Stop Picking On My Messiah!
By Anita Finlay ("Ani") on July 29, 2008 at 11:00 PM in Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Washington Post
In today’s Washington Post, Richard Cohen discusses Obama the Unknown. Here’s the main juice:
Obama “gave a hell of a speech, but it was just a speech.” There is little else to back it up.
He wouldn’t want to underestimate Obama, but his paper thin record is troubling.
Obama can flip flop with the best of them, just like any other politician.
Cohen states that Obama is a ‘near perfect political package although he’s just not sure what’s in it,’ but in a mystifying moment of pandering rivaling that of his subject, he’s still willing to compare BHO to JFK and FDR.
WTF?
Richie, if you’ve been watching this man campaign and perusing what there is of his record for a year and a half and you’re still not sure what’s in the package – maybe the package is empty. Whadaya think?
If this passes for mainstream commentary, I’ll take the net. However, Cohen still finds a lot more in Senator McCain’s record, conduct and proven courage over time to admire and trust. It ain’t a smoking gun, but frankly, given the media’s love-fest with Obama, I’ll take what I can get.
Yes, Richard, we know. One speech, or even two, does not a President make. Lofty generalities and lefty platitudes designed to seduce latté liberals and young minds for the primary, only to throw those ‘principles’ away lock, stock and suitcase for the general election does not FDR make.
Obama wishes he had the resolve of FDR. As for Kennedy, this is a romantic notion, nothing more. Neither packaging nor symbols lead people: women do, men do.
Far more interesting, and entertaining, than the piece itself, however, are the blogger comments that follow. Senator Obama’s fans, or should I say, believers, are absolutely apoplectic over this article, as if Richard Cohen has just told Obama to bow out of the race. Some of the insults are really quite comical, like telling Cohen what to do with his typewriter…I’ll leave out the more vitriolic references. You have heard them before, too.
Now as a huge Hillary supporter, of course I’m going to defend my gal, so I can understand their inclination. Then again, her record of 35 years of work on behalf of children, education, veterans’ benefits, first responders, Medicare and women’s rights (both in evidence again just last week), and her correct vote on FISA, give me a lot to crow about.
Given Obama’s 130 present votes, 6 ‘oops-I-pushed-the-wrong-button’ votes in the state legislature; missing over 40% of his votes in the Senate; reneging on FISA, voting for Bush/Cheney’s energy bill; his penchant for throwing everyone under the bus as soon as the heat is on him, I guess Cohen could not find anything in Obama’s record worth advertising.
One incensed commenter suggested that Cohen:
1. Read one of Barack’s books…
Would that be one of the books where he takes creative license with his own life story?
2. Go to the web site and look at his policy stances.
Does she mean the policies he sort of lifted from Hillary or the ones he has now completely done an about face on?
Even Cohen chimes in on this one:
Obama is not noted for sticking to a position or a person once that position or person becomes a political liability. (Names available upon request.)
…
He has been for and against gun control, against and for the recent domestic surveillance legislation and, in almost a single day, for a united Jerusalem under Israeli control and then, when apprised of U.S. policy and Palestinian chagrin, against it. He is an accomplished pol — a statement of both admiration and a bit of regret.
3. Interview Obama.
But Barack is too busy to answer real questions from the press corps. Isn’t that their main complaint about him now? Read his interviews. When you are done, I defy you to figure out where he really stands on anything.
His fans also wrote that: Judgment trumps experience. Obama has no scandals. Obama is an honest man.
Oh, where do I begin? The judgment that put him in a racist church for twenty years, canoodling with Wright, Pfleger, Auchi, Ayers, and buying a home with the aid of the convicted criminal Rezko? Or running to the right as fast as feet will carry him? How about now vetting Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine for VP – who has a faith-based opposition to abortion? Ladies? Ladies? Are you sure Barack’s got your back?
No scandals? Let’s just say a few too many people are riding shotgun for him to make me comfortable with that statement. The man won’t even show his birth certificate, his college records, state senate records and more…
An honest man? Painting everyone who does not vote for him as racist and outright lying on national television about his relationships and knowledge of certain associates is not what I would call pure as the driven snow.
Here was one of the few reasoned responses to Cohen’s article:
For god’s sake stop freaking out any time someone makes a legitimate point that you perceive as anything other than a glowing recommendation about your guy. It’s getting old.
Cohen is correct that ‘the next president will have to be something of a political Superman.’ The qualities crucial to wading through these dangerous waters are experience, character and moral courage. So far, Obama is batting zero.
We also require humility rather than hubris. No President is anointed by anyone. No President is going to get everything right. But someone who is addicted to, and insists upon total adulation from, his supporters, and who has had the DNC all but hand the nomination to him tells me he has no clue how deep in over his head he is.
Obama is supposed to be the ‘new politics,’ so unlike the Chicago political machine from whence he matriculated. Yet, even his mentor Rev. Wright admits that “he says what he has to say as a politician.” Obama’s behavior to this point shows that he is the old politics, head to toe.
How ironic is this July 3, 2008 Obama statement:
“Let me be as clear as I can be. I intend to end this war. My first day in office I will bring the joint chiefs of staff in and I will give them a new mission and that is to end this war.”
Well, after his overseas trip, I think that’s, uuhh, changed. Uh oh.
So if he is not the change we have been waiting for, if his judgment is suspect, if his resolve and moral courage are not in evidence, all he has left is character. And how can his supporters still be so hooked when his character is to abandon when the going gets tough? Why is he their chosen one, again?
Ironically, Jim Kramer of CNBC’s Mad Money , and many others have made it clear to the American people that the best choice on the economy is Hillary. 34 flag officers also endorsed her. Somebody surely trusts this lady’s judgment.
Oops, sorry. We don’t have her to choose from right now.
I recently heard the phrase, ‘faith is restful, hope is stressful.’ I have complete faith in Hillary Clinton because I see evidence of her work ethic. But hoping he ‘won’t be too bad’ is not enough reason for me to go with Obama the unknown.
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