The Penitent Magdalene - Titian
They say, "never apologize, never explain", but that is a lousy attitude among friends and I consider the readers of News Links my friends.
I know that several of my long time readers are very unhappy with me because I don't share (to put it mildly) their enthusiasm for the freshman Senator from Illinois... I truly wish I could, but I can't.
I have laid out my reasons at length in numerous posts, so I won't go into them again, suffice to say that underneath the reasons lies a feeling of foreboding about this man. Something is there that gives me the creeps.
I am also very worried by the intense partisanship someone who objectively has done nothing of any note inspires in such numbers of people only by mouthing platitudes.
This readiness to worship and follow pure hot air among such masses of citizens of the most highly armed nation in the history of the world simply frightens me.
At my age I have learned to trust my hunches, when I have concentrated on a theme and am saturated with information... I can't remember the last time I was wrong when I got the whim whams. So I am really sorry if any of my friends are unhappy or offended, but that is the way I see it. DS
I know that several of my long time readers are very unhappy with me because I don't share (to put it mildly) their enthusiasm for the freshman Senator from Illinois... I truly wish I could, but I can't.
I have laid out my reasons at length in numerous posts, so I won't go into them again, suffice to say that underneath the reasons lies a feeling of foreboding about this man. Something is there that gives me the creeps.
I am also very worried by the intense partisanship someone who objectively has done nothing of any note inspires in such numbers of people only by mouthing platitudes.
This readiness to worship and follow pure hot air among such masses of citizens of the most highly armed nation in the history of the world simply frightens me.
At my age I have learned to trust my hunches, when I have concentrated on a theme and am saturated with information... I can't remember the last time I was wrong when I got the whim whams. So I am really sorry if any of my friends are unhappy or offended, but that is the way I see it. DS
11 comments:
David -- You've been too long gone -- come home before it's too late!
Hello
I am not a long term friend or even a long term reader but I have a similar feeling about Obama.
There is something about a guy who packages himself as a MLK/ JFK reincarnate but has a Rev. Wright in the background that simply unnerves me.
Obama is a damn narcissist, way too young and way too preppy. Any one of the dangerous carnivores, the honorable gangsters in the higher echelons of power will just play him. Thats giving me the creeps.
"David -- You've been too long gone -- come home before it's too late!"
http://youtube.com/watch?v=YkqqIZiXHvs
The fact that Obama has done nothing of note is irrelevant to the American voter because voting seems to be more of an emotional act than one based on facts or proposed policies. Americans want desperately to believe which requires only a willingness to believe; facts just muddy the clarity of belief. So we believe that ours is the fairest and most just country and that magically exonerates us our shortcomings (slavery, Jim Crow, treatment of Native Americans, internment camps, Iraq) because our intentions are always good. As Obama put it in his speech seeking to distance himself from Rev. Wright, America is the only country where his candidacy for the top office is possible. This conveniently overlooks Bolivia, or Nelson Mandela's South Africa but why sweat the details? We believe. Today, we believe in CHANGE, the new talisman that will re-right us (literally, as per Gore Vidal)after the sacking of America by the Bush presidency, which was sold as the vehicle to bring us back from the brink of moral turpitude the Clinton presidency had dragged us through the mud to. The excitement generated by the prospect of change is a self-generating force for more excitement, especially when coupled with real oratorical skills. That those skills are used in the service of platitudes is not noticed is unremarkable in a country where advertising is king; where platitude passes for reasoned thought. What matters is the chill, the tingly glow that suffuses your body as the smile of recognition grows when you hear that we are the ones we've been waiting for.
Great post stunted
I wish Stunted would write in more often. As to the whim whams, David, how did you feel about George Bush around August of 1999? About Alan Greenspan in 2000-2001? He seemed to get a little freaky about then.
Like you, I did leave the country very long ago -- 1979. Pathetic Presidential material had something to do with it. But, presently, Obama seems to be the best bet of the remaining candidates.
As for the poor quality of the US electorate, I reluctantly second Mr. Stunted. There doesn't appear to be any short term remedy for that.
I would like to know who the Stunted One is voting for in November, and perhaps a few well stated reasons for that choice. David has indicated he needs to see real health care. That's a good reason to choose Hillary I guess, but in her vast experiential repertoire, didn't she visit that place already? And was it not a complete fiasco? Did I miss something?
To my way of thinking, it isn't a matter of having to pass on voting for one of a number of excellent candidates, it is usually voting to defend one's self from the worst possible scenario. I don't find the Obama Juggernaut to be all that scary or whim whammy.
Finally, the Titian is a bonus gem of emotionality!
Funny you should ask about my "gut" feelings about Dubya in '99. At the time of the election limbo, "hanging chadsville"... I got this very strong intuitive impression that Dubya's presidency would be "transformational"... as indeed it has been. Here what I call my "inner Lenin" come into play. If US hegemony is the most dangerous and destabilizing element in the world today the sooner it ends the better and if the cost of maintaining this hegemony is depriving the American people of health and education, the sooner it ends the better. Seen from that point of view the Bush presidency has been very productive.
David,
I think Uri Avnery gets it mostly right in this article:
http://counterpunch.org/avnery03242008.html
Essentially, Obama by a process of elimination.
David-
I wrote a longer response, but when I signed up for Google it disappeared. So here's a shorter version:
Would you trust a man who upon returning from being a POW found his pretty bride now disfigured and crippled, then began running around on her until he finally found a much younger and rich gal, so he divorced his disfigured and crippled wife (Carol) and married Cindy five weeks after his divorce was final? (See Snopes.com to check these facts.)
Fareed Zakaria, from NewsWeek, the best geo- political writer I can find, has stated that McCain will push the U.S. into a cold war with China and Russia. He's an older man who fears anything digital, does not use a computer ever, and is out of touch with modern times, modern diplomacy methods ( he prefers the American bully technique of the past 8 years), and is simply NOT the choice to help America regain a semblance of popularity among the nations of the world that have slowly learned to dislike and distrust us, with due reason.
No, Obama is not the best choice for the Democratic Party to put forth, but he IS the best choice if you do enough actual research on the presidential candidates' platforms, past actions, and their beliefs. Who would you really want at the North Korea nuclear disarmament table, McCain or Obama?
"the nations of the world that have slowly learned to dislike and distrust us, with due reason."
Slowly? Yes indeed. South Americans have have been learning since the early 19th century, most of the rest of the world since WWII. Do you really think that Barack Obama is going to change the leopard's spots? I don't.
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