Elections

They Just Can’t Stop Themselves

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Joe Biden:

The Republican party and some of the blogs and others on the far right, are trying very hard to paint a picture of this man, they’re trying the best as they can to mischaracterize who he is and what he stands for.

All this stuff about how different Barack Obama is, they’re not just used to somebody really smart. They’re just not used to somebody who’s really well educated. They just don’t know quite how to handle it. Cause if he’s as smart as Barack is he must not be from my neighborhood.

(via Rachel Lucas, whose post on this is worth reading)

They just can’t stop themselves. The Democratic leadership, together with its core of “progressive” supporters, is so convinced of their own superior brilliance that they can’t stop talking about it, even though it should be obvious that the arrogance is turning people off.

What is the evidence for the claimed superintelligence of Senator Obama? Where are the great scientific discoveries or the patents for vital new technology? Where are the deep analyses of the history of political thought? Where is the carefully-crafted legislation? Where is the brilliant reorganization of a government agency or a business that dramatically improved its effectiveness? Where are Obama’s books and articles dealing with any subject other than himself?

Obama seems to be a pretty smart guy who can give a very nice talk, as long as he doesn’t have to do it impromptu and you don’t listen too carefully or too often, and who gives the impression, correctly or not, of being likeable. Biden himself can’t even offer those distinctions.

I’d also note that when Biden spoke at a Democratic rally where he made the above comments, he was introduced by a woman who referred to Governor Pailin as “a bucket of fluff.” It’s part of the same pattern of arrogance. (And, anyhow, isn’t the phrase usually “a ball of fluff?”)

Marriage and Models

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 “Mrs. Palin’s marriage actually makes her a terrific role model.   One of the best choices a woman can make if she wants a career and a family is to pick a partner who will be able to take on equal or primary responsibility for child-rearing.”     Cathy Young

 Re.:   Thanks to Jay Manifold’s argument below and link to Young.   Heinlein’s women seemed to me (and I wasn’t a fan and read them long, long ago) a bit  how a man imagined a strong woman to be.   He is no Michelangelo but both  capture energy.   David’s beauty is power & grace,  the swirling power of  God awesome.   Of course, his women, too, are muscular.    But, then,  I’ll take Manifold (and Heinlein’s) model   I’d like to be  someone who pulls her weight.   Most women would.

The attraction of Democratic largesse for a woman who wants the government as mate is countered by self-reliance (and family-reliance) when a woman takes a  fallible  & loving, flesh  & blood partner.   Governor Palin  values her husband,  which  is not submissive but mature.   Franklin’s belief that “God helps them that helps themselves” is seldom more true than in marriage.    This understanding  eliminates the synthetic and sentimental drama of the Lifetime channel, “women’s issue” politics, and daily bitching sessions that  resemble spinning car wheels deep in mud.  But that  understanding, that engagement   not consciousness raising liberates.

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Re. Shannon’s Obama’s Misunderstanding

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Some points:

1.Democrats might begun to understand that looking straight into the camera is counterproductive.   We don’t like to feel gamed.    Clinton looks at us & says  he didn’t have sex with “that” woman; Kerry tells us he’s  reporting for duty; Obama says he’s putting country first.   We  expect politicians to squirm and obfuscate.   But we are offended when they become earnest in their pretense;  looking us straight in the eye implies a contract.   And we know they either don’t understand or don’t care that they aren’t holding up their side of the contract – that it is a lie.   (Shannon’s  incredibly productive:    this reinforces the post he put up while I was writing.)

2.   Re. his earlier post:   Obama speaks to people that don’t understand because much about our culture discourages what we long considered virtues:   integrity, loyalty, duty.   All these require putting something or someone’s good ahead of our own.   Our customers, our children, our spouse, our community – the point isn’t to game them for our advantage but to enter into an appropriate, sympathetic, productive, and reciprocal relationship.     Of course, in some, “appropriate” is hierarchical, in some it includes making a profit.   But appropriate still arises from respect.   The misunderstanding of this has led to a cynicism and disengagement that permeates our society.

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Willie Brown On Sarah Palin

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As far as a partisan democrat, no one is more dyed-in-the-wool than the former mayor of San Francisco, Willie Brown.   I saw this article today in which Willie was whispering to the faithful (those in San Francisco, the most left-wing major city out there) about Palin and Obama.   He is telling dems that this is a big deal, despite what the high-profile media heads are saying.   From the article:

“And notice how everyone is calling her Sarah Palin – not Gov. Palin. That’s not good for the Democrats. It shows a certain familiarity that goes beyond just issues”

Another line

“Then there is the question of how to boost the turnout in key states.   Palin has become an instant heroine with the Wal-Mart crowd in Ohio, Nevada, Pennsylvania and other critical states. And Wal-Marters are a lot more likely to volunteer or show up at the polls than the younger people Obama has attracted.

Right now, the best shot Obama has of winning is to get out and register 12 million or so unregistered blacks, especially in the South. But he has got to do it without anyone noticing.

Palin will have no problem signing up new voters in her group. She can go to the Mountain Dew 250 in Talladega, Ala., and pitch for votes, and no one will bat an eye.   But Obama can’t go to a meeting called by Al Sharpton to get out the black vote, because if he does there will be a backlash.   He’s got to do it under the radar.”

I think Mr. Willie Brown is giving Palin a lot of credit as a democratic party elder of long standing.   He is telling them to watch out.   Also interesting is his note that the “Wal-Marters are a lot more likely to volunteer or show up at the polls than the younger people Obama has attracted”.   You don’t hear that kind of reality out in the media, either.

Obama Made Me Late

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I was in NYC recently and saw a big airplane over to the side of the tarmac, surrounded by police cars with flashing lights.   I had a long time to kill since we were in the never ending queue to get up to the runway at LaGuardia.   When I got up closer I could see that it was Obama’s plane – he was apparently in NYC meeting the faithful.   Here is an article about his plane (and McCain’s).

All I can say is that he wasn’t exactly saving greenhouse gases in his trips.   It was a big full-size jet – a Boeing 757.   A big bus pulled up in front of the jetway, although I didn’t see anyone getting up (view was blocked).   The plane didn’t go to the terminal, it was out far on the corner of the tarmac by the runway, with the big stairway moving up to the front (just like in those old movies where the Beatles are getting off the plane).   The next thing I know, we were waiting in queue and his plane just pulled to the front of the line, directly in front of my flight.   They just moved to the front of the whole line.

I didn’t have my blog camera with me or I’d have taken a photo.   But I can tell you that Obama left around 6pm Eastern time.

He travels in style, that’s for sure.   He can run a campaign and knows how to get out of LaGuardia faster than any ordinary civilian, by just going directly to the plane and avoiding check in and security and then just cutting his big jet to the front.