Remaking this great nation: “L’ changement , c’est moi!”
In closing his victory speech last Tuesday Obama intimated that his victory will mark the beginning of the time when we “came together to remake this great nation.”
I wasn’t aware that greatness needed such extensive renovation. Fine-tuning, yes. But a makeover?
Obama’s statement is no accident, however; he certainly knows what words mean. And it is underlined by the fact that in the previous sentence he said something very similar: his ascendance will be the time when America “restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth.”
Remake. Restore. Images.
Isn’t Obama’s statement an oxymoron of sorts, as Mark Steyn points out? If we’re so great, why is the extreme makeover team being hauled in for the job?
I’ll translate for those who don’t speak Obama very well:
I will be the group facilitator in the healing of America. Our country is broken because it is not perfect. It may be—to paraphrase Churchill—the worst country except for all the others, which makes it pretty good. But I’m not interested in all the others, nor am I interested in being realistic.
I’m interested in the idea of perfection, and of course in what might get me elected, and grandiose but vague promises fit the bill. After all, if the country ain’t so broke, why would it need fixing from me (a person with no record to speak of to indicate I could fix much of anything, much less this country, but that’s a mere detail)?
This country was once great in some mythical far off time—or at least I have to say that if I want to be elected, just as I seem to have to wear a #$%@ing flag pin. The time of that greatness would have to be prior to 2000 and the Bush II regime, since I’m going to try to pin every sin of Bush’s on John McCain. But I have to dislike the Clinton administration too, because I’m up against Hillary. Come to think of it, though, I just defeated her. So I could praise Clinton now and be okay. But it’s best to keep it vague.
Besides, I know that Michelle has said my nomination is the first time she’s been really proud of America in her adult lifetime, which would be since 1982 if you do the math. She got an awful lot of flak for that, but it works for me, too—Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II: ugh, bunch of losers! But now I’m proud of America for finally having the wisdom and discernment to nominate me.
The truth is that, from the very start, America was great in its rhetoric (great like me!). But it’s never managed to fulfill that early promise. Now, through my nomination and then my election, I will demonstrate by my very being—as a black man elected President of a country that once promised equality but was built at least partially on slavery—that that early promise has finally been fulfilled.
I don’t need to do anything, you see. My supporters know that. It will enough that I am something.
And that “something” is change. I represent change, and people want change, and I’m going to beat this drum of change till we’re all deaf. L’ changement , c’est moi!
I’m historic now. And so everything I say will by definition remake this wannabe-great nation and make it a truly great nation, and magically inspire others to do the things that will augment that renovation. Get it? Good.
I will leave it to Neo to deal with the impacts of Sen. Obama’s overly complex childhood, but I think he really believes a lot of this stuff. If you listen to the clips of him when he is not using a prepared speech, he is truely awful which I do not think is from a lack of public speaking training or experience. Venturing into the real world of solutions and tradeoffs spoils the dream.
Hussein O’s visit to Bristol, Tn should prove to the world that his knowledge of the United States and the world is equal to the knowledge of the average kindergarden student and his speaking ability (without a pre-written speach, by someone else, and a teleprompter) is equal to any wino you dredge up from an alley.
As per above right-on comments, today’s announcement that Obama’s campaign would nix McCain’s challenge to series of joint Town Hall meetings is nothing if not surprising. (Talk to REAL people? And one on one? Answer a REAL question? With real, meaningful words?)
It’s foolish of me to wonder, I know, but where exactly do Americans like me, who intend on fighting Obama’s efforts to remake the country, fit in? Re-education camps?
I imagine they will be handing out Axes at the next Obama-palooza, with giant, ominous grinding stones strategically placed on both stage left and right. They will line up, young and old (no, just older young or maybe old and underemployed, wait, maybe just overeducated but underemployed), as they chant their way toward lower sea levels, fewer carbon emissions and global harmony. What was that Michelle said? Oh yes, the Messiah shall heal our souls.
On a serious note, they are already preparing the spin re: Iraq and the Surge. New plank inserted: since it’s going so well, all the better that we get out faster. Pelosi’s staff apparently drafted the Ayatollah’s script for the Associated Press. When they start airing videos from soldiers saying how proud they are of what’s happened etc etc, Obama will slither back to the South Side or maybe just Portland (nay, Eugene) for another bong hit or three.
Insert plank three (post crude oil price collapse later this week – Happy 4th!): Obama will formulate a new policy position based on Bush’s failure to negotiate just compensation from the Iraqis for our toil and blood; via strong, concerted negotiations without any preconditions, he will actually secure enough crude to fuel all of the corn harvesters in the State of Illinois.
If his version of change is two twentys for a ten sign me up!
huxley Says:
It’s foolish of me to wonder, I know, but where exactly do Americans like me, who intend on fighting Obama’s efforts to remake the country, fit in? Re-education camps?
maybe here (note the source)
Civilian Inmate Labor Program
http://www.army.mil/usapa/epubs/pdf/r210_35.pdf
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Fred Says:
they chant their way toward lower sea levels, fewer carbon emissions and global harmony. What was that Michelle said? Oh yes, the Messiah shall heal our souls.
see cult of personality below…
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Fred Says:
On a serious note
actually i was reading something today that the iraqi military wants to lend troops to afghanistan to help go after AQ. (not to mention the recent writings of AQ that refer to their failure).
On the oil issue i would be very worried if the main oil countries decided not to accept dollars any more and the currency devalues since its not backed and fractional banking has expanded it way beyond anything in history.
i would be worried about what oleg shennin said in the forbes article about stockpiles of metals and other things. such could provide a coup de grace, and the US with no manufacturing base to make any recoveries
manufacturing is what everyone feared most about the US as it was what could sustain us during bad times (even if only internally).
with so much external to us, a devaluation would be more damaging than others in history. (and it can happen given the kinds of moneys that everyone is emboldened to start using… we are entering the state doing TRILLION deals)
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cult of personality
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_personality
A cult of personality or personality cult arises when a country’s leader uses mass media to create a heroic public image through unquestioning flattery and praise. Cults of personality are often found in dictatorships but can be found in some democracies as well.
the subsequent development of photography, sound recording, film and mass production, as well as public education and techniques used in commercial advertising, enabled political leaders to project a positive image like never before. It was with these circumstances in the 20th century that the best-known personality cults arose.
Generally, personality cults are most common in regimes with totalitarian systems of government, that seek to radically alter or transform society according to revolutionary new ideas.
Often, a single leader becomes associated with this revolutionary transformation, and he becomes treated as a benevolent “guide” for the nation, without whom the transformation to a better future cannot occur. This has been generally the justification for personality cults that arose in totalitarian societies of the 20th century, such as that of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin.
During the peak of their reigns, these leaders were presented as god-like and infallible. Their portraits were hung in homes and public buildings, and artists and poets were instructed legally to produce only works that glorified the leader and their political movements. Other undemocratic leaders with such cults include leaders such as Eva Peron of Argentina and her husband Juan. The term cult of personality comes from Karl Marx’s critique of the “cult of the individual” – expressed in a letter to German political worker, Wilhelm Bloss.
[this is a site that discusses the messiah aspect of him obamamessiah.blogspot.com/ ]
FDR was a cult of personality…
Kennedy was a cult of personality…
(and not what he is remembered as today)
Obama is also a cult of personality…
(even more so than FDR was)
This amusing Washington Post headline (with link) from Obama & Co — who want to give us National Health Insurance:
Senate Votes To Privatize Its Failing Restaurants
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/08/AR2008060801765.html?nav=most_emailed_emailafriend
(hope the link works)
A lot of people out there are underestimating Obonga, saying to themselves that there is no way this man can win in November. Watch it happen. The depressing news this evening had Obonga up six points in polling over McCain. Despite numerous faux pas, the Wright Affair, and other sordid effluence emanating from his campaign.
There is no way this man is competent to be POTUS. And yet it is highly probable that he is going to be. The majority of our fellow citizens are riven with BDS, and many want to see the country taken back to where it was before the Reagan Revolution. They want bigger government, higher taxes, a supine military, the abolition of missile defense, and an expanded welfare state. No one under 40 knows about the Carter years and what they were like. It’s frightening to contemplate.
Back then we still had enough nukes so that MAD was the agreement between us and the Soviet Union.
Today MAD is not at all an effective strategy with The Islamic Republic when it gets nuclear weapons and can put them on medium range rockets and on ICBM’s.
No energy policy that increases supply. Think about what that means. Do we have a lot of dumb undergraduates who never took economics? They do not know about the laws of supply and demand?
Much higher taxation choking off the growth of new businesses and ideas. There is an example of how this works – just across the Atlantic ocean on the Continent of Europe. It’s called economic stagnation and high unemployment.
Socialized medicine in an environment of not enough supply of services and professionals to handle the load.
The kids who are bonkers about Obonga are truly, insufferably STUPID.
I can’t find it but didn’t he write a book about Ayers? I thought I read some excerpts and he was pretty clear what this ‘change’ stuff really meant..
Either I was on crack… or it was called ‘After Ayers’ or something to that effect and since I can’t find it, it is being pushed down the memory hole… Either one is possible. 😉
“A lot of people out there are underestimating Obonga, saying to themselves that there is no way this man can win in November. Watch it happen.”
Some people way overestimate things too. Obama was not even a strong candidate within his party – he would have lost under their old rules or pretty much anything other than the crazy way the dems currently do their primaries. He doesn’t even have his “flash” outside of scripted performances and even then it is hit or miss.
“The depressing news this evening had Obonga up six points in polling over McCain. Despite numerous faux pas, the Wright Affair, and other sordid effluence emanating from his campaign.”
Polls suck, always do and always will. Even more so the more the poll givers want an outcome and they want it bad right now. Recall that Kerry had an even greater lead – the unknown democrat almost always has a lead over a known or unknown republican. For those that recall a number of election cycles this is normal. Obama isn’t really a known until they get to the debates and he will crash and burn unless he does some *real* fast leaning between then and now. As of right now a message of “hope, peace, and change” works fine – but there *has* to be more than that for the next 6 or so months.
“The majority of our fellow citizens are riven with BDS, and many want to see the country taken back to where it was before the Reagan Revolution. They want bigger government, higher taxes, a supine military, the abolition of missile defense, and an expanded welfare state. No one under 40 knows about the Carter years and what they were like. It’s frightening to contemplate.”
That demographic isn’t the majority, nor did Obama do well with them. Obama did well with blacks and under 30 (really not very well until under 25). Obama’s demographics are some of the worst seen outside of Dukakis and McGovern (and it is arguably worse). On top of that the under 30 crowd tends to not vote – they were also supposed to carry Kerry (and Dean in the primaries) to assured victory (along with the cell phone only hip people who were overwhelmingly Democrats) – but since they don’t bother to actually vote it is irrelevant.
McCain is quite capable of loosing the election – I’ve seen it in him before and it may come out again. But it is his to loose right now. If Obama had been smart he would have waited another 12 years and then he would have swept everything, but as is he is going to flame out. Had the democratic primary been something other than the mess they have Hillary would have destroyed him (especially if it was a winner take all system such as our electorate college). The only thing Obama has going from him that will not crash and burn is that he is tall, black, and has a nice voice and that doesn’t win elections (contrary to popular opinion – most that only have that never make it past the primaries let alone the presidential election).
If you want to see why I think that Obama being tall and having a nice voice will be irrelevant see this:
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2008/06/more-obama-gaffes-including-kids.html
All that doesn’t count if this is your A game – and it is Obama’s and is normal for him outside of scripted speeches. This isn’t even a debate where the opposition is hammering him or he has a real time limit.
I don’t think i recall a presidential election where the democrat wasn’t way ahead 5 months out. Polls are manipulated by MSM to cast doubt among those not on board with the “popular” choice.
I haven’t turned on my television in 3 days and i feel better about this election already.
I don;t think we can stand too much more change:
A little over one year ago:
1) Consumer confidence stood at a 2 1/2 year high;
2) Regular gasoline sold for $2.19 a gallon;
3) The unemployment rate was 4.5%.
Since voting in a Democratic Congress in 2006 we have seen:
1) Consumer confidence plummet;
2) The cost of regular gasoline soar to over $3.90 a gallon;
3) Unemployment is up to 5.5% (a 10% increase);
4) American households have seen $2.3 trillion in equity value evaporate (stock and mutual fund losses);
5) Americans have seen their home equity drop by $1.2 trillion dollars;
6) 1% of American homes are in foreclosure.
America voted for change in 2006, and we got it!
Remember it’s Congress that makes law not the President. He has to work with what’s handed to him.
Demosthenes with pebbles in his mouth has more substance than That Golden Mouth Shape Shifter from Chicago.
Obama want to be America’s Akhenaten
I think some of the points made about the dem congress are especially fair since they had said they would fix some of those… and then they got worse.
Like Pelosi claiming that democrats had a plan to fix gas prices… which they didn’t. And after winning congress and getting called on it claimed the plan was hearings by the executive branch.. When congress could do it own. Which they do every couple years… and find nothing…
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If nothing else I think you’ve come up with McCain’s campaign slogan — John McCain: Fine-tuning America!
Now there’s a winner.
It beats: “That’s not change we can believe in” (cue creepy smile) from his depressing speech the other night.
Thomas Sowell wrote a nice takedown of Obama today on touching on just this sort of attitudinal display.
http://tinyurl.com/67gtec
Sdferr,
I read the Sowell column earlier today. I’m a big fan of Thomas Sowell. I majored in economics in college and had he been a prof at my university I would have taken a course with him.
So far in the campaign, the Obonga camp seems to be making all the early moves, either in reaction or proactively. I sense that he and his people want to really pummel McCain early and hard. They want to build an early lead and build on it. Methinks it has to do with fundraising, and that they also want to keep on discouraging those who are disinclined to vote for him but are not enthusiastic about McCain. Tonight, the Obonga campaign announced that they might select a former military man for the VP slot. We know why they are doing that. And we know who those retired generals are: they are personally ambitious men who have no principles and would sell the Defense Department down the river. The type of men who were promoted by Bill Clinton.
Obonga knows next to nothing about, for example, the missile defense program. He calls it a failing system, when in reality it is hugely successful. All he need do is to read the DoD press releases about the tests and the analysts take on them. But, he has already made up his mind to go with Joe Cirincione’s views on missile defense and on satellite defense in outer space. The only thing that matters to Obonga is that The Ploughshares Fund is part of his progressive network and what they have to say about nuclear proliferation matters. If they say that Iran getting the bomb is o.k., because Iran deserves having a deterrence in order for there to be multipolar balance in the world, then that’s what he’ll go with.
Obonga’s “brilliance” is a shuck and jive. What does it say about our culture that COLLEGE EDUCATED people cannot fact check and distinguish between substance and rhetorical emptiness?
I’m discouraged by how many bright people–not just average college educated liberals–are falling for Obama. I just learned the other day that Fred Volcker, the former chairman of the Fed, has endorsed Obama.
It’s true that Volcker is a Democrat and was appointed by Jimmy Carter but still… Volcker says he was motivated by all the challenges we face and how that requires new leadership and a fresh approach. However, I don’t see anything new with Obama, I just hear evasive language disguising old approaches backed by little or no experience.
FredHjr
One of the earliest adopters of ‘elective studies’ in undergraduate university, if not the very first to institute the practice, was Harvard, the nation’s oldest school of higher learning. This calamitous decision took place in the late 19th century. Harvard’s competitors for high station in education, eager to demonstrate their own forward looking status followed soon thereafter. Before long the canon of western thought was a receding blob on the distant trailing horizon, nothing to concern us, now just ‘dead white men’ as it is put, quickly forgotten. It has been downhill for liberal education ever since, despite the noble though doomed efforts of the occasional R M Hutchins, the Adlers, the Barrs and Buchanans. We still have the books and surely many decent scholars, but who will lead us back to our senses? I do not know.
I am surprised that Paul Volker would come out and support Obonga. I thought Volker was a Friedman disciple and a big believer in free markets and an unfettered economy. Volker was appointed in 1980, when I was a sophomore at the University of New Hampshire. I took a course called “Money and Banking” and we had quite a few discussions about what Volker was doing at the Fed.
So, in effect this election is really about a rejection of the Reagan legacy, which was quite an achievement – getting rid of the malaise and defeatism of the Carter years. So, the elites yearn for THE CARTER DAYS? Do these people not understand the history they lived through? I can, to a certain extent, understand the under-40 crowd not knowing or understanding what that was all about.
By the way, I voted for Carter twice. Not something I am proud of. However, like neo-neocon I came late to more conservative thinking. I actually made my break with the Left in 1987 and sort of vacillated in the no-man’s land of being a moderate. I started to move right-of-center after the U.S.S. Cole incident and the earlier African embassies bombings.
FredHjr
I lost any faith I had in P Volker when he covered for the UN, lending his name to shield the bastards, burying the worst information he found during his Oil for Food investigation. Until then I had respected the old bird. I imagine he did it under the belief that it was necessary to protect the system for the long run good. I just can’t agree with that view. Best to call a rotten, corrupt and useless monster like the UN for what it is, rather than to pretend otherwise. I was unaware he had endorsed Obama.