[video=youtube;OofHuLW6xdM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OofHuLW6xdM[/video] Well, we're heading full bore into another presidential election cycle, like Biff Tannen's car into a manure truck. I was looking on youtube at videos from the 2008 general election and stumbled upon the above clip. Watching the video brought out a huge mix of emotions in me and, since there seem to be many divergent political voices here, I was curious to hear what other people thought. -- The most prevalent feeling I have is one of sadness at the unfulfilled potential of the Obama Presidency. Obama the campaigner, and has ability to unify and mobilize people, has been buried during his presidency. I feel like there was a real opportunity to break through the special interest giveaways and subsidies that have become the hallmark of the federal (and state) government. Instead, Obama ignored his many supporters, dissolved his campaign structure and went back to governing as usual -- take as much special interest money as you can when no one is looking. Obama ostensibly never believed what he was preaching. Instead of trying to ensure his reelection by improving the lives of U.S. citizens, he went back to the old playbook of trying to ensure reelection by doling out favors in return for campaign contributions. -- At the same time, the power of Obama's performance to me, at least, is undeniable. Every presidential election since my birth -- and I am well into my 30s -- was won by the candidate who was a better campaigner. (The one exception may be 1992 when Bill Clnton, who I thought was a better campaigner than G.H.W.B., won election because of a third-party candidate, and probably would have lost otherwise.) I am putting my money on Obama winning reelection, regardless of the state of the economy. I just don't see Romney or Perry being strong enough candidates to knock him off; and Newt Gingrich and Jon Huntsman, who do seem like better candidates, have no chance at surviving the primaries.
One question asked by the republican beats Obama: "Are you better off now than you were 4 years ago?"
You know, that question doesn't really work. Four years ago we were in the middle of the Bear Stears-Lehman Brothers-end-of-civilization-as-we-know-it collapse. Are we in a better situation than we were then? Yes. But that surely doesn't mean, in and of itself, that Obama deserves another term.
Several million families had their homes foreclosed on while hundreds of $billions went to the banks and wall street. There are another few million people without jobs. Their answer can't be "I'm better off now."
First thought: To become president you must have self-confidence that borders on pathological. Second thought: Investing your sense of identity in the political process is not a productive endeavor.
First thought: No denying it...the guy gives good speech. Second thought: Our political system is beyond redemption. Many good men and women with good intentions go into it and come out corrupted, cynical, castrated, disillusioned or all of the above.
That's a really good observation, Rosenthal. The whole video is just so upsettingly goddamned earnest. The people in the crowd and the shots -- they thought they were changing the world, and look what came of it. Politics is fun to follow in print, but any more investment than that is questionable at best. I also can't help but think about the money aspect of it all. I remember Obama telling stories of his campaign receiving checks for like $2.11 from elderly people who were on fixed budgets. I'm sure those people could use that money now. It's like those awful stories you hear about devout people who, after experiencing a crushing financial blow, give their last $20 to the church believing it to be their only way out -- as if god, whatever god you believe in, would prefer a situation where people starved.
I'd like to see Obama in the debates before making any bets. I feel the undecided voters (those people who "don't know") will go for the republicans in all these races. Once Perry secures the nomination he'll get a little bump too.
I'm really struggling this week with politics because of your above statement. Michelle Bachmann catches a lot of flack for being a soul-less automaton, and deservedly so. I refuse to believe, though, that she was evil when she entered politics. So how did she get to the point where she was willing to claim that there is a link between HPV immunizations and retardation? The people who know things about these topics expect her comment to set their were work back about three years. And the real kicker is that Bachmann's campaign is dead in the water -- she has no chance at surviving the primaries. It's not Michelle Bachmann's fault that there are idiots in this world who will listen to her and act. But we as a society we owe some responsibility to the kids of these idiots, to at least help them reach adulthood with a limited amount of damage; not to mention the fact that these idiots are also putting our own kids in danger. I mean, how does this happen? How does a person get to the point where they are ready to put hundreds of thousands of children in danger to score a cheap political point in the middle of campaign that is destined for failure?
I think the way you react to that video reveals a lot about the metaphor you use in your head for political action. I think a lot of folks use a "we the people" type metaphor, where ordinary people band together and collectively solve our most important social dilemmas. If you use that metaphor, then a feeling of shame or disappointment is natural. I've never been a "we the people"ist. The metaphor I use is closer to the Wizard of Oz. Symbolic figures that cast inaccurately large portrayals of themselves to ignorant observers, but are actually incapable of exerting direct control over their environment outside of their ability to arouse people's sense of belief. So when I watch that video, I just shrug my shoulders and go "Yep. There's nothing behind the curtain."
I like to use the "emperor wears no clothes" analogy. JFK once asked "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." It has become "Ask not what you can do for your country, ask what your country can do for you." And it really should be "Don't ask what you can do for your country, and don't ask what your country can do for you." Ask what you can do for yourself and your family and your neighbors. After you've done all you can, the rest sorts itself out. And that's what "We the people" means to me.
