Why The Silence?
May 9, 2008 on 1:56 pm | In Race for Prez |
The more I learn about Barack Obama, the more I am convinced the Dems will be making a big mistake nominating him. By themselves, Bittergate, Tony Rezko and Rev. Wright don’t amount to a hill of beans. Considered together, however, they (and others like them) spell trouble for him in November.
Take his wife, for example. Regular readers will recall I did a post on Michelle Obama in February regarding a truly bizarre speech in which she suggested government needed to “save our souls.” Last week in North Carolina she gave an equally disturbing and little noticed talk on “Moving the Bar.”
Please, don’t take my word on how brooding and intensely pessimistic she is. Click here for the full transcript or here for the full audio (unfortunately it’s more than an hour long). Tell me if you don’t feel like slitting your wrists after only 10 minutes of listening to this stuff. It’s not only depressing but offensive.
The contrast with her husband’s more uplifting message is striking. Maybe it’s a good-cop-bad-cop routine. But it’s astonishing that her speeches haven’t been more widely covered in the news media.
We “live in a nation where the vast majority of Americans are struggling every day to reach an ever-shifting and moving bar … ” The vast majority? Listening to her speech, you’d think hundreds of millions of Americans spend their days queuing up for soup or wiping dirt out of their eyes in the midst of a swirling dust bowl.
And we have the big-city coastal elitism, as when Michelle describes her mother-in law: “She thought that she could be something special, even though she grew up in a little town in Kansas.” No kidding? She overcame the handicap of not growing up near a big city?
On his weekly appearance on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show, Mark Steyn tees off on Michelle, whom he compared her to a former aspiring first lady:
Michelle Obama by contrast seems to have all the condescension of Teresa Heinz Kerry, plus this weird bitterness and anger.
I’m starting to think the Dems could really blow what was a great chance to take back the White House if they nominate her husband. And the Dems will blame his loss on racists and the GOP attack machine, opening up a dozen different wounds and further dividing the country.
I suspect there will be attacks by racists, but I really think Obama will be defeated because he will be exposed as too far to the left. Hillary knows there are more shoes to drop since her campaign has already done the opposition research on him.
But hey, it’ll give me plenty to blog about …
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Terry:
Two things. One, “they” move the bar. “They” shift the bar. “They” move it up, down, to the left, to the right … Isn’t it nice to blame all your troubles on some mysterious, ominous “they” who apparently are out to get us! Once in a while, we need to look in the mirror and ask whether we’re in some way to blame. If we’re all going to drive SUVs, import all our oil and refuse to drill in our own country, we shouldn’t be surprised to wind up over a barrel.
Second, she argues that no matter how hard ordinary people work, save and sacrifice, they can’t get ahead because the bar keeps getting moved. Except that she and Barack, both from modest backgrounds, studied hard, worked hard, sacrificed and now they’re living in a million-dollar home. They disprove their own argument.
Sure, times are tougher for most people and we’re facing troubles to which we’re unaccustomed, but that’s partly because we’re not used to facing troubles. How many people have cable television nowadays compared to 10 or 20 years ago? How many people have air-conditioning compared to 10 or 20 or 30 years ago? These are things that used to be considered luxuries that have morphed into necessities. When the cable TV companies are filing for bankruptcy instead of adding NESN to soothe the temper tantrums of baseball fans, I’ll believe things are as bad as Michelle Obama believes!
Comment by Steve Barlow — May 9, 2008 #
Reagan asked: Are you better off now? Steve asks the same question, and misses the point the same way. Better? How does one define better? Better reception on the big screen TV? I’m better off now than I was when I was raking in big bucks as a creative director for an ad agency in Hartford. And it has nothing to do with money and the nonsense it buys. I have time. To read. Write. Think. Like. Love. And run my dog, Grace on the beach.
Michelle and Barack are asking a lot of us. They’re asking us to think,consider options outside the box. Their failure, so far, is to disguise their academic credentials.
They have much to teach us. We have so much baggage with teachers. We despise how they taught and treated us.
Forgive the teachers. And look at the Obamas from a slightly different angle.
Comment by Terrence McCarthy — May 9, 2008 #
I think she’s the wild-eyed one in the family. He gets this expression on his face when she’s yakking away. “Please don’t say anything nuts. Please don’t say anything nuts. Please…”
Comment by Patrick Sullivan — May 9, 2008 #
Patrick,
I wonder if he ever looked that way at Rev Wright?
Comment by Terry — May 9, 2008 #
I happen to be married to an outspoken wife, and have an outspoken daughter, both of whom who have faced obstacles in their lives for saying things that would be perfectly appropriate for a man to say.
It seems to me that right now we are engaged in the same kind of double standard with regard to women in the Democratic party. Hillary has to toss back shots with the boys to gain some measure of approbation. I don’t know what the expectations are of Michelle Obama, but I suspect that those who believe that the ideal first lady needs to be a plastic adoring stupid wifey will predictably not like her. (Look at the Republican attacks on Hillary when she was first lady and she didn’t do the PASW routine!)
Unfortunately, many seem to feel the need for just such a first lady. Kinda sad, if you ask me.
Comment by Geoff Brown — May 10, 2008 #
Geoff,
I, too, have an outspoken wife. Just ask the Salisbury Board of Education!
I can’t speak for others, but I am not concerned with Michelle Obama’s gender, but rather the content of her words. And I’d make a case that it’s not just outspoken wives who make voters squirm. How about husbands?
Look at the finger-wagging Bill, who has tarnished his strong record with the African American community with subtle (and not-so-subtle) appeals to race in this “race.”
And how about bombastic mentors like Rev Wright? I guess we are judged by the company we keep.
You’re right about the absurdity of Hillary drinking boilermakers in Pennsylvania. She is a phony for doing that. But the sad state of affairs is that Barack, Michelle, Hillary, Bill and McCain are all phonies.
I’m begining to think you have to be one in order to run for the White House. How perverse! You have to be a phony to be taken seriously …
Comment by Terry — May 10, 2008 #
No one should fool themselves about Senator Obama and his campaign. He’s in it to win - period - and any way he can, just like Clinton and McCain are. Good for him for winning, but please don’t think he’s had a tough sled of it. He’s not smooth when adversity sets in and so far he’s been the darling of the media. Give him credit, though for thus far surviving Wright. His legions of supporters have decided it wasn’t important and the media helped his cause by giving huge amounts of air time to the talking heads who supported him. Anyone who reads, particularly in the area of history, knows full well that most of the content and themes of his “victory” speeches are reruns and snippets from the past - not bad mind you, particularly when the ideas are relevant, but not original as we have been encouraged and led to believe. Someone writing for The Nation actually said he had reinvented the American dream after his speech in North Carolina. Nonsense! I’m old and while his speech was well delivered, except for the fact that he referred to the American flag draped over his father’s coffin (impossible since his father was neither an American citizen nor served in our military), it’s pretty obvious that the themes and “dreams” he cited have been around forever. I think I’ve commented on this blog once since Terry began it, but I too think there will be some problems with an Obama nomination, Michelle Obama aside. I think he’ll beat McCain, but I also think he won’t be able to deliver what he’s promised. His US Senate record is anemic and not terribly impressive and the reading I’ve done regarding his legislative record in Illinois seems to indicate that he had favored status with the Legislative leader and was given credit for some important pieces of legislation that had been authored and fought for by one of his senior colleagues. I think his “rock star” status will end abruptly once he’s in office, although I wish he could pull it off. HMMM, I guess we’ll see!
Comment by YAHYAH — May 10, 2008 #
Terry, sadly, you are spot on.
What a mess!
Comment by Geoff Brown — May 10, 2008 #
I guess the only thing that gives me nightmares, these days, is the spectre of Bill Clinton in the White House.
Comment by Marsden Epworth — May 12, 2008 #