Ugh. I finally found the "print" button to clear away the garbage. Okay:
Fascinating speech. It was so rhetorically flat, so lacking in rhythm and cadence, one almost has to believe he did it on purpose. Best not to dazzle on Opening Day. Otherwise, they'll expect magic all the time.Interesting. I've been wondering why Obama didn't write a better speech. So the theory is, he deliberately wrote a lackluster speech? Hmmm. Didn't want to dazzle on opening day? He's easing into this President thing?
The most striking characteristic of Barack Obama is not his nimble mind, engaging manner or wide-ranging intellectual curiosity. It's the absence of neediness. He's Bill Clinton, master politician, but without the hunger.
I don't care that much what Obama did for the big inaugural show, but I've been unimpressed with the action since then. In particular, yesterday, I read the headline that he was closing Guantánamo, and I wanted to blog about it, but then I read the article and couldn't really tell that he was. It felt like trickery. He's setting a goal, way out in the future, a year from now, and he has no information about how he's going to deal with the remaining detainees.
But Krauthammer would have me believe that Obama is just so cool — he's not needy, like that psychological mess, that flashing webpage of a man, Bill Clinton:
Obama will take [adulation], but he can leave it too. He is astonishingly self-contained. He gives what he must to advance his goals, his programs, his ambitions. But no more. He has no need to.But how do we know it's not all as fake as Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman string-synching in the icy air? He gives what he must to advance his goals... but what are his goals? To pull off the impression of a presidency? Why did he give the information that he was closing Guantánamo, without any substance about how he'd do it? I don't see that as just enough. I see it as too much and not enough.
Posts
94 comments:
Charles,
Obama must be great fun at a dinner party.
The expectation of Obama's coolness is so high that the day he loses his cool is going to be a bombshell.
Why did he give the information that he was closing Guantánamo, without any substance about how he'd do it?
Force of habit. Where on earth have YOU been?
Dang. I agreed with everything you wrote, including your analysis of Krauthammer's "analysis." Except that I keep my pop-up blocker on when I visit Townhall.
Word is out that Obama has killed his first group of bad guys that included some inncents. Wow! Obama is now in the club as a killer of women and children. Maybe the International Court of Justice will prosecute him along with Rumsfeld and Bush.
Maybe Israel should issue a press release with their concerns about Obama's excessive use of force.
Jewish World Review is the place to go first for columists. They've long been available and don't clutter the page. Also you get the whole essay at once.
I abandonded Townhall completely because it brought the computer to its knees with its site design, which rivals the worst of low class radio station sites for insanity.
The Kraut Hammer expresses my sentiments as usual. In Obama land the needy persons are us. We now need his permission to have an economic recovery, or to have a measure of Military Defense, or to have the social programs we will soon need to stay alive. My fear is that he also wants the whole world to need him just as much as we do. That means he will make them promises that you and I will have to keep, under penalty of law. Anybody still afraid of Sarah Palin's Alaskan lack of elite polish now?
"...like that psychological mess, that flashing webpage of a man..."
Too funny to read at work
Ann wrote:
I've been wondering why Obama didn't write a better speech. So the theory is, he deliberately wrote a lackluster speech? Hmmm.
As I wrote in another comment, I noticed this conservative meme to explain Obama's Inauguration speech, but I am not buying it.
When Sasha and Malia Obama were with their parents at the Lincoln Memorial celebration, they happened to read the carved in granite 2nd Inaugural Address by Lincoln on a wall.
With the simple, cutting logic of any child, they turned to the PEOTUS, and said:
Sasha: "Looks long."
Malia: "First African-American president. Better be good."
So they want me to believe that this lacklustre speech was on purpose? I'm not buying for a second.
There was too much riding on this new voice of leadership, of example, of Hopange.
So why did he have a mediocre Address? I don't know. Possibly he remembered his hero Lincoln, who gave a few minutes' oration at Gettysburg which is seared into everyone's memory -- after following a so-called orator with flowery words and soaring rhetoric, of whom no one remembers a damn thing of what he said.
Unfortunately, it didn't work.
Cheers,
Victoria
Why did he give the information that he was closing Guantánamo, without any substance about how he'd do it?
To appease the lefties, of course (sometimes the obvious answer is the right one). And because they worship the ground he walks on, they ignore the fact that he didn't really close it.
Why did he give the information that he was closing Guantánamo, without any substance about how he'd do it?
Like he wanted the result without the effort.
Some sort of Presidential liposuction except we all get to live,er with the results-hopefully.
How much thought went into it?
Worse how would you like to be a military lawyer right about now?
No neediness.
Yeah, all he needs is to be President and not to be asked questions, except the questions he wants, from the questioners he selects, at the time he desires.
The Gitmo closing--and the poor Press Secretary's attempts to explain the inexplicable--are a miserable start.
Guess what? Transparency is not proclamations and web sites--it's the actual ability to figure out what is going on.
What is going on with Gitmo is not very clear (probably for the terrifying reason that they have no idea what they are going to do.)
Chances are his next speech will be far better because he lets someone help write it.
Obama's tendency to stammer in ad hoc Q&A sessions suggests he is not as eloquent and nimble as many first believed.
He needs to learn to practice the key policy soundbites and repeat them over and over.
The Gitmo closing--and the poor Press Secretary's attempts to explain the inexplicable--are a miserable start.
Did you hear Obama flashed irritation after he paid an impromptu press corps visit, and they dared to ask him tough questions?
According to Wonkette, the site which broke the story, Politico, are PMSing like really edgy women do about this. Yeah, that's not sexist at all, Wonkslag.
But back to Barack. This is what happened:
Asked how he could reconcile a strict ban on lobbyists in his administration with a Deputy Defense Secretary nominee who lobbied for Raytheon, Obama interrupted with a knowing smile on his face.
"Ahh, see," he said, "I came down here to visit. See this is what happens. I can't end up visiting with you guys and shaking hands if I'm going to get grilled every time I come down here."
Pressed further by the Politico reporter about his Pentagon nominee, William J. Lynn III, Obama turned more serious, putting his hand on the reporter's shoulder and staring him in the eye.
"Alright, come on" he said, with obvious irritation in his voice. "We will be having a press conference at which time you can feel free to [ask] questions. Right now, I just wanted to say hello and introduce myself to you guys - that's all I was trying to do."
Just answer the damn questions, sir.
Cheers,
Victoria
Althouse said: "Why did he give the information that he was closing Guantánamo, without any substance about how he'd do it? I don't see that as just enough. I see it as too much and not enough."
He is not aiming at you, professor. He wants to please the knee-jerk 'Gitmo is evil' types, but give nothing of substance which can be criticized.
Of course, now he has a year to cross the Rubicon. Good luck with that.
I believe Krauthammer is a psyschiatrist by training, which might explain some fascination with Obama's behavior and his effort to figure out what makes The One tick. Then of course there was that dinner with the President, in which I am sure The One laid on the charm quite thickly (seriously, I do believe Obama has lots of charisma, which is part of his success to date).
What do you mean by "why Obama didn't write a better speech". I understood it was written by famed Hillary-boob-grabber Jon Favreau (sometime afater Favreau's Thanksgiving vacation).
Perhaps wrongely, I believe Krauthammer was giving him the benefit of the doubt. Hopefully he will not be willing to keep that going (and be accused of being a co-opted, inside the Beltway "conservative") and I am reasonably confident he won't.
The Git-mo situation epitomizes what I've known about BO since he was my State Senator from Hyde Park. At the meeting of hope/change and cold hard facts is now a man who has no ability to make a tough/unpopular decision.
He had to do something immediately or he'd lose tremendous face with the extreme left, so he made an announcement of future action (intention, liberals love intentions). Now, he will focus group the possible draw down measures and likely find that none of them will please everyone he's trying to please without exposing him to the tremendous liabilities associated with letting potential al-Qaeda masterminds go free.
In the end, I expect him to find some way to meet the letter of his pronouncement, but not the spirit. He'll be able to say he closed Guantanamo, but the activities will likely just be relocated.
Obama gave the left an engagement ring... but no date.
I would do Obama but am a little nervous about his hog. I am almost certain he is uncut and I have a feeling there is quite a bit of foreskin.
Remember when I did all the ranting about having sex with Rush? The Daily Show did something similar last night. Visualizing Rush bending over and touching his hands to his ankles. See others were thinking of the same thing.
I generally find myself in agreement with Charles Krauthammer, but to blame this egg on “the absence of neediness” is ridiculous. Obama craves adulation like a wolf craves sheep. His sense of self-love is so engorged that he makes Narcissus look like a Warner Brothers cartoon character. No, I wouldn’t chalk this one up to the absence of neediness; I’d lay it on the shoulders of his muse, John Favreau, who once groped a pair of cardboard boobs for the camera. Sometimes it’s difficult to keep your focus after you bag the biggest prize on Earth.
Obama gave the left an engagement ring... but no date.
That's good.
Maybe not exactly true, as he gave them a date, but it was the sinister one no proposed to woman wants to hear: "In a year...sometime."
Any moment now, the Left will start to rifle around his desk for credit card stubs.
I noticed this conservative meme to explain Obama's Inauguration speech, but I am not buying it.
I'm not buying it either, but it is not a conservative meme. Sure, the conservative Andrew Sullivan buys the idea, but I first heard it from Chuck Schumer.
The theory Limbaugh is offering tentatively, as one good all-explaining alternative so far at least, is that Obama has no idea what he's doing.
I gathered that from Obama's gaze into the future pose long ago.
Obama believes it as much as his dampest worshipper ever did.
Consquences will bring him down in farce rather than tragedy, I'd predict.
but I first heard it from Chuck Schumer
Ahh. I heard it first from ElRushbo, then from the snuffling Fred Barnes, then Krautsy, finally I read it being flogged by a few conservative bloggers.
Let's compromise and say it was just a meme.
One of the first things that turned me off about Obama were his insipid speeches and his extremely irritating speaking style. His cadence is so tiresome and his thoughts so empty. He says nothing and takes a long time doing it.
(The funniest riff is Stewart reading Obama using a bad George Bush imitation. It's the same old empty shit.)
What did Rush say? Let's get our marching orders in order!
I think the Obama is essentially a technocrat. When he says "The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works" he is being completely sincere.
His faith is in the experts who will make things work. The corresponding growth and invasiveness of the government is of no matter compared to the dream of scientific management.
But when Obama bookends his technocratic vision with the themes of responsibility and freedom, he manages to strip them of significance. Freedom and responsibility entail the freedom to be irresponsible, the freedom to fail.
Obama's view of risk and reward -- those drivers of prosperity and creativity -- is constrained and theoretical. When he says "we will restore science to its rightful place" he isn't talking about Silicon Valley. He is talking about government grants to university researchers.
So I'm not surprised that Obama doesn't inspire with specifics. He can't. His speaking style is inspiring. But his actual ideas are warmed-over Dukakis.
Take a look here -- Dukakis' most famous line:
...this election isn’t about ideology. It’s about competence....
Here's the transcript.
Consquences will bring him down in farce rather than tragedy, I'd predict.
There IS something farcical about Obama and those around him, don't you think?
- His awkward joke telling, from Nancy Reagan digs, to Green Hornet/Weezy pop culture mistakes.
- Rev. Wright's sermonising.
- Joe Biden. 'Nuff said.
- That Keystone Kops Oath.
Napoleon famously said there is but one step from the ridiculous to the sublime.
Distances are shorter these days.
I've been wondering why Obama didn't write a better speech.
Maybe it was the best he could do.
Why did he give the information that he was closing Guantánamo, without any substance about how he'd do it?
In order to be consistent with all other of his promises.
Err. Sublime <--> Ridiculous.
vbspurs-
NO damn it no.
Conservatives do this crap. I don't know what it is.
I bet you soup to nuts you had it right the first time.
They are country club Republicans or they've got that southern gentile thing going on and they have no idea that a Dem would just as soon shiv them.
The real test for Obama and his "whether it works" standard for government will be if he has the capability of vetoing the pork-as-stimilus package currently being assembled in congress.
They all want to have dinner with these people like MoDo, Andy and Chrissy Matthews...
"Anybody still afraid of Sarah Palin's Alaskan lack of elite polish now? "
Palin in her State of State address just announced a hiring freeze and a 7 percent cut in State budget. We sure paid a large premium for elite polish.
He's clean and articulate. What more do you people want? Buncha nitpickers!
I keep trying to tell you guys about NewAge cultism - and wish you would study the events explained in that link and (even though he's a liberal) this much more well-written site:
Look, in cultism, everything takes place in the future so the suckers can be dragged along for a while. Alternative medicine supposedly will work after you get sicker. (The "healer" is usually long gone by then) and global warming will be seen in 100 years - get it? They get to do what they want for a while and you're/we're stuck with the results.
I swear, I'm not just trying to toot my own horn, here: you guys should read my whole site - don't just stop with what's on the front page, or let the divorce bits turn you away - that's the ugly maw I was forced to wallow through to understand what was happening to me. But, except for not getting the extent of media bias we've seen for Obama, there's nothing that's wrong in there.
I'm an atheist looking at politics (an obsession I had already) through the spiritual/religious beliefs of the Left - with the same fine tooth comb they apply to Christianity, etc. - and found it's easier to follow their movements that way than through just applying logic. Why? That's not what they're using. Andrew Sullivan isn't remarking that Barack Obama is a Leo for nothing. The Daily Kos didn't spring up out of an astrology site for nothing. Hillary Clinton doesn't consult a psychic for nothing. Arianna Huffington isn't in John Rogers' cult (and demanding her employees do it to - just like Madonna demands her people join the Kabbalah cult) for nothing. Bill Clinton doesn't quote Ken Wilber for nothing.
Quit calling them "secular": The Occult is their religion.
And they told you, after Bush won, they were going to "get religion" during this election cycle - they just didn't say which one - and, kids, occult means "hidden."
I gotta go - I told you I'm moving - but y'all should read my site. Like I said - except for the media's role in all this - I'm batting 95 to 100%.
Re Jon Favreau, I read somewhere Obama wrote his own inaugural speech.
Anyone know if that is substantially correct?
"Worse how would you like to be a military lawyer right about now?"
The job of the JAG has gotten easier. For some reason the troops are just not very successful at capturing terrorists lately. Now the logistics guys have had an increased workload cause ammo usage is up. This will work out fine until Obama tightens down the Rules of Engagement. That will be when his policies begin to cost US lives.
I've just read over the comments here and have to say - in light of what I've just written - you guys are all dancing around it. Ann has said it, Rush has said it, but nobody wants to accept it:
This is a political cult.
It's the same with all cults - but accepting it, and dealing with it as such - is the only way to confront it effectively.
Palin in her State of State address just announced a hiring freeze and a 7 percent cut in State budget.
Oh, thanks for reminding me, Bob! I will post a Youtube on my site, with some of her supposedly poetic flourishes (mighty Yukon, indeed). Meanwhile, ADN is covering it here, and the comments from the still-obsessed, rabid Left suck.
P.S.: This Robert Gibbs fella is one boring Press Secretary. I miss the smashlabbed Dee Dee Myers.
Now the logistics guys have had an increased workload cause ammo usage is up.
Heh.
Still...Does JAG even get a stab at keeping them, reclassifying? Charging?
Do they even get to play in the game-or is it being taken completely out of their ball park..
"Smashlabbed" Dee Dee Myers????
what does that mean?
Oh, please. Will you give Obama a chance to at least settle into his new (and extremely unenviable job) before lighting into him? Can the guy even breathe without attracting the venonmous attention of all those critics who, for some misanthropic reasons of their own, can't wait to see him screw up? The "cult" of Obama comes from antipathy toward Bush; that's how strong the feelings against Bush were, folks. So before all you who helped put Bush in office run to attack Obama, you might want to reflect on just how sound your own judgments have been. Let's have a moratorium on all the snide chatter and just wait to see what Obama can deliver. Aren't the stakes high enough to warrant that?
(And frankly, Rush Limbaugh ought to be kept in a cage. If Obama fails, the country fails; if that's his desire, tell me again why he has a public forum?)
Look, in cultism, everything takes place in the future so the suckers can be dragged along for a while.
There is a major flaw with this (rather simplistic, but still rather apposite) conclusion.
Presidents have term-limits, so the "future" can not be postponed indefinitely. This is why totalitarian dictatorships are so very dangerous.
If Obama or his supporters ever pull a Chavez, and suggest he should be President "in vitalicio", worry. Until then, be wary but don't give into alarmism.
Personally, I have infinite confidence in my country's checks and balances. And in the American character. Tearing people down seems to be our national pasttime next to bond trading and garage sales.
Emcee - You are correct, Obamamania is a cult. Some here have wondered whether Ann will need an intervention. Or a kidnapping.
AJ -
This article from the Washington Post reports that Favreau was tasked with writing the inaugural speech.
what does that mean?
From Smash Lab, the Discovery Channel show where stuff gets blowed up.
Or, in other words, she looked bloated and vaguely drunk all the time.
Plus, I'm worried that the cult may already have hooked Victoria. Whoever that person is who is now posting as vbspurs isn't the original Victoria. Original Victoria disappeared a few weeks ago, then this imposter showed up.
Real Victoria tossed in a coy Brit reference to sex every few posts, and always signed out with 'Cheers'. Not this fey imposter.
If the Obamaites didn't get her, Trooper York may have.
Yeah, it was probably Trooper, with all his manly charm and a store full of dresses. That'll do it every time.
The cult of Trooper. It involves an healthy fascination with giants, bathtubs, dames in swimsuits and the toes of camels.
/unhealthy/
Say, do you know those big bottles of imported beer you can buy at the liquor store, the quickie mart or wherever? Not the 64 ounce ghetto wino beer, but the imported stuff?
A bottol of that is reall good with a sandwich on a Friday at noon. Just sayin'.
Well, I'm feeling a might drowsy, so I think I'll nap for a few minutes.
"The 'cult' of Obama comes from antipathy toward Bush; that's how strong the feelings against Bush were, folks. So before all you who helped put Bush in office run to attack Obama, you might want to reflect on just how sound your own judgments have been."
I'm supposed to reflect on the soundness of my judgment based on the antipathies of a bunch of strangers who, as far as I know, may have no judgment at all?
"(And frankly, Rush Limbaugh ought to be kept in a cage. If Obama fails, the country fails; if that's his desire, tell me again why he has a public forum?)"
A, thanks for YET ANOTHER example of tolerance. B, either you are being disingenuous or you're quoting somebody else's inaccurate quote.
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_012209/content/01125117.guest.html
Tell me that you wanted Bush's policies to succeed, or that you conflated the success of Bush in pushing his policies with the success of the USA.
Real Victoria tossed in a coy Brit reference to sex every few posts, and always signed out with 'Cheers'. Not this fey imposter.
Hey, you missed my explanation a few months ago, Michael_H. Okay, as a refresher, I'm giving the Cheers thing a mini-rest. I use it now mostly to soften my words, such as in response to a person who may not know me as well as regulars.
Not that you are wrong though. Why am I defending Caroline Kennedy who probably thinks my heroine Palin is a worthless rube, and why I am not agreeing with TCE that Obamamania is not a very troubling cult?
Cheers, <--- just for you
Victoria
SnowDahlia just told us to shut up.
And Rush especially.
If he doesn't shut up his "public forum" will be taken from him.
As it should be.
Because he's a...a...a obstructionist.
So.
Just.
Shut.
Up.
Rush and all you goddamned wreckers!!!
Victoria - So you're not denying the whole Trooper rumor. Aha!
This conservative's opinion of the Obama Admin from Inaugural to so far:
- No damage yet done.
- No substantial switch yet from any Bush policy.
- Limited press access the last 3 days, crimping yet more Obama worship.
Grade on Day 3: A
Barry's speech was so bad it could have been written by Brett Favreau.
Wouldn't that be Farveau?
Obama's speech was so bad it could have been written by-Brett Favre...
btw-I think The Crack Emcee is right.
Hell the FDR zombies lived long enough to vote for Obama.
Tease me all you want, but I'll say it again:
If you don't investigate what's in my site, and those two links I gave you - really investigate them and not just scan - you'll never understand any of this.
Barack Obama is Oprah Winfrey's candidate - she who gives every spiritualist and quack a platform, online Eckhard Tolle seminars, and lets Scientologists jump on her couch - and has everybody voting for a politician who is seriously referred to as "The One," "The Messiah," and "The Lightworker."
You guys are already noticing there's nothing to the words, which is the basis for all cult leaders - David Koresh, Charles Manson, Jim Jones, etc. - but this is a political cult. (Jim Jones was put in charge of San Francisco's Housing Authority and was friends with Harvey Milk, George Moscone, Willie brown, jerry Brown, and many more.) You've got to learn the difference between "open cults" and "closed cults" to understand this.
Am I saying Barack Obama is Jim Jones? No - but it is a cult - and, as Ann said, Barack Obama knew it. His own campaign admitted it was a cult. (Sorry, but I don't have time to get these links.) Why anyone would turn away from what TIME Magazine, Newsweek Magazine, and many others are saying - without putting it together and saying, "Fine - it's a cult - now what?" isn't serious about caring about politics. I'm moving from Oakland, California, where the Your Black Muslim Bakery cult operated. They killed a journalist, in broad daylight, not far from my house because he was investigating them. Guess what the police found in their premises when they finally moved on them? letters of endorsement from (former Senator, now Oakland Mayor) Ron Dellums, anti-war Congresswoman Barbara Lee, and many other Bay Area politicians - including California AG Jerry Brown (formally known as "Moonbeam").
I know how crazy it sounds but if you don't think things have been getting crazy - for some unknown reason - then you're not paying attention. And what you should be paying attention to is cultism. Our country has a long and ugly history with it. We - Americans - seem to be extremely succeptible (sp?) to it. But part of that problem is we ignore it every time it rears it's ugly head. And it's here - again - I'm as positive of it as I am my own name.
Now, some of you have had time to take in my posts, if I sound like a mad man to you - fine - ignore me. But if you think I threaded the needle on racism earlier, bringing a perspective most wouldn't expect from a black man, then take it to heart that I've got this shit down as well. The first serious cult-hunter in this country was Ted Patrick (AKA "Black Lightening") and he took "The Macho Response" to it and became a hero to those fighting this crap. Find his tag on my site and see.
This is a very real problem, people, and part of that problem is the willingness of so-called "smart" people to deny it's happening, leaving it to nobodies, like me, to deal with it alone.
These bastards have really got their hands on our country now. What are you going to do? Pretend it isn't so? Go on, as their every policy pushes us further and further away from what you know we're supposed to be about.
I was almost made a mark for these people once - with everyone telling me I was wrong but eventually - after people died - discovering I was right. I ain't no mark and don't plan on being one. I've got FOX on TV right now and I'm watching a commercial for "Dr. Frank's Homeopathic Joint and Pain Relief." That's how bad this is - it's on TV, in our movies, in our politics. (If anyone can explain, clearly, why we're funding Bill Clinton and Tom Harkin's NCCAM, when nothing good has come from it, it will be a first.)
I know how I may sound here but I gotta go. You do what you want. I'll speak to you guys in a few days.
CMC
Labels: ...fake,
Might as well create a single key macro for it.
Here - one more - follow this link and read about the government you think you know:
http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/Hearing/gorski2.html
If that sounds sane, to you, then I'll gladly accept that I'm the crazy one.
Interesting comparison – too much and not enough. The announcement of the closing of Gitmo is definitely a bone thrown to the left. The string piece is over and done with - we can all take a position on the practicality or trickery of it. The Gitmo story, however, is not. It’s still evolving. Obama has had a tendency to roll things out at his won pace. Might be what’s happening here, might not. Disappointing, sure, but time will tell. His actions will be his witness.
I know, I know - here:
http://tinyurl.com/af3kgo
So we're going to from "doesn't talk to the press" to "talks to the press, just doesn't answer any questions".
This is change? Man, Obama learns fast...
Firefox + Noscript addon and Adblock addon= no garbage. And it's fast.
Makes the internet much less cluttered.
This is fascism:
http://tinyurl.com/b4kosy
They can't be stopped with logic:
http://tinyurl.com/d97tr3
This is our world:
http://tinyurl.com/dmtqak
Brilliant thinkers and cultural movers, in and out of government, with no clear explanation for their behavior - and it's the dominant form of thinking out there today. It's cultism, folks, it's cultism.
Ok, Crack Emcee, we get it. What to do with the cultists? When they empty Gitmo, I guess we could keep some of the cult leaders there.
Fascinating speech. It was so rhetorically flat, so lacking in rhythm...
That's because a 27 year old rhythumless White dork wrote it.
I am almost certain he is uncut
Muslims are cut.
Oh really? I don't think so, because you're still talking about things like Gitmo, when that's not the weak link in Obama's armor, and playing along just drags you deeper into a game you don't want to be playing:
If the Right had been up on the obvious cultism on display then, rather than Oprah Winfrey being seen as a moral arbiter for America, she would've been nailed as the freak she is, who talks people into bad deals, and quack remedies - which would've been of no help to Obama. But no one asks one question about how the endorsement of a NewAger added credibility to Obama when any Christian was suspect.
I'm telling you: start looking at cultists like they look at Christians - not as the credible people they want to be seen as - that's the key because they have no excuses for such lunacy. And it ropes in the whole of the Left. Think Wikipedia is biased? Well, you should've gone after this guy - not spending your time with these Gitmo-type arguments about how an encyclopedia should be run. Want to change California? Go after Gavin Newsom's beliefs - he wants to be Governor. Name an area in our political life and, if there's a Democrat, there's almost always a weirdo "spiritual" connection to be exploited. We could be making fools of them, in all kinds of areas, and we're not doing so because we're playing their game the way they expect.
Take them seriously - as cultists - and we've got 'em.
That last comment was directed to AllenS, BTW.
Alrighty then. So what do you want to do. I know they are around. Everybody knows they are around, so tell us what to do.
Host with the Most said...
"This conservative's opinion of the Obama Admin from Inaugural to so far: ... No substantial switch yet from any Bush policy."
Not so.
That last comment was directed to Crack Emcee, BTW.
Maybe his young speechwriter has been celebrating/feeling up cardboard cutouts too much these days.
Crack Emcee -- I'm not disagreeing that there's a cult on the left. When I read Hoffer's "The True Believer" several years ago (before I'd heard much about Obama) I thought it a good description of the BDS crowd.
I'm getting that out of the way because I want to offer you some constructive criticism about your blog -- TOO MANY VIDEOS -- which I wouldn't watch even if my sound card hadn't bit the dust.
I seldom watched the ones on Althouse or any other site, but at least Althouse usually presents enough text that I know what it's all about.
It takes too much time to listen to people talk, I can read much faster.
Donna B,
Thanks but they're music videos.
AllenS,
I'll be right back.
Funny thing. I read somewhere today that conservatives are starting to look at Barack the way the Left looked at Rove: that there is always some evil genius in the many steps and mis-steps this presidency might take, and always giving more credit than anywhere near due.
Res ipsa loquitur, anyone?
OK, thanks for the tip, Crack. I'm just a cranky old lady.
Jim -- Where did you read that?
The CrackEmcee -- You know what they say? When everyone is a cultist ... no one is a cultist.
I once had a minister of the Southern Baptist variety assure me that Mormonism was a cult, and so was Roman Catholicism.
I don't disagree with you that there's something cultlike in the behaviour of Obama's biggest fans, but you're using the word "cult" the way my Baptist minister did.
Words like "demogogue" and "populist" have meaning in political context. So does "cult of personality." "Cult", however, really doesn't. (Jim Jones, for example, may have had some political connections, but that doesn't modify the fact that he was completely insane.) Until Obama reaches demogogue level I'm not going to worry about his cult.
*looks at postings he made ca. noon*
*embarrassed*
*wonders why the blog sheriff didn't issue a ticket for BUI*
*searches internet for a breathalizer/keyboard interlock device*
*apologizes to Victoria and Trooper*
*vows not to get hammered at noon again*
AllenS,
I told you: first, we should get, at least, a passing familiarity with the landscape (metaphysical and otherwise) these people inhabit - and take it seriously. One of the biggest problems is that even sites that pretend to be concerned about woo-woos spend an inordinate amount of time joking about them because NewAge is seen as too flakey and/or weird to be taken seriously. That's part of the NewAger's cover. They count on it. You laugh, walk away, and then they get to go about their work. Compare:
You merely say the name "Rick Warren" - everybody goes ballistic.
Dennis Kucinich talks about seeing a U.F.O. at Shirley MacLaine's house - everybody laughs.
See? Rick Warren, because of the reaction he received, might consider laying low for a while, re-working his message to be more inclusive - something - while Dennis Kucinich can go right back to MacLaine's house and plot their next move over a nice glass of urine. That's got to stop. Start undermining their credibility over stuff like this and you can drive them (and, if done right, the Democratic Party itself) out of politics.
How does that sound to you?
Henry,
"You know what they say? When everyone is a cultist ... no one is a cultist."
I'm not charging everyone with being a cultist - just those who have exposed themselves. While, as an atheist, I am partial to Frank Zappa's claim that "the only difference between a cult and a religion is the size of the real estate," more important to me - and what makes me more precise than your minister - is an emphasis on the values various "spiritual" groups espouse. But let's put their values aside for the time being, and focus on this, which I've said before:
NewAge is like Al Qaeda - various groups, working independently and together for common goals. They're mainly grouped in science, medicine, metaphysics, and politics. So, because they're spread apart by interest, they're not like Catholics or other organized religions.
"Jim Jones, for example, may have had some political connections, but that doesn't modify the fact that he was completely insane."
Sure it does, if only for the fact people must have a way to join. Listen to one of Jones' followers/survivors, Deborah Layton, who said:
"...Nobody joins a cult. You join a self-help group, a religious movement, a political organization. They change so gradually, by the time you realize you're entrapped - and almost everybody does - you can't figure a safe way back out...."
I told you: there are different kinds of cults - open, closed, religious, political, etc. - reflecting what aspect of interest they're followers enter the NewAge from. The NewAge mantra is "believe what you want to believe" or, as Oprah encourages, "Make your own truth." This allows them to even join organized religions without - in their minds - any contradiction. (Of course, once they join in organized religions, they start demanding they change, to accommodate their beliefs.)
"Until Obama reaches demogogue level I'm not going to worry about his cult."
That's dangerous because, as I've shown, he's not working alone. Though, like Ann, I'm sure Obama's aware of what was happening to him ("I'm running for president") I'm not convinced he's aware of what was happening around him ("We're going to elect the president."). How these people were discussing him, and/or how he's seen by them as a means to an end. In other words - like I said about his choice of Surgeon General, Sanjay Gupta - I think he's being used by the NewAge more than he believes he's been using them. I mean, he's just one guy (and a black guy at that, whose knowledge of this shit is probably nil) against organized groups (which aren't seen as connected) who are thoroughly immersed in the mindset.
To think they'll have no influence on his choices, as, out of the limelight, they're changing the choices of millions of others - disastrously - is extremely naive. There's an old phrase that fits perfectly here:
Garbage in, garbage out.
"How does that sound to you?"
You're leaving me confused. Again, what do you propose we do about it. I already am aware of the various cults out there. I do take them seriously. Let's take Scientology as an example. What do you think we should do about them? Should we try to get the IRS to revoke their religious tax exempt status? How are you going to do that? Give me some answers. Not more questions. Repeating that we need to take them seriously isn't cutting it.
I love that - especially the tone:
"Give me some answers. Not more questions. Repeating that we need to take them seriously isn't cutting it."
It's a perfect place to show you the problem and what I'm up against.
Think you take them seriously? Allen, I was married to one of these cultists. (You can see her here.) With another believer, she's killed three people now. One of them was her mother. My ex-wife believed she could walk through walls, heal the sick with her bare hands, and could communicate with U.F.O.s, the dead, and tell the future. Do you have any idea what it's like to live with such a person? See, that's the difference between me and most of these jokers: I've seen this close-up. Only people who have been in these groups and escaped with their minds know it as well or better than I do - and none of us are taken seriously because people think they're already taking it seriously or just think it's too nutty and don't care. Or they like torturing us further. Which, as I've said, is a way to allow them free reign.
Again, this isn't criticism - people like me are used to it - it's all part of the whole. My blog isn't as popular as I'd like because people think they know this and I'm crazy. Meanwhile, I'm watching them, happy to act like they know shit better than I do, as our side continually loses every confrontation with cults. I'm telling you I was just involved in the murder of three people and watched as the elected the POTUS: think there's any comparison between me and these so-called "smart" people? I don't. I think, now, most people are fools when it comes to this subject, that's why I come off kind of like Richard Dreyfuss in "Close Encounters." That's how all of us who have real experience with this act. The rest of you, acting "smart," don't faze us.
O.K., what to do? Of course, we should get the IRS to revoke Scientology's religious tax exempt status. We should also act to defund NCCAM, which has been terribly destructive by giving a lot of this nonsense credibility. But the most important thing you can do is support people and groups that are fighting this. We have to resort to lone stunts like this, or becoming Anonymous, or (as I have) speaking out on blogs. (As self-serving as it sounds, people should make a donation to my blog and encourage others to do the same: I have my own plans for how to attack, but no credibility. Ann can write one post, saying Obama has lead a cult, and she gets a link on Instapundit. I can do an entire blog, with thousands of posts, and I get nothing - because I swear when I talk - go figure.)
I'ma stop here, but I'd be happy to talk about this further with you, or anyone else.
Yeah, well a couple of years ago, I got back together with an old girlfriend from the 1960's, and she was a Scientologist. Believe me, I know all I want to know about these people. Sorry about your exwife. Sounds like me and you make bad choices with women.
Sigh.
No, it means there are cults working within our society, and there's no protection.
Nobody said it was going to be easy.
Take a salt tablet and drive on. [Army jargon]
LOL.
Yea but that leaves the same problems in place and the same lame excuses and questions in place, when the answer is right in front of our faces. What is it about cultism that makes most people so weak? Listen to The Wall Street Journal;
"It is as though the memory of the massive loss of life -- following the brazen murder of a U.S. congressman who had come to investigate complaints about the compound, three members of the media accompanying him and a commune defector at a nearby airstrip -- is still too extreme to be remembered."
Or The San Francisco Chronicle:
"What have we learned to avoid a repeat? Judging from these two stories, there's a clear answer. Absolutely nothing."
No. Instead of attacking cultism, they blame a woman, "take a salt tablet and drive on."
It's sick, man. It's just sick. Like watching the perfect crime.
And now they're even open about it.
Jesus.
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