Sunday, June 29, 2008

The Myths of Barack Obama


The presidential campaign is entering the hot summer months and things are about to get good. Most people think Barack Obama is sitting pretty with up to a 15% lead, depending on the poll. I live in New York City and from here, it feels like it’s a one candidate race. I saw someone in the East Village yesterday wearing a shirt that said, “McCain Who?”

Now it’s true that whether or not you like Obama, agree with Obama, or trust Obama, he’s the one with all the momentum. The whole damn media has a collective erection for the guy right now … including Arianna Huffington and Markos Moulitsas (of Daily Kos), neither of whom have a penis.

But this is all good news for John McCain and the Straight Talk Express. The main reason is that McCain is best when he’s playing the underdog. This is when his true personality shines through: a sharp, witty man – the kind who you’d follow into battle. This is a man that you want leading the troops in a nasty prison camp and this is a man who you want picking up the phone at 3 a.m. when Iran’s development of nuclear weapons comes to pass.

But more than anything, I hope he can be the type of candidate that’s able to make the argument that he can lead on the critical issues facing the country. If he can’t, it’s no one’s fault but his own – Obama has some huge holes in his glossy sheen and a candidate who can’t exploit them isn’t ready for the Oval Office.

Beginning today and running through the election, I am going to list the arguments that expose these holes. Below is a list of a couple of key myths about the inimitable Barack Obama that McCain must exploit. More will follow, including discussions about taxes, foreign policy, health care, and other relevant items presented over the next few months:

Myth 1:
Barack Obama is a post-partisan politician

Truth:
Obama has consistently toed the Democratic party line in his few short years in the Senate. From judges to medicare to immigration to the Iraq War, the Illinois Senator has been a strident party loyalist. Not one major piece of legislation has his name on it; not one tough battle has he fought in the senate; not one stand has he made against his party; not one politically unpopular decision has he made. This is in sharp contrast to Senator McCain, who has proven to be THE post-partisan candidate on judge appointments, campaign finance, immigration, taxes (though i especially hate this one), and more. This country needs a man who makes decisions based on what he thinks is right and not what is political expedient.

Myth 2:
Barack Obama may be inexperienced, but he has good judgment

Truth:

Obama’s big claim to fame is that he may not have any of the necessary experience (either political, business, executive, etc.) to run the nation, but, unlike Bush, Clinton, McCain, and everyone else in Congress at the time, he was against the war from the start. This has provided the platform from which he can state that experience is less important than good judgment. It’s the basis (besides the fact that he’s extremely well spoken) of his entire candidacy.

But here’s the thing: if, in retrospect, you want to criticize the war, the intelligence, or the execution of war/post war strategy there is room for valid dissent. But, in March of 2003, given the uncertainty of American security, given our failure to connect the dots to 9/11, and given the intelligence that the entire globe supported, how could anyone NOT have supported the Iraq War effort? Imagine if Obama was president at the time. Imagine if the world’s intelligence was correct. Imagine if a dirty bomb or any other WMDs found their way into the hands of the very same people that had the audacity to fly airplanes into buildings. Imagine if all of this happened and our president, in a post-9/11 world, did nothing about it. In this scenario, our president would deserve to be put on trial as an accessory to war crimes.

More to come...

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Vice, Comedy, and 9/11



Check out this "comedic" 9/11 video from VBS.tv, the online broadcast network brought to you by the ultra hip folks at Vice Magazine. They're really pushing the edge at Vice these days with jokes about herpes right next to good ol' "if we don't do 'x,' the terrorists win" repartee. Yep, real cutting edge.

The true crime about this video isn't just that it makes light of the hellish murder of almost 3,000 innocent Americans. The true crime is worse: it's just not that funny. If you're going to joke about September 11th, you better make it funny or shut the f*ck up. A bunch of spoiled, hipster cynics made this video and I wonder if they'd feel as tickled about it if they lost loved ones when the buildings came crashing down.

This sentiment reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Jerry's dentist friend converts to Judaism, which Jerry suspects is a ploy to tell Jewish jokes with immunity. Jerry goes to the dentist's former priest:

Jerry: I wanted to talk to you about Dr. Whatley. I have a suspicion that he's converted to Judaism just for the jokes.

Father: And this offends you as a Jewish person.

Jerry: No, it offends me as a comedian.