Instapunk analyzes the McCain and Obama campaigns in terms of the corrida:
Then came the Palin selection. In political terms, it was a nuclear explosion. Not because of who Sarah was but because of what her nomination did to the Republican base and the candidate. They all woke up, so suddenly that to Democrats it must have seemed a miracle in reverse.
That’s why they immediately launched the carelessly self-destructive nuclear counterstrike against Sarah Palin. It was an act of projection and displacement. Mad at Sarah? Yeah, maybe, on general liberal fascist principles. But the specific personal vituperation was so psychotically vengeful that it couldn’t have been inspired by a total stranger. Psychologically, the real target of their rage was Obama himself. Obama, the no-experience guy, the exotic life story from left field, the seductive mirage that caused so many to lose their senses and stupidly abandon the one real candidate whom they had rudely shoved out of the way. The more the Republicans embraced the inexperienced but sexy new unknown, the more their rage swelled and twisted their hearts.
Whereas Michael Barone sees McCain as getting into Obama’s OODA Loop:
Obama chief strategist David Axelrod admitted of the Palin pick: “I can honestly say we weren’t prepared for that. I mean, her name wasn’t on anybody’s list.” But it was known that McCain’s VP adviser had traveled to Alaska, and anyone clicking on youtube.com could see Palin’s impressive performance in political debates. The McCain campaign shrewdly kept the information that she was on the short list and that she was the choice to a half-dozen people, who didn’t tell even their spouses. The Obama team failed to Observe.
Read them both, especially the first one.
I read Instapunk’s post.
I’m a guy who will vote for Obama. I’d like to think that I’m not so psyched-out by the Obama brand that I don’t see his faults. Obama has faults and he has reversed on some (but certainly not all) of the issues Instapunk laid out.
McCain, too has reversed. He switched from being a quasi-independent to being a social and fiscal conservative for purely political and not ideological reasons. He’s anti-abortion and if he listens to his running mate, abortion would be outlawed in every case (even incest and rape) except to protect the life of the mother. His economic plan is gimmicky and really not that much different from Bush’s. His health care plan does not address the problem. For being anti-war, McCain’s rhetoric on Russia and, even worse, on Iran is decisively hawk.
I’m not crazy about all of Obama’s plans, either, and I don’t believe that he could lead us safely out of Iraq in the near future. Nobody can. I do like his social liberalism and his seeking out new ideas for old problems. This is a person who has obviously thought a lot about America’s and the world’s problems and has a plan to deal with them. McCain has thought about this stuff, too, but somehow has come to similar conclusions as his Republican colleagues, and these policies has led us into Iraq and an economic recession. McCain cannot deliver on reducing influence of lobbysits and “special interests” because he is as beholden to them as everyone else. Plus, he hasn’t shown us how he’d do that, anyway.
I say, give the new guy a shot. He’s smart and he’s got interesting ideas.
All of the negative talk that Instapunk so boldly and cogently expressed is too premature. The Republicans had a nice Convention and a media-inspired VP pick. That’s what caused their bounce in the polls. It’s too early to say if Obama is failing or if McCain will lose his momentum. The month of October, just as it was for Kerry and Bush, will be decisive.
Instapunk, you’re RIP is way too early.
That, and I don’t know what OODA means.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OODA_Loop
I had to look it up. It’s funny that I never heard it since I work with so many ex-military people.
This OODA thing sounds like the business lingo du jour. I’m staying away from it.
It’s an old term that has a lot of utility outside of politics; to just dismiss it out of hand is exactly like Pam Anderson saying “Suck it.”
Don’t be like Pam Anderson. GROW UP.
I was also going to address the extremely dubious merits of voting for Obama, but the topic is far too large for anything except a post in and of itself.
“The Case for Obama” might be a good post to write before November, though the longer we wait for such a post, the more likely it’ll be that Obama’s history, opinions and stances will change, be exposed, or become more clear. When that happens, he may turn out to be a less attractive candidate than initially conceived.
Having a candidate who acts as an empty cup into which you can freely pour all of your desires, hopes, and dreams may be nice in theory, but eventually you have to wake up.
I will synergystically OODA my BlackBerry to valuize my proactive portfolio so’s you can suck it.
Grow UP.
And I’ll write that Case for Obama post, don’t you worry your pretty little head about it.
If you were a TRUE Obama supporter, you’d be using an iPhone…
Suck it!