Althouse: The NYT wants "change it can believe in" — and it can't believe this new Barack Obama.

July 4, 2008

The NYT wants "change it can believe in" — and it can't believe this new Barack Obama.

It was all about believing! Don't wound our sensitive credulousness!

What if... what if... he's only a man?

42 comments:

bill said...: I don't see why he moves me.
He's a man. He's just a man.
And I've had so many men before,
In very many ways,
He's just one more.
Should I bring him down?
Should I scream and shout?
Should I speak of love,
Let my feelings out?
I never thought I'd come to this.
What's it all about?
Don't you think it's rather funny,
I should be in this position.
I'm the one who's always been
So calm, so cool, no lover's fool,
Running every show.
He scares me so.
I never thought I'd come to this.
What's it all about?
Yet, if he said he loved me,
I'd be lost. I'd be frightened.
I couldn't cope, just couldn't cope.
I'd turn my head. I'd back away.
I wouldn't want to know.
He scares me so.
I want him so.
I love him so.; 7/4/08, 11:04 AM
Sprezzatura said...: What do they think about this:

http://hotair.com/archives/2008/07/03/obama-tacks-right-on-abortion-now/; 7/4/08, 11:06 AM
UWS guy said...: "Obama trying to win presidency; nutroots outraged."

I forget which blogger said that, apt no?; 7/4/08, 11:07 AM
Sprezzatura said...: UWS,

This is sort of that. Not popular, though, judging by the comments.

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/07/02/hey-nutroots-you-lost.aspx; 7/4/08, 11:15 AM
reader_iam said...: GASP!; 7/4/08, 11:17 AM
Anonymous said...: I see Bill beat me to it.; 7/4/08, 11:26 AM
reader_iam said...: Yeah, Bill has a tendency to do that, especially on holidays. I swear he gets up extra early just to lie in wait and pounce.

That Bill. You gotta watch out for him.; 7/4/08, 11:32 AM
reader_iam said...: From what I can tell (from my own statcounter) that dude was up and at it before 7 a.m. Hell, I'd probably been asleep for only a couple-so hours at that time.

Sneaky little early riser.

Well, at least us night-owl degenerates take the time to link to the relevant video

/blogfriend chain-yanking (one of MY favorite holiday pastimes); 7/4/08, 11:42 AM
The Drill SGT said...: Ed Morrissey made an appropriate comment on his posting for this article. He said: Like the NYT editorial board, Krauthammer concludes that Obama will risk nothing for principle, but will abandon all for power; 7/4/08, 11:58 AM
Anonymous said...: What if... what if... he's only a man?

Nothing much left in the excuse file, Althouse? Are you sadly reduced to, "We should seriously consider Obama for President of the United States because he has a Y chromosome."? Or did you just neglect to append the explicit "ha ha"?

Happy 4th of July all.; 7/4/08, 12:04 PM
The Drill SGT said...: What if... what if... he's only a man?

What if he's not our salvation with a new politics of reform and public financing, but the same old cynical, machine politiian, only with less experience and little judgement?; 7/4/08, 12:04 PM
Anonymous said...: What if... what if... he's only a man?

If he's only a man or worse was a White man with his same total lack of accomplishments or executive qualifications we wouldn't be talking about him.

He is The Anointed One because he is far more than a man. He is Our Savior come to wash away our racial guilt, shame and debt.

He has come to give the Good White People an opportunity to feel morally superior to and to spite the merely white people.; 7/4/08, 12:10 PM
save_the_rustbelt said...: A dysfunctional primary system produces two mediocre candidates.

Wow, are we in trouble.; 7/4/08, 12:51 PM
Cedarford said...: He is The Anointed One because he is far more than a man. He is Our Savior come to wash away our racial guilt, shame and debt.

He has come to give the Good White People an opportunity to feel morally superior to and to spite the merely white people.

He worked hard beginning in his late 30s to get rid of his white world way of speaking and reinvent himself as the articulate black preacher who thrills guilty whites and confirms the feelings of blacks by reading soaring oratory written by Team Axelrod.

Black Messiah on day Team Axelrod got the nomination for their honey-lipped tabula rasa:

(I say in deep, profound humbleness I accept what you all wanted) Future generations will mark this moment as the time when the sick began to be cared for, good jobs provided the jobless, the oceans rise began to slow, the planet began to heal

And amazingly, the most truthful phrase of the whole sorry 2008 race appears to be Rev Wrights. "I'm a preacher, he's a politician. He will do what politicians got to do."; 7/4/08, 1:08 PM
bill said...: Sneaky little early riser.

Actually, I woke up quite late this morning, wasn't out of bed until almost 7:15am (EST).; 7/4/08, 1:13 PM
bill said...: I'd also point back to an earlier comment I made at Althouse (during an American Idol thread):

How about this. Andrew Lloyd Webber's Judas = William Shakespeare's Brutus. The true believer betrays the leader he thinks has betrayed the cause for fame.; 7/4/08, 1:18 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Happy Independence Day Everyone!

Ann - you keep omitting the "HaHa" in your post titles. Heh.; 7/4/08, 1:30 PM
Anonymous said...: They endorsed Hilary, not Obama. Remember.; 7/4/08, 1:30 PM
Anonymous said...: When Obama excited us by promising an end to partisan bickering, we didn't realize he was going to turn around and wreck it all by compromising with those vile Rethuglicans!; 7/4/08, 1:52 PM
IgnatzEsq said...: UWS guy ""Obama trying to win presidency; nutroots outraged." Thanks, that was hilarious

Once again - I never would have guessed the democratic nominee would adopt a more centrist platform during the general election. You really have to be living in a bubble not to see this coming.

Many people who visit places like Kos seem hell bent on making democrats completely unpalatable to moderate, everyday voters. I'm glad that Obama, at least since he's won the primary, isn't really listening to them (so far).; 7/4/08, 1:53 PM
XWL said...: Nobody should be upset, The Obama promised Change, and that's what he's delivering . . .

He's pure Zen.; 7/4/08, 2:27 PM
Fen said...: You really have to be living in a bubble not to see this coming.

Ah, but Obama's brand is that he's "different"...

Many people who visit places like Kos seem hell bent on making democrats completely unpalatable to moderate, everyday voters. I'm glad that Obama, at least since he's won the primary, isn't really listening to them (so far).

So you're cool with Obama changing his spots to appeal to moderates. You don't mind that he has been [or will be] lying to you? The more things Change...; 7/4/08, 3:07 PM
Anil Petra said...: They forgot to mention his flip-flop on late-term abortion. NARAL has unbelievable egg on its face, after choosing Obama over the first serious woman candidate for President in history -- an unwaivering supporter of abortion rights.; 7/4/08, 3:14 PM
former law student said...: A dysfunctional primary system produces two mediocre candidates.

Election 2000 all over again, I agree.

Why does the NYT want Obama to adopt its quixotic view of the Second Amendment? (The right of states to buy guns for the militia, I believe teh ACLU put it. Or the right of the people to own firearms, as long as the firing pin was locked up in one room, while the rest of the gun was locked up in the other.) Gore's tie-breaking Senate vote for post-Columbine gun control helped torpedo his election. Are they secretly for McCain?; 7/4/08, 3:22 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "They endorsed Hilary, not Obama. Remember."

Is there a plot to bring down the anointed one? Watch carefully. If it happens, you want to be able to say you saw it coming.; 7/4/08, 3:25 PM
The Drill SGT said...: Anil Petra said...
They forgot to mention his flip-flop on late-term abortion. NARAL has unbelievable egg on its face,

More precisely the Board of NARAL, that forgot it's supposed to be non-partisan and decided it wanted to be a partisan kingmaker (literally). I'd be interested to see how their fund raising is going now.; 7/4/08, 3:33 PM
Queen1 said...: So, there really ARE only two kinds of people in the world:
1. Those who knew what Obama was from the minute he appeared on the political scene.
2. Idiots.

www.whenwearequeen.squarespace.com; 7/4/08, 3:47 PM
IgnatzEsq said...: So you're cool with Obama changing his spots to appeal to moderates.

Yes. And it seems like Ann's cool with it too.

You don't mind that he has been [or will be] lying to you?

I'm used to politicians lying. If that roiled me, I'd be pretty upset all the time. And write angry Op-eds about my own sensitive credulousness.; 7/4/08, 4:01 PM
Meade said...: "Is there a plot to bring down the anointed one? Watch carefully. If it happens, you want to be able to say you saw it coming."

You mean the coming of the going of the second coming?; 7/4/08, 4:31 PM
blake said...: Hey! Does this mean that if Obama's elected and doesn't pull us out of Barack, we're gonna get bumper stickers that say:

Obama Lied
People Died

??; 7/4/08, 5:51 PM
blake said...: Hahahah!

pulls us out of Barack

Awesome typo, if I do say so myself.; 7/4/08, 5:53 PM
Meade said...: I can no more pull us out of Iraq than I can pull a rabbit out of my hat and go visit my ailing elderly racist grandmother in Honolulu who I just love to pieces.; 7/4/08, 7:12 PM
dick said...: dtl,

You have not been reading the NYT or the Boston Globe lately then. Since Hillary dropped out both of them have been in the tank for Obama in their news stories and in their editorials to the point where it seems they should both be billing the DNC for advertising dollars.; 7/4/08, 7:28 PM
rhhardin said...: It's stupid that they don't care about language, in particular getting believing right.

Wittgenstein: 575. When I sat down on this chair, of course I believed it would bear me. I had no thought of its possibly collapsing.

Their believing would correctly be giving no thought to his possibly changing his line.

Whereas they want believing to be a virtue in itself, and believing to have a sacred moral status, so it can be used in editorials.; 7/4/08, 8:20 PM
Peter V. Bella said...: The New York Times wants change that is in accordance with its own unethical, immoral, and valueless culture. Nothing more, nothing less. Change they can beleive in means change that fits their narrow minded agenda. Why does any intelligent person even think they are still the News paprer of record?; 7/4/08, 9:34 PM
Fen said...: I'm used to politicians lying. If that roiled me, I'd be pretty upset all the time.

Sure. But you skipped over my qualifier: Obama marketed himself as a "different kind" of politician, no more "business as usual". Are you claiming you didn't fall for it?; 7/4/08, 11:18 PM
amba said...: Wow! Even the New York Times uses "ascribed" when they mean "subscribed"? I just corrected that mistake at work.

What if he's just a . . . politician?

I actually find that discovery (if that's what it is) something of a relief. (Not a surprise. I'm from Chicago.)

I find ALL the campaign rhetoric wince-makingly cynical, whether it's pandering to the left, the right, or the center. Trying to please, if not everybody, enough of everybody to get elected, is an absurd and highly choreographed maneuver. Both Obama and McCain are doing this. Obama has done it before -- tacking left to make his mark in the black community.

If he has any ability to be a uniter, this is actually why. He can actually bring a lot of blacks along with him to the center while tugging a lot of whites gently broad-mindedwards. Some will abandon him for "flip-flopping," but many are not. You should have heard some of the talk on the local black-oriented jazz NPR station today. Open patriotism and optimism. Joyfully mainstream.; 7/5/08, 1:33 AM
Gary Rosen said...: C-fudd - you still won't own up to your admiration for savages who smash 4-year-old girls against rocks. As for "likeability", you've been banned from a number of blogs while this Jooo hasn't. But you'll never have the guts to own up, sonny boy.; 7/5/08, 3:57 AM
Gary Rosen said...: C-fudd - you still won't own up to your admiration for savages who smash 4-year-old girls against rocks. As for "likeability", you've been banned from a number of blogs while this Jooo hasn't. But you'll never have the guts to own up, sonny boy.; 7/5/08, 4:01 AM
AllenS said...: There's a famous saying that goes something like, "integrity is doing the right thing when nobody is looking."

That's what is bothering me about Obama. When nobody was looking, he was hanging out with Ayers, the preacher, Rezko, just to name a few. When people started to look, he had to do a complete 180 on them. BH Obama has no integrity. He has no direction. Change? What does that mean?; 7/5/08, 7:00 AM
rhhardin said...: Roger Price : You can't fool all the people all of the time, but if you can do it just once, it lasts for four years.; 7/5/08, 7:17 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: AllensS said:

"That's what is bothering me about Obama. When nobody was looking, he was hanging out with Ayers, the preacher, Rezko, just to name a few. When people started to look, he had to do a complete 180 on them. BH Obama has no integrity. He has no direction. Change? What does that mean?"

Well said - the Republicans should start replaying what you wrote over and over and over.; 7/5/08, 9:36 AM