Barack Obama: Will the Wound Heal?
It began as the non-troversy of the holiday shortened week: the accusation that Barack Obama had plagiarized part of a stump speech from Mass. Governor Deval Patrick
He hadn't. And even if he had lifted or borrowed or co-opted a couple of lines, does anybody really think the post-modern politician expresses a single word that isn't team scripted and focus group tested before it's uttered in the public square?
The plagiarism jab left barely a scratch on Obama. But sometimes even the slightest wounds can fail to heal.
As I was making the rounds with the cable newsers this past Tuesday before the primary, I witnessed first-hand a theme develop. Almost to a person the newers I spoke with dismissed the plagiarism rap, but wondered aloud about Obama's rhetoric. The word rhetoric being flipped from asset to pejorative. Was there, they wondered, more to Obama than his rhetoric? How far, they asked, would his rhetoric take him? When would his rhetoric be replaced by specifics?
The Obama/rhetoric question is not new.
And some of the hectoring over Obama-mania is coming from the usual suspects. But the Chris Matthews/Kirk Watson interview was fuel on the fire, and in the days since the chorus of "give us more" seems to have increased rather than diminished.
Certainly some of this hectoring can be attributed to the media news cycle looking for a new drum to beat, if not some old fashioned player hating for the new Democratic front runner. But for those who think the questions of rhetoric are limited to MSM hacks with sharp knives, it is not. The BBC World Service ran a piece on Obama openly wondering if his rhetoric is becoming a liability. I can't say as the BBC would be particularly partisan in this instance.
Ultimately, if there is this sense that Obama is all sizzle and no steak, it is certainly not the fault of the man himself. At this late stage of the primaries, the media has had every opportunity to give the guy a good shaking out. If the newsers feel Obama isn't forthright with specifics, it's their responsibility to ask the questions they'd like answered. There is little doubt Obama could answer them. He may be relatively new to the national political scene, but he is hardly a neophyte. More importantly, we all benefit when the candidates have their mettle fairly tested in the media glare.
The larger question going forward is: do specifics really matter? To quote Mike Tyson: the best fight plan in the world only lasts until you take the first punch in the face. Similarly, the best political ideas only last until you get them before a divided and ineffectual Congress.
Perhaps, more than specifics, we need a leader who can inspire people to pressure their reps to bend to the will of the new. What is rhetoric if not a call to action?
Perhaps that's a question someone would care to ask of Barack Obama.
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The plagiarism "scandal" as well as the Kenyan dressing "scandal" are little more than the slings and arrows of a fading MacBeth trying to regain the throne by any means necessary (if I may misappropriate the term). In a way, I hope she continues. The more she spreads her "damned spots" around, the more petty and business-as-usual she appears, the more she becomes the antithesis of change. Now, having said that, if she does win the nomination, I'll have to vote for her. Mrs. Clinton would still run this country better than Bush Lite.
Barack Hussein Obama plagiarized Rev. Jesse Jackson's slogans and words from his book and website.
Obama has inspired people to pay attention to their government again. By giving them someone to look up to, someone who tries diligently to uphold his own ethical standards, he is eroding the callous cynicism which has blanketed this nation. But he's done more than inspire people; he's built an army of citizens intent on fulfilling "the dream" and he will wield them with effectiveness to draw congress to the table. Obama's Army will be the masses awaiting a reckoning when these issues reach the Senate and House floors, invested again they will be looking sharply to the representatives who must hold their favor to hold on tho their seats.
It's astonishing that clinton supporters won't recognize the fact that one of the reason she lost African-American support is because of the race-baiting in S. Carolina.
No one would expect women to stand behind Obama if he implied that women should be home, barefoot and pregnant.
She had a HEAVY LEAD in the black vote, until the gaffe of S. Carolina.
There are a number of privileged women who seemed to be appalled at the thought of losing a bit of their privilege. Equality for all, unless someone gets in your way?
Hillary, the candidate 'for women'? Really? Again, unless you're a woman who gets in her way and then comes the 'defense committee' and then 'watch out b*itches!':
http://you
She's not losing because she's a woman... that's why she was winning in the first place and beat MOST of her male competitors. She's losing because she's run a lousy campaign and it's indicative of what she'll do in the White House, as well.
You hit the nail on the head. Will this cult of personality stay engaged and force their congressional representatives to bend to the will of the new Messiah after he is sworn in? I doubt it. Midterms will be coming up soon. I know that some who read my post will think, "It's not just college students, and upper income liberals who like him. White men are also showing support. White men in the Democratic party aren't that plentiful. Most are Republicans or Independents. Independents bend whichever way the wind blows, and if as I suspect, the national media turns on Obama because of attacks from the right-wing media, these Independents will blow on over to John McCain.
Somewhere deep in our psyche the refrain tumbles, 'you can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.'
To all those sincere Dem out there: Neither candidate that the corporatist MSM allowed to debate is perfect. Both must seem reasonably corporatist, both must seem likely to continue the war, or the corporations won't let them play. Both must play politics. As every election I have ever experienced, we end up voting for the perceived lesser of two evils.
I WILL VOTE FOR THE DEM PICK.
Beware the provocateurs, both covert rethug and deranged dem.
I don't know about most others, but after the outrage Hillary pulledd this week, I will not get over it soon. I wish she would follow her great friend Joe Liebermnan out of the party after she loses the nomination. But, are the Republicans crazy enough to take her (back)?
Hillary: What a terror! And a damned liar.
It's becoming increasingly clear that the reason Obama gets passes on all these gaffs is that "the fix is in". Basically, there are big powerful forces behind Obama, and who they are is not really clear just yet. These are forces that tell the MSM when to play up or to dismiss a story. I know the Obamaniacs think they are the force, but they have a lot to learn.
Why did Watergate topple Nixon? Why did Monica Lewinsky almost but not quite topple Bill Clinton? Why does nothing that GW Bush does: torture people, start wars on false pretenses, run the country into trillions of dollars of debt, much to cronies like Blackwater, which is as unconstitutional a concept as anyone has come up with yet, wiretapping galore, all this stuff, yet not a murmur of impeachment nor any noticable concern from the press?
When you look at all this, it is obvious there are forces "pulling the strings".
These same forces are dancing Obama thru tulips today. Why? One obvious reason is to stop Hillary. However, there is probably more to it than that, unless these forces fear Hillary, because they are afraid what she could do knowing what they are and how they operate. So, maybe it is just to stop Hillary.
You are right. There are forces everywhere pulling the strings. Who or what even knows what these forces are? Your life may be in danger for even pointing them out. Perhaps we are all living in the "matrix?"
Yes, it is not the millions of Obama supporters who are pulling the voting lever as the reason for his victories, it is the force. May the force be with you!
Your fear is showing.
Thanks, I needed a good laugh.
Contrary to what the Pubs state, they want to run against Obama in the general. Hillary's negatives although high do not get any worse in the general. Although in the primary within the Democratic Party, they have gotten worse.
Kerry had a 15-point lead and lost. They are so afraid of Hillary, they want to get her out now. They know they can define Obama because he is so new and has a 100% liberal rating. Hillary is a centrist compared to McCain and Obama. Outside the extreme left and right she is the natural candidate for the country.
Pubs are taking the chance that Obama will not be able to close the deal with a majority of the Electoral College.
A lot of Obamas support is out and out racist, when folk vote for you on race alone how is it not.Seems the black folk dont want to know what he has to say,he is just black so that is good enough
Seems you can talk bad about a white woman but dont say a word about a black man.
His wife is out and out racist and it shows.
Although I think your comment is largely careless hyperbole, I agree that race (and gender) is a factor in this race -- and that's okay.
The face of the presidency will, from Day One, send a substantive message to ourselves as a nation, and to the rest of the world. No one needs to be ashamed of including this reality into their considerations of who to vote for.
We could argue which message is most urgent now (color or gender), but I'm not overly concerned if, say, a woman votes for Hillary strictly because she is a woman -- if there's no more important issue to that voter. My concern is when women start accusing other women who support Obama "traitors" -- something I've seen happen a fair amount here on the boards. Of course, I'd feel the same way if I heard blacks saying similar things. But let's not go calling people racists just because race is part of their decision-making process.
My post above was not aimed at you Petey, btw -- I agree with you; gender and race are an issue but perhaps not a real significant one... they don't bother me either way
I agree with you to some extent. I think his wife is angry and bitter. In her interview with Larry King she purposely avoided to call Hillary by name calling her the opponent while calling Elizabeth Edwards and others by name. She also did it before in an interview on MSNBC if not mistaken. I don't think that's a good start to bring people together as her husband's message claims!!
I gave donations to obama at the beginnig of the year. But changed my mind after he failed to answer Hillary's charge why he took off his speech opposing the Iraq war from his website when he was running for the senate in 2004 and then voted to fund the war in 2005, 2006 and 2007. He doesn't answer questions and the media is giving him a pass while scruinizing everyone else and beating them up with tough questions
He brags about opposing the war from the beginning but when his opinion counted, he voted for everything Bush asked for!!.. and if you say that to him he doesn't answer and gives his usual line: " the notion that somehow bla bla bla is not true ".. how many times in this campaign did you hear Obama say this sentence: " The notion that somehow bla bla bla ... is simply not true " .. I bet you if someone goes back and check all his speeches and debates, the number of how many times he said it will be in the hundreds .. This sentence is what 911 is to Rudy. He would be speechless without it .. or without his left index..
stop pulluing stuff out of the air
He correctly argued that it was UNWISE to let little Georgie play with the Iraq matches. When he got to the Senate, the fire was already blazing so he does vote to keep the fire fighting equipment going...th
I think your post shows you're not on the level, my man... =(
With 80% to 90% of blacks voting for the black in each primary you have conclusive evidence that racisnm is the major ingredient in the democratic primaries. It pretty much guarantees that the Republicans will continue in the WH and that there may be serious repercussions against blacks within the party when it sobers up.
It's racism when white people vote for the white in each primary, too.
Why do you support Hillary? I read through some of your previous posts, and honestly you are truly racist, which places you squarely in the republican camp. There is no room for bigotry or prejudice in the democratic party.
It's funny-peculiar that racists see white blood as counting for so much less than black blood. Back when slavery was infecting the nation, an octaroon, a person who was 7/8 white and 1/8 black was deemed not fit to be free, but must be kept in slavery. Where is the importance of white blood then? What happened to that vaunted white supremacy?
Hate is based on either fear or disappointment. Since racists can hardly be disappointed by those who have been kept down for centuries, it must be fear. And that fear, from what is seen in the South and in the rantings of white supremacists, is that---sho
It's been said that the US would have had its average IQ raised significantly if Lincoln had let the South secede. From what has gone one since, it seems it must have been raised when blacks began migrating elsewhere--only, of course, to find that ignorance and baseless hate are rife in this barbaric, nation of ours, still in its infancy and determined not to grow up. So we get tantrums and violence, rather than understanding or rationality. Hate rather than understanding or rationality. Blind faith rather than understanding (knowledge) or rationality.
Badly educated and possibly uneducable, these poor saps have to blame someone. And always someone else. Traditionally it has been females blamed for all the damage done to humanity---by males---but fortunately in the US, chronic failures can also blame people whose skin doesn't match their own pinkness, however blotchy and unattractive. But "pink supremacy" just doesn't cut it, does it?
a generic "community organizer" resume,
Just what is that exactly? Is it like consultant, writer, self-employed, etc?
.
"Similarly, the best political ideas only last until you get them before a divided and ineffectual Congress."
Spot on...if the Democratic Party does not rid itself of Harry Reid, it doesn't matter who the president is. Their agenda will be DOA. How is it that Reid gets a free ride. He is the Don Knotts of the US Senate.
.
Don Knotts in "The Reluctant Astronaut" or "The Incredible Mr. Limpet?" My all-time favorite was "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken?"
Oh, the republicans, who most certainly have little to say about their own candidate, and seem to have plenty to say about the opposition, are in their usual form this evening. Obama is both articulate, witty, intelligent, and refreshing, something that stale McCain or even the drab rehearsed Clinton are not. I would say jealousy is more at stake here than credibility.
solving the issues and problems that have been plaguing our country, as well as environmental issues that will effect our children's futures and children's futures of other parts of the world, requires the natural skill, talent, and charisma unlike that of many of the "business as usual" experience available. barack has managed to tap into the pulse of the american people, awaken their spirits, and inspire hope and belief in not only barack's leadership, but their own ability to have an impact. we have not been even close to this type of dream that i can remember..
If Obama's failure to attribute is no big deal, THEN HOW COME THE SAME THING KILLED JOE BIDEN'S CANDIDACY in '88...AND, HOW COME THE MEDIA FELT COMPELLED TO MENTION IT AGAIN THIS TIME AROUND???
Barak and Michelle Obama have been given passes by the media on ALL of their mis-steps/
I wonder how much of it is a fear of being called racist for criticizing a respected person of color?... AND, I wonder if Obama isn't cynical to realized that he has/can continue to get away with it?...
If he didn't realize it before, he certainly must have gotten the message when the media ignored his two Senate resolution vote NO-SHOWs (in Sept.) on Iraq and Iran, EVEN AFTER HE WAS OUTED DURING A DEBATE BY MIKE GRAVEL (otherwise NONE of us probably would have known about it.)
Support Obama if you like (I don't, but then I don't like Hillary either), but just don't think he's mister pure...I suspect there may be some unexpected (and unpleasant) surprises lurking behind the smoke and mirrors he's so deft with... Forewarned
Since the mainstream media will not discuss Obama's background or record, if you would like to know more about what is coming with Obama's record, please see the following links. Some of the links may need to be cut a pasted or even specifically typed into your browser before they will work.
Article on how Obama obtained his first political office by betraying his friend and political mentor, Alice Palmer:
www.chicag
Article on Obama's true position on the war:
www.huliq.
Article on Obama and Rezko:
www.huffin
Website for Obama's church where is mentor and spiritual advisor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, was pastor:
www.tucc.o
Obama's church presenting racist and Jew hater Louis Farrakhan with a lifetime achievement award:
www.youtub
Obama complimenting Rumsfeld and other Bush appiontees:
www.youtub
Article on Obama's church and their arguably racist theology:
www.newmed
Article on Obama's relationship with indicted slumlord:
www.suntim
Obama lies about race card issue:
www.youtub
Obama lies about state lobbyist as his campaign chair:
www.youtub
Obama lies about his Pakistan policy:
www.youtub
Discussion of Obama's connection to indicted slumlord:
www.youtub
Discussion of Obama's connection to Rev. Wright
www.youtub
Article on Obama's fundraising:
www.chicag
There is a lot more than just this, for example, Obama's interference with Kenya's political problems in order to help his friend, Odinga; Michelle Obama's college thesis on race which has been purposely sealed until one day after the general election, etc., etc. We are in for a really bumpy ride.
Well, you conclude by saying that "we are in for a really bumpy ride." Wow, do you mean that we are going to abandon the smooth ride that Bush has been giving us for the last eight years? Too bad!
Nice try at a smear job. It won't work because the facts are not on your side.
Take your closing claim, that Michelle Obama's college thesis has been sealed until after the election. That would come as news to Politico, which has published it.
http://www
The claim that Michelle wrote that she considered herself black first and a Princeton student second took a fragment of one sentence in a way that completely changed the meaning of her words. The comment was not that she considered herself black first, but rather that OTHERS seemed to consider her black first. Here's the sentence: "Regardless of the circumstances under which I interact with whites at Princeton, it often seems as if, to them, I will always be black first and a student second."
Your post carries this same type of deception. You imply, by lots of links, that there's all sorts of nefarious stuff. In general you link to partial, one-sided information. You link to YouTube excerpts from Sean Hannity (a real objective source!) and anti-Obama-ites like Taylor Marsh. The few objective sources you list don't have dirt, but you try to give people the impression that they do by adding them to your list of opposition hit material.
Nice propaganda job. But it won't work.
Hmmm, let me see. Maybe because the person from whom Sen Biden plagiarized was not a friend nor co-chair of his campaign but the Leader of the Opposition in the British House of Commons. Or perhaps because the now Lord Kinnock did not suggest that Sen. Biden "use" his speech.
The thing I will always remember about Sen. Biden's plagiarism was that he (or his witers) did not even have the sense to Americanize the expressions. Americans don't say things like "I was the first in my family to go to university
Seems to me that to quote a friend who you'd allegedly talked to about this issue and who shares a political strategist is not quite the plaguarism event that verbatim use of a published speech is.
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Posted February 22, 2008 | 03:45 PM (EST)