should have been to all the readers who have spotted them. But I deeply appreciate that scrutiny, and am always impressed by the erudition of the readers, and their uncanny good sense. Another note: some have complained that I have written too many critical things about Obama. In fact, I don’t think any of us know much of anything about OBama the candidate–and the more we can discuss this possible next President, the better off we will all be. The Carter experience should guide us here.
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110 Comments
1. Pajamas Media » An Autopsy of the Primaries:[...] Read the full post here [...]
Jun 2, 2008 - 1:39 pm 2. gs:Thanks as always for your insights.
You don’t mention running mates. Do you think they’ll be unimportant come Election Day, or is the topic reserved for a separate column?
Jun 2, 2008 - 2:02 pm 3. Concerned Citizen:That pretty well sums it up. A few other factors not mentioned; the media’s help for Obama and the potential ineptitude of the Republican campaign. If it was just issues and positions, McCain would easily win, because Obama is so far to the left. However, the Repubs don’t seem to be able to clearly explain why their position is better to the general electorate. Both campaigns will probably go negative by September.
Jun 2, 2008 - 2:22 pm 4. diane:Leave the question of VP until fall. McCain would have to be a fool to announce a VP choice before Obama chooses, and really should wait until after the Democratic convention even if Obama chooses someone next week. There are too many things that can happen between now and the Republican convention.
It’s probably too early even to know how a running mate would help McCain. Suppose Obama picks a woman as VP, just to mollify Hillary’s base. That selection, or probably others, could completely change the criteria McCain would need to choose by.
This is an issue best deferred as long as possible.
Jun 2, 2008 - 2:42 pm 5. David B:The most fascinating thing about this campaign has been the political demise of Hillary. Although she’d never get my vote, she makes a good point that she’s got a better shot at the White House than Obama. I read that if the Democrats used the same winner-take-all delegate selection process that the GOP did, she’d be the nominee. They can’t seem to effectively run a national primary, but they’re the correct choice to run the nation? Interesting turn of events - I’m thinking the the Democrats are starting to have some serious buyer’s remorse, but can’t engineer a way out of the Obama selection.
Jun 2, 2008 - 3:45 pm 6. RockingChairVet:‘On ne passe pas’: They shall not pass.
When you pass by Verdun, please remind your tour of the futility of trying to hold ground when it is will to wage war that must be destroyed.
Jun 2, 2008 - 3:59 pm 7. George Clarke:They have tried to make light of the fact that Obama simply confused Auschwitz with Buchenwald. But the defining message of World War II, that Britain and France got into because Poland was invaded by Hitler and Stalin jointly, was that Poland was NOT liberated at the end of it. Someone who does not understand that, does not understand much. The fact that Obama did not know Auschwitz was in Poland, which should have clued him that his Uncle couldn’t have liberated it, just astounds me. What are they teaching our Children? The sad answer is self-pride, reinforced oddly with knowing nothing.
Jun 2, 2008 - 4:29 pm 8. Tom Holsinger:The gaffe factor merits greater emphasis. It is not merely that Obama has shown major weaknesses when he goes off-script, but that the otherwise protective mainstream media no longer has the capability to insulate him from gaffes.
Worse, at this point his public image fosters attention to further gaffes. He desperately needs the absence of public attention for a while during which time he might be able to both be “reprogrammed” (something many candidates need periodically, including McCain) AND recharge emotionally.
This is one of many reasons why Obama and the Democratic leadership are trying to get Hillary to concede. She’s keeping Obama in the spotlight when he needs to get out of it for a while.
Jun 2, 2008 - 5:37 pm 9. Ron Kean:A+ on this post. Thank you again VDH. You’re a shot in the arm.
For me it’s like the ‘one note samba’…Barry’s buddies…his whole crew saying, ‘God Damn America’.
It was cold at Verdun.
I’m a NeoCon, but there’s still a goofy old Democrat inside of me that smiles when I think about Bill Clinton.
I wish McCain could count on his organization and rest and glide into the oval office.
Thank goodness there’s time to get the facts out on who everybody is.
If Iran tries its shenanigans one more time…I hope they get clobbered.
God Bless The USA.
Jun 2, 2008 - 5:56 pm 10. Sandra:Four years ago, I had little confidence in the Republican Party’s ability to win the 2004 election. And then a group of heroes appeared to rebut the lies of and fantasies of the Democrat candidate. Like many others, I donated to the Swift Boat Veterans who I credit with winning the election.
This year, the hapless McCain campaign has been helped by the Veterans for freedom Internet ad asking Obama why he’s willing to meet with dictators who hate us but not the general winning the war in Iraq. And the calendar showing that it’s been 800 plus days since Obama went to Iraq has forced Obama to promise to go to Baghdad.
Since McCain is wrong on the environment, I have now signed two Drill Now, Drill here type petitions (one by Newt and one by Capitol Connect).
McCain will win and I know his cabinet will be far better than any cabinet put up by Hillary or Obama. I want Bobby Jindal for President someday, so he would be my first choice for VP. McCain will have his hands full with the Middle East and a belligerent China. So, my second choice for VP would be Mitt Romney to streamline the bureaucracy and free the economy while McCain concentrates on being Commander in Chief.
I disagree with many of the pundits who think it’s a bad year to run as a Republican. I think it’s a GREAT year to run as a Republican REFORMER.
Jun 2, 2008 - 6:10 pm 11. Gringo:But the number of Obama’s slips are staggering. They range from…. simple political ignorance (you don’t trash the lower white middle class to San Francisco elites..)
Obama’s mistake was not in saying something that San Francisco elites believe wholeheartedly. Obama’s mistake was not to realize beforehand that what he said in San Francisco, even if it was a “private” affair, could later be known nationwide. Obama was talking among friends, and he let his guard down.
Jun 2, 2008 - 6:15 pm 12. Letalis Maximus, Esq.:This is as good a place as any to say that I do not believe Hillary will be, or even wants, to be Obama’s Veep - if she is Barack’s Veep, and he wins (and having her on the ticket as Veep does, in my view, make a Barack win more likely), she is screwed for 2012. If he loses, it doesn’t matter whether she was his Veep pick or not, she will be running in 2012.
The news is that the two camps are negotiating - about money. Hill and Bill lent somewhere around $12 Large of their personal money to her campaign. They’re gonna want that money back. And only Obama has the money to pay it.
So, my view is that Hillary will go into the negotiations asking for 1) the Veep nod, 2) a big speech in Denver, and 3) $15 - $40 million. She will settle for the money - and a speech in Denver if she can get it - and will, reluctantly allow herself to be denied Barack’s Veep pick.
Then, I reckon she and Bill will bank the money and secretly unleash their oppo research team on Team Obama. I believe the Clintons and their cronies sabotaged Kerry in 2004 so that 2008 would be open for Hillary. I believe that Barack was supposed to be Hillary’s Veep. But the fates had something else in mind.
Back to VDH’s point, I also believe that if McCain plays this election perfectly, and he probably has the discipline to do so, he could win 48-49 states. And, obviously, I believe that Hillary and Bill will help him do it.
Jun 2, 2008 - 6:30 pm 13. Oremus:Just wondering ……. what are the brilliant Barack’s SAT and LSAT scores, and undergrad and law school grades.
Jun 2, 2008 - 6:43 pm 14. TLM:I agree with much of this article. It may be a fine line to walk without alienating his base, but I think John McCain should also emphasize that he will restore competency and accountability in our government. Barack Obama’s “Change” mantra seems only to imply changing the president and adopting more liberal policies. My impression is many Americans are not beholden to either Democratic or Republican policies per se. Nor are they enamored with policy wonks. Hillary Clinton’s stock went up with many Americans, including some of her detractors, when she dropped her prim policy wonkette talk and adopted a no holds barred git ‘er done attitude. Americans want competent government officials who get the job done. And they want incompetent government officials “relieved of command” expeditiously when they fail to do so. Obviously the Katrina fiasco and the first years of the Iraq war come to mind in this regard. I’m convinced the American people would not have as negative an impression of the Iraq War as they do, if they had better understood the initial strategy and then saw a quick and definitive change when that strategy failed. McCain’s military background should help illuminate the difference between him and Obama on this. He needs to stress that in the military world that made him who he is, loyalty pertains to your country. And in government service, a misconstrued sense of loyalty is no substitute for competency.
Jun 2, 2008 - 6:45 pm 15. oman:“Obama was talking among friends, and he let his guard down.” True dat. He has a high IQ and a nice line of patter. But he is a child. And every time his handlers leave the crib rail down, he falls out.
Jun 2, 2008 - 6:49 pm 16. Jim M:Recently standing at Shiloh battlefield on a lonely sunday morning in a cold rain reminds me that all the benefits in life result from sacrifice. Barry Obama knows that not. Rather he resents the benefits.
Still we have had people like Sherman and Grant. Sherman coming up to Grant late on the evening of the first day of battle saw Grant under a tree–Well, Grant’ Sherman said to his friend, ‘we’ve had the devil’s own day, haven’t we?’ ‘Yes,’ replied Grant, ‘lick ‘em tomorrow, though.’
At least John McCain through 5 years of horror in Vietnam understands the concept of the devil’s own day and the need to be standfast.
Barry Obama will sell his grandmother/church/pastor anyone outright for ambition-no question he does not understand the devil’s own day and the need to be standfast in the face of evil and adversity.
He is not a Lincoln but rather a lame and inept Buchanan on the eve of the Civil War refusing to admit that the Devil’s own day has come and it must be stared down.
Jun 2, 2008 - 6:49 pm 17. Eric:I’ve never voted Dem in my life. Unfortunately, the most important issue in this election is Cap and Trade, and McCain is on the wrong side of it. If McCain is Pres, and hence head of the Repub party, there will be nobody to oppose it. If Obama is Pres, the Repubs in congress plus business interests plus reason may succeed in sustaining a fillibuster, or defeating it the way Hillary Care went down without even coming to a vote, and at the least if it passes and devastates the economy the Dems will take the blame. Global Warming is basically a hoax and Cap and Trade is complete insanity. Unless McCain renounces it, I can’t support him and you shouldn’t either.
Jun 2, 2008 - 6:56 pm 18. AJ:The “Obama novelty” is wearing off on anyone who is honest, cares about America or reads history—so everyone but college kids, white rich liberals and some blacks.
VDH is spot on with this here analysis. In the end, not only is Obama deplorably naive and unqualified, but his racist, America-hating wife will turn off hundreds of thousands of undecided voters with her vitriol, conceit, arrogance and hatred.
Jun 2, 2008 - 6:57 pm 19. Ron:Unless there’s been a major plate tectonic event that I wasn’t aware of, IL and AR don’t touch. I think the point about how staggering his gaffes are would have been much more effective if you didn’t make one yourself.
Jun 2, 2008 - 6:59 pm 20. Sandra:Hillary “blew” a quarter of a billion dollars in her campaign chest. . If she couldn’t budget her money, imagine her with the national budget.
Hillary didn’t think or plan beyond Super Tuesday. A President needs to be a strategic thinker. She fails on this count also.
Lastly, will some Internet genius ad writer please challenge Obama’s constant mantra about how we’re not “safer” now than we were? The truth is we haven’t had a major attack on the homeland since 9/11. Someone has been doing something right.
I know many people can’t think in terms of the attacks that didn’t happen; hence, we should remind them.
Jun 2, 2008 - 7:04 pm 21. rafinlay:If it all works out like you suggest and McCain wins 40 states, I anticipate four more years of media-fueled anguish over the OBVIOUS deeply entrenched racism in America, as HOW ELSE could a superstar like Obama possibly not win in a landslide.
Jun 2, 2008 - 7:08 pm 22. Will48:The main reason why he’s so likeable a persona on TV is he’s always shot from below, with no-one standing near him. It gives him an appearance of a tall - GRAND - man. It makes us look up to him, to see him as trustworthy, authority figure.
Solution: put out a lot of images of him angry and confused, shot from slightly above angle so he’s looked down upon, standing next to tall sturdy guys (and, better yet, tall gals) - and he’s DONE.
It’s that simple. Subconscious suggestion works, and his strategists know this.
Someone with access, please pass this along up.
Jun 2, 2008 - 7:12 pm 23. Douglas Athas:A very accurate evaluation, in my judgment, and I’m thankful for the concise picture. Hope a good number read it and absorb it.
I’m uncertain of the use of Franks and McClellan in the same sentence. I’m pretty well read and usually catch references to Franks quickly, and I’m unfamiliar with anything he’s said or done that puts him in that particular group. Certainly his book does not, quite the opposite. He carried his part of the war to its conclusion spectacularly and soon exited.
Jun 2, 2008 - 7:15 pm 24. c.o. jones:McCain’s big (heretofore unacknowledged) problem is that he’s got to find a way to get at least some of the conservative base of the GOP back. Sure, Wall Street likes Mac in spite of his “obscene profits” comments - they chalk it up to his admitted ignorance of economic issues. But McCain has a problem with Main Street, i.e. small business owners and their families who form a vital part of the GOP base. I am one, and for the life of me, I can’t see how a McCain presidency is going to help me. He won’t fight really that hard to keep taxes low, and his stand on immigration is horrible. Explain to me again how having a large pool of unskilled, non-English speaking high school dropouts in the labor force helps my business, where I need employees who can read and write and speak English at, oh, let’s say a 6th grade level.
Jun 2, 2008 - 7:26 pm 25. Jim:This is such a heartening piece.
Only one problem: “I just don’t see how such an inexperienced candidate can rein in his wife, curb his own slips, monitor all of his past dubious role models, and avoid the growing divide between utopian rhetoric and pretty down-to-earth tactics and embarrassing past associations.”
The media will cover for him and go into McCain attack mode. Keep your fingers crossed as it’s gonna be a bumpy ride.
Jun 2, 2008 - 7:29 pm 26. Diggs:The idea that Hillary will be offered the VP slot is ludicrous.
Jun 2, 2008 - 7:31 pm 27. TLM:As daft as he may be, Obama does not want Bill Clinton as his Co-VP. There is nothing that would be appealing to him about that situation, except that it might bring him the White House. However, I think that Obama honestly believes he has a chance to win the presidency based upon his very limited access to a very limited slice of America.
Strategist in his campaign could suggest to Obama that having Hillary as a VP would give him a VERY convenient excuse for losing the general election this fall, and also give him the perfect excuse for another run in 2012 (sans Hillary). But this is unlikely; his staff is as unrealistic as Obama about radicalism in the US, otherwise he would have long ago cut ties to Ayers, Wright, and Iraq surrender scenarios.
Just a thought. Maybe McCain should pick his drinking buddy Hillary as his VP. They could announce it right after the Obama campaign pays off her debts.
Jun 2, 2008 - 7:39 pm 28. Carl H.:Sandra, you I like.
VDH, good job as usual.
Jun 2, 2008 - 7:50 pm 29. W.P. Zeller:Cook County, Illinois is the most corrupt political unit in the country. Obama was picked up by the Machine and remanufactured as a national candidate for the express purpose of keeping the Boss out of prison, plus hauling home billions to keep the Chicago charade going.
Jun 2, 2008 - 7:57 pm 30. Don:The level of corruption Obama represents could well be the failure point, if Mrs. Obama doesn’t sink the ship herself (as seems so likely at the moment).
It amazes we Chicagoans that the national pundit class seems not to know of the origins of Obama’s political rise: a place where elections are decided long before the polls open. Here, we simply accept that Obama made devil’s deals with the likes of the Daley brothers (Richie is not necessarily the important one here- Bill’s the national guy while John’s the County operator), as evidenced by his lying down with the Rezko-esque dogs and other less-well known perk-providers.
Obama’s fully invested in himself, and has shown no restraint in indulging himself in the trappings of power’s privileges.
It’s hard to imagine that even with the protection of the media that the corruption will not eventually have an impact.
Maybe it just doesn’t fit into the YouTube form of politico-watching.
“Lastly, will some Internet genius ad writer please challenge Obama’s constant mantra about how we’re not “safer” now than we were? The truth is we haven’t had a major attack on the homeland since 9/11. Someone has been doing something right.
I know many people can’t think in terms of the attacks that didn’t happen; hence, we should remind them.”
I believe the guys at the POWERLINE Blog did just this! Look at this 25 May 2008 essay: http://tinyurl.com/4kz5ds
Jun 2, 2008 - 8:06 pm 31. TLM:Awhile back, I heard a political cartoonist describe how he plans to caricature whoever the new president is in 2009. I don’t recall his plans for drawing McCain or Hillary. Obama required a lot of thought on his part, particularly as he wished to avoid any of the ethnic physical traits that are historically associated with racism. His solution was to draw Obama as one of those carved megalithic idols on Easter Island. How perceptive. Visually acceptable, avoids the racism quandary, and is metaphorically apt. Only problem is, I believe the people of Easter Island set about destroying themselves and their society shortly after those idols were erected.
Jun 2, 2008 - 8:12 pm 32. Chief:As a member of the conservative base, I wouldn’t vote for McCain even if he crawled on his hands and knees to the feet of Rush Limbaugh and licked his big toe. I’ll be donating to any conservative PAC that refuses to give a dime to McCain, Lindsey Graham, or Mel Martinez. Please don’t give to the GOP. It only encourages them.
Jun 2, 2008 - 8:13 pm 33. Arthur Beetson:I know you know your geography, VDH, but Arkansas is not contiguous with either Kentucky or Illinois.
Jun 2, 2008 - 8:19 pm 34. Dr Bob:Excellent analysis.
I believe that Obama has a very good chance of totally destroying his own candidacy.
Jun 2, 2008 - 8:23 pm 35. JohnMc:Dave B.,
Cry not for Hillary. In losing she will end up a big winner in the Senate. Lets lay it out –
1/ Two old Democratic Lions are preparing to leave the stage. Ted Kennedy due to health and Robert Byrd due to age. That sets the stage for Hillary.
2/ Regardless of the results of the elections three Senators have gain gravitas — Clinton, Obama and McCain. Of the group of 100 only those three can say X number of voters selected them in the primary process. The other 97 will lack that body politic backing.
So combine these two factors and Clinton will most likely have her choice of Committee Chairmanships to pick from. Plus she will probably have a couple of political chips to cash for not making a stink in Denver.
Clinton becomes the new Ted Kennedy.
Jun 2, 2008 - 8:39 pm 36. Jack Marcotte:Essential vdh.
Your comments about Obama continue to surprise me. You seem to want to analyze him on the “accepted” basis that he only is what he appears to be due to what he “had” to do to get elected in Chicago.
His sense of entitlement is enormus, the product of the irrational affirmative action committees and PC, it represents not only his eventual self destruction but America’s if his indoctrinated attitudes continue to gain traction as they have over the last 30 years.
Affirmative action was not something the founding fathers would like. It was what they were fleeing from by coming to America.
The element of Character does not loom large in your analysis of Obama. It does not loom large with any of the media. There seems to be a “studied and expert” view that politicians must do what they need to do to get elected—but that is not really what or who they are.
I would simply say that they are “smart” lazy politicians who are simply playing a rationalized personal power game at the expense of the country and American values by appealing to the lowest common denominator of human nature.
They are the very things and people the founding fathers were concerned about in a democracy (that’s why we are a republic) where the concept of a “chicken in every pot” and promises that can not be kept are made to enhance an individual grab for power within a powerful and all encompassing government.
Socialism, Communism have all gone done this road–it is a well traveled road. I am not aware that any have worked other than to destroy millions of people. It destroys those who work hard, It destroys those who are made to believe in Affirmative action or the need for government charity camouflaged as something for nothing that is “due” everyone to support their now non family values.
Why do we have to be next in line for failed and irrational ideas that have already historically failed every time they were tried? Added and abetted by all the “smart” analysis–just because it sounds good and astute at the time.
Jun 2, 2008 - 8:43 pm 37. Marty:Article misses a key point — Obama continues to evolve. McCain doesn’t. Obama, the frequent foe of economic and military competition, is the beneficiary of one of the most protracted, expensive, and yes toughest political primaries in US history. He is a dramatically stronger candidate as a result and anybody who sees Hillary voters shifting to McCain in large numbers is smokin’ it.
It will be an unusually sharp choice — rarely have two presidential candidates disagreed on so many topics. And even though McCain is clearly the great man in the race, he faces very long odds.
An interesting way to reframe the race? Make Bobby Jindal his running mate. The governor turns 37 next week and has dramatically more legislative and executive experience than Obama — to say nothing of a young, passionate following.
Jun 2, 2008 - 8:56 pm 38. ic:unhappiness with Bush’s spending, appointments, and inability to articulate a message
Well, Obama’ Illinois state pork of $100,000 went to father Pfleiger; his $1,000,000 federal pork went to his wife’s employer who promptly raised her salary from a bit over 100k to over 300k. Thus, Obama’s unlikely to remind us of “Bush’s spending”.
As to “inability to articulate a message”, Bush knows we don’t have 58 states, he knows the difference between memorial and veteran days. Bush didn’t know the name of that Pakistan General/PM, Obama didn’t know who Gordon Brown was. The only difference was the MSM covered up for Obama, and made up things against Bush if necessary.
Jun 2, 2008 - 9:00 pm 39. Michael McNeil:Victor Davis Hanson wrote:
Arkansas is not contiguous with Kentucky, but is with Illinois
Victor, I appreciate and respect your work very much, but the above is also a gaffe, of yours in this case, and certainly reduces the impact of your piece. Arkansas may not be contiguous with Kentucky, but it definitely is closer to being so than it is with Illinois.
Personally, I like to keep a globe on the corner of my desk and as a final check when geography is involved, glance at it just before pressing “send”! (smile) Or pull up an online map, such as here. In my own experience (of myself), one’s estimation faculties is oftentimes just too unreliable at such moments not to do a crosscheck.
Jun 2, 2008 - 9:26 pm 40. ET:This post points out another critical element, which is that dissatisfaction with Republicans doesn’t inherently lead to a yearning for uber-taxation and shiny new entitlements of a size and scale which would blow away even the remaining fans of Jimmy Carter.
Jun 2, 2008 - 9:32 pm 41. jeyi:And it’s absolutely true, BUT: The screamingly obvious hatred of Bush from those in the news industry means that Joe Six-pack (no doubt cleaning his gun while pondering the bitterness in his belly) has now, by the power of mere repetition, bought into the dialectic which tells him that the economy is full-throttle into a no-holds-barred, full-fledged, official and notarized recession, and that it’s Bush’s fault. Furthermore, Barack Obama really is a thoughtful and caring guy who will mysteriously and magically eliminate the ‘culture of partisanship’, and whose past associations with a “get-whitey” church are to be shrugged off as something that was, you know, not really a big deal.
Finally, he is also doused with the narrative of McCain as Reagan II; that is, an old man with a quick and gruff temper who may be senile, and certainly can’t be expected to perform the careful work of reinventing America’s image in the eyes of Europe with nuance and sensitivity - but we know someone who “Can”!
So although VDH is spot-on that all the troubles of the Republicans don’t, by themselves, warrant a 180-degree turnaround into Carter-land, McCain has his work cut out for him dispelling the myths that the news people have so very carefully fostered.
Indeed, there are a couple of hundred miles of Missouri separating the toe of Illinois from the Arkansas state line.
This is not the first time I’ve noted a gaffe by Prof. Hanson in the specific context of whacking another gaffe by some disfavored politician.
While I respect his erudition and prolific contributions to the ’sphere, and I generally agree with his perspective, it is hard to cite an example where he has acknowledged and corrected his own factual errors, or thanked his supporters who have pointed them out in back channel emails.
Jun 2, 2008 - 9:33 pm 42. Mustang94:Arthur, Ron, please reread: VDH’s point was that Obama was attempting to downplay Hillary’s KY win by attributing it to the fact that KY and AR are neighboring states when in fact it is he who comes from a neighboring state. It points to the parochialism inherent to Obama’s brand of cosmopolitanism. Cairo? Is that IL or KY or MO? It’s all so far from Lake Shore Drive.
Jun 2, 2008 - 9:37 pm 43. Josh Drescher:[...] Victor Davis Hanson: Both Obama and McCain have pulled off the once unthinkable. The former dethroned some 16 year of [...]
Jun 2, 2008 - 9:37 pm 44. Victor Davis Hanson on why Obama can’t win in November | Life, Liberty, and Property:[...] Victor Davis Hanson writes: In a year that for historical and contemporary reasons should be a Democratic shoo-in, the Democrats have nominated about the only candidate who can lose in November, the Republicans the only one of their own who can still win it. [...]
Jun 2, 2008 - 9:58 pm 45. frieda:Obama’s gaffes alone within just 2 months makes you wonder if his brain functions correctly and Liberals thought Bush was dumb!!! I think if Mr. O gets elected we will have a fun 4 years of many more wonderful gaffes to come.
Visit this blog dedicated to Obama’s gaffes:
http://WWW.OBAMASGAFFES.BLOGSPOT.COM
Jun 2, 2008 - 10:04 pm 46. b:McCain: Get behind nuclear power in a big way. Tie it in to national security. Explain the positive effects on the economy and the technological transition away from oil transport. This is your energy issue.
Jun 2, 2008 - 10:13 pm 47. Jonesy:Jindal wont appeal to anyone but indians and movement conservatives. He’d be a drag on McCain and lose a Pres election in a landslide. He’s a novelty for conservatives though because he isnt white. Thats fine if it makes you feel better, but theres no way he’s ever going to be the nominee, at the top or bottom.
Jun 2, 2008 - 11:00 pm 48. RuleTopia:McCain has a terrific and credible potential message on the economy: stop wasteful government spending.
It’s government involvement and spending that has created high prices for gas and health care. Free the energy industry to drill and produce our oil and generate more nuclear power and speculators will bet on lower prices. Reduce government involvement in health care and prices will go down there, too.
McCain also has a wonderful response to those who bring up his age.
Wisdom.
It’s what McCain has and Obama lacks.
Jun 2, 2008 - 11:00 pm 49. bobby b:Mr. Clarke, I’m fifty. Did my public school years in quite good schools, in the “gifted” programs, National Merit four-year scholarship to a very good private college, then law school.
Auschwitz was in Poland?
Jun 2, 2008 - 11:29 pm 50. ronnor:Just keep saying to yourself as you vote for McCain, “Its all about the Judges for the next four years.” Everything pales to insignificance when you think that we could have a supreme court that legislates instead of adjudicates for decades.
Jun 3, 2008 - 1:44 am 51. 2nd Asst to the Jr Trainee:the actual quote says; “(Kentucky is not contiguous with Arkansas, but it is with Illinois)”
I think VDH meant that Illinois and Kentucky share a common border, in this context he is quite right. The gaffe belongs to BHO, not VDH.
Jun 3, 2008 - 3:28 am 52. Letalis Maximus, Esq.:Hey, I didn’t know Auschwitz was in Poland, either. I knew, however, that invoking the very name of the place seems to be a good way to get an emotional response out of Jews. I bet Obama knew that, too.
Jun 3, 2008 - 4:31 am 53. dispatches from TJICistan » Blog Archive » primaries:[...] http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanso…; [...]
Jun 3, 2008 - 4:55 am 54. Gary Ogletree:I suspect Obama completely made up his war story. Has anyone yet found a record of one of his relatives being in Patton’s army? Most people know their family war stories by heart. I’ve never gotten Kasserine Pass mixed up with El Alamein or Monte Casino mixed up with Monte Alban. The six months hiding in the attic does not ring true, either. Too clever by half, as they say.
Jun 3, 2008 - 6:16 am 55. ~Paules:America will reject Obama because the average citizen has a vested interest in his nation based on hard work, personal responsibility, and thrift. It’s a slap in the face to be lectured by our “betters” for the virtues that lead to genuine accomplishment. Liberal elites who didn’t earn their position, the poor who are dependent, and college kids who are sheltered have no such vested interest. A bit of personal achievement might make them proud of America, but all we ever hear from them is a litany of deficiencies and criticism. Obama’s coalition of perpetual whiners does not represent America. And the rest of us aren’t buying the so-called narrative. Obama will lose in a landslide.
Jun 3, 2008 - 6:49 am 56. John:I think that since WWII vets are dieing off at a rate of about 100+ per day Obama feels safe using them as a piggyback for his political agenda. He was clearly going after the Jewish vote with that yarn about an uncle who liberated Auschwitz.
I’m 67 y.o., I didn’t fight in WWII, my war came later in Vietnam. However my father had 5 brothers, he, and all his brothers, except for the baby brother of the family, saw action in “The Big War”, my grandmother proudly displayed in her window a blue flag with 5 gold stars on it. I can tell you exactly where each of my uncles served.
Obama does not honor the men and women who served by telling this fib, actually, by claiming a “me too” merit badge I consider it more a dishonor. How dare him~!
Jun 3, 2008 - 6:54 am 57. Zabrina:I find your comments, even riddled with typos, to be so much more acute and worth reading than almost anyone else’s observations these days. Thank-you for taking the time to post on the run. Please rest up and please keep sharing your thoughts with us!
Jun 3, 2008 - 7:55 am 58. Democritus:No one seems to have paid attention to a specific feature of Obama’s dubious Iraq policy. His intention to withdraw from Iraq, perhaps (in the event of dangerous “post-deployment” crises) having American troops return to carry out supposedly brief, surgical strikes; or withdraw to carry out needed military actions in Afghanistan and western Pakistan, will place American troops in precarious, deadly positions. Especially battles in Waziristan, intent upon killing or capturing Osama, might constitute a repetition of such bloody, literally uphill, battles as the U.S. experienced in World War II (Monte Cassino, the attempted breakout from Anzio, the crossing of the Rapido, etc.). Thus, though Obama is perceived by many as the “peace” candidate, his unnoticed pronouncements concerning why it is necessary to withdraw from Iraq suggest the opposite. Even if his casually-mentioned plan were, in the final analysis, necessary, Obama is clearly not the man to lead us.
Jun 3, 2008 - 8:30 am 59. Tina2008:Michelle’s thesis in part:
““My experiences at Princeton have made me far more aware of my ‘blackness’ than ever before… I have found that at Princeton, no matter how liberal and open-minded some of my white professors and classmates try to be toward me, I sometimes feel like a visitor on campus; as if I really don’t belong. Regardless of the circumstances underwhich I interact with whites at Princeton, it often seems as if, to them, I will always be black first and a student second.”
Would she then think: “I’m black first, then First Lady”??
Jun 3, 2008 - 8:31 am 60. ajkull:Love your post Thank You!
Michael & Ron, Please read carefully:
*Kentucky* is not contiguous with Arkansas, but it is with Illinois.
“it” referes to kentucky, not Arkansas. Michael: was that misquote deliberate? If not, please use cut & paste next time.
Jun 3, 2008 - 8:40 am 61. Mike Myers:Auschwitz in Poland–it’s easier to understand if you knew its Polish name which was something like Oczswiem.
As for Obama’s great uncle –not uncle–he supposedly served in the 89th Division. The 89th was one of the very last divisions to make it to Europe–arriving sometime in late January, 1945. So the 89th was in combat (or at least in the potential vicinity of combat) for something around 100 days time. I don’t know whether Obama’s “uncle” was a cook, a truck driver or a rifleman. Riflemen in infantry divisions tended to get chewed up quickly in Northern Europe. But since the 89th was in combat operations for such a relatively short period of time, I find the story about “Uncle” coming home and going up in the attic for 6 months smells a bit.
Jun 3, 2008 - 8:53 am 62. atiem:Ron, Arthur Benson, Michael Mcneil and jeyi,
“Kentucky is not contiguous with Arkansas, but it is with Illinois” should be read “Kentucky is not contiguous with Arkansas, but Kentucky is with Illinois”. The ‘it’ refers to the subject ‘Kentucky’ not the object of preposition ‘Arkansas’.
Thanks VDH. I enjoyed your on the fly writing.
Jun 3, 2008 - 9:17 am 63. Dave:Great analysis. The bottom line is, if McCain can just stay disciplined and stubbornly push on, just like he did in the primaries…Obama and his gaffe-prone, racist/terrorist/America-trashing friends-prone, bitter/America-trashing wife-prone, stick-with-a-losing-strategy-in Iraq-prone campaign will die a slow and natural death.
The more America sees McCain as a strong Commander-in-Chief…next to Obama’s not-ready-for-prime-time naivite and just-plain ignorance of history and the world…McCain will easily walk to a win in November.
Jun 3, 2008 - 9:17 am 64. GeorgeBest:Obama is a joke and has no business being a serious candidate for any office outside of local congressman in a corrupt all black district, but the fact is that he will be our next president.
Carter won previously when there were less stupid people in this country then there is now. The stupid people will come out in droves for Obama just because all they know how to do is watch TV who tells them to hate Bush. They dont care that Obama wont make their life better, they just want that one instance of power where they think they can stick it to rich white people. After the election is over, they resume their poor ignorant lives and the people who make up the heart of this nation will have a big task of withstanding four years of this idiot. Stupid people rule our country and unfortunately the brilliant post and smart commenters who respond here are not indicative of the voting public that is slowly destroying our great country.
Jun 3, 2008 - 9:32 am 65. Nick B:Thanks, Doc,
But as I’ve already seen in the “comments section”, the media is going to pump up Obama ceaselessly while slamming McCain over and over again.
They’re bitter from previous elections, frustrated by the length of the Dem primary, and hungry for victory at all costs.
Jun 3, 2008 - 9:42 am 66. John:@ GeorgeBest;
I hope you don’t really think the average American walking down the street is that stupid. What a sad commentary on this country if that were the case.
Jun 3, 2008 - 11:19 am 67. john:Obama said Kentucky was closer to Arkansas than Illinois. Kentucky shares a border with Illinois, not Arkansas. VDH is correct.
Jun 3, 2008 - 11:51 am 68. Cornhead:VDH again fails to mention that he won another big award: The Bradley Prize.
VDH also won the National Humanities Medal.
The former I saw in an ad in “The Weekly Standard” and the latter I saw on CSPAN.
Both well-deserved!
Jun 3, 2008 - 12:38 pm 69. GeorgeBest:John, Unfortunately I do think our country is that stupid. Hell, we almost elected John Kerry and the difference this time will be the race issue that is going to mobilize just a few more stupid black people and guilty feeling liberal white people to push Obama over the top. Then lets see what these terrorists do and how we react.
Jun 3, 2008 - 1:29 pm 70. fred gill:Will48 makes a good point about the images of Obama that we are allowed to see. But good luck in changing them. They are uniformly selected with an eye to deification. Other images exist, but you must seek them out in dark corners of the web (yes, I confess, I have). They are pictures of him scowling, rolling his eyes, and puffing frantically on cigarettes. (He was long a chain smoker and I have not heard that he quit.) His is a cleverly manufactured public persona. The complicity of the media in this is astonishing and not entirely due to ideological preference. Look at the Drudge Report. Do they simply enjoy saddling us with successive versions of Ethelred the Unready? Or do they seriously regard him as some frail little child whom they must protect from the world? If so, they and many others are in for a profound disillusionment.
Another Democrat for McCain.
Jun 3, 2008 - 1:46 pm 71. TLM:The European readers on this site must be chuckling over our difficulties with geography and/ or syntax. However, in my opinion, not all “gaffes” are created equal. I believe VDH’s original post contained a transcription error (AR for KY). No harm no foul. Obama’s on Auschwitz? Understandable, considering the rigors of his campaign schedule and his evident desperation to shore up his support with Jewish voters. I suggest he not repeat that one though. The Holocaust museum at Auschwitz is a national shrine, dedicated to the millions of Jews and non-Jewish Poles who were executed by the Nazis. Also, I’m sure the Poles still remember a former U.S. President who placed them on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain. Let’s not continue to slight our new found allies. And, as Obama hails from Chicago which has, I believe, the largest concentration of Polish-Americans in the U.S., I’m sure he doesn’t want to offend them either or give us the impression that he developed a too parochial view while living for 20 years on the Southside. He gets a one-time pass if he learned his lesson. Fifty-eight States in our Union? I have a problem with that one, as I’ve never heard any adult American make that particular mistake before. Here remediation is required. I suggest the next time he is up on a flag bedecked stage ready to give us one of those stirring speeches of his, all draped in a panoply of red, white and blue “pseudo-patriotic” symbolism, that he count the stars on the American flag before he opens his mouth.
Jun 3, 2008 - 1:59 pm 72. Hanson: Autopsy of the Primaries | Jack’s Newswatch:[...] [Go check out what he has to say about McCain] [...]
Jun 3, 2008 - 2:25 pm 73. M.E.:As historic model for McCain I would choose Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, consul, two times dictator, a simple farmer who, accepting the Senate’s appointment as dictator, leaves his field and saves the Republic. He was 80 years old when was nominated dictator for the second time in other critic moment for the Republic (Livy IV). So I see old pater McCain. The Republic is in danger; the vilest demagogues are intriguing against the Senate preparing the conquest of the power. They celebrate already a victory but the old soldier faces the enemies with calm and courage while the others are in panic. Yesterday we could read about the new menaces of Iranian fanatics, the vigorous replay of John McCain and the weary and repetitive objections of his vile adversary. I have thought (remembering Alexis de Toqueville) that only a true Democracy can generate extraordinary men like President George W. Bush, general Petraeus, senator John McCain. And in the “short” American history there have been many extraordinary men. I am sure that McCain doesn’t finish this glorious line. A democracy produces also many by-products like O. & Co. but the problem is if a society produces only wastes or something else, and this “else” is essential.
My good friend, professor of Art in the University of California, said me with much pessimism and abhorrence that next President of the US would be Mrs. Clinton. He was absolutely sure. Obama was something unforeseen for him and many others. For a scholar of myths, as I am, the unforeseen is central structural element of the myths that deal with fighting between heroes and monsters. It doesn’t mean that the unforeseen is something irrational. It is unforeseen for men, but foreseen for gods. The Democratic “politburo” hasn’t changed its attitude but, I think, has been dragged by events. Now the situation seems to be more paradoxical and unexpected. The two rivals have changed roles: now Hillary is something unforeseen, and denouement is uncertain even if Obama wins the nomination. Is there a rational explanation for this paradoxical situation? Is it possible to explain Obama’s fortune by financial support of Arab millionaires and complicity of liberal media? In part, yes. Another possible reason may be a rebellion against “Clintonian political hegemony”. But neither this “rational” is sufficient. In any case the result is this: “the Democrats have nominated about the only candidate who can lose”, and on the other part, “the Republicans the only one of their own who can still win”. I would add that in the improbable case of Hillary’s nomination her position will be much weaker than it was initially. But also McCain was and remains something unforeseen. He is becoming stronger and stronger, like the old oak, while the democratic rivals are weakening one other, like two animals in fight. So both Hillary and Obama have the same good chance of not being elected President, for our fortune.
There is, I think, another important element: the collaboration of McCain with Independent Democratic senator Joseph Lieberman. It may be a combination with important consequences that can change the traditional political structure. It is possible only to say that something will be change because is already changed (certainly not in sense of Obama’s “change”). We attend a truly grandiose spectacle with protagonists that seem only apparently normal.
Among the many mails that whirl, like the wind, along the electronic ways I have discovered these messages of two denizens of the country of elfs:
Bilbo Baggins to Gandalf: I am not a fortune-teller, like the majority of “political analysts”, but a distant observer of this dramatic comedy that is playing before the eyes of this and the other World. It reminds me the famous scene from Homer’s Iliad (Book XXII): Achilles pursues Hector, but cannot run him down. Finally Achilles kills Hector, but thereafter Achilles was killed by Paris. So it is indifferent if Hillary or Obama dies now or later: they will both die (politically, naturally). But, as Hector says before his last fight: “Alas! the gods have lured me on to my destruction. … death is now indeed exceedingly near at hand and there is no way out of it … My doom has come upon me; let me not then die ingloriously and without a struggle, but let me first do some great thing that shall be told among men hereafter”. In this way I image Hillary. She is a true Warrior who doesn’t leave the battlefield without spreading death and terror amongst the enemies. These enemies, as it is easily to guess, are her ex-fellows Democrats that have elected Achilles-Obamus to their misfortune that waits them in the terrible form of the Hillary Medusa.
Gandalf to Bilbo Baggins: Dear Bilbo, in your comment you forget a very important detail: while “one in full flight, the other one pursuing him” (Hom. Il. XXII, 157), “all the gods looked on” (167). Who are these “gods” (in political sense)? If Achilles is Obamus and Hector is Hillary, the gods are Republicans and their Commander-in-Chief Zeus is John McCain.
6th year of the Great Wheel
Jun 3, 2008 - 2:45 pm 74. Misanthropicus:RE Gary Ogletree: “I suspect Obama completely made up his war story. Has anyone yet found a record of one of his relatives being in Patton’s army? Most people know their family war stories by heart.[...]
Gary, again an intriguing media blind spot here. Yesterday I spent a few minutes on this on the web and I came upon a http://www.Riehl World View (a blog) which claims that upon checking military database(s) he found no Charles W. Payne from Kansas in the 89th. in Europe at that time. However, at that time there was a Charles W. Payne from Kansas (also proper age group) serving in the Navy.
Jun 3, 2008 - 2:56 pm 75. Joe Blow:Since I wouldn’t buy from Glibama a $40 vacuum cleaner, I think that he just blurted this story out to impress the Jewish electorate (remember Hillary a few years ago discovering that she has jewish relatives?) and media bought it - this kid deserves a chance after so much oppression, doesn’t he?
To those who criticized or called hanson on it (Kentucky is not contiguous with Arkansas, but it is with Illinois)is the verbatim statement from the column and is correct. Was the article changed or did you not read it carefully
Jun 3, 2008 - 3:25 pm 76. Ron Kean:I’m feeling guilty that I don’t read newspapers and magazines anymore.
Jun 3, 2008 - 4:55 pm 77. John:@GeorgeBest,
We allow them to vote,,, even worse, we allow them to breed.
Jun 3, 2008 - 5:01 pm 78. Jack Marcotte:Essential vdh.
Concerning vdh statement “Kentucky is not contiguous with Arkansas, but it is with Illinois” flap amongst the commenter’s.
It is a sad commentary of lowering the common educational denominator that is being illustrated by this.
One can’t even get off the same page without a miss quote or thought that seems to travel more along the lines of preconception than reality. What happens when in the voting booth?
Even simple statements of fact seem to “confuse” those with political agenda’s. We will all pay for the ignorance and ignorant and those with bigger mouths than brains who have been given a sense of entitlement well beyond their means of earning it.
There is good news in all of this. I am not aware that any communist state or heavy socialist (translate liberal) state has survived beyond becoming a backwater or rust belt of failed economic policies, or failed economic growth pushing the country backward until all have had enough and capitalism is injected into the failed state to revive it.
It seems if Obama wins we will need to all go through those stages. What does that say about America and the building block concepts that America was founded on. We have short memories. We will deserve if we do it.
Jun 3, 2008 - 5:38 pm 79. bob:If you want to know what Obama will be like on the domestic side, look no further than Massachusetts’ Governor Duval. They are kissing cousins policy wise
Jun 3, 2008 - 6:27 pm 80. Bonnie:God forbid, but if Obama is elected, he’d be not the first black president but the first socialist one.
Jun 3, 2008 - 9:51 pm 81. Obama is the nominee at Hoystory:[...] not a sure thing, of course, and I think that Victor Davis Hanson has it right when he points out that the GOP may have nominated the only man who can win the presidency in an [...]
Jun 4, 2008 - 12:22 am 82. Larry Rasczak:Don’t rule out Hillary yet… she hasn’t gone to court yet.
(Don’t laugh… remember Florida 2000?).
I’m not an election law specialist, but I can see Hillary making the argument that the rules put in place by the DNC are unconstitutional, and that, since she won more popular votes than Obama, she should be the nominee.
Hillary could say that the DNC has the right to select its’ nominee in any way it chooses. It can have a convention, or a caucus, or primary election, or it can cut open a goat and read the liver spots…BUT IF it chooses to have primary elections, AND those elections are subject to Federal election law, or receive Federal funds, THEN those elections MUST be done on a “one person, one vote” system. No primaries where you have a caucus afterwards so you can vote twice. No weighting the allocation of delegates so you get a politically correct mix of races and genders. No appointed superdelegates who dilute the votes of the elected delegates, and no “half votes” for some states. One Person, One Vote, whoever gets the most votes gets the nomination. Anything else unconstitutionally disenfranchises the Democratic primary voters.
If the DNC wants to do it some other way, they are free to do so…but they would have to do so in a way that didn’t involve the expenditure of Federal funds. She could say “The Constitution does not demand you have an election…but it does demand that IF you have an election you MUST count all the votes; and all the votes MUST count the same”.
I don’t know if it would be a winning argument legally, and it would be sure to really annoy the DNC (though I think Hillary has pretty much burned her bridges there already). That being said, I can think of a number of lawyers who would accept a fee to argue that in court.
She has between now and August to push this through the court system. If she wins the Court would force the DNC to throw out the superdelegates, and throw out the extra “vote twice” delegates from Texas. Perhaps even count Florida and Michigan in full, but that is a separate issue. What would happen to Iowa and the other caucus states I don’t know.
Under the Court ordered rules Hillary gets the nomination in Denver, and de facto control of the DNC, and (get this) HILLARY CLINTON is now a REFORM CANDIDATE! She’s the “Iron Lady” (sorry Lady Thatcher) who “stood up to the special interests and their backroom politics” and who “took back the Democratic Party for the little guy”! Whats more “she will do the same in Washington”.
Besides, at this point, what does she have to loose?
Jun 4, 2008 - 7:51 am 83. Sandra:Much has been made of the divisions in the Democratic electorate and Obama’s inability to appeal to certain groups of the electorate. I feel this assessment is based on an out of date electoral map. I believe we must take a close look at the ramifications of the Obama campaign. It has become a cliche to say that Hilary Clinton represents the old politics, but it is true. She not only represents the old politics but harkens back to the days of a Clinton victory based on a demographic that represented under one half of the electorate. When we talk about Hilary Clinton’s ability to draw in important elements of the Democratic party, we are talking about percentages of the electorate based on that old voting chart. I feel that the Hilary voters pale in comparison to those Obama has brought out and will bring out through a massive voter registration drive. What those voter maps will look like no one really knows. (Perhaps the recent Democratic victories in the South give us a glimpse of this new voter map.) I think we’re talking about a major change in our country’s electorate. Given that, it has become increasingly important for Obama to move on and move away from Hilary Clinton. With the potential for a new much larger Democratic/Independent base, he is better off to move on from the old Clinton style of politics. Choosing Hilary for vice-president would confuse the picture and take the emphasis off Obama’s message to create change and would have the effect of weakening the drive to register new voters and bring in those who have never cared for politics or voting.
You will hear many negative comments from the Hillary supporters. “They’ll vote for McCain before they’d vote for Obama.” Do these represent the American electorate or do they represent the party politicos and regulars who are speaking out of the Clinton playbook? I respect the sincere desires of Clinton supporters for HIlary to win, but we must look beyond these words. If Obama could win over one of the most powerful political machines of the last fifty years, don’t sell him short. We’ve only begun to see the possibilities for the Obama campaign. So much of the American electorate has yet to be tapped.
Jun 4, 2008 - 8:06 am 84. GeorgeBest:Why is Obama the first “black” whatever? Isnt he half white too? White people have become so politically correct and so afraid of being called racists, that they allow lies prefaced by racial overtones to be gospel. Isnt Barry just another white guy until he runs for political office? He is white until he needs to speak and then he tries to be black and its almost funny. Total identity crisis brought on by mixed breeding that just does not work. It continues to amaze me that black people embrace heroes for their racist causes who either arent majority black(Obama)or try to belong in white society until they can use their skin color to their advantage(OJ Simpson). Liberal white people give them the push they need. Its comical until your country goes to crap.
Someday we will have a “black” President, but it wont be Obama whether he is victorious in November or not.
Jun 4, 2008 - 10:14 am 85. Trudy B. Taylor:it’s wednsday–i heard obama reassure the listeners at the aipac meeting that he believes that a “[undivided]jerusalem should remain the capital of israel”. does somebody need to inform him that tel aviv is the capital of israel?
even more interesting is the fact that the prepared speech forwarded to several dem blogs and news arenas for release coinciding with speech time had no mention of jerusalem whatsoever (i checked). now, this means that the remark was ad libbed–it got a sound round of applause from the listeners– in other words, obama made it up on the spot. and he botched it.
Jun 4, 2008 - 11:09 am 86. M.E.:I read the Palestinians’ protests against Obama’s statements about Jerusalem. It is very fanny. This guy, like a bad actor, speaks what a public wants to hear. So we will soon a abundant collection of declarations that cancel each other out. He said also that would defend Israel from Iran. I laughed much.
Jun 4, 2008 - 12:22 pm 87. Ed Wallis:I simply do not understand this “need” and pattern of conservative writers (such as Mr. Hansen) to give Sen. Obama helpful advice…in particular when much of their observations include the assessment that The Obamboozler is fundamentally a threat to the United States of America.
Jun 4, 2008 - 3:28 pm 88. Jim Rockford:Sandra, your analysis contains a mental model flaw of old politics.
Baby Bust and Baby Boom, remember that? Seniors outnumber young voters about 2-1. Obama can register more Black and College voters, all he wants. No one is manufacturing any more of them. College kids generally just do not vote, as Obama Girl, Amber Lee Ettinger, did not vote in the Primary (she was busy attending a Sky Vodka Premier Party). Getting out and voting, organizing vote drives, etc. require boring old middle class values which is why boring old middle class people do them. Not hipsters or college kids or crime-ridden minority neighborhoods, where “life is full of interest” to the question “where you from?” The slightest trip means a risk of getting shot.
Obama’s dream of young voters + Blacks + yuppies = victory is just that a dream. White Working Class men remain the largest demo slice of voters, at 25% of the electorate. Guess what, none of them will vote Obama and the Farrakhan machine. This is why Obama lost big states with lots of electoral votes to Clinton.
Obama is the creature of Farrakhan, who dominates South Side Chicago politics. Obama could not succeed there without Farrakhan’s support and money/favors flowing back to Farrakhan. That’s politics Chicago-style. Be assured there is plenty to mine there for people inclined, and the internet will allow that to be posted anywhere. Heck why do you think Obama hooked up with Wright in the first place? Answer: Wright was hooked into the Farrakhan machine. I’m sure there’s plenty there, if no Michelle Obama screaming at “Whitey” video (which probably does not exist).
Winning national elections depends on carrying “battleground” states with lots of blue collar swing voters. Clinton, Rove, both understood this. Obama has a fantasy that “no compromises” need be made to win with Blacks+Yuppies+College kids. That’s probably Dukakis to Mondale results.
As for the Media, they are not what they were in 1976. They are fragmented, with audiences all over the place, mostly female (men do not watch much TV) and a liberal echo chamber. In 1976, Cronkite mattered. Today, in 2008, Katie Couric is irrelevant. In 1968, with a nation of 203 million, Beverly Hillbillies pulled in 60 million viewers. Today, with a nation of 305 million, American Idol pulls in 22 million viewers. The pulse of the internet, particularly funny/cutting/awful videos on YouTube and other places, is much more effective in shaping people’s opinions.
In particular, TV is hostile to men, who find it alien, very feminine (women make up 80% of sitcom viewers, most shows/channels pursue women viewers exclusively) and therefore of no real interest. Joe Sixpack has already decided to vote McCain, all McCain has to do is not screw that up (which for Maverick, is a big job).
Blue collar women democrats have been told by Obama to “shut up” and “get to the back of the bus” and perhaps “Iron My Shirt.” They have nowhere to go, Obama has nothing to offer them, and will also probably vote McCain who has said nice things about Hillary. What can Obama offer blue collar women? Or Blue Collar men?
He’s already told them: endless apologies for their “lives of white privilege” while they struggle to make ends meet, get to the back of the line/bus for any sort of help (Blacks and cool causes like save the Polar Bear first), denigration of America and their values, high crime rates fueled by soft-on-crime liberalism and Black Nationalism, and higher taxes to funnel to the Farrakhan organization. Rev. Wright needs a new mansion.
Clinton in 1992 offered a pander of infrastructure spending to put white working/middle class voters back to work or pump up their wages. Obama won’t even offer that.
We’ll see how that bet pays off, my guess is not very well for him.
Jun 4, 2008 - 11:53 pm 89. TLM:Re: GeorgeBest
Obama’s skin color is apparently dark enough for African Americans to claim him as one of their own. Jesse Jackson made an interesting comment on CNN Tuesday. He related how Obama watched him give a speech at Columbia during his 1984 presidential campaign and came away thinking something to the effect “man, this thing is possible”(Jackson was on the phone speaking to CNN from Tanzania and I didn’t catch his words exactly). Obama’s African American identity is in large part affectation and in, my opinion, explains his various associations in Southside Chicago. Absent a “normal” American childhood, white or black, he was free to choose the identity that best fit his political ambitions.
Jun 5, 2008 - 5:20 am 90. Trudy B. Taylor:ed wallis: mr. hansen is using the pose of advising his lessers as a vehicle to pointingg out thier weaknesses and inconsistances to those of us who listen to him.
tlm: shelby steele’s book- a bound man- is a timely read.
Jun 5, 2008 - 6:44 am 91. M.E.:To Jim Rockford:
I have read with the maximum interest your analysis: it gives essential information for a non-American who follows what happens now in the US. There is every reason to consider Obama as the creature of Farrakhan’s mafia. Your analysis confirms also my conclusion:
With Hillary the Democratic Party had some hope; with Obama it has no hope. This creature of Black radicals and Liberal-leftist will be overthrown by the political and economical reality of the US and of the World. In fact, the key word for which he has special predilection is “dream”. So all dreaming dregs of American society have gathered around Obama like flies attracted by a putrid body. The sane part, i.e. the white working classes, must see (using the Marxist terminology) this millionaire-socialist as the “enemy of class”. Also the political emigrants (Iranian, Latino-American, East-European and so on) must have the same feeling of repugnance for this sympathizer of the Islamic and communist dictatorships.
Jun 5, 2008 - 9:01 am 92. Richard:Call me a conspiracy theorist, but has anyone considered that BOH is the Bob Dole of the democrat party? Think about it. It gives the black population something they have always wanted, a possible black POTUS. IF he wins, fine and dandy. If his presidency is a disaster ala Jimmah Carter or if he doesn’t win, well the Dems can always say “well we gave it our best shot” and will insure themselves of the black vote for another fifty years. Secondly, they rid themselves, (for the time being) of the Clintons. Then in 2012 VIOLA! The Clintons become the next saviors the Democrat Party. Hillary to the rescue, so to speak.
Also, another “what if” scenario. How about Shrillary running as an independent, just to bleed off votes from BOH? She’d certainly get the female vote. BOH has sort of thrown them under the bus as well as his grandmother.
As for McCain. I hate to say it but I’ll hold my nose and vote for him. He does have some conservative values, (although I am sort of at a loss to think of many), but it is his stand on seeing the job to completion in Iraq that gets my vote.
I just wish he’d commit to BUILDING THE FENCE on the border. IF he were to do that he could possibly sweep the election.
Jun 5, 2008 - 11:42 am 93. TLM:VDH has the best job in the world. It must be quite satisfying to be able to read through 2500 years of Western history and try to make some sense of it all. And besides written records, which have always focused on the successes and failures of of various leaders, historians now have access to information from a variety of other fields - archeology, anthropology, the sciences, geography etc - to fill out the picture and enhance their understanding of historical processes. In the future, those who seek to understand history, to fathom how and why societies rise, and then fall, will have even more data with which to evaluate such phenomena. For example, every minute aspect of our society today will be available for future study. Possibly, a future historian, a new VDH, will write a tome about us, titled “Why America Failed”. His conclusions will likely include such factors as environmental changes, economic decline, external threats, changes in demography and a host of other quantifiable challenges. However, our future historian, after taking into consideration all the data available, may come to a “novel” conclusion: America failed because Americans lost their collective ability to reason, terminally impairing their selection of suitable leadership. And perhaps, the remnants of our failed society, as they seek to rebuilt what has been lost, will heed his words.
Jun 5, 2008 - 12:16 pm 94. Sandra M:Obambi’s wife may well lose him the election. (Obambi is Ann Coulter’s term and perfect).
If not her (whether or not that picture of her with Louis Farrakan exists) then what about his congregation? He hasn’t thrown them under the bus yet. But these are people who whoop enthusiastically when hatred of White and America is expressed.
I grew up on THE MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY about a man who dissed America and was exiled never to return. Let’s give these America haters a one way ticket to Africa and $20,000. Perhaps more. BUT they can never return. That should be the rule.
By the way, the last post in this thread signed Sandra was written by someone else. Hence, the change to Sandra M.
Jun 5, 2008 - 4:05 pm 95. G. Arcuri:Regarding the electability of Barack Obama: Never underestimate the gullibility of the American electorate. One need only look at the sorry mess that the state of California is in as an example of how years of poor choices and wishful thinking by voters can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. As you may have guessed by now, I’m not optimistic about the chances for John McCain in the upcoming election. He will have to pierce the aura of Camelot and break the political spell which Obama can so easily cast over the vast majority in order to win the Presidency. Americans seem to have a penchant for being fooled and believing in fairy tales. As Winston Churchill wryly observed, “The Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing - after first having tried everything else.” We’re about to elect “Mr. everything else”.
Jun 5, 2008 - 4:47 pm 96. Ron Kean:I can’t believe everybody’s discovered this thread. I liked it better in the old days when there were 9 comments.
There was a chance the good professor would actually have read MY stuff.
The next time Barry says, ‘McCain/Bush’, Johnny should say ‘Obama/Wright,’ or ‘Obama/Sheehan,’ or ‘Obama/Castro,’ or ‘Obama/Stalin,’ or something like that.
Jun 5, 2008 - 7:09 pm 97. M.E.:All the Dr. Hanson’s forecasts have come true: the Democrats have nominated the only candidate who can lose, and the formation of a McGovern candidacy, i.e. based on the pure demagogy, is completed. So we must discuss (willing or not willing) “this possible (or rather impossible) next President”. I am sure that Dr. Hanson’s other prognosis will be also fulfilled: “if things continue as they are Obama will … lose the electoral vote by a wide margin.” I don’t read more Obamas’s discourses. The very image of this individual makes me to feel horror vacui. In the victory’s discourse he has repeated “the word ‘change’ no fewer than 33 times”, as McCain ironically noted. So it is enough to read one Obama’s speech to know what he has said and will say in all the others. Now I read only McCain’s discourses. His last discourse in New Orleans (June 3, 2008) was brilliant, ironic and pungent: “I have a few years on my opponent, so I am surprised that a young man has bought in to so many failed ideas”. Its construction is perfect: it seems to hear a voice of ancient Roman Senator who defends his Patria from a new assault of the vulgar demagogues. It is possible to discuss the Senator’s words but you will never find emptiness in them but solid substance, exact sense, and vigour of spirit. I have read many discourses, ancient, modern and post-modern, and I was deeply touched by the emotional power of the old Senator John McCain’s words: “I don’t seek the presidency on the presumption I’m blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save my country in its hour of need. I seek the office with the humility of a man who cannot forget my country saved me”. Vive John McCain!
Jun 6, 2008 - 1:20 am 98. The Absurd Report » Autopsy of the Primaries by Victor Davis Hanson:[...] Source: PAJAMAS MEDIA Social Networking: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
Jun 6, 2008 - 5:30 am 99. doug stewart:i certainly find it truly amazing that so many americans, and so many with money, claim to be “patriotic”, yet are gung - ho in favour of policies that are leading to national suicide. Republican empire building may have been an appropriate -and a profitable - national agenda 200 years ago, but in the age of information, it’s not on. thank god the views expressed in this essay are out of step with the american majority. we are in for 8 years of Obama. and the real beginning of the new american century.
Jun 6, 2008 - 5:18 pm 100. Ron Kean:Hi Doug.
Sorry. It’s not allowed to predict the future. Put a McCain bumper sticker on your car and FIGHT. Make enemies. Tell an African American to vote Republican. Tell ANYBODY!
Yes. Forget he’s unpredictable and can lean to the left.
HE’S NOT BARRY.
99 posts. We’re going for a record here.
I won’t be satisfied until we’ve reached 500!
Jun 6, 2008 - 5:51 pm 101. GeorgeBest:Doug, Your first sentence summarizes the liberal mentaility in this country. Liberals are guilty of exactly what you just put on Republicans. You are right about one thing though, the views on this blog are not in line with american majority. That is what scares me as the intelligence and briliance of this country has now fallen into the minority. That is what is causing the downfall of this country.
Jun 6, 2008 - 8:15 pm 102. M.E.:Ron: I add another post:
In the Preface to his celebrated book “Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds” Charles Mackay (London 1852) Charles Mackay writes: “We see one nation suddenly seized, from its highest to its lowest members, with a fierce desire of military glory; another as suddenly becoming crazed upon a religious scruple; and neither of them recovering its senses until it has shed rivers of blood and sowed a harvest of groans and tears, to be reaped by its posterity”.
Jun 7, 2008 - 1:33 am 103. Rob:I read here some pessimistic comments with very dark predictions. I am not optimist and I don’t like predictions, either bad or good. We must be rational men. I see clearly: “rivers of blood” and “harvest of groans and tears” await not only the US but the entire World if the creature of sinister Rev. Wright will be elected President of the most powerful country of the World. It would be the suicide of a great nation. I cannot accept it. All my rational nature protests again this very possibility. One here could say that I exaggerate. May be. But I conserve in my memory many things that I cannot forget, and therefore I know that vague hopes lead only to disasters, resignation leaves a free space to the forces of Evil, and the moral duty of man is to fight them.
I wonder what the Americans felt when they heard about the boat people in Vietnam, camps of death in Cambodia, and what they will feel hearing about carnages organised by the terrorist after the American withdrawal from Iraq? The liberal media would blame, as always, Bush, and justify the criminals. But here there is at stake the moral responsibility of the entire nation without which it cannot exist as a nation. So who is elected as Supreme Leader of Nation, a virtuous man or a vile demagogue, will determine not only the moral quality of a nation, but is very existence.
“Unless there’s been a major plate tectonic
Read more carefully.
Ron said:
“event that I wasn’t aware of, IL and AR don’t touch. I think the point about how staggering his gaffes are would have been much more effective if you didn’t make one yourself.”
VHS actually said:
“They range from geographical ignorance (Kentucky is not contiguous with Arkansas, but it is with Illinois),”
Illinois does share a border with Kentucky.
Jun 7, 2008 - 10:10 am 104. steve maag:Obama uses his “correctly against the war” stance as his main evidence of good judgement. Whether a correct opinion or not, it hardly qualifies as judgement. Too bad for him because he has surely shown an abundance of poor judgement.
Judgement occurs when someone collects and weighs all the evidence and then deliberates a decision. Obama’s didn’t have sufficient informtion, surely less than the administratin, congress, the global intelligence community, etc.
No, Obama’s stance was a knee jerk reaction certain to appeal to his liberal base. That’s all.
Jun 8, 2008 - 9:44 pm 105. jnt:hey, as a neutral voter leaning towards obama, i’ve got to ask you guys-
don’t the last 8 years reflect pretty badly upon conservative ideas?
bush is a president that was loved by conservatives like obama is loved by liberals.
he had control of both houses and a pretty friendly media for 6 years.
and right now the state of the nation isnt looking so good for the average guy.
iraq wasnt quite the brilliant idea it seemed. but we don’t need to get into that right now.
the economy has been screwed by reckless speculation. it’s looking like that was caused by deregulation, a great conservative cornerstone.
global warming is something that needs to be addressed. from the average persons perspective it just doesnt seem likely that 90 percent of the world’s scientists have been pulling some bizarre hoax for the last 25 years.
please don’t get mad at me for these opinions, i just think it’s something that you guys will have to give some serious thought. elections are won by the guy who looks and acts like a winner, and right now thats obama.
unless mccain can come up with a confident conservative platform, i’m afraid he may be finished. being a less charismatic bush wont work, just like gore failed at being a less charismatic clinton.
Jun 9, 2008 - 10:48 pm 106. dvd:The US population is approximately 302 million people. 24% of which are NOT eligible to vote, due to age.
302- 72.5 = 229 million who actually make up the electorate.
clinton got 18 .x million votes 18/229=7.8% of potential voters. *
Clinton obama combined got approx 36.x million votes in the primaries. 36.x/229= 15% of the electorate, the counted collusion of a vocal minority whose aim is what?
Whose votes in and of themselves; position factions, within the aggregate counts, to grossly engage in largess, at the expense of …..all those who surround them. (this is rationalized under the banner of elitists right, but some of us know better)
229-36.5 = 192.5
192.5 million folks said Neither, or voted republican, or libertarian. The hubris of failed logic which cant properly identify missing information, and ends up encouraging those participating to act outside the actual results, as if nothing were unusual….is just broken.
Someone should step forward and define the logic of perpetuating these kind of results.
We already know Pres. Bush has a 25% approval rating……and congress as a body is struggling to hold 13%.
We have minority rule with a disproportionate amount of power accorded to a minority electorate whose achievements are 75% disapproved or 87% disapproved, depending on the body of your choice.
Somehow…..the gross electorate needs to find a way to assign to the electing, liability for the largess the elected carry out on thier behalf.
We are entering a weekend, perhaps inspiration will arrive providing the continuum of the majority with a solution.
If not we’ll persevere….its a complex problem, how to take missing information and fit it onto momentum, whose bandwidth is not broad enough to consider it.
Now this is faulty logic imbued with hubris; don’t you think?
There are landslide scale observations within the context of the above categories of numbers. ( plus or minus 3% allowed)
The 1 trillion gold dollar question, becomes; how can ANY System, reject upwards of 70% of its potential, and be worth anything?
it can not……… the feedback as expressed by its negative approval ratings…. proves this, beyond doubt.
Thus the root of the failed politics of the present, is herein exposed as simple hegemony, its manifestations as proffered by its prevailing mouthpieces..locked in, by a logic, sustained by $’s within a vacuum applied as systemic self interest, dictates.
get a clue……you broke it you buy it….a familiar sign in any good store, extrapolated onto those whose momentum is clouding ability to understand what they themselves have responsibility for.
congress sporting a 13% approval rating just does not get it.
Those of us who refuse participation wonder how many more streets, bridges, parks, boondoggles named after robert byrd do we need?
How many times will nancy pelosie credit iran for an end to hostilities in basra?
how many more chuck hagels who elevates duplicity to art, do we need?
Congress has a bandwidth problem, we know it by the electorates refusal to support them despite record amounts of money spent advertising thier egoistic selves.
Any system whose potential allows a minority to fuel its output is broken. Its advisors are the source of the negative approval ratings, not part of any future solutions.
congress is broke, its politics of pandering, have emerged as its reason for existence, its embarrassing to look at its results and ponder how it characterizes itself as elite.
Elite what? Is the better question. 87% Do Not approve the job your doing. 87% disagree with those who you routinely select as sources of your contributory content, you’ve allow into your matrix. In excluding everyone else……congress is facilitating the demise of the country by its duplicity to values not shared by the electorate.
they do this under the auspices of they are elites, and thus they know best……
if it were actually true, that your elite, your approval ratings would be reversed…….great athletic performance emerge from training. Your performance, is trained down to a level where nearly everyone posits the disgrace of your performance as standard operating procedure.
everyday……you demonstrate that; your just bought and paid for.
self interest is all you’ve got, when you deny the foundation of your systems potential the way you do.
your not elite, your a systemic stumble of jumbled self interest…..bent on preserving everything you can for them that buys ya.
dont believe me? do the math, but include; the missing information your so fond of ignoring.
Jun 12, 2008 - 11:05 am 107. Obama: Is it Over? | PAWaterCooler.com:[...] Davis Hanson may have been right all those months ago when he said, “There is a certain irony here. In a year that for historical and contemporary reasons [...]
Sep 13, 2008 - 9:32 pm 108. Pajamas Media » It’s All Coming Down to a Few Key States…:[...] Victor Davis Hanson summed everything up best back in a June column here: In a year that for historical and contemporary reasons should be a Democratic shoo-in, the [...]
Oct 3, 2008 - 1:50 am 109. It’s All Coming Down to a Few Key States … | USA TERM LIMITS:[...] Victor Davis Hanson summed everything up best back in a June column here: In a year that for historical and contemporary reasons should be a Democratic shoo-in, the [...]
Oct 4, 2008 - 9:09 am 110. patrick stephens at psjs.net » Things to do in Denver?:[...] Or will those voters turn to a politician with decades of experience and a strong commitment to national defense? As Victor Davis Hansen put it, the Democrats have nominated the only candidate they had that could lose this election and the Repub…. [...]
Dec 16, 2008 - 1:50 pm