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RSS icon Comments on If Obama Were My New Bicycle

1

Interesting.

But, in the real world, Obama now has higher support than even Clinton (either one) did in the Hispanic community, and the GOP is sweating bullets all over the pages of their rags about how they can't get anyone on their side interested in their candidate, except for the diminishing minority who are really really old who still have landlines.

But, hey, don't let me rain on your parade.

(caveat - I don't own a cellphone (ditched it) and I do have a landline)

Posted by Will in Seattle | July 24, 2008 4:40 PM
2

senator obama will be our next president, there is no doubt that, he is the better candidate, and will destroy old man mccain and his anemic broke campaign.

your dream, however, will remain a dream, there will be no acknowledgement of the starving world and there will most certainly be no change in our country's monstrous cosumption and thirst for cheap goods, and our anemic aid to the starving massess of humanity will remain the same.

your dream requires a change in world order, a change where slave nations are not controlled by an unfair market system. that is not coming. there will still be bail outs of companies, us midwestern cities will continue to die in ohio, pa, and michigan, there will still be corporate barons, there will still be bullying of poorer nations, our economy will continue to decline, our hunger to consume and cheap products will only increase, the euro will continue to rise. those things arent going to change.

senator obama's win is a good victory for progressives, for it shows that through the electoral process things are possible and ultra right wing goverments can be taken down. senator obama's victory is a good thing, a good victory, a needed change in the white house. it is no small thing to change an ultra right wing president with a moderate centrist

but a change in the system? absolutely not. Empire is not coming to an end,but we lefties should still celebrate and support senator obama's campaign with everything weve got.

Posted by SeMe | July 24, 2008 4:48 PM
3

I don't think successful politics has ever had the kind of honesty you describe.

Posted by matt | July 24, 2008 4:55 PM
4

Where those narrows paths exist, Obama has already foreclosed them.

While he has no notable accomplishment in either government or business, he clearly is predisposed to admire the magic of markets and retreat from all the problematic aspects of governance.

Neither truth-teller nor truth-seeker, his appeal is to cynics who know a little and imagine they know a lot. (Examples: the lobbyist thing, the gas tax thing.)

Why isn't the Right already scrambling in a panic over McCain's candidacy? Obama promises them triumphs beyond their wildest dreams.

Posted by RonK, Seattle | July 24, 2008 5:10 PM
5

if he turns realist, he loses. stop overestimating the intelligence of the populace & underestimating spite as a motivating factor in the american voter.

we can't handle the truth.

Posted by max solomon | July 24, 2008 5:11 PM
6

Seme-- I couldn't agree more, sadly. I will support Obama and pine for something more.

matt-- I couldn't really find an example that fit. Truman? Look at poor Mondale: he tells Americans running huge budget deficits is a really bad idea. Result? Huge landslide, against him.

Posted by Jonathan Golob | July 24, 2008 5:11 PM
7

Dear Politicians of the United States,

Tell the fucking truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.


Dear Media of the United States,

Tell the fucking truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Posted by chaosbound | July 24, 2008 5:23 PM
8

Want is not the best correlate with fury at us.

Re "this all will come to an end", it will come to an end slowly and people quite rationally might desire to experience quite a bit more pain before they change their plans.

Posted by daniel | July 24, 2008 5:24 PM
9

here is another sad truth. senator obama told the germans today that no more walls that divide us, but yet he ( along with senator clinton) voted for the wall that divides mexico and the us, a wall that wil drive more poor immigrants to their deaths. the reality of an obama white house will be very similar to bill clinton and that is, despite it all, a hell of a lot better than a bush white house.

Posted by SeMe | July 24, 2008 5:29 PM
10

People are remarkably good at not seeing what's right in front of them. American hegemony is at an end, and our cushy lifestyle is going to be nothing but a bittersweet memory in 20 years, at least for those of us alive to see it.

This election year has reminded me again and again of quote: "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard."

Posted by Greg | July 24, 2008 5:31 PM
11

I'm glad you're not Obama's advisor then. Giving speeches that say nothing but what's wrong with the current situation are unpopular, and rightly so. Running for president is about proposing solutions, not leveling criticisms. Few people recognize that sacrifices must be made; most will need to be surprised by them.

Posted by F | July 24, 2008 5:34 PM
12

What matters is results, not rhetoric.

Posted by jebus h. xst | July 24, 2008 6:09 PM
13

It's just as well that Mondale, McGovern or Robert Kennedy aren't around and running, then. Because they were all imperfect, even deeply flawed, in their policies. Sure, they were ahead of their time, and they were far better than average politicians.

But if they were here today, Golob would be just as disappointed at the discovery that they did not leap from his very skull to embody his ideas about ideological purity and the balance (or lack thereof) between honesty and enthusiasm.

The icons of the past are always easier to lionize than the real, live, flawed characters of the present.

Posted by also | July 24, 2008 7:34 PM
14

We won't support ball-less, spine-less, flip-flopping NO-Bama and will re-defeat him in November!!!

Posted by clintonsarmy | July 24, 2008 7:43 PM
15

Please ban this fucking troll. Thanks.

Posted by Greg | July 24, 2008 9:02 PM
16

I should make this point more clearly:
This is not a critique of Obama. I believe it perfectly reasonable to assume Obama is a smart man, smart enough to know how dire our situation really is.

This is a critique of us--either our desire to be lied to once again, or our sense that while we can handle the truth, most of our fellow countrymen desire to be lied to.

All of our problems can be dealt with existing technology, knowledge and wealth. Only our willingness is limiting. If we cannot have an honest, public, discussion on the national stage about how we intend to start fixing things--if we cannot even publicly acknowledge reality--we're fucked.

This might be a bigger problem than Obama pandering a bit during a Presidential campaign.

Posted by Jonathan Golob | July 24, 2008 9:27 PM
17

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Posted by clintonssarmy | July 24, 2008 9:51 PM
18

Fivethirtyeight.com is a most excellent site. Thanks for the tip.

Posted by Thanks | July 24, 2008 10:31 PM
19

If McCain manages to win in November (by whatever means that happens) I seriously will rather enjoy the hell that will ensue at that point. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in a nation as it falls to the point of no return into second or third class status? McCain is just the leader to oversee that collapse.

But on the other side, I have doubts Obama will have much better luck, or any Democrat who was running this last year. The reality is our last chance to readily turn the country around has long since past and all we can hope for is a slowing of our decline. To do what we would need to do to turn us around would require the type of sacrafice that would make what they went through in the Depression and WWII look like a shopping spree in Northgate Mall. And my friends; we haven't the balls to do that.

Posted by Andrew | July 25, 2008 7:32 AM

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