For those who don't know, in a nutshell, Hitchens is a former super-lefty who went semi-neo-con post 9/11, mostly because he's a big ol' atheist, (like me), and thinks that radical religion was the main reason for the attack. I think he goes a bit too far with it, but he makes some good points if you read him on a regular basis.
Anyway, while I disagree with his suport for the Iraq war, he's what you call a real maverick. And more importantly, he's a wickedly awesome writer. He rips Palin a new one so badly in this article that it makes Tina Fey's impression look like a damn tribute. (Click here to read it.)
Aside from that, I was a bit worried last week that the whole "Ayers" thing was gonna' start working a bit for McPalin, but it turns out that all it did was scare his already stupid base. Anyone with a brain can see that Ayers is just some old hippie. So he blew up the Pentagon in the 60's. Didn't everyone try that at least once back then?
Seriously, overall I keep marveling at how Obama deals with this stuff. He really just let's it slide off his shoulders. I know some people think that that makes him a little "slick willie" like, but I disagree. All the pundits and bloggers kept saying "Hit them back harder!" I say why? He doesn't have to! He takes the high road while the McPalin team implodes all by themselves.
But I want to be clear. I think Obama takes the high road for two reasons. 1. It's the smarter political move with the awful GOP ticket he's facing, and 2. He really thinks it's important that we change how we elect people in our country. Everyone says that the debates are boring, but I freakin' love 'em! Really listen to Obama this Wednesday. He's not afraid to explain semi-complicated ideas to the electorate. And he does it without sounding condeseding.
Also, if you listen to his stump speech about treating clean energy like we treated the moon shot, it's really inspiring. Yeah, it's a bit of a bite from Kennedy, but so what? The fact that he's willing to use the bully pulpit of the White House to actually CHANGE people's minds is simply a wonderful thing. Cult of personality be damned. There's a REASON he's as wildly popular as he is. Yeah, he's young, good looking, charming and a great speaker, but he ALSO has tons of fucking substance. And people who say he doesn't are simply not paying attention.
I may be drinking the Kool-Aid, but I just think he's the real deal. I'm sure his first 100 days will tell us if we're right. But for the next 3 weeks, I'm gonna' be a non-cynical, liberal, Atheist New Yorker and actually believe in a power greater than myself.
Amen!
Obama '08.
1 comment:
Hi Barney,
Thank you for your bloodge and the link to the Hitchens article in Slate. Sam Harris is pretty excellent too (read him?).
I'm not sure quite how anyone can really feel so enthusiastic about Barak Obama. He's really too new to really have such strong feelings about.
Anyone who claims to believe in God, to pray, to worship is just doing the same crap as everyone else, namely getting their foot in the door.
I'll admit I was wrong about Obama if he:
1) makes U.S. support for Israel contingent on adoption of a democratic constitution and their compliance in a non-expansion treaty.
2) claims not to pray or believe in God or an afterlife.
3) Suggests outlawing heterosexual marriage as an alternative to legalizing gay marriage.
It may soothe your post-election hangover to keep telling yourself that today that Obama is probably as greedy, deceitful and conniving as any former president. He's a human being after all.
I think the real reason Obama will get all the votes is that there's really no other choice. Or rather, the other choice is just too ridiculous.
Bill Clinton wasn't awful but he couldn't resist shooting a load all over Monica Lewinsky in the oval office (not a bad thing in itself but dude, you're gonna get caught!)
-b
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