Sep 04 2008

Camelot or Spamelot?

Category: Obama — amuzikman @ 12:40 am

There seems to be an effort, conscious or unconscious, on the part of Barack Obama to portray himself as JFK 2.0. He likes to cherry-picks certain historical events involving the former president as justification for his own views. His demeanor, charm, eloquence, and family (attractive wife, two lovely younger children) all invite comparisons with the man who’s abruptly abbreviated time in the White House was referred to as “Camelot”.

interestingly the origins of the connection between JFK and Camelot appear to have come from Jackie Kennedy, and only after JFK’s death (whereas Obama seems to want to perform a self-coronation). The comparison is certainly not surprising when one considers that the Broadway show, Camelot opened just a couple weeks after JFK’s inauguration and the song “Camelot” seems to have been a favorite of his. http://ask.yahoo.com/19990809.html

But beyond appearances there is little to commend a comparison between Obama and JFK. Larry Elder has a wonderful piece this week on Townhall.com showing little doubt that if he were alive today, JFK would have been much more at home in the Republican Party than the Democratic Party. http://townhall.com/Columnists/LarryElder/2008/09/04/jfk_democrats_role_model?page=1

I think in this case as with so many things about Barack Obama, he is a just a paper King Arthur – a life-sized cut-out, a cheap knock-off, a spoof of the original item, insisting to his followers that he also pulled the sword from the stone. But the comparison is only skin-deep and when I look at him I don’t think of Camelot so much as I do Spamelot.

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Sep 02 2008

THE ONE

Category: election 2008,humor,Obama,politics,White House — sardonicwhiner @ 9:41 am

Obama being THE ONE and everything, do you ever find yourself wondering if there are any Obamas left in the alternate universes of the multiverse?

I’m trying to remember:  I used to live in an alternate universe myself, and I’m pretty sure there was no Obama in it.  Maybe there’s a reason he’s so accepting of “illegal aliens“…  Just ask yourself:  if the Obama we know is from another universe, how would we know?  Would it be the sparks when he makes an entrance (no border fences will be stopping this guy)?  Or something else?    Maybe like this?.

If Obama starts in with the flashy kung fu stuff, I’m outta here.

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Aug 27 2008

She lies so casually, and so grandly, but tells the truth once… or twice

Category: election 2008,McCain,Obama,politics,White House — harmonicminer @ 9:04 am

Hillary has always had a very distant relationship with the truth, of course, all the way from the lies she told the press to protect Bill from his dalliances, to the lies she told investigators about Whitewater (“I’m sorry, Senator, I don’t recall.”) and the White House travel office firings (she masterminded FBI accusations to taint innocent people so she could install her cronies in their places), the lies she told investigators about her role in the Vince Foster coverup (she had his office “sanitized” before investigators could get there), blah, blah, blah, the list is so incredibly long that it would take a week to write it all down.

Her speech to the Democrat convention in Denver was no different, just on a grander stage.

Just to mention one of her more minor lies of the evening, did you know that John McCain is not for equal pay for equal work for women? I didn’t either. Neither does he.

Did you know that the US government “gave” the oil companies their recent large profits? Imagine that. She is either a breathtaking liar, or breathtakingly ignorant about how the economy works. I’m betting on the former.

Nearly every paragraph (sometimes every sentence) either assumed a lie, or told one outright. Again, the list of lies in her speech is so long, I just don’t want to waste the time listing it all.

But she told the truth in two ways, at least, one explicitly, the other implicitly.

She said that unless Obama is elected, the Democrats would not be able to complete their makeover and utter restructuring of American life, the economy, universal health care (meaning, if you work, that you pay for someone else), punitive taxation, new entitlements, etc. That’s absolutely true.

And while she endorsed Obama, I did not notice much about Obama’s preparation for the job in her speech. She did not praise his character, his background, his abilities, anything at all that might be positive about Obama directly. It was all about the policies she wants, and the observation that if Obama loses, they won’t happen.

In her omission of any particular praise about Obama, she told the truth, both objectively, and in terms of her “personal truth” about him, given the disdain in which she holds him, and given her previous sober assessment of Obama’s preparation for the job:

That must have been some speech he gave in 2002.

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Aug 26 2008

Do we want the Rookie at bat in the bottom of the ninth with two outs?

Category: election 2008,Iran,Islam,McCain,Obama,politics,White House — harmonicminer @ 9:00 am

Obama is not the heavy hitter we need to deal with this.  Neither, will all due respect, is his pinch-hitter, who has a flashy looking swing, but simply misses the ball way too often.

A senior Iranian atomic official said Sunday that Iran has chosen the site for and started designing a new 360 megawatt nuclear power plant.

Iran has yet to complete construction of its first nuclear power plant and has previously sent conflicting signals about the state of work on a planned second plant. An Iranian official said this year construction work had already begun.

Can we have a show of hands for all of you who would like Obama to be the one we depend on to navigate the treacherous waters of Iran’s nuclear armament intentions?  This is not a misused cliche…  if Iran’s nuclear facilities are attacked, they plan to close the Strait of Hormuz.  They’ve been buying Russion Kilo-class subs to do it with, along with lots of land-based ship killer missiles from both Russia and China.  We’ll reopen it, of course….  but it will take some time, and will leave huge unresolved problems.  How does $250 per barrel of oil sound to you?

Personally, I’d like to be putting at bat a player with sufficient reputation that the opposing pitcher decides to walk him instead of just throwing fastballs at his head, followed by a change-up that leaves him whiffing.

This is the big-leagues, not celebrity baseball.

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Aug 21 2008

Above his pay grade?

Category: abortion,election 2008,Obama,politics — harmonicminer @ 8:56 am

Much has been made of Obama’s response to Rick Warren’s question on abortion, in which Obama said that deciding when a baby gets human rights either theologically or scientifically is “above his pay grade”.

Of course, this was not a particularly smooth evasion. The question was obviously about how Obama would govern, not so much about what was in his inner soul, interesting though that may be. And we know the answer to that question: Obama will govern as if a baby has no human rights until it is born to a mother that wants to give birth.

So even though the answer is “above his pay grade”, he will govern as if it is not. That is, he will not be able to avoid making a decision about it, even if he thinks he isn’t really able to do so (if you buy his presentation of being in great personal doubt about it).

There is a lesson here, a very important one, on the limits of agnosticism on any topic. There are decisions a person must and will make, and that society must and will make. It will almost always be a sham to take refuge in claiming not to know enough, and employing some rhetorical slight of hand to pretend not to be making a decision. It is not “deep”, or “nuanced”, or “thoughtful” to pretend to be so mired in uncertainty that no decision can be made, when in fact you’re making one. It’s simply dishonest.

Agnostics about theism make a decision about whether or not God exists by how they choose to live, whatever their self-talk.

Similarly, Obama has made the decision about when a baby should have human rights, and knows he has, regardless of his “nuanced thoughtfulness”. He has decided that no baby has human rights of any kind until it is born to a mother who wants to give birth (i.e., not an accidental survivor of an abortion, whom Obama believes has no rights, based on his voting record). He will govern that way. How much does his inner dialog on the topic matter?

Methinks he doth protest too much.

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Aug 19 2008

Clarence, Barack, Clarence, Barack….. Clarence!

Category: election 2008,judges,Obama,politics,White House — harmonicminer @ 9:32 am

At the Saddleback Civil Forum, Barack Obama let it be known that Clarence Thomas was his first choice as the Supreme Court Justice he would NOT have appointed, and cited what he considered to be Thomas’ thin record of achievement before being appointed to SCOTUS by Bush the Elder.

People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, if they want to live in the White House, anyway. The point: for Barack to refer to Thomas’ preparation as inadequate is risible, coming from him.

In the spirit of fair comparison, here is info on the careers of each man: Barack Obama and Clarence Thomas.

Thomas pre-SCOTUS career included being Assistant Attorney General of Missouri, private practice attorney, legislative assistant to a US Senator, Assistant Secretary of Education for the Office of Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education, and Chairman of the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, not to mention a year already on the DC Court of Appeals, the nation’s second highest court.

Obama’s pre-Presidential campaign career included working for a couple of NGOs, being a community organizer, some work with a couple of private law firms, lecturer in a law school, state senator in the Illinois legislature, and finally about a year as US Senator before announcing his presidential bid.

At the time of appointment to the Supreme Court, Thomas was about 42. Obama is running for President at age 47.

It is not clear to me that Obama’s resume is a whit more impressive than Thomas’, though Thomas was 5 years younger than Obama the Presidential candidate, at the time of Thomas’ appointment to SCOTUS. And, in his last major pre-SCOTUS role, Thomas served for 8 years as Chairman of the EEOC, with major administrative responsibilities. Obama had been US Senator for exactly one year before deciding he was of Presidential timber.

In fact, on balance, the kind of experience Thomas had was more in keeping with the kinds of roles a President must fill than the kinds of experience Obama has had, up to now.

For that reason, for those who just can’t stand the idea of voting for McCain, let me suggest you write in Clarence Thomas. He’d be a FAR better choice than Obama. And hey… if you don’t like Thomas, that’s one way to get him off the court!

In the meantime, Obama might be well served by doing a little resume comparison, and thinking more carefully before dissing a more capable man.

Doubt this? Read Thomas’ recent book, and then read Obama’s, each autobiographical. That’ll tell you all you need to know….

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Aug 17 2008

Rick Warren, Obama and McCain, post mortem #1

Category: election 2008,McCain,Obama,politics — harmonicminer @ 9:19 am

Having expressed my concerns about how Rick Warren would handle the Obama/McCain interview, I have to express my appreciation that Warren played it all pretty straight.  I do wish he had asked more follow-up questions when he got vague answers (Obama on abortion, both on exactly what they’d do about Darfur, quite a few more, etc.), but some of that is perhaps just limitations of the format.

The follow up on abortion I wish I’d heard for Obama: “Well, can we agree that when the baby is out of the womb it gets full human rights?”  And then move it back a day, and ask again.  And then another day, and ask again.

But Warren did well, and deserves credit for doing a service.

Side note:  Obama is really afraid of directly confronting McCain in a give and take discussion, which is why he’s avoided all the townhall meetings McCain suggested.  With only three debates, Obama is obviously hoping he can somehow slide through without dealing directly with tough follow up questions, and just let his natural charm work on the audience.  So he liked this format a great deal, I’m sure…  and McCain still made him look unformed and unsure.

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Aug 09 2008

Why The Twenty-Somethings Should Vote For Obama #2

Category: election 2008,Obama,politics,terrorism,Uncategorized — harmonicminer @ 9:10 am

Because the War on Islamic Extremism (the real meaning of “the war on terror”) is going to go on awhile. If Obama is elected, he will be likely to radically reduce the number of US troops recruited over the next 8 years (if he is a two-term president), meaning that my teenage son may be well into his twenties and established in a career before the president after Obama (or the one after that) finds it impossible to keep the USA out of war. Maybe my son can miss the war entirely. That’s good. I want grandchildren, and he has a disturbing sense of honor that might make him think he should volunteer, which won’t really be an option if Obama is just bombing from 30,000 feet like Clinton in Bosnia, or whacking tents and camel pens with Tomahawks, or whatever. Who cares if a couple of major US cities have serious terrorist attacks. I live in the boonies. All you urban twenty-somethings will just have to take what you get. Those of us with the good sense to live out of town aren’t too worried about bombs showing up in our PO Boxes.

Not so for the twenty-somethings, whose 5-10 year old children NOW are precisely the ones who are going to be fighting in the war that will inevitably follow 8 years of Obama “peace mongering” (that war will go on awhile, so that today’s 5 yr olds can enjoy it, too). My kids will be doing their part though, paying the taxes to fund the rifles and body armor for the children of the now twenty/thirty-somethings (but then thirty/forty-somethings). Your kids will have grown up seeing terrorist attacks getting feckless responses from THE ONE. They’ll be itching to volunteer when they come of age, and get some back, using all those skills gained playing Grand Theft Auto and Kill the Creeps on their WIIIIIs. Think how proud you’ll be.

I figure Obama will be the perfect Batman character (Dark Knight style, and no, that is not a racial comment…. don’t you go to movies?). He’ll refuse to run over the machine-gun-toting Joker when he has the chance (out of an excess of high moral feeling, even though the Joker has just murdered many innocents, and is threatening Batman), so that the Joker has a chance to murder dozens more… with the difference that it’ll be up to the next guy (Robin?) to go after the Joker and put an end to it (although Obama will spend lots of time talking about talking with the Joker before his presidency is over, and he will doubtless end his presidency feeling heroic and misunderstood, accepting salutes right and left from military officers glad to see him go).

The floor is open as to who President “Robin” will be. Certainly not Hillary. Or George Clooney. Maybe Bobby Jindal. Or Tim Pawlenty.

So: if you’re a twenty-something, a vote for Obama is a vote to keep my son out of war, and let your kids do it instead a few years later (they’re bound to have women carrying rifles by then…. hooray for equality). And anyway, I won’t need your kids to take care of me in old age… there will be plenty of nice, shiny new immigrants to do that (all legal, by then, of course). But cheer up: by then, the military are all going to have satellite computer connections in their helmets, so you should get lots of email from your kids, while mine will be visiting me most days in the old-muscians-home (extra luxurious), to make sure I have enough Doritos. I’ll bet live coverage of the wars will be incredible. Helmet cams for everyone.

Works for me. I like watching war movies on TV.

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Aug 07 2008

Obama’s speech to the Germans: trying to make sense of it

Category: election 2008,Europe,McCain,Obama,politics,White House — harmonicminer @ 9:00 am

Dennis Prager has written two articles analyzing Obama’s speech to the Germans:

First article

Second article

As this analysis makes clear, Obama employs just about every progressive-liberal cliche in the Left’s panoply of double-think and half-truth. He reveals himself to be exactly what objective measures say he is: the farthest Left senator in the United States Senate, and the farthest left nominee for President of the US in history. The main stream dinosaur media won’t report this, or do fair analyses of his speeches, preferring to talk about his tone and delivery, rather than his substance, such as it is.

Instead of holding Obama’s feet to the fire for ducking townhall style debates with John McCain, the media continue to swoon in abject worship at his hypnotic oratory…. when they aren’t throwing their underwear at the stage, like rock-star groupies everywhere. (Except for the French reporters, of course, who are reputed to “go commando”. I really don’t want to think about what they’re throwing at the stage.)

After all, we can’t force Obama to go off teleprompter… people might find out what he really thinks, and how well he thinks, neither of which is conducive to his being elected. Who knows, though: maybe a couple of extra-enthusiastic reporters’ boxers will accidentally land on the teleprompter, and Obama will have to speak off-script because the cameras are rolling.

I can hear it now: “America must cease acting only in its own self-interest and step up to its responsibilities to coordinate multilaterally with… with…. Fruit-Of-The-Loom… and…. and….. Joe Boxer….”

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Aug 03 2008

A Cautionary Tale of Post-Ideological Politics in Israel: Visions of a future Obama presidency?

Category: Hamas,Hizbullah,Israel,middle east,Obama,politics — harmonicminer @ 9:16 am

Pretty much anyone who can read, and bothers to, knows that the Olmert government in Israel is hopelessly corrupt. The old notion of a “fish rotting from the head” comes to mind. Olmert is the target of seven different corruption investigations, a likely candidate for prison unless he cuts a deal before leaving office, and the most feckless leader in recent memory at fighting Israel’s enemies and protecting its people.

Building a governing coalition based on the Kadima party, the self-confessedly post-ideological creation of Ariel Sharon, a party which claimed to be neither right nor left (shades of Obama’s claim to “unify” and be “beyond old categories”), a party which would simply do what was necessary without reference to previously stated ideological positions, Olmert has actually accomplished nothing but to stay in power and stretch out his tenure, while causing great harm to Israel’s security.

This is all made very clear by Caroline Glick as she describes the ebb and flow of the Israeli electorate in response to events on the ground, and the way a “post-ideological” leader is captive to swings in public mood, but lacks the strength to actually carry out a coherent policy:

With the nation in a left leaning mood in the run-up to the last election, Kadima announced its plan to give Judea and Samaria to terrorists from Fatah and Hamas. Distinguishing their party from the radical left, which shares their plan, Kadima’s leaders explained that they sought to place Israel’s major urban centers in Palestinian rocket range not in the interest of peace – as the leftist ideologues would have it – but in the interest of the hardnosed “demographic” aim of putting all the country’s Jews in one concentrated area.

Before the nation had an opportunity to fully understand what Kadima’s “convergence” plan entailed, Israel’s body politic shifted to the right in June 2006 after the Palestinians attacked an IDF post near Gaza and kidnapped Cpl. Gilad Schalit. Two weeks later it shifted further to the right when Hizbullah carried out a nearly identical attack along the border with Lebanon and abducted reservists Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser.

Noticing the public’s rightward shift, Olmert and his colleagues followed immediately. When Olmert launched the Second Lebanon War, he sounded downright Churchillian as he promised the nation nothing less than the total defeat of Hizbullah and the return of our hostage servicemen.

Continue reading “A Cautionary Tale of Post-Ideological Politics in Israel: Visions of a future Obama presidency?”

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