Oh, how I miss them…
I watched the other night Shane and Hombre, and realized how much I missed Jack Palance and Richard Boone (both Stanford attendees at one time). They were renaissance veterans, multi-talented, and in some tragic sense not fully utilized by Hollywood. Add in a Lee Marvin as well. In all candor, I don’t think a Kevin Costner, Brad Pitt, or any of the younger Hollywood generation measures up. And how could they—given the generation that came of age in WWII and the sort of country this was at the time?
The voices of Boone, Palance, and Marvin seem lost in film these days, as well as the air of disdain and tragic nobility they projected as actors.
CNN Looks at the Candidates
I was watching a rerun of the Anderson Cooper biographical documentaries of McCain and Obama. In the McCain piece here’s what I think we got in the end: Cindy McCain’s a former drug addict, a stroke victim, and fought false rumors their adopted child was an illegitimate offspring of her husband’s liasons, and is the only-child of zillionaires; McCain was knee-deep in the Keating Five, took on and then caved to the Religious Right.
In contrast, in this National Enquirer-type approach, the Obamas were blessed from the beginning—no mention (as there should not have been) of Obama’s admitted drug use, his radical past, nothing about Michelle’s divisive speeches, Princeton thesis.
Result: here is the contrast, a 42 year old who lied about his age married a princess who lied about hers, then lived apart, and then she spiralled downward while he got caught in ethics problems and flip-flops; meanwhile the super couple were drug-free, hardly privileged, and have a true partnership based on their model parenting and meritocratic-based education excellence.
In short, not even the pretense of even-handedness.
Is the Thrill Gone?
Listening to the recent various Obama speeches, I was struck by his two or three now reoccurring themes: His world-view of America is an amalgam of various victimized groups or rival interests—racial minorities, gays, and women—rather than a united citizenry that transcends its particularly tribal differences. When he talks of the military, there is almost nothing about the courage, audacity, and, yes, competence, of the US military that has done the near impossible in Iraq.
Instead the military is framed in terms of a vast group of victims in need of more government help, those who were not given adequate equipment, those suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, those with wounds, those in need of more benefits. All that may be in part true, but it is not the whole story, and at some point it must be balanced by mention that our soldiers on the battlefield have largely defeated al Qaeda and the insurgents in Iraq, and have achieved an amazing victory that has altered the entire calculus in the Middle East and made us safer from the threat of radical Islam.
A second theme seems the self-referential Obama himself. All politicians exaggerate and frame events around themselves. But Obama’s references to his landmark legislation, whether supposed welfare reform or foreign-policy initiatives, are simply not entirely supported by his brief tenure and meager record in the US Senate. One can just now begin to notice the subdued applause and crowd unease when he showcases himself at the center of all great issues of the last two decades—when he was in fact a rookie Chicago legislator. That, of course, is the source of the Bill Clinton pique: although Obama now takes credit for what liberal nostrums emerged in the late 1990s, they in fact were due almost entirely to Clinton’s rhetorical skills and Dick Morris’s art of triangulation. Yet Obama not only gives Clinton’s eight-year tenure absolutely no deference at all, but insidiously seems to incorporate it into his own paltry legislative record.
Third is a sort of growing irrelevance of his boilerplate criticism in the vein of Bush doesn’t do diplomacy, and the result is a sort international anger at a “unilateral” cowboyish America. But then he is faced with a Korea that is beginning to be corralled by diplomatic efforts, a growing united front against Iran, and a return of the UN to Iraq, with sympathetic governments–and suddenly the rhetoric seems stale and dated. What exactly right now would Obama do differently with China, South America, Sarkozy, Merkle, the Italians or the Brits, India? Iraq? Iran? Nafta? Not much.
Flip-flopping Along
I wrote the following on the corner today about Obama’s flopitis:
Four of July Flopitis [Victor Davis Hanson]
The question is no longer on what has Obama backtracked, but rather on what has he not?
The political problems with Obama’s flopitis are twofold: one, it is coming late in the season. To defeat Hillary he went hard left in the void left by Edwards. But the primary dragged on so long, that when he just recently flipped and flopped to leave the hard left on NAFTA, Trinity Church, Rev. Wright, FISA, gun control, campaign financing, death penalty, Iran, Iraq, Jerusalem, etc. he did so in the near summer, not late winter. The result is that his formerly left positions were showcased longer than most go-to-the-center politicians and thus his abandonment of them more striking and fresh in our memories.
For each inoperative “I can no more disown Rev. Wright” statement, there comes another each day about not quite pulling out of Iraq or wire-taps sorta OK, or NOT meeting John McCain “anywhere, anytime.” Every opportunist knows that in presidential politics such shamelessness should be over and done with by March.
Second, to employ a well-known Obamism, Obama ‘raised the bar’ so high with his ‘hope and change’ sophistry about transcending lobbyists, tawdry campaign financing, et al. that he is now being hoisted by his own petard — flip-flopping is the normal sort of rank opportunism, but for a messiah it is tantamount to sacrilege and heresy.
Some of us have been ad nauseam suggesting Democratic buyer’s remorse soon, and still stand by that prediction. The problem is not that the Left will abandon him; they won’t, and will gladly put up with an Iraqi war-fighter, huge private cash raiser, wire-tapper, free-trader, and gun-rights/death penalty advocate if he brings them all back to power. (But watch their furor if Obama sinks below McCain in the polls.) Instead the rub is that Obama’s new legions of hopers and changers won’t register, work, and turn out in sufficient numbers if they feel that they’ve been had and made to look silly, and Obama is just another Jimmy Carter/Walter Mondale/John Kerry. Nor will all this triangulation necessarily win the “clingers” vote, even though the about-faces are done on their behalf.
What’s going on? Obama’s handlers knew that their candidate had boxed himself into orthodox left-wing positions during the primary, but they counted on his prophet-like charisma and landmark “new candidate” appeal charming almost anyone as he ‘evolved.’ We will see whether such brazenness will necessarily work with either tough-minded Ohio or Michigan working people or cynical you-tubers.
Usually the in-party gets blamed for all the bad news—in this case gas prices, wars, weak dollar, shaky stock market, financial instability, mortgage crisis—but if a magnetic candidate like Obama loses in a made-for-order year like this, Democrats will have to call in Bill Clinton to relearn the art of triangulation, and how to disguise the liberal agenda with a southern accent, bubba aw-shucks populism, and trivialities like school-uniforms and Sister-Souljah moments.
In his defense, we forget that Obama is trying to be the first liberal Northern Democratic candidate to make it since JFK—and I don’t think, for all his talents, he is quite a JFK.
Next flip? I expect he will soon “refine” his view of lifting the Social Security tax ceilings—once we start hearing about 60%-plus state and federal tax bites.
07/04 10:23 AM
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63 Comments
1. OldGrouchy:Obama’s demands for our service, and Michelle’s demands that our souls be used at Obama’s direction, scare the heck out of me. IMHO, so much of Obama’s rhetoric reminds me of Hitler’s NAZI demands and that hysteria back in the ’30s.
What you, Dr. Hanson, are describing above also fits that same pattern of that ’30s era.
Obama seems willing to do whatever it takes to win over the electorate. But, still my question is: What does Obama stand for and who is he really? For me, the answer is that Obama is a very skilled speaker with a great voice but without a coherent thought in his head with the exception of wanting the presidency.
Jul 4, 2008 - 11:35 pm 2. BudW:Is not the expression “hoist [by, with] his own petard” rather than “on” it?
Jul 5, 2008 - 6:31 am 3. TLM:Barack Obama is giving his young acolytes a good lesson in U.S. politics. “Change we can believe in” has multiple meanings. He is modifying or abandoning nearly every position on the issues he has held throughout the campaign. Uncommitted for most of his legislative career and apparently unfettered by any core beliefs (other than in himself) he has left his Leftist supporters behind, aghast at his political malleability. He isn’t veering to the center, he’s maneuvering to the right of McCain. FISA, NAFTA, gun control, capital punishment for child rape, flag pins, Jerusalem et cetera et cetera, as enumerated by VDH and others. Next will be the Iraq timetable for withdrawal. With a not insignificant number of Hillary supporters refusing to back him, Barack’s campaign is clearly worried, and willing to take risks. They know the election is all about Obama, not the competition. He has made it so and he is vulnerable.
The looming Barack flip flop on Iraq gives John McCain an opportunity to contest a central tenet of the Obama craze, his opposition to the Iraq War in 2002. After his Iraq tour, Obama will almost certainly waffle on withdrawal and acknowledge improvement in conditions on the ground. McCain should then reassert our reasons for going there in the first place, and firmly question Obama’s supposed enlightened judgement regarding the Iraq War while he was a no-name Illinois state senator. I am convinced many Americans turned against this war because of our inept strategy under Rumsfeld and the inability of President Bush to offer a coherent rationale for the war. With the turnaround over the past year continuing apace, the only rationale some Americans may now need is the prospect of success. Casualties are down, troop morale remains high (see the front page of the NYT today: 1,200 troops re-upping at Camp Victory in Iraq), and the media are no longer ignoring the obvious. With the Intelligence failures of 2000-2003 now well known (c.f. the Senate Intelligence Committee report), McCain should strongly make the case that removing Saddam Hussein was prudent. We were operating in the dark, and better to do so in their territory than ours. If McCain could pull this off, he might make a significant dent in the malleable One’s popularity. The Iraq War could (and should) be the central issue in this election. And, I believe, there are many Democrats just waiting for a reason to abandon Obama.
Jul 5, 2008 - 6:42 am 4. vb:No one has ever tried to pin down the reasoning behind Obama’s positions. He opposed the war. Good, but on what basis and what was his alternative? Who were his foreign policy advisors at the time?
He was for privatizing the management of public housing. Why? Because some supporters told him that was the way to go? The same question goes for his Annenburg Challenge awards to schools. In both cases he threw money at ideas that sounded good, but he didn’t do much to monitor or analyze the results. He was on to bigger and better things and is trying to get there with the same strategy: throw some money at the problem. This strategy depends, of course, on having competent people to do the grunt work of monitoring and analysis, but Obama seems to be a very poor judge of people’s ability and character.
He likes to fly high on lofty, but meaningless, rhetoric. Sometimes though, you need to get down to earth and look at the real world. You need a a firm foundation to build a soaring edifice. I would like evidence that Obama has a foundation.
Jul 5, 2008 - 6:55 am 5. Allison Aller:I urge you to take another look at our fine actor, Chris Cooper. Talk about tragic nobility! Check him out in “Breach” (Of course, as a spy against America the role he played was hardly noble, but still). He was wonderful as July Johnson in “Lonesome Dove”, too…and his role in “Adaptation” was one of the all time great performances. Don’t miss that!
Jul 5, 2008 - 8:21 am 6. David:When he is not acting he is a cattleman on a ranch, quietly married and talking care of an autistic son..someone you could admire as a person. Rare in the movie world these days!
I heartily hope so, Dr. Hanson…that the electorate will start adding up Obama’s contradictions and emphasis on rhetoric over reasoned policy and conclude he’s just another, if more artful, opportunist. But I fear that they will not remember contradictions with his past statements and (lack of) action, but instead will just be turned on by a late campaign, smooth Obama commercial, or vote vaguely for “change”, or just not be moved enough by that “old guy” McCain to vote– or, worse, vote perversely from personal dissatisfaction.
For what it’s worth, an Obama victory would probably make the electorate more wary and considered by 2012.
Jul 5, 2008 - 9:53 am 7. David:Regarding actors….yes, The Three, to which I would add Burt Lancaster (and Kirk Douglas in “Paths of Glory”), did “stand tall”. Contemporary actors find it hard to stand at all when their sexual misadventures are shown on YouTube, their paunchy off-screen appearance sits next to the grocery checkout, their often ignoble or adolescent off-screen lives are published broadly…and their trendy, thoughtless political views are pronounced (See the Naked Vegan Reese writhe on the floor in support of animal rights!)
Anyway, Burt Lancaster (despite his liberal politics) compared to Colin Farrel is like Henry V next to a high school sophomore.
Jul 5, 2008 - 10:06 am 8. J.E. Dyer:I agree with Allison Aller about Chris Cooper. He has been superb in a number of roles, from the ones mentioned, to a small one in “A Time to Kill” to another supporting part in Mel Gibson’s “The Patriot.” He makes all his characters worth caring about, in a way I find similar to that of Palance, Marvin, or Boone.
Unfortunately, the very film genres in which such actors used to shine — Westerns and war movies — have largely been too deconstructed by Hollywood to be credible vehicles any more. Few directors or producers have been able to find a balance between ham-handed irony, subtext, and historical revisionism on one hand, and the mindless impressiveness of chase scenes, sirens, and special effects on the other.
Jul 5, 2008 - 11:09 am 9. TLM:Hopefully, the vaunted Obama campaignmeisters are in the process of making a significant miscalculation for the general election. Brazenly reconfiguring their Left wing candidate as a centrist erases what little difference there was between him and Hillary Clinton. Her supporters may not be amused. And her vote to authorize the Iraq War? May not look so bad here shortly. With oil prices continuing to rise might’ve been a good idea to have eliminated Saddam Hussein when we could. Establishing a presence in the Middle East outside of Saudi Arabia is the kind of realpolitik that might trump oratory as we head into recession this fall. Imagine how an empowered Saddam would feel right now if he were still running Iraq, raking in billions in oil revenue and watching an economic implosion in America. Think he’d be funding the Taliban in Afghanistan or causing trouble elsewhere? Absolutely. And he’d denominate his oil sales in euros not dollars. Hillary supporters should be royally miffed at this turn of events. The only difference between Obama and Clinton is gender and skin color. She ought to be planning to run against McCain in 2012.
Jul 5, 2008 - 11:24 am 10. heather:Many on the right are happy with Obama as he slithers over to our way of thinking.
However, my problem is that Obama is more like a rubber duck, bobbing along on surface waves, with no more thought or direction than a piece of plastic.
Jul 5, 2008 - 12:02 pm 11. Pajamas Media » Is the Thrill of Obama Gone?:[...] Read the entire post here [...]
Jul 5, 2008 - 12:27 pm 12. Bill Phelps:Obama will win the election if he does not shoot himself in the foot by stressing his plans for tax increases or something happens in the national security area that causes mainstream voter to distrust him. All else will be forgotten or forgiven.
Jul 5, 2008 - 12:38 pm 13. michaelyi:I’d begun to wonder if I’d ever see the words “inoperative” and “statement” used in the same sentence by a columnist who’s discussing Sen. Barack Obama’s rhetorical backstepping.
Jul 5, 2008 - 2:51 pm 14. vb:Obama has apparently asked to be allowed to give a speech t the Brandeburg Gate when he visits Berlin this month. Der Spiegel International has the story.
Jul 5, 2008 - 3:12 pm 15. Tony:Come on guys, the election is already won. We all know it.
Obama’s supporters aren’t going to give up on him now. Like the battered wife who keeps taking her loser husband back in the pathetic belief that this time he will return to being the man she once loved, his supporters cannot….will not…..believe that their messiah is just another scheming politician with a driven wife.
Its a done deal and you all know it. And its a crying shame.
Jul 5, 2008 - 3:44 pm 16. Keith:I believe it is “Foisted by his own petard.” A petard being a particularly techy early bomb used to breach castle gates that would sometimes blow up in the face of its weilder.
Jul 5, 2008 - 3:59 pm 17. whiskey:Tony, yes his supporters will stick with Obama. But there are not enough of them.
We live in a “Senior Nation” which I’ve blogged about here. There are 8 million more seniors than young people, and seniors want tough-on-crime policies, cheap gas, and public safety, all of which Obama and Dems oppose. The more Obama panders to young people’s desire to be hip and cool, the more seniors reject him.
That baby bust has profound demographic implications. Obama is running against the tide just as the TV networks are (average viewer age over 50 according to Variety) and seeing their viewers fade away.
Obama went too far hard-left, for too long, and so ticked off the people he needs to win. This is not 1968 anymore, the youth vote is unimportant. There’s not that many of them. And Seniors vote 76% of the population, vs. only 48% for the youth population. Voting participation is terrible for the youth vote.
Already, Obama is talking about how he does not need to win OH or FL and can win with MT, CO, NM, and NV. Hillary is not even bothering much to help Obama. Nor is Bill. They know a loser.
Elections are won through demographics. Obama has backed higher gas/electricity prices to “save the planet” from “global warming” while McCain at least calls for drilling now in some places. And a gas-tax holiday. Don’t think that doesn’t have an effect on voters every fill-up.
Jul 5, 2008 - 4:01 pm 18. keithacita:the answer is simple, re-elect president john fitzgerald kerry. he’s the only one to earn a bronze star in vietnam and afghanistan. just because he doesn’t pronounce pakistan correctly like obama and richardson doesn’t make him a bad choice.
Jul 5, 2008 - 4:04 pm 19. TLM:No need to Swiftboat Kerry. Let the Dems use those tactics this election. They’ve already started on McCain with this angle. That new kind of politics Obama promised is just another farce.
Note Obama uses a South Asian pronunciation of the word Taliban. Everything about that guy is an affectation.
Jul 5, 2008 - 5:25 pm 20. edw:Obama/Cheney ‘08!!!
Jul 5, 2008 - 6:37 pm 21. ic:Obama is as inevitable as Hillary was in ‘07.
Jul 5, 2008 - 7:01 pm 22. Ron Kean:Obama reminds me of Andy Griffith in ‘Roar Of The Crowd.’
McCain reminds me of ‘Rocky’ in the first 90% of each movie.
But nobody in this thread mentioned the smoke that may turn out to be a huge fire. That may do him in…
The birth certificate. Obama ain’t showin’ his. That may be the story about granny. She may have fudged the facts to get him started. She may have massaged the truth about his nationality. He might not be an American citizen folks.
The one of Daily Kos was fake. He’s had a month and he’s stonewalling. It costs 10 bucks for a new one.
SHOW US YOUR BIRTH CERTIFICATE, MR. OBAMA.
Where the heck did you come from.
The only problem is that it’s a Jewish group that’s blowing the whistle on this and we don’t need to provoke the anti-semitic left any more than we already do.
But this could end it all.
Jul 5, 2008 - 9:10 pm 23. David Thomson:“The problem is not that the Left will abandon him; they won’t, and will gladly put up with an Iraqi war-fighter, huge private cash raiser, wire-tapper, free-trader, and gun-rights/death penalty advocate if he brings them all back to power.”
What if B. Obama champions oil drilling in the “pristine areas” of the United States? I don’t think the hard left will go along with it. This is where the proverbial crap will likely hit the fan. The limit of their patience will be revealed.
Jul 5, 2008 - 10:34 pm 24. hdgreene:I think the media and the Democratic Party are taking an existential risk pushing Sen. Obama on the nation. He has little experience and little is known about him. Much of what is known is troubling. He would not get elected without these two institutions backing him full tilt. If he has a failed Presidency the voters are not going to blame themselves for his election. They’ll blame his sponsors and collect the debt from his cosigners.
Plus by painting President Bush as such a disaster they set the bar for being judged a failure pretty low. If 5.5 percent unemployment is a disaster, what will they call 7 percent? More family time?
Jul 5, 2008 - 10:42 pm 25. EI:“If 5.5 percent unemployment is a disaster, what will they call 7 percent?”
Full employment.
Jul 6, 2008 - 2:08 am 26. John Samford:I’m sure both CNN viewers liked the program. The question is what the nurse that came in to wipe off the drool thought of it.
Jul 6, 2008 - 4:52 am 27. Gary Ogletree:Back when I was an arrogant (and ignorant) young leftie, I predicted Nixon would get enough rope to hang himself. I wonder if CNN and NBC aren’t headed in the same direction. The bias for Obama is blatant enough to give off a nose arresting stench.
Jul 6, 2008 - 5:50 am 28. Bill Perron:I keep hearing about what a great orator Obama is, not how smart he is, or how innovative he is, or even what a great leader he is, just what a great orator he is. Yet there are thousands of unemployed actors in Hollywood who can easily deliver a speech as good or better than Obama. When he is being asked questions that are not in his script he tries to improvise (and as any actor will tell you) that is the real test of an intelligent deliverer of lines, and that is the downfall of Obama, and any other lousy actor. His fans are no different than star struck delusional fans you see outside the Academy Awards enamored with their idols. To expose how shallow this lousy political hack actor truly is, just keep him publickly improvising, his delusional fans will love him, the critics will pan him, and his boxoffice will drop from over exposure.
Jul 6, 2008 - 5:55 am 29. JVDeLong:There is indeed an “existential risk” here. The hard left longs for the fire of catastrophe, because out of it will come a purified society. Thus tax increases are good even if they make everyone poorer, including the worst-off elements. Withdrawal from the Mid East is good whatever the consequences for Israel. Lack of energy will bring us into tune with nature.
Obama was lying during the primaries, or he is lying now (or both, of course), and there is considerable reason to believe that his hard left persona is the real one.
I know Obama supporters in both academia and Wall St. They think that an Obama as pres would listen to the Rubin-Summers group from academia, and to the bond traders from WS. But they cite no evidence, and do not really dispute my concern that the chances of disaster are unacceptably high — like at least 25%-30%.
Jul 6, 2008 - 6:53 am 30. John B:My fear is that there are enough under 30 something voters out there who are as empty headed as BHO. So far, history shows us that the youth vote (18-25) doesn’t actually turn out in November with significant numbers. I’m counting on that for McCain this year.
I do feel John McCain is not running and gunning as well as he should, he has missed several opportunities to get his brand of conservatism out in front of the public. Additionally, the BHO flip-flopping needs to be highlighted and reinforced on a regular basis for folks to get the message hammered home.
Just my opinion, YMMV.
Jul 6, 2008 - 7:49 am 31. Elroy Jetson:John B,
Jul 6, 2008 - 10:42 am 32. J.E. Dyer:There are also plenty of those over 30 that are as empty headed as BHO.
A majority would still vote for him, even if he was to come out tomorrow in favor of a unilateral invasion of Iran.
Ron Kean — don’t know that I’d wish so much for Obama to be outed as a non-citizen. You know who the Dems would run instead. I’m not so sure McCain could beat Hillary.
Jul 6, 2008 - 11:29 am 33. swift boater:Again another piece of wonderful work by Dr. Hanson. However, I must take umbrage at calling JFK liberal. The commie fighting, tax cutting President would get the same amount of delegates in 2008 that Joe Lieberman would get.
The Dems left JFK long ago, as they left Ronald Reagan a little before. Just a matter of tolerance Dr.
As for ‘Swift Boating’ Mac = when 90% of the Hanoi Hilton ‘guests’ come out and call him a liar, I will put credence in what is said, not what Wesley Clark has to say. Until then it is just TANGing, lying and getting caught.
Jul 6, 2008 - 11:31 am 34. GayPatriot » The Change Obama Stands For:[...] UP-UP-UPDATE: Victor Davis Hanson observes: “The question is no longer on what has Obama backtracked, but rather on what has he not?“ [...]
Jul 6, 2008 - 11:43 am 35. Joseph Baker:Mr. VDH
Jul 6, 2008 - 11:51 am 36. Joseph Baker:What clarity, what claity
Please cancel the mispelled comment. Thank You
Jul 6, 2008 - 11:52 am 37. Strongbow:It would be dangerous to consign Obama to the role of just another flip-flopping politician, although he does a goodly number of those flips.
It is not the policies that he says he is for (at any particular time) that should energize Americans to vote against him. No; it is because at his core, Obama is a radical leftist.
His positions will change, as they must and have, in order to appear to be something other than this to a center-right nation. But that core remains; his true self.
Obama as just another politico will win: most voters don’t delve all that deeply into policy matters. It’s all personality, and grievances with the party in power. Gasoline at $4 plus per gallon is probably a sufficient grievance all by itself, although it has little to do with the Bush administration.
On personality, Obama the Slick can portray himself as whatever the listener craves. He is the ideal tabula rasa, being unburdened by much of a public record.
Jul 6, 2008 - 11:57 am 38. The Campaign Heats Up | a nail in His place:[...] The rest of the Story… [...]
Jul 6, 2008 - 12:10 pm 39. Brad:Andy Griffith starred in “A Face in the Crowd”
Jul 6, 2008 - 12:26 pm 40. Nahanni:Obama is a demagogue who desires to become a dictator.
All one has to do is listen to what he says, we have heard the same thing out of others over the years. People with names like Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, Mao, Castro, Pol Pot.
Jul 6, 2008 - 1:54 pm 41. AJ:Well said by VDH and many commenters. My local baby boom leftist columnist is in the dark still:
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080706/OPINION05/807060337/1039/OPINION05
Jul 6, 2008 - 2:05 pm 42. Paul M Hupf:Senator Obama, certainly an advocate of immediate withdrawal from Iraq in the early primaries, now asserts what appears to be a more moderate position, suggesting that immediate withdrawal from Iraq is really not what he will order if elected. But faced with criticism from his initial supporters, he says he really hasn’t changed his position at all; that he wants the war to end. But so do we all. The question is how it can be done with honor to those who have served and without a bloodbath for the Iraqi leaders who supported our troops. What he is doing is “straddling” the issue. If elected he will return to his initial position: immediate withdrawal.
Jul 6, 2008 - 2:55 pm 43. damon:As an Arab American I am at a loss to understand how Obama can deny his Arab heritage. Obama’s position Arabs and Islam in general appears to be racist and would not be tolerated by the public in any other candidate. According to the Obama family tree, Obama is 50% White 43.5% Arab and 6.5% African.
To the eyes of an Arab there is no mistaking Obama’s heritage. On the street Obama would not be mistaken for an African by an Arab.
What should be a time of great rejoicing in our community has turned into a sad commentary on race in politics and the continuation of the prejudice against Arabs that got out of hand after 9-11
Jul 6, 2008 - 2:57 pm 44. Paul Sullivan:The uncritical swoon doesn’t surprise me. I foolishly got into a discussion here in San Francisco with an Obama campaign worker (paid “not enough” he candidly offered), asking him if he felt Obama had exhibited sound judgment in his choice of associates over the years and if their views reflected this young man’s views. “Absolutely”, he responded, with an unhesitant, beaming smile.
Yes, he’s young, and critical thinking will (hopefully) settle in over time, but this glazed over, who-can-doubt-the-dream, feel good fog is disturbingly prevalent.
I hope enough voters have been paying attention. I’m not optimistic.
Jul 6, 2008 - 5:08 pm 45. frieda:For 7 years LIBERALS made fun of Bush and the way he talked , but WHO would have guessed that they would be blessed with Obama who can not talk at all without a teleprompter.
Obama, someone who himself does not know where he stands on any issues. Someone, who has no firm platform and can fall for anything. At least with Bush you knew exactly where he stood on issues, the danger with Obama is that he himself has no idea if he is FOR something or against.
Here is a whole blog dedicated to his gaffes, lies, exaggerations, and misinformation: HTTP:// http://WWW.OBAMAGAFFES.BLOGSPOT.COM
At least we will have fun with Obama’s presidency. America will be governed by the least experienced, clueless president and majority Democrats in Senate and Congress.
Lord help us!
Jul 6, 2008 - 5:47 pm 46. Rob:Palance and Marvin are two of my all time favorites. Boone was great too though somehow not quite in the same league.
The current crop is pretty thin, but given the ravages wrought by PC and feminism what can we expect?
Jul 6, 2008 - 6:27 pm 47. Mark L:What does Obama really believe?
Jul 6, 2008 - 8:51 pm 48. RuleTopia:Is he like a Clinton with no core beliefs,
Or is he like a marxist where the beliefs are there, however any level of prevarication and obfucation is morally allowed to gain power and then to do good?
I wish Hollywood made movies like Shane still. Cowboys in those movies represented everything good about America: honesty, hard-work, individualism, courage.
Now we get these androgynous meterosexuals like Brad Pitt and Leonardo Di Caprio. They’re sensitive and complicated and totally narcissistic and everything modern.
What an indictment of our culture.
Shane! Shane! Come back, Shane!
Jul 7, 2008 - 12:36 am 49. Will48:“not even the pretense of even-handedness”
Here in Israel we’ve been victims of hard left leaning media “non-even-handedness” for the good part of the last three decades, what is (was) widely known as “The brainwashing” (for “peace” of course, what else). Unfortunately, left alone without check, the massive brainwashing campain do tend to brain wash the population.
It brought us where we are today, a precarious place.
Obama is very dangerous. His Chavez persona is showing now more and more on many broadcasts. As is always the case with the leftists, they like to empty-talk all the nice things but in reality they’re always about FORCING others – the population – into their various crazy schemes.
How the conservatives are content with “sitting this out out” is beyond me.
Beware America.
Jul 7, 2008 - 12:51 am 50. Will48:In trying to define the Obama image for defeat, we shouldn’t try to find his weakest points. He can always make them insignificant, with the help of MSM machine, and outright ignore them shifting focus point to something new.
We should instead turn to his STRONGEST points, the Core of the brand “Obama”.
His “vision” (the leader politics, like Chavez’s), “resolve” (the willingness to force us into following his concoctions). His past as “community organiser” ricks of totalitarianism (do we want to be organised, er, coerced, into anything – it is threatening to our freedoms).
His central points he won’t be able to ignore.
Jul 7, 2008 - 1:18 am 51. Will48:Last but not least – the Change.
Change is always for the worst, especially when you don’t really know where Der Leader will lead you (and do we really want to be “led”?).
One is, apparently, to FORCE kids into same kind of community “service” (nee draft) dear to Obama’s heart: http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives2/2008/07/020932.php
The other is pulling forces out from Iraq a minute before their looming victory over Iraq’s Al-Qaeda. http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives2/2008/07/020929.php
Omamba is a disaster candidate.
Jul 7, 2008 - 1:28 am 52. Will48:And, the most important, his “leadership”.
Do we really want to be “led” by Der Leader? And where to?
His “Change” mantra. Change is usually for the worst, unless it is carefully measured and carefully thought-out in advance.
His pulling out of forces from Iraq wll serve it up – and the whole of the Mideast – to the Iranians.
Omamba is a disaster candidate, straight from the book of Apocalypse.
Jul 7, 2008 - 1:33 am 53. HillaryforPresident:No. Obamaniacs have just savoring their first orgical climax after defeating Hillary.
Republicans, Conservatives, Moderate Democrats, Reagan Democrats, Clintonistas, and Ron Paul conservatives and liberals, and all Black, Jews, Asian and Hispanic conservatives must get out of their partisanship and form A MCCAIN UNITY TICKET to prevent Obama’s second climax.
This two-party system has become too divisive and Anti-American.
Let us win this election for McCain and have a healthy and democratic discussions of our differences afterwards. We owe it to our forefathers and our beloved country, America.
Jul 7, 2008 - 2:59 am 54. HillaryforPresident:Keating five? Are they really mad enough to raise this issue?
It will revert back to Obama who has sweet deals. McCain was exonerated from Keating 5 by the same Committee who accused him.
But here is the contrast:
McCain, unlike the 4 democrats, helped Keating even at the end. His only sin was to be concerned of the impacts of S&L to his constituents. McCain helped Keating’s family all the way and he never bucked down.
Obama, on the other hand, totally threw Tony Resco out of the bus as if the person did not exist.
Is that what CNN wants to spew out of Keating 5?
On Cyndi’s problems, this is the strategy of the Bush Campaign way back 2000. And McCain never tried to wear hypocrisy by saying his was a perfect family. Instead, he said 1000 times that he made mistakes and hurt people he loved and he was thankful that these people and God himself have forgiven him. And he never looked back afterwards.
CNN has become a home of the hypocrites!
Jul 7, 2008 - 3:12 am 55. John Samford:HillaryforPresident;
Jul 7, 2008 - 9:23 am 56. cfbleachers:You go Gyrrrl!
Modern leftism in America today is an amalgamation of various flocks of flightless birds and their limited-flight progeny. Dodo birds, common loons, mourning doves, ostriches, short-billed Dow-watcher, Northern Shoveler.
There are no hawks among leftists…most species willing to give up their nests to invading species at the slightest hint of aggression. The leftist birds also seem almost inclined to push their eggs out of the incubating nest to crack upon the ground at the smallest inconvenience, rather than have to struggle to feed and care for them.
They almost all have haunting, baleful, full-throated wails…as if they are constantly in some sort of danger, are afraid or are in mourning about something or other.
They don’t seem to mate for life, but flit from partner to partner…showing absolutely no instincts for loyalty to flock, nest or mate.
They are easily swayed by a show of multi-colored feathers and will follow and mimic any one-note song for years at a time. Currently across North America you can see flocks of swooning groupies in full-throated mimicry of the “hopey-change, hopey-change”…very similar to the “mcainy-did, mcainy-did”.
This parroting seems instinctive and does not require much training or teaching.
Also, within the past year…the Northern Shoveler has begun to dominate most of the larger cities and urban areas. Very adaptable to changing environments, it changes its song almost completely when it enters a new territory.
We can learn so much from watching birds…but most importantly…they flock together. When they do so this November, it may be wise to bring an umbrella…and not just to keep the rain off your head.
Jul 7, 2008 - 9:33 am 57. deguello:Obama’s moment is far from gone.As Mencken said:”Nobody ever went broke overestimating the stupidity of the american people.”
Jul 7, 2008 - 1:00 pm 58. TLM:Jim Webb declines possible VP slot? Forget it. Obama already nixed him. Look at the Pros/Cons for Obama:
Pro: Brings national security expertise to the ticket.
Con: Acknowledges you have none.
Pro: Instant Redneck cred. Helps in PA and OH.
Con: Reverend Wright’ll have a meltdown. Might lose Chicago.
Pro: Multicultural photo ops: Afri-Kansan, African American, Redneck
American, Asian American.
Con: He may be in camouflage with a KBar in his teeth.
Pro: Discount cigarettes for four years. Helps with those college loans.
Con: You might have to drink beer and eat possum pie.
Pro: Good backup body guard. Always armed and dangerous.
Con: Can’t mention gun control. Always armed and dangerous.
Pro: Straight talker, says it like it is.
Con: Might punch you if you don’t believe him.
Pro: He can show you how to salute the flag.
Con: He might drop you for push ups if you screw it up.
Pro: Helps beat McCain to the Vet Vote.
Con: Women Vets p*ss him off and it shows.
Pro: Both are writers. Common bond.
Con: He knows the difference between fiction and non-fiction.
Pro: Words matter to him as well.
Jul 7, 2008 - 8:14 pm 59. CNN - Obama’s Media Outlet | Americans Against Obama:Con: He may hold you to yours. Semper Fi?
[...] gives a great overview of Col. Day and CNN’s reporting. While we are on the subject of CNN, Victor Davis Hanson takes a look at the CNN “biography” of the candidates, and guess which one CNN [...]
Jul 8, 2008 - 5:21 am 60. If you won't vote for OBAMA because of Wright you weren't gonna vote for him anyway. - Page 36 - Sportbikes.net:[...] Originally Posted by jim schmidt Though tediously long-winded, you’re the prototypical example of the OP’s assertion. Works and Days
Jul 8, 2008 - 1:07 pm 61. Ruth Werre:I keep trying to believe that most intelligent Americans are smart enough to reject Barack Hussein Obama and everything he stands for. But then I am reminded of the saying” never underestimate the stupidity of the American public” or is it “never overestimate the intelligence of the American public”!! Same thing. McCain is just blowing the opportunity to drill now, here and immediately. Millions would jump on his bandwagon. Why can’t he see it? Do the Republicans want to lose this election? Don’t tjeu know that the ONE and ONLY concern now with the American public is high gas prices?
Man do I get frustrated!!
Jul 9, 2008 - 11:35 am 62. BizzyBlog » Things I’d Like to Post About Today ….. (071008, Morning Closet-Clean, Round 1):RW
[...] Victor Davis Hanson asks, “Is the Thrill Gone?” — “One can just now begin to notice the subdued applause and crowd unease when he showcases himself at the center of all great issues of the last two decades—when he was in fact a rookie Chicago legislator.” [...]
Jul 10, 2008 - 3:23 am 63. Jack H:1. You are right about movie stars of today. Their voices are not as mature, as manly, as Humphrey Bogarts, Richard Boone, Lee Marvin or others. Kevin Kostner sounds like a 16 year old boy. There is a noticable difference.
2. On the 4th of July, on MTV, Obama did a very moving tribute to the service personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan. He specifically mentioned their bravery and skill. He has some Iraq veterans advising him. I will not vote for Obama, but McCain and his people better wake up to the 21st century.
Jul 11, 2008 - 8:33 am