“From Milk Toast Internationalist to Brave McCain-Like Warrior. . . In under 24 hours.”
By LisaB on August 10, 2008 at 2:25 PM in Barack Obama, Current Affairs
1) Kudos to Gateway Pundit for my title. That is how Gateway Pundit characterized Obama’s switch on the Georgia / Russia crisis.
Reuters has Obama’s flip flop on the Georgia / Russia conflict.
“I condemn Russia’s aggressive actions and reiterate my call for an immediate ceasefire,” Obama said in a statement.
“Russia must stop its bombing campaign, cease flights of Russian aircraft in Georgian airspace, and withdraw its ground forces from Georgia.”
Here at NQ, Larry did a great piece about Obama’s initial statement and how weak it was.
PatRacimora informs me Obama got his courage medal recently. That would explain it.
2) The Telegraph in the UK offers its list of Best Obama Jokes in an article about how the public may be tiring of All Obama All the Time.
BEST OBAMA JOKES
Craig Ferguson: “Barack Obama was in Germany” today, and “he did this speech and 100,000 people showed up. There were so many Germans shouting and screaming that France…surrendered just in case.”Jimmy Kimmel: “They really love Barack Obama in Germany. He’s like a rock star over there. Impressive until you realize that David Hasselhoff is also like a rock star over there.”
David Letterman: Signs Barack Obama Is Overconfident.
Proposed bill to change Oklahoma to ‘Oklabama.’
Offered Bush 20 bucks for the ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner.
Asked guy at Staples, ‘Which chair will work best in an oval-shaped office?’
Having head measured for Mount Rushmore.
Offered McCain a job in gift shop at Obama Presidential Library.Jay Leno: “Of course, Obama’s supporters got him his usual birthday gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”
Jay Leno: “Obama’s people are trying to portray McCain as cranky, and McCain is trying to portray Obama as arrogant, you see. And when Obama was asked what he thought about being called arrogant, well, he said he was ‘above having to answer that question.’”
Jay Leno: “See Barack Obama on the news? He’s becoming a workout fanatic. He’s at the gym, like, twice a day, sometimes three times a day at the gym, yeah, according to his staff. Well, he has to stay in shape to do those flip-flops.”
Jay Leno: “Barack Obama back from his big European tour. Did you see him in Europe? People were cheering him, holding up signs, blowing him kisses. And that was just the American media covering the story.”
3) Meanwhile, back in the trenches, the LATimes publishes a wet kiss to Obama. This piece tries to turn the Obama = celebrity theme into a positive. Hey, movies are the highest form of myth, right?
It is axiomatic that the more powerful the theme a star embodies, the more powerful his or her stardom. Obama’s theme is a potent one. Whether one buys into it or not, he promises to cross divides — political, ideological, racial, geographic — and to transcend the old politics of fear and hate that has commandeered recent elections. He believes that America can — and should — be the moral beacon for the world by returning to its core values. In analyzing his own appeal, Obama says he has become a symbol — which, again, is exactly what all stars are. He is providing a really good, uplifting movie.
OK, maybe this is really a wet kiss for the movie industry. Either way, blech. It is really vacuous.
4) The WaPo has an article today about how Obama’s message has changed from a post-partisan theme back in 2004 to whatever it is today. I hoped the writer would address the schisms in the Democratic Party, but that NEVER SURFACED. WTH? Anyway, it’s not a terribly interesting piece. I read it so you wouldn’t have to.
5) The London Times published a piece by Andrew Sullivan that had an interesting point (I know, I know). Sullivan talks about how the race between Obama and McCain is shaping up and the fact that it is so close when Democrats across the board are doing much better. He says that cautious Democratic voters have some pause about “going all the way.”
The choice has evolved to that between an all-Democratic government, headed by a senator whose newness is still one of the most striking things about him, and an old, familiar warhorse who irritated all the right Republicans at one point or another and has a record of bipartisan achievement. Seen in that light, the voters’ reluctance to swing behind Obama in landslide numbers is understandable.
Several folks at NQ have used this vary argument as a justification for switching to McCain. Maybe Sullivan reads NQ?
6) Another good piece speculating about how race is playing out in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. After briefly rehashing the “racial Kabuki” the McCain and Obama campaigns have engaged in, the author has this to say:
THIS Kabuki invites the question: What is Obama’s rationale?
It’s racial politics, and goes like this: Because I’m a minority, you can’t use race but I can. If you do, I’ll zap you. And if you don’t and I do and you call me on it, I’ll zap you for even suggesting I’m playing racial games.
But racial politics is loaded with risk.
Obama needs to maximize minority turnout while pulling enough white votes to win. Yet the polls in this campaign are all over the place, meaning there’s no telling how Obama’s racial games will play out.
It ends with this:
Obama’s shameless playing of the race card — his combining of race with liberal ideology — might prove his undoing in what remains a deeply conservative culture. It raises profound questions about his judgment and leadership, and may leave him in voters’ minds precisely the inexperienced, insubstantial, immature celebrity of John McCain’s description.
7) Yet another WaPo story about how the election is going. This article says that things will really heat up after the conventions, but does not talk about anything other than the campaigns’ talking points. Yawn. It does say that polls are pretty meaningless at this point. Yawn again.
, the basis for the Best Motion Picture Nominee (Golden Globes) starring Brad Pitt.
, the novel by John Le Carre, a new motion picture starring Gary Oldman and Colin Firth.
by 
* (Included in the 
* 
.by David Fredosso who wrote 2008's 
- You'll have access to 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, magazines, and books, as well as ultra-fast Web browsing with Amazon Silk -- faster than iPad. Full e-mail and document access and a keyboard. Fire can transmit what is on your screen onto a connected TV or monitor without an accessory. It runs Flash (iPad doesn't). 
