June 19, 2008

There's nothing the matter with Kansas as far as Barack Obama is concerned.



Come on people! No need to be bitter anymore.

Comment on the new Barack Obama ad.

68 comments:

george said...

I find it interesting that I don't disagree with any position that Obama has stated.
Could it be that he hasn't stated any position?
I think so; and I'm beginning to believe that this guy is an empty suit.
He must have majored in Public Speaking 101, and received an A.
Whew...

Patm said...

You know, I was thinking "empty suit" too.

And an empty suit sure is smooooth.

Bill Clinton may have been slick, but he had some substance to him. This fellow, as long as he has a teleprompter, makes Clinton look lame.

That may be reason enough not to vote for him.

Alan said...

I like your new profile picture, professor.

As to Obama or McCain, I'm not bitter about either one. Although, I like Obama better. Maybe it's all the baggage the GOP brings with McCain which makes me gravitate towards Obama.

I don't think Obama is as much of an empty suit as most on the Right say. Heck, he's for nuclear power just like McCain--unlike those lefties, Clinton and Edwards.

UWS guy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Alan said...

Heh heh. You can tell who listens to Right wing pundits, they alway bring up the TelePrompTer meme.

UWS guy said...

I don't think anyone could look at that ad and not find Barry Obama a likable fellow.

I get a kick out of arm-chair policy wonks, face it, we'll pick POTUS based on who we think is a nicest, smartest, fellow, with the least character flaws.

Meade said...

Barackoed!

Makes you want to just pinch his cheek and set him down for some homemade pie and a tall glass of cold milk. And then ask him what he wants to be some day when he grows up and isn't quite so wet behind his ears.

ricpic said...

Sounds like a nice Jewish boy.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Thumbs Up! It was a very good ad and he hit all the right notes if you are a low-information voter.

Since I am not one of those, I noticed he did not use the term "community activist" or "community organizer". Those resume job titles are now dispatched to to the dustbin of history I guess.

And I'd like to hear more about those steelworkers he helped. If the MSM drills down a bit on that topic, they may end up in the dustbin too.

1775OGG said...

BHO's ad is a good one and his voice is quite good, commanding and engaging too. Note that no one was thrown under a bus in this ad; fascinating.

However, I've seen his debate performances and when he's spoken off the cuff and in both such situations he seemed inarticulate, many "ums" and "ahs," creating an impression, to me at least, that he doesn't understand the topics at hand.

So, I don't know if he's an empty suit or just has little understanding of the issues facing this country. Yet, when delivering a prepared speech, he has a commanding presence and does quite well.

tom faranda said...

Obama + Dan Quayle Lite

Patm said...

Heh heh. You can tell who listens to Right wing pundits, they alway bring up the TelePrompTer meme
***

Heh heh. Really? Is that so? Can't just be my own observations, since I don't listen to talk radio? Heh heh.

Ron said...

That black and white freeze frame makes him look like Smoky Robinson...so, Barack, What's Goin' On?

george said...

Where did this "TelePrompterMeme" phrase come from? It seems to come only from supporters of Obama.
All I mentioned is that I have seen no intelligence from Sen. Obama.
I am waiting for an answer.

Anonymous said...

I really like the new photo, too.

Beth said...

Smokey Robinson didn't record "What's Goin' On"

That was some other black guy. Try again.

Alan said...

Patm, I always thought talk radio hosts were a subset of Right Wing pundits. Why, pray tell, would you automatically think I'm referring to talk radio pundits?And why so defensive?

Anonymous said...

Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr. (the e was added later) was born April 2, 1939 in Washington D.C. His father was a preacher with the obscure House of God and the two often clashed. He had a brother Frankie and sisters jeanne and Zeola (Sweetsie). Gaye was three years old when he began singing in his father's church choir and was soon playing the organ and drums, too. Gaye returned to his hometown of Washington, D.C. and started signing in streetcorner doo wop group The Rainbows.. In 1957 he formed his own group the Marquees. Backed by Bo Diddley, they recorded "Wyatt Earp" for the Okeh label. In 1958, Harvey Fuqua hired the Marquees to be the latest version of the Moonglows, his backing group. However the group soon broke up and Fuqua moved to Detroit to form Tri-Phi Records with his girlfriend Gwen Gordy, bringing Marvin with them.

Meade said...

Well, it looks like he's got the Gaye vote wrapped up then.

Patm said...

Patm, I always thought talk radio hosts were a subset of Right Wing pundits. Why, pray tell, would you automatically think I'm referring to talk radio pundits?And why so defensive?
***
I don't watch Fox News and I don't listen to talk radio, but I guess because of my own prejudices, when I think "right wing pundit" I think talk radio.

Defensive because I get tired of expressing an opinion and having someone decide that I couldn't formulate it by myself, that I must be echoing some blowhard.

I'm capable of being my own blowhard, thank you! :-)

Anonymous said...

I personally believe that a lot of fascist lefty types listen to right-wing talk radio. I base this on the fact that so many of them accuse conservatives and libertarians "of parroting Rush's propaganda." I don't have any idea what "Rush's propaganda" is, or Sean Hannity's, or these other guys' propaganda whom I've never heard of. They do, though, apparently.

It's the only reasonable conclusion to draw.

Unknown said...

The ad's great-convincing-if you don't know anything about what the man has actually done politically, don't know anything about what's been revealed about him during the past umpty ump months, don't know that he's dissed those white relatives both implicitly and explicitly to further his own aims....

Basically this ad will persuade someone who's been living totally incommunicado for the past 6 months or so to consider voting for Obama. Some will do so, if only as a vote against McCain. I'd venture to say the majority of people in the country will be voting against rather than for a candidate this November....

TitusI'm leaving.... said...

Fellow Althousians I wanted to let you know that I will be leaving the comment section of Althouse.

I know, you are devastated.

But the summer is here and I am looking forward to my travels and positivity. Trooper York, now me, what are you going to do?

I tried to present some levity to the proceedings and I hope I was successful every now and then.

I wish all of you the best of summers and healthy and republican fall.

Love and Kisses!

TitusI'm leaving.... said...

Also, if looking for me, I will be on the East End of Provincetown, very near Andrew Sullivan and Michael Cunningham and John Waters.

Except my dogs are rare-no beagles here.

Meade said...

Look how sweet he's being in that video to his little white-haired grandma who's afraid of 3AM GoodNight nigs on the street. Just before he throws her under the back of a bus, he bends down and puts his still-wet-behind-the ear real close so he can hear every word she's saying to him. Puts his arm around her shoulder. Smiles that big warm/cool smile of his.

Then he shoves her under.

Anonymous said...

I am absolutely voting against Obama rather than for McCain.

I gained a ton of respect for Hillary Clinton over the past year. Sure, she pushed the working-class angle too hard for an obscenely wealthy person who went to Wellesley. However, she never deviated from her principles. She voted for Iraq and stuck to it. She wants national healthcare and she's stuck to it. I want to say that she even stuck it out with NAFTA.

These two guys who won largely faked their way to the nomination by pretending to be something that they are not. Obama especially. I love watching the lefties have a cow now that Obama is running to the center on every issue. He was either lying before or he's lying now.

Patm said...

I too developed some respect for Hillary during that campaign, although the sniper thing was really inexcusable.

I always wondered if, after the press dropped her like a hot rock to love Obama, and began to find nothing but fault with her, if she got a phone call from Bush saying, "I know how you feel..."

Chip Ahoy said...

That video hit the right tone exactly, it played upon my heartstrings whilst I watched it, which is rare for me to watch all the way through one of these silly things. Yes, it played precisely upon my heartstrings, it did, like a ... like a ... like a ukulele!

*hulas*

Ron said...

He's not Smoky but Gaye?
Well, I try try again...What's Goin' On?

Hector Owen said...

Ooh, that was nasty. Got syrup all over me now; feel like I need a shower. Does this man think that no-one has a BS detector? Even children can discern fakery in advertising.

Sloanasaurus said...

It is hard to watch that just finding out about Obama's renig on his pledge to use public funds. The media is trying to play it as just another flip flop, no different than McCains vote against Bush tax cuts that he now supports. However, flip flops on policy positions are not the same. They occur because of changing facts and circumstances. Obama's flip on public funds is all about his character. He stood by public funds as a way to show strength that he could not be bought. Today, he gave up that principle because he thinks the money will help him win. Obama is willing to sacrifice his sacred honor for victory. If he wins, there is no doubt he will sacrifice the sacred honor of America too.

Zachary Sire said...

It is hard to watch that just finding out about Obama's renig on his pledge...

Racist!

He stood by public funds as a way to show strength that he could not be bought. Today, he gave up that principle because he thinks the money will help him win.

I respectfully disagree. He realized midway through the primary that he was capable of bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars and so he simply changed his mind! Why settle for the 85 million cap when you can bring in 850 million and fight off all the PACs more effectively?

The public financing system is ridiculous and I'm glad Obama has learned by example (Swift Boats et al.) that the only way to beat unlimited hate speech is to raise enough money to shout right over it.

Obama is willing to sacrifice his sacred honor for victory. If he wins, there is no doubt he will sacrifice the sacred honor of America too.

So melodramatic!

blake said...

Maybe it's all the baggage the GOP brings with McCain which makes me gravitate towards Obama.

Heheheheh. Good thing the Dems are scandal free! Nope, not a single thing in the news lately, not a peep that might reflect badly on the party.

Sloan said...He stood by public funds as a way to show strength that he could not be bought.

ZPS said...I respectfully disagree. He realized midway through the primary that he was capable of bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars and so he simply changed his mind! Why settle for the 85 million cap when you can bring in 850 million and fight off all the PACs more effectively?

Because you were trying to show you can't be bought? Then it turned out, hey, yeah, you could be bought. In fact, all it took was more money than you could get from the public trough.

I think it's pretty clear either of these two clowns will do whatever it takes to get elected. We don't have any idea what they'll do while in office. But I suppose you have to go back to Reagan and Carter for that....

E Buzz said...

This ad should include some of those bizarre High School-grade answers from the Gibson Stephonopolous debate where Barry looked like the greenhorn he is.

Is it racist to call him a greenhorn? Maybe there is a special hidden connotation there that I, as a "white" male with meaningless ethnic origin, might not know about.

Barry's got the fact that he's black, and also, that he's black, going for him.

I mean, who the hell is the guy?

Pete the Streak said...

ZPS:"...the only way to beat unlimited hate speech is to raise enough money to shout right over it."

Typical lefty attitude. No discussion or dialogue; just shout 'em down. Define any opposing viewpoint as 'hate speech'.

Sigh.........

Anonymous said...

TITUS:

Have a great summer.Stay safe.

P.S. Tell Sully to keep his testosterone patch on.

George M. Spencer said...

The tranquilizing mountainy guitar picking. The open collar, the flag pin. The cross in the window frame. The sunlight. Blessed. Heartland. Working hard. No excuses. Didn't have much money. Flanked by old white people. The Golden Rule. No to the Wall Street that devastates neighborhoods. A controlling hand on the white soldier's shoulder. Troops neglected. Two white soldiers staring at each other, but not too lovingly. Cut taxes. Values. Honor. Deep Abiding Faith Country I Love.

Love the bit where the old white lady waggles her finger at him.

That is Code: In the South, it means he is a nice colored boy who can be controlled and is not a threat.

Major mindfuck.

Ruth Anne Adams said...

Huckabee-esque times four!

Asante Samuel said...

He skipped over the part about being an Ivy League lawyer, too.

Anonymous said...

I've found that the people who are most susceptible to the right-wing pundits' teleprompter meme are the people who've seen this.

birdie bob said...

When I was in high school I was chosen to represent my school at Buckeye Boys State. From day one, Obama's oratory has reminded me of the speeches given by teen agers at that convention; nothing but empty rhetoric. That's fine for teens beginning to study government -- but not for the President of the United States.

Anonymous said...

Manipulation is a wonderful thing. It obviates the need for thinking, which can make your head hurt and the world seem all confusing. Better to feeeeeel good. Mmmmm.

It's not just what his adverts say about Obama. It's also very much what they say about his campaign's view of you, the potential voter, and how to push your buttons. How well did it work? Brain dead, Pookie? Success!

KCFleming said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ben (The Tiger in Exile) said...

The ad's fine.

As for what his campaign thinks of us, however -- that lame excuse for dropping out of public financing shows what they think.

Personally, I think they'd have done better to say, "Hey, we're saving you 84 million dollars. Be happy," and be done with it.

KCFleming said...

Perry Como with a tan. I wish him luck in his quest for a seat on the city council of Toadbutt, Nevada.

Being half white, he is only 50% as racist as I am by definition.
I wonder if those two forces battle within him, the all-good African diversity side and the evil white man (from the US of KKKA) side. If so, how does he remain so calm?

I have to skate through treacle like this, mere propaganda for the cult of personality. In all of human history, those men inspiring cultish followings have been among the most dangerous, especially when they are wrong in their ideals, or worse when those ideals are are unclear or unspoken.

And Obama doesn't appear to be George Washington.
Obama, did you chop down that cherry tree?
No father, it was my staffer.


I wonder why he didn't show pictures of himself in church.
Oh, yeah.
Hence the windows instead. University or chapel; who can tell?

He looks like the kind of guy who would get the job at an inteview, and rise quickly through the ranks, primarily by taking credit for the work of others. Only when he reaches a position of true authority, when others rely on his knowledge and skill, when he cannot (successfully) blame anyone else for his failures, will the fraud be exposed.

Like Carter, the fraud will be exposed. But this is no mere chair of a division at GM, whose incompetent tenure might injure only a few investors. Carter blamed us, you recall, for malaise.

What will Obama blame us for when the will does not triumph?

Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) said...

If he learned to value "self-reliance" here in Kansas ... there's no evidence in his voting record or policy proposals.

He continues the patently false theme that only middle class and lower class people work.

The essence of his campaign is that:
a) "Ordinary people" are the martyrs
b) Corporations and the wealthy are the villains, and
c) He is the hero who'll save the martyrs from the villains.

He proposes to do this by engendering more and more dependency on government. That is not self-reliance.

More interestingly, I think he just telegraphed a Sebelius VP pick as the cornerstone of a "Kansas Values" campaign theme.

Look for an entire sub-text of "when times are tough, the folks in Kansas help each other" as the justification for substantial tax hikes on people who "aren't doing their fair share."

The Drill SGT said...

It was a good ad, made me want to gag though.


What will Obama blame us for when the will does not triumph?

Barack and Michele will blame us for letting them down when we don't all come together to put politics aside and support a Leftist agenda.

Anonymous said...

From each, according to his ability; to each, according to his need.

The mantra of the Democratic Party, er, Karl Marx, er...

This was the moment – this was the time – when we came together to remake this great nation.

From Obama’s campaign victory speech. Funny. I didn’t know this great nation needed re-making. And, if it is a great nation, why does it need to be remade? Oh, wait. Silly me. I remember now. It isn’t yet a socialist utopia with Obama as the Beloved Peoples’ Leader. Yep, that must be what he meant.

MadisonMan said...

Ruth Anne: Were there 4 floating crosses? I must have missed them.

For a political ad, it wasn't too cringeworthy. Unlike, say, This one.

michaele said...

It always strikes me as a tad deceptive how Barack hangs his hat on the Kansas and midwestern values thing. His grandparents moved to the state of Wahington during his mother's formative high school years and she her identity in high school was all about being unconventional. She was an athiest and involved herself with the more anti establishment types. Hmmmm, so all this swarmy mid wesrtern values malarky is just pablum for the uninformed.

MadisonMan said...

michaele, I disagree. I'm a native Pennsylvanian, but raised by midwestern parents, and feel much more at home and connected in the midwest than in rural Pennsylvania.

Sloanasaurus said...

From Obama’s campaign victory speech. Funny. I didn’t know this great nation needed re-making. And, if it is a great nation, why does it need to be remade

Excellent point. Obama wants us to be in a permanent state of crisis. He wants us to apply our collective will, which we have applied for short periods of time such as World War II, to things like health care. Obama wants to abandon the western concept that we are individuals first and that the government is here to preserve our god given rights.

He is very left. That is certain.

TJ said...

Obama wants us to be in a permanent state of crisis.

Unlike the current administration.

Simon said...

Zachary Paul Sire said...
"[Obama stood by public funds as a way to show strength that he could not be bought. Today, he gave up that principle because he thinks the money will help him win.] I respectfully disagree. He realized midway through the primary that he was capable of bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars and so he simply changed his mind! Why settle for the 85 million cap when you can bring in 850 million and fight off all the PACs more effectively?"

There's no reason at all to do so unless anything Obama says is taken serious. No reason at all if he believes that what was his solemn word last week doesn't count any more if it doesn't help him any more. No reason at all if he's dishonorable and guided only by what he thinks is going to help you attain power. Of course, that's the kind of "politics as usual" that Obama routinely decries and sanctimoniously tries to claim he's better than. It's the kind of politics as usual that Obama branded as a failure and the replacement of which was the declared raison d'etre of his campaign.

Obama declared yesterday that "the public financing of presidential elections as it exists today is broken." Perhaps so - but what has transpired to make it any more broken since - before Iowa - he agreed to participate in the public funding system? (Moreover, when he so agreed, he added that he has "been a long-time advocate for public financing of campaigns combined with free television and radio time as a way to reduce the influence of moneyed special interests"; is he now admitting that he was wrong, and that he had been a long-time advocate for a system that is broken?) That is a threshold question that must be answered before Obama can ever be taken seriously on anything, ever again, by anyone with a functioning brain stem. And there is no answer to it; nothing changed except what Obama stood to gain. That bit of politics as normal would injure any other candidate, but for a candidate who has been so santimonious about politics as normal, it is (or ought to be) fatal.

As David Brooks - someone who has finally woken from the dazed trance of Obama's cult of personality in the last month or so - says today:

"Barack Obama has worked on political reform more than any other issue. He aspires to be to political reform what Bono is to fighting disease in Africa. He’s spent much of his career talking about how much he believes in public financing. In January 2007, he told Larry King that the public-financing system works. In February 2007, he challenged Republicans to limit their spending and vowed to do so along with them if he were the nominee. In February 2008, he said he would aggressively pursue spending limits. He answered a Midwest Democracy Network questionnaire by reminding everyone that he has been a longtime advocate of the public-financing system.

But Thursday, at the first breath of political inconvenience, Fast Eddie Obama threw public financing under the truck. In so doing, he probably dealt a death-blow to the cause of campaign-finance reform. And the only thing that changed between Thursday and when he lauded the system is that Obama’s got more money now. ¶ And Fast Eddie Obama didn’t just sell out the primary cause of his life. He did it with style. He did it with a video so risibly insincere that somewhere down in the shadow world, Lee Atwater is gaping and applauding.
"

Obama's reversal on campaign finance amounts to a declaration that nothing he has ever said about anything can be taken seriously. He may retain the Potemkin village of his campaign slogans, but it would take breathtaking naivete for someone to think that there is anything to this man any more.

Anonymous said...

I worry that Barack will suffer whiplash as a result of this sudden jerk to the right.

Does he really think it's a good idea to try to cover every objection about himself in one thirty second spot?

George's analysis above nailed it.

I also enjoyed this comment:

Well, it looks like he's got the Gaye vote wrapped up then.

Very clever.

Fritz said...

Al-Qadhafi
thinks Obama is just lying to get elected. He's confident that this Muslim brother will come through for the middle east. Besides, Larry Sinclair will be just enough of a problem for Obama to blow, no pun intended, $200 million.

TJ said...

Simon says, nothing changed except what Obama stood to gain

What changed is the fact that John McCain admitted he would do nothing to keep a tight rein on smear-group ads, which Obama has done, directing donations to the campaign and the DNC rather than outside 527's. McCain made it clear that he would not (or could not, as he claimed) keep a lid on the race-baiting ads in North Carolina and Tennessee.

knox said...

Huckabee-esque times four!

>>shudder<<

Simon said...

Trevor Jackson...
"What changed is the fact that John McCain admitted he would do nothing to keep a tight rein on smear-group ads, which Obama has done, directing donations to the campaign and the DNC rather than outside 527's."

Oh please. You really believe that simple-minded spin? Doubt it. And I doubt anyone else does, either - not if they're honest. Was Obama unaware of the possibility that he would come under fire by 527s when he pledged to take public financing? Doubt that, too.

Obama said that he thought public financing was important, and that he'd take it if his opponent took it. His opponent took it. He has refused to take it. And the only thing that has changed is that when he pledged to take public financing, his campaign needed to look like something new and different, whereas now, his campaign needs that image less than it wants money.

Free your mind from the shackles of this cult of personality before it is too late, Trevor.

William said...

McCain was given the choice of torture and malnutrition or violation of a vow. He chose torture and malnutrition. Obama was given the choice of financial advantage or betrayal of a pledge. He chose financial advantage. Obama is attractive and energetic, more so than McCain. But in his life and in this campaign he has always acted in his own self interest and proclaimed that self interest to be the highest ideal.

TJ said...

Simon, I've always found you to be a slightly fussy and florid commenter, but on no subject is your prose more overwrought than the nature of Obama's candidacy.

When you're ready to stop accusing every Obama supporter of being either dishonest or a mindless cultist, I'd be glad to respond.

Simon said...

And when you stop acting like dishonest, mindless cultists, Trevor, I'll be overjoyed to stop pointing it out.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

I guess it just depends on which family is expedient at the time. When pandering to the black voters in Chicago, Barak trotts out his Kenyan roots. When pandering to America in general, we get to see his Kansas roots and the African family is nowhere to be seen. Basically I think that there is something rotten at the root of Barak's personality.

The more I listen to his extemporaneous speeches the more I suspect that Barack is just not that bright.

MadisonMan said...

I'm imagining Simon and Trevor and Palladian and Titus at a table playing Bridge. Would there be fisticuffs because of bidding miscommunication?

Anonymous said...

I bid the slam in spades because I thought Titus' fondling my leg was a coded signal promising a first-round diamond stopper. Turn out he was just being Titus. Down four tricks!

rhhardin said...

I hear on first listening everything that it's composed to respond to, instead.

Of course the discussion is what will the vibrating women who make up the electorate think.

Obama's rhetoric is never judged on his being a transparent phony, but on his supposed effect on people who don't notice that.

Unknown said...

I haven't seen anyone mention the fact that Obama says he "passed legislation". Is he a one-man legislature?...

About iEdit said...

So, if he was brought up like this, why does he and why does Michelle whine so much?