well, it simply wouldn't be a normal friday around here with out some op/ed illumination from the man, victor hanson, who chimes in on the new democratic party messiah --- Obama Proves All Too Human
Many of the things that Barack Obama did to soar past Hillary Clinton during the primaries are now causing him problems as the general-election race tightens.
Obama once ran successfully as a novel political outsider. He posed as a politically correct critic of discrimination of all sorts. As an idealist tired of the old Washington doublespeak, Obama mesmerized thousands with sermons against incumbent dinosaurs.
Obama's own sense of sainthood was only strengthened when he wowed swarms in front of European monuments, and stepped out on a Democratic National Convention stage replete with Greek columns.
But the loftier the moral expectations Obama created, the more the disappointment grew when they couldn't possibly be met.
Take Obama's signature "hope and change" mantra. It was a natural rallying cry. Either a Bush or Clinton has been in the White House for the last 20 years. Voters were unhappy with the current president — and yet apparently didn't want another Clinton. Meanwhile, the economy has been rocky, and much of the American public has grown tired of our involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Obama's change was aimed against long tenure in Washington — or so he hammered away at Hillary Clinton for nearly a year. But then suddenly he picked as his vice-presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden, the consummate Washington insider. That attempt at balance was understandable, but it only seemed to legitimize opposition charges that Obama himself valued long D.C. experience — and was no less calculating than any other politician.
Next Obama attacked outsider Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin for her own unfamiliarity with national government. Fair enough. But again, that tactic still bothered voters: Wasn't the Alaskan governor a fresh — and welcome — face just like first-term Sen. Obama? And wasn't Biden a stale old-timer in Washington — and if so, as suspect as veteran John McCain? And, come to think of it, wouldn't it have been better to have the experienced candidate at the top of the ticket, balanced by the outsider at the bottom, rather than vice versa?
good stuff, as always... personally, i'm looking forward to the first debate between obama and mccain that's in another week or so.
damn this month is fly'n by.
