printI don’t know how much more of the elections coverage I can take.
With Obama on the verge of clinching the Democratic Party nomination, the accursed Cable Anchors are poised to cement their role in history by declaring this event an historical one. Chris Matthews and Wolf Blitzer, a disgrace to their profession, have dissolved in soggy sentimentality. (The MSNBC network has posted this quotidian demonstration of what I mean.)
Every American, vaporized Matthews, will remember where he was on this historical day, when a black man became the nominee of a major American political party.
All this because Barack Obama is African American (or sort of).
However, the American people have given Obama such support not because of his ancestry, but because they like him better than the other White House hopefuls. Moreover, the reason Americans haven’t elected a man or woman of color beforehand is that no decent candidate presented himself.
Are the media suggesting that Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton’s bids for the office failed because of their color? I venture that their color was the least of their problems. Their characters: now that’s another matter entirely.
In Obama the American people see a viable candidate. The idea that Obama’s impending nomination is historical is an insult to Americans—it suggests that the barrier to the nomination of a Barack in years past was purely racial, rather than the absence of a strong black (or blackish) candidate.
Update I: Here is the text of Obama’s victory speech.
Update II (June 4): Sen. Clinton is the democratic choice; Obama the delegate’s choice. Democrats the country over elected Hillary; party delegates ratified Obama. Is Hillary angry that petty party rules trumped her popular appeal and stymied her bid for president? She should be. Clinton stopped short of conceding last night.
If only Ron Paul was a black, female Hispanic. The American dollar would go to the moon. Oh, well, I guess that would make things too easy.
OK – let’s have our moment of euphoria that America is a global country with Barack Hussein Obama, Bobby Jindal, Hiram Fong, Joe Lieberman, Mario Cuomo, Mel Martinez…. yes, you don’t have to have come on the Mayflower to be a citizen or a President.
One mile from where I am typing this, 1 out of 3 black men wind up in jail. Half the “high school” students perform within one standard deviation of a salt shaker (e.g. are basically illiterate) at age 18. And neither Barack or McCain or my man Ron Paul will change that or walk on water, either. There is still a serious problem of a disfunctional underclass of people with low IQ’s and disfunctional “families” that all the post-racial euphoria cannot easily erase.
[But some can be blamed and made to pay for it, which is where B. & M. Obama come in–IM]
I never heard anyone explain their support of Barack Obama in a way that didn’t sound like incomprehensible, childish, change-change-change, his-time-is-now BS.
Andrew is right, and let me add a couple more; Obama will “unite the country”, a “fresh voice for change”, “he will bring the sides together”.
There is a lot that needs changing. Only Ron Paul seems to know where the roots of the problems are. Everyone else in the race, even assuming good intentions, will probably just hack at the branches. [Or hack more of them off.–IM]
According to recent press reports, Hillary now seems likely to admit defeat and support Obama. This is something I thought would never happen; but it will. Hillary appears to covet the vice-presidential slot; I can’t imagine Obama wanting her in that role, as she would be a constant thorn in his side if he is elected President.
It’s interesting that in the 1990s, many people in this country, including me, thought of the Clintons as “all powerful,” leaders who could do things many Americans disliked, including bombing Serbia and sending in Federal forces at Waco, and get away with it. Apparently, the “great power” of the Clintons will not result in a Hillary Presidency. They were not, apparently, the monolithic power many thought them to be.
I heard two co-workers chatting about the presumptive Democratic nominee in glowing terms, so I asked them why the man was worthy of such praise. After an awkward silence, they muttered some nonsense about him being trustworthy.
“Why do you think that,” I asked? They hadn’t a clue. After some hemming and hawing, the best they could manage is that he HAD to be more honest than Hillary! No evidence or facts. Just a feeling. Wonderful.
Then I asked them to cite Obama’s positions on Iran, the debacle in Afghanistan, and the economy. Blank stares. One guy accused me of being a McCain supporter. Again, no facts. I told them I would vote for Ron Paul. They’d heard the name and knew nothing else.
I think these two intellectual giants nicely sum up the average American voter. We’re doomed.
Here’s my thought. I live in Canada, so I can’t vote, but given that the war is perhaps the most crucial election issue, I suggest voting for McCain. Why? Because the Bush administrations launch of that war had disaster written all over it, and McCain’s management of the slaughter might just tip a sizable portion of the American public towards open hostility to the war. If he’s as reckless as Obama claims…Or maybe I’m just dreaming.
Obama: Another Roosevelt type as we head into a severe recession? Hopefully we learned our lesson from the last one.
If Greenspan was Japanese, he might have done the honorable thing as a warning to his successors.
Several observations. First, I’m not sure Hillary wants to be VP again. Secondly, Steve Hogan’s comment (above) probably illustrates the mindset of the typical Obama supporter – and is chilling. It’s now become clear the mainstream media helped sell his candidacy like Madison Avenue goes about selling products. Third, I think Michigan and Florida were due some penalty for going against party rules and re-scheduling their primaries for earlier in the season. To those who would say “count every vote” in this case, I’d say follow the rules. And I wouldn’t necessarily agree that even though HRC got more votes than BHO that she has some special claim to the nomination. For various reasons pure democracy ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. Remember the Founders were wise enough to establish an electoral college.
[To paraphrase from my upcoming column, Democratic Party petty rules are not to be conflated or even equated with those governing the Electoral College.–IM]
Tim,
To vote for McCain is insane. I’m still trying to wash the blood off my hands for voting for Bush in 2000. [Makes you, like Scott McClellan, a good guy.–IM]
I will dodge tornadoes if necessary to write in Ron Paul’s name this Nov.
The “lesser of two evils” strategy has brought us to the edge.
Obama would win the world election by a country mile if everybody outside America got to vote.
Irrelevant I know, but hopeful for peoples perception of America outside America, which is at an all time low. Surely that has to be a good thing.
[Becoming more like Eurabia?–IM]