I just watched Obama’s speech in St. Paul on video. (That link might not work, very heavy server traffic) If that doesn’t do anything to you, you must be made of stone. Pure campaign gold, too. He even has them roaring to “heal the planet…” This is what I felt when I finally paid attention. What a gratifying change. What a class act. He makes me feel good about myself. So far I’m not hearing much bullshit at all.
Usually when politicians declare an issue, you can see the lies written on their faces, and you know right away whose pocket they’re in. With this guy, you get the feeling you’re part of the process, like we’re all in this together. This is strong medicine, because it’s the truth.
Comment by K.J. Webb
1 June 4, 2008, 5:21 am o'clock |
But will you still love him if (when?) he picks Hillary as his running mate? Or will you then love Hillary again?
–If this was a C & W lyric, I could say I love Obama in a “qualified sort of way”. Not a very resonant phrase but one more in tune with a wintry disposition such as mine. Maybe my heart won’t get broke if it doesn’t give itself completely away. Then I won’t have to write a kiss-off song like the ones about LBJ, Hubert Humphrey, Ted Kennedy, Gary Hart and Jimmy Carter. I never had to write that song about McGovern - but then McGovern never governed. His purity effectively precluded that possibility. Could that be Obama’s fate?
Comment by John
2 June 4, 2008, 6:58 am o'clock |
Don’t you worry. If the time comes to be disillusioned and cynical again, we’re all perfectly capable of that. But did you watch the speech? Do you get your news anywhere except from mainstream sources?
Anyway, Clintonism is dead. The old party is dead. This thing is Internet-based and taps a universal desire to do something new & good. The light you see may be your own, dude! And how can you ignore the fact of such enormous historical and psychological change? And the COURAGE involved on so many levels?? This is simply huge.
Nothing “pure” about Obama. He knows what being lost is like. This is a complete human being, not a caricature. We have a real man running for president, not a demogogue or a fool. I’ve never seen the like. A much, much stronger lesson here than fear. Enjoy it!
Comment by K.J. Webb
3 June 4, 2008, 9:42 am o'clock |
Not fear, realism. I don’t buy all the change-of-zeitgeist stuff, as you know, but I suspect you’re right - and hope you’re right - about Obama’s not being too pure, and he’s definitely not a demagogue or a fool. Lincoln was kind of like that too - very impure, very realistic, but smarter than anyone else in the room and possessed of eloquence, humility and inner nobility. Those values are perennial. Some bloggers may even have them! But steer clear of ideology, which gets in the way of clear-thinking.
I admit I don’t know the inside baseball on the politicking. Maybe you do. Want to make a bet about the Hillary pick? You didn’t answer up on how you’d handle that one, but maybe I ought not to tease you on the subject. Picking her would definitely be an impure act but maybe a necessary one. Lincoln’s veeps were picked for reasons of expediency. Almost everyone’s are.
Comment by John
4 June 4, 2008, 11:26 am o'clock |
As Josh Marshall said today, “Obama absolutely cannot give in to pressure to give Clinton the VP slot. If he decides she helps him, that it makes sense for the campaign and his potential presidency, great. It might be a unstoppable combination. But he cannot and I suspect that he will not allow himself to be muscled.”
What’s going on now in the Clinton camp is muscling. If she had actually conceded yesterday, things would be different. Unless there’s a very different tone and attitude from Clinton, the veep thing ain’t gonna happen.
Comment by John Nicholson
5 June 5, 2008, 10:35 am o'clock |
I hope that people are starting to believe in the possibility that now (this present time) is the moment of a real sea change as it were. I am far from the USA for 31 years now. From this distance, Rio de Janeiro, I have watched things there as here and elsewhere, steadily worsen to the degree that in the USA especially, most if not all official information, communication, and political discourse became each time more distant from reality.
Reality imposes limits which the USA as a nation and the planet as a whole are constantly testing to the breaking point and even beyond. Scepticism and profound, ongoing examination are especially necessary now I believe, cynicism far, far less so.
Comment by K.J. Webb
6 June 5, 2008, 12:28 pm o'clock |
You’re singing my song, John. It’s time for America to sober up. But the world should worry about a U.S. that has turned isolationist. That could happen quite quickly. Great nations have obligations. Little nations (my own Canada, I fear) shelter beneath the power of their elephantine neighbor without much gratitude for what the beast permits them to do. I’m not just talking about the undefended border, remarkable as that is - but about the free pass on having much of a military, the proportionally larger resources thereby available to fund social programs and, above all, the immense gratification of flaunting the moral superiority schtick.
Let’s hope Barack gets the balance right. We know Dubya fouled this up. But to my fellow Canadians nothing much America could ever do with its power would ever make it loved. We would only love an America that behaved like Newfoundland. We would love it, that is, until there was a crisis we couldn’t handle on our own.