Hillary is Channeling Hubert Humphrey, While Barack is... Doing What Exactly?

I happened to catch a couple of hours of Road To The White House on C-SPAN this weekend. Back to back, Hillary and Barack addressing the folks in retail politics venues.

First, Hillary!!!!!!
(There cannot be too many exclamation points)

The Happy Warrior!

That's what they used to call Hubert Humphrey when he was leading FDR Democrats away from Bobby Kennedy and Eugene McCarthy, back to the nightmare of LBJ's Vietnam War. The way he smiled! Grinned! Enthused! Never a downer moment, no matter how dark the reality.

But he has met his match in Hil!! Never mind empowering Bush to bomb Iran in a mad effort to double-down on a bad bet just so she can fend of Ruthless Rudy in the general election. The heck with that potentially deadly decision and its long term consequences. She's SO optimistic! No sentence uttered that doesn't lilt upward. Every gesture palms up, arms lifting. She is thrilled to be here! Thrilled to see you, and you and you! Grinning from ear to ear -- and when she does that, she gets a trifle jowly and actually looks like Hubert Humphrey.

Meanwhile, there's Barack. Eyes downcast to his notes or gazing out into the nowhere in particular. Every other phrase punctuated with an uh or ta. Every gesture, the palms of his hands down, pressing home the last in a list of the burdensome points he's making. Or the palms are moving sideways as he ticks off the same endless list. His voice monotonic, staccato -- this and then (pause) this and then (pause) this and then, finally, dum-de-dum--DUM. This. Hand out, pushing down.

What is he doing? Keeping himself in check? Why? We know he can speak in rousing cadences. He did it in the Joshua generation speech in Selma last March and at the Democratic convention in 2004. Why is he holding back?

Comments

[LiberalBeliever]

Barack Obama gives the impression that he really doesn't know what he is doing. He seems confused, vague, detached. Many think he is a great speaker, but I have never found this to be the case. He puts me to sleep.

[anghiari]

What? none of you are bored to death at this point? At what point do those of us over 40 tip over and fall alseep --even the best candidates are boring as they try to out promise each other/hang on to their base and recruit the hard-cases. Gee! is there anything new or innovative about this ego slugfest? For all of those hanging on to Hillary's every girl word--remember Condolezza Rice is female--gender does not bring with it an exception to the old boy way of doing things if you want to play in the ballgame. Voting for Hillary because she's a woman is fine--but you cannot sell me that because she is a woman she will be better...or worse!

[dtd]

Great question? If only he would give his true suuporters the answer. We KNOW he has it in him...why he won't break free of his self-retrainst is anyone's guess.

[SensibleAmerican]

I'm not sure how Hillary "empowered" Bush in a toothless/non-binding resolution but you are dead on on Barack Hussein!

[NoContest]

Hildabeast is channeling Bill....

!@#

[The Hedonistic Pleasureseeker]

. . . and Bill was a closet neocon . . . the illegal wiretapping began during HIS administration . . . The next big news hitting the internet (MSM will bury it of course) is that the move away from democracy toward an authoritarian police state was alive and well during the Clinton administration.

The Clinton and Bush families go way back, ya know. They're friendly. They're in the same "clubs" and have the same agenda.

[LeeFromVA]

It's not Hillary's fault, but she is UNLIKEABLE. Do we really want this woman to be our pick? She could do a good job, but everything will be a fight. Remember--Hillary ENERGIZES the Republicans. She can't change the fact that she's polarizing. Why are we so willing to sign up for at least four more years of this mess? Let's move on and stop being hyper-critical of Barrack Obama. He doesn't excite you enough? So what. Maybe that's what we need. Someone who doesn't sling mud. Someone that won't further divide this nation. Someone that can unify this country instead of divide it. We need to be grown ups. I truely believe Hillary is getting support because people love the DRAMA. Can we please move past this form of politics?

[kickbass]

Hillary is trouncing Obama in all of the national polls and leads in the head-to-head polling against the Republican candidates.

I guess she is just less unlikeable than the rest of the candidates.

[leftLibertarian]

I'm a former Democrat who became disturbed when the party went limp at the alter of Bush and gave him authority to wage endless war.
Their refusal to give all but lip service to ending the Iraq War in, may 20 years, makes me believe that their is little difference between Rudy and Hillary.
That's why I'm voting for Ron Paul.

[CaptainObvious]

I don't plan to vote for Hillary - if she wins the nomination, and there's no good independents, I'm staying home.

But at least it would cause Republicans to re-discover the Rule of Law and become distrustful of governmental power again.

[PeteBogs]

Hillary's stage presence doesn't necessarily make her the best candidate...

[ms.understood]

No, but her intelligence does, which is far better than what we have here now!

[leftLibertarian]

Ah yes, an intelligent war hawk. That's what we need!

[mrcharlie]

Listening to Obama before and shortly after he became a candidate for President, he was intelligent, compassionate, and full of hope and inspiration. But after his handlers and the rigors of campaigning, that has taken a turn for the worse. Authenticity has turned into a managed and constricted message. Unfortunately, when authenticity is missing, people do not vote on the best person for President, they vote on who can run the slickest campaign. Obama will not beat Hillary on that count. She has the best political machine and with Bill, the best political mind behind her. She knows when to gesture, when to laugh, and what to say. One word used to describe Obama. Authenticity. He had better regain that quickly. If not, he will be just another candidate that got lost on the campaign trail and he will be easily steamrolled by the Clinton machine.

[Jonni Rae]

He has not lost his authenticity. He needs to overcome his reluctance to attack Hilary and Bill, primarily on NAFTA. This is the issue that will bring him back. Also, the overwhelming overkill of Hilary's winning everyday when not even one vote has been cast is making voters tune out --oh, the inevitability of it all!! He is the smartest, has the most complete, well-thought out strategies for all the important issues. B ut people suddenly want him to become Jesse Jackson, and start preaching all over the place. Ironcally, if he were to become Jesse, nobody would take him seriously at all. Voters CAN defeat the machine. But they have to vote, to stay involved and avoid cynicism.

[brilliantatbreakfast]

Excuse me, but there is another fella running for the Democratic nomination. He's racking up union support like there's no tomorrow, and he speaks to ecstatic crowds everywhere he goes. His name is John Edwards. Nice-looking fella, nice wife, cute kids, good value system. Running as a progressive. You might want to give him a look.

[arkansawtravler]

First she was too much of a divisive figure, too cold and calculating, then it was her laugh, now it is she is too chipper and jowley all at once. Love her or hate her, she is our best hope to recover from the mess bushie & company have gotten us into, that is the point! She receives instant credibility because of Bill. That being a major gallstone for the repugs, by far and away the American People consider him to be a much better President than the doofus now in office. The other thingie is the repugs cannot stand the thought that a "woman" has to come in and clean up after the shrub. They are in too much agreement with Dobson, Robertson and other right wing nuttos who believe women are second class citizens.

[lentinelia]

The "rousing cadences" as you call them were nowhere to be seen in his speech at the democratic party convention in 2004. He may have appeared to be somewhat more animated because all he talked about was himself, how great America is, how whether we support or don't support the war we're all patriotic and a bunch of clap-trap like that.

Now - he's faced with the dilemma of having to actually say what he feels about important issues - and he has to deal with the onslaught of right wing opinion and most obtrusively the advise of political operatives. So he hides as much as he can.

[givemycountryback]

Yaeh, keep picking at Hillary and we may be lucky enough to get a repug president. We should stick together because this country cannot survive 4 more years of the repugs. Wake up, this is a war. I think any of our candidates would be a 100% improvment. What is wrong with her being enthusiastic. Isn't that what leaders do, rally their people in times of need and crisis. I don't know about you, but I think our country is in a crisis. Nothing works in this country anymore. We need a leader who has some brains, not like the idiot in charge we have now. I kind of like Edwards but I will support any of them.

[JimR]

You wake up. Hillary has no intention of leading us out of war. She has expressed no regret for even casting the vote to authorize it.

[Camel54]

Wake up...no you wake up? That's your come-back? givemycountryback has a very valid point about any one of our candidates being better than a republican, and all you can do is bash the commenter because you don't like Hillary. Who are we going to blame for losing this election? If there is no Nader and no Supreme Court action, then what? Because of people like you who cannot see the bigger picture and who are determined to undermine our efforts, we can easily lose this. And sure, you'll blame Hillary or who ever the candidate may be because they didn't do this or they did too much of that, but the fault will lie on all of you who cannot see that right now it is more important that we unite than it is for us to fight each other.

So you don't like the likely candidate, does that mean you would rather Rudy Giuliani appoint the next couple of Supreme Court justices? Or circuit court justices? Or Attorney General? Secretary of Education? Come on, JimR, it's more than one candidate we're talking about. The president, no matter how we feel about her or him, represents a large number of influencial people and we'd better get on board with the party this go 'round. Let's get back on track and then we'll argue about who the better democrat is. Unless it's more important to leave those 10 million kids without health care while you stand on the principle that you don't like Hillary.

[naschkatze]

There is no difference between Hillary and the Repugs.

[leftLibertarian]

I heard that tune before In 2004 and I voted for John Kerry. What a fool I was. Kerry is Vietnam vet who didn't have the courage to call Bush and Cheney cowards for 1 - Bush deserting his National Guard Unit and 2- Cheney for his dickless five draft deferments.

The Democrats don't have it in them to play hardball with these punk fascists.

In fact, the ONLY candidate who is able to stick it to them is the Republican Ron Paul.

[zull2]

I don't know if Obama is holding back as much as Hillary is enthusiastic about the war. Oh, wait, I mean, enthusiastic about raising 35 million bucks mainly from corporations and leading in polls where most people are undecided, but remember that Bill was a decent president anyway. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Seriously, Hillary's chipperness is annoying as it gets. These issues are serious and demand a serious attitude. Not one that is obviously primped by media consultants. Of course, she'll always spin that as "but I'm positive that we can succeed, and that's why I'm so happy!!!" Or, she can get serious and create a real plan...and NOT BACK OUT ON IT THIS TIME...on how to tackle issues such as the widening gap between rich and poor people, the Iraq occupation, underemployment, health care, and most importantly, the environment. Instead of ripping off her opponents at every turn and using her connections to take it to the media first.

[AlteredEgo]

Obama is the Nader of this upcoming election and helps Clinton to victory. Unless Dems vote for Edwards in primaries.

[baudelairien]

Welcome to Bizarro World. John Edwards is Al Gore. Hillary Clinton is George W. Bush.

Back on Earth, Edwards is a DLC centrist who co-sponsored the Iraq resolution with the likes of Zell Miller.

[CaptainObvious]

Edwards is a DLC Centrist? So what does that make Hillary?

In a speech last February 2 to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Clinton said, "U.S. policy must be clear and unequivocal: We cannot, we should not, we must not permit Iran to build or acquire nuclear weapons," she said. "In dealing with this threat ... no option can be taken off the table."

Geez. Guess she really does sound like Bush.

[mamacat]

It is certainly worthwhile to follow the Democratic primary candidates. I hope that whoever gets elected will reign in the uncontrolled military operation in Iraq.
The only way I can see that we should consider keeping any troops at all in that country is if their government asks us to stay, and if they can gaurantee that our troops will not continue to be targeted by the extremely upset populace.
Given that the democratically elected Iraqi Legislature has already asked us to set a date for withdrawal of our troops and mercenaries, it seems unlikely that they will soon change their minds and ask us to stay.

[KenoshaMarge]

Well, you would have thought after all the time and trouble the "right" spent investigating the Clintons there would be anymore "sheltons" in their closets. But then there are sure to be lies, damn lies, and distortions spread by the right and the left Hillary haters so don't despair little ones.

And the remark about Hillary being jowly and looking like Humphrey should be beneath a serious commentator. That's right up there with the furor over "cleavage" and John Edwards haircut. We all tend to get jowly as we age fella. You're no prince charming either!