After hearing a bit more from Senator Obama this weekend I believe I have a clear understanding of what sort of man he is and what sort of president he will become.
On CNBC yesterday I heard a portion of an interview in which he asserted again that he wants the government to cut another set of tax rebate checks this year, and that next year he wants a
middle-class tax cut. Today I read that he promises to pursue the "war on terror" with vigor, and we already know that he is planning to continue to send our troops to the place where armies are sent to die: Afghanistan. (Throughout history foreign armies are sent to Afghanistan to die. This happened to the British and to the USSR. The stories are brutal.)
The good news about Barack is that he is highly intelligent and not unwise. He is actually well-intentioned, and not an evil man.
The bad news is that he is a middle-of-the-road consensus builder, who will consult with experts and lead the country along a middle course, but do nothing politically dangerous.
The good news about Barack is that he is highly intelligent and not unwise.
He is actually well-intentioned, and not an evil man.
The bad news is that he is a middle-of-the-road consensus builder, who will consult with experts and lead the country along a middle course, but do nothing politically dangerous.
The ugly news is that his consulting "experts" are the same krewe of experts that helped bring America to the edge of the cliff and five feet beyond, into our "Wile E. Coyote" moment. By the time that Barack figures out that we're freaking broke and cannot afford to lose an army and a decade in Afghanistan, it will be way late; he will react, not lead us or stay ahead of the unfolding emergency.
We ought to be glad to have Barack Obama. We deserved Bush. We'll be lucky to have Barack as president. Unfortunately, a lot of horrible things will need to happen before Barack figures out the "real reality" of the U.S. and is ready to lead the project to fix things. Right now he is proposing Band-Aids when what we need is a tourniquet.
Theo Lipschitz
Just to briefly play devil's advocate, let me try this reply: Barack Obama seems to have learned the important lessons offered by resent Democratic campaigns for President. For example, instead of just taking the slime from Republicans like every Democrat since Dukakis, he's actually fighting back, snapping back instantly at lies, and doing a pretty good job debunking them. He has apparently calculated just how far to the right he needs to position himself, and he's gone far enough to the right to seriously disappoint me and piss me off, but I can't really doubt his calculations — he's solidifying his lead in the polls, so my disappointment seems to be irrelevant. From this, from his speeches, and from his general demeanor, I've concluded that he's a fairly shiny nickel, perhaps the brightest candidate for President in my recollection.
I think it's possible that Obama's calm, middle-of-the-road response on every issue, and his posture as a middle-of-the-road consensus-builder, might well be the image necessary to get him elected — but that might just be image-making. Maybe he understands the dire situation better than we think, and maybe he'll make major policy changes once he has the power to do so — changes that, if he announced them now, would be used against him by Republicans liars and fearmongers.
I don't say that this is likely, and I'm pretty sure that if Obama is allowed to take office I'll be embarrassed to have written this. But it's possible, so my fingers remain crossed.
