The Great Half-White Hope
Here he comes to save the day!Who? Who the hell knows? Hell! Who the hell cares? Couldn't you just kiss him? Excuse me while I vomit.
We know almost nothing about this guy, which is probably the crux of the Democrats '08 strategy. This guy came from out of nowhere and was hailed as the "New Messiah". I regret to inform younger folks still green in memory that we've been down this road before. There is an old saying to the effect that people with a good memory are condemned to lives of eternal frustration by their fellow men and women. Those of us that were alive and occasionally not intoxicated in the 70s remember such a time. A mastodon-toothed grinning nobody from the south swooped down from out of nowhere and rode a wave of post-Watergate hostility to the White House. We are still paying the price for that today. One only has to look to Iran, a former ally stabbed in the back by the "idealistic" Jimmy Carter, to see this is true.
In a very real sense the candidates for president in 1976 were Gerald Ford and "Not Nixon". In a classic example of cutting off one's entire head to spite his face, the slimmest of margins gave us Jimmy "Not Nixon" Carter for 4 long, long, long years. Little did the nation suspect that, after those four hellish years of national decline and humiliation, JC would come back and engage in behavior that made his presidency look like glory days. After 30 years, he's still not Jimmy Carter, only Mr. "Not Nixon".
Mr. Obama, though ostensibly a Democrat, will actually run as the Political-Correctness Party candidate, whether a formal party by that name exists or not. He represents that last, best hope for the Identity Politics of the Left, sometimes known as the platform of the Democratic (no socialists or nihilists here, so move along) Party; a living, breathing, one man United Nations. Every mutually antagonistic group in de facto coalition of the Left has some hope that his loyalty will lie with them when the time comes to throw their erstwhile allies under the bus.
What we don't hear much about, however, is what his principles are or how he would govern, other than vague generalities about him supporting "what works". Sounds like Pragmatism and Realpolitik raising its ugly head to me. At the risk of sounding like a card-carrying Objectivist here, how do you define "what works", for whom does it "work", who will be obligated to make it "work", who will benefit from its "workings", who will pay for making it "work", and most importantly what happens to those who don't want "it", working or not?
Furthermore, what of his "rock star" status? It can't be his philosophy or positions because nobody seems to know what those are. His looks? Please, I'm ordinarily oblivious to the appearance or my fellow males, and even I recognize that this guys is uglier than sin. His charm? I suppose that can be true in some Get Smart style "Simon the Likable" way. But then, I always hated Simon the Likable because he reminded me of my philandering wife-beating step-father. Step-dad was one of those guys that walked into a room and all the married women plucked off their wedding rings and dropped them into their purses. So I guess that makes me a little like Maxwell Smart's mother-in-law who succeeded in taking out Simon the Likable because he had the misfortune of looking just like her ex-husband.
Don't fool yourselves. This guy is just a blank canvas the Democrats are planning on throwing up in '08 for their dispirited mob of special interest groups to project their hopes and desires upon. Most likely, the folks that consider themselves his handlers don't even know what his true agenda might be. He might exhibit Bill Clinton style amorality or Jimmy Carter style ineptitude, or even worse, he might actually pursue the one-sided agenda of an identity group that he identifies with more than the others.
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Labels: 2008 Election, Democrats, Political Correctness, Race Relations
