Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Nader Being Nader

Nader: Obama "talking white"

Is Nader pointing out the, ahem, white elephant in America's living room or is he beating a long-dead horse? The Obama campaign seems to think the latter, while us Molly readers would tend to think the former. Considering how completely misunderstood Rev. Wright's various "remarks" were in the media, is it intelligent to raise such complicated issues in an arena driven by headlines and sound-bites? Is that the whole problem?

In other news
, Fritzl's trial will begin "this year." Maybe the movie will be out by then.

4 comments:

joshua francis said...

"is it intelligent to raise such complicated issues in an arena driven by headlines and sound-bites?"

not if you expect a thoughtful answer in return.

Also, I think a general election "dumbing down" of Obama's campaign is to be expected in the general election - it's the smart thing to do. Did you read David Brooks's "The Two Obamas" editorial in the NY Times a couple of weeks ago?

Ambiguous Q. Thunderwing said...

i just read that article. i think it is quite naive of obama critics to assume obama has no Machiavellian tendencies and then somehow use that perceived lack against him. obama's shrewdness is not a surprise. the question is, does it effect what i think of him? personally, i think that anyone, and i mean ANYONE, who spends millions of dollars on a campaign is horrifically confused in general. so i'm at the very least skeptical of obama, and i am in no way surprised that he has performed virtuosic platform acrobatics in order to cover up the countless (or so David Brooks claims) contradictions. is he like this because he is dirty and corrupt and conniving, or is he simply playing the game by the rules in order to attain the position that will enable him to change the rules? Does the latter absolve him of the former? Should we hate the player or the game???

joshua francis said...

Honestly, in the big picture I'm skeptical of the import that choosing one politician over another will have on our lives (if pressed I doubt I could describe the major policy differences between the candidates). The only thing really keeping me interested at the moment is the growing suspicion that smiling Barack Obama secretly has that Tom Brady/Cobra Kai/Tiger Woods gene that all born winners have - that not so secret delight in not just winning but in winning big by any means necessary - and that he's not only ready but looking forward to stepping on John McCain's windpipe the first chance he gets.

Ambiguous Q. Thunderwing said...

i can see McCain working on his Crane kick in Mr. Miagi's dojo right now