Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Let's not put him on currency just yet

I think I am falling off of the Obama bandwagon a little bit...at least as much as I was ever really on it. I know this will break Brandy's heart, and possibly lead to an intense lobbying effort on her part, but I am liking him less and less these days.

What are the problems? Well, first, the speech plagiarism is really horrible, and it should be a MUCH bigger issue than it is. It speaks to the way the media is completely in his pocket that it has been glossed over like it has. Imagine if a lesser-loved person did the same thing…Joe Biden got KILLED for this last year, and he was never a legitimate contender to be President like Obama is.

It bothers me on a couple of levels, at least one of which is that he is stealing passages from our complete idiot of a Governor. Seriously, I don’t know a single person, including life-long, committed and loyal Democrats, who thinks that Deval Patrick is not WAAY over his head.

The content of the passage makes it worse. If you are going to discuss the power of words, I feel like the words should be your own. If you are justifying your candidacy by saying that the content and ideas are enough to make you a good President, the ideas should be your own. If you have no legislative track record, little experience, and now you don’t even have your own ideas…well, what are you bringing to the table?

Second, I am not sure he has any really groundbreaking ideas. I still believe that he is more temperamentally prepared to be a true leader instead of a partisan fighter like the last two guys…but I wonder about his depth. I don’t think he has any plan for Iraq, and frankly I don’t care if he was for or against it in 2003. How you felt then (and, he never had to actually commit that feeling to a vote, either) is really pretty irrelevant, and doesn’t change the situation today.

Expanding on that, I feel like he is kind of naïve. Seriously…he is just gonna call up Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and offer to chat, and that is gonna solved our problems? There are people that can be reasoned with, and people that can’t. Remember when Bill Clinton decided that the solution to North Korea was a dialogue? If you don’t…the North Koreans took all of the concessions given, and then began violating their half of the agreement before the meetings were even over!

I am not going to knock him on his amateurish discussion of all things economic, because he is no better or worse than the rest of them. Whole other subject.

And finally, I don’t like to beat people up for things others say or do about them…but if Hillary Clinton is going to be taken to task for Bill’s actions, then we have to recognize how horribly offensive Michelle Obama’s comments this week have been. I like her a lot, and many people do, but that was a load of crap and she should be skewered for it. Our country is far from perfect and there are a million ways we can improve it…but to say that she has never been proud of her country is, frankly, offensive to me and a lot of others.

And finally, this nugget. I don’t hold him responsible for the things that hang in every campaign office. BUT…when it came to his attention, he should have reacted. Could it be that he doesn’t know who Che Guevarra really was? I hope not, but the only alternatives are that a) he knows, and just doesn’t think he was that bad a guy, or b) is that much of a leftist that he thinks Che is super cool. None of those speak really highly of the Senator from my original home state.

So, I am down on Obama this week. I could change my mind, and Hillary Clinton’s speech last night sure hurt any chance of me changing my mind on her…but I am disappointed in Obama.

Sorry, this is kind of a long post, and a little overly serious. I will be cooler tomorrow, I promise:-)

7 comments:

anne said...

Ugh I can't get behind Hillary and it looks like I won't have to, but I see your arguments about Obama. But at this point what is there to do?

Anonymous said...

I see where you're cominG from - he's lost that uniqueness and overall authenticity in my eyes...we'll have to see what today brings...it better be good!

Aaron said...

WOW. I couldn't agree with you more. Rock on with the political commentary!

Ally said...

Who needs CNN when I've got you AM? I didn't know about the speech plagiarism issue, so thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Anonymous said...

well i thank you for your "overly serious" posts. they're the only way i'll read anything about politics. lol.

and i think the che poster is way worse than the plagarism. that's just horrid and innapropiate in any business/professional environment.

i am not impressed with any of these candidates.

brandy said...

My heart definitely broke a little with the plagiarism issue. I think it was even more awful considering what was lifted. With that said, (and let me say this before hand- I definitely think it was wrong and that he should have given credit), both Obama and Patrick are on the record in the past as saying they often trade and share ideas, words and brainstorming sessions. Not that I'm condoning what happened, but for me, the severity of it lessesns knowing that.

As for talking to others- I don't know. I think saying that you are open to the idea of doing it isn't the same as saying you are going to do it. And after the last 8 years I have to say that I like the idea of a president who isn't willing to put absolutes on any way to get through or to discuss issues with anyone in the world. With that said- I do understand what you are saying.

And lastly... (and the only one that I think I really disagree with you- in the nicest way possible of course), is the idea that he should have reacted to the Che image. Honestly. Judging a candidate, or making presumptions about them by what someone else has in their office really doesn't seem like a good idea to me. And if candidates were forced to respond to anything improper or anything that they disagreed with that their supporters/workers/followers did or said- I'm not sure how much actual campaigning would be going on.

Okay.. I think that's it. Man. I hope I don't sound like a cow for writing this. I definitely see what you are saying on a lot of the issues here though. Are we still friends?

boohoo said...

i just don't like hilary clinton. when she got all weepy cos the votes weren't going her way... urgh, we don't need womanly tears in politics. she's just not strong enough. i always thought bush's right-hand woman would try out for it. i can't remember her name now. she seems more than capable.