The Uncertainty Principle

I know. I Know I was on the Obama-as-Lincoln bandwagon very early, but perhaps Mr. Obama is cockily underestimating people’s grasp of history, by consciously associating himself with Lincoln.

“The son of a Kenyan father and a white Kansas mother, Obama used his address to portray himself as the multi-racial face of a new generation - a Lincoln-esque healer of a divided nation. It was well-received, by a largely sympathetic crowd”

Lincoln’s election actually tore the nation apart before the man even go to take the oath of office, and it was only the most destructive, divisive war in American history which ensured our survival as a unified nation, at the expense of another 100 years of racial backwardness.

In other news, Slate is running a truly hilarious feature called the “Obama Messiah Watch,” where they keep a running tab of gowing media reports about Obama, and compile evidence that he may indeed be the second coming of Christ. We’re up to Part Four: Obama discovers Jazz in Jr. High.

Posted by George Gordon at 12:06 PM | Permalink

Someone over at FireDogLake is doing live paraphrasing of the Libby Trial, which is fascinating in its own right.

There is trouble going down, and this investigation is going to drag us into the depths of the Bush Administration's inner workings. The smart thing to do may be for Bush to pardon Libby. Or maybe that's the foolish thing to do, from a PR standpoint. In either case, this all spells trouble for the Bush Administration.

Posted by George Gordon at 1:08 AM | Permalink

The New Republic’s Jonathan Chait has written a rash of bad columns in recent memories – namely an incredibly stupid piece that championed putting Saddam right back in power – but his column today was an interesting piece about the shallowness of Democratic commitment to Clinton.

I can’t agree more – sentiment among voters for Clinton is high because no one in the general sample populace is paying enough attention. Obama has a commanding spotlight, but his name recognition is still relatively low. The Huffington Post pointed out that only 51% can even form an opinion on him.

Forget the election, the nominating conventions are almost a year and a half off. Clinton benefits greatly from her reputation as a juggernaut candidate, and the fact that she can projection momentum this early is a good sign. At the same time, her lead is overstated – support for Clinton is soft. That’s not to say she might not be the ultimate nominee. All I’m saying is that its going to be one hell of a fight.

Posted by George Gordon at 1:49 AM | Permalink

Rudy Giuliani’s in, sorta. It’s a new trend that candidates are announcing several times. First they announce that they are thinking about running. And then they announce that they are preparing an exploratory committee. And the lo and behold, they announce “officially.”

I wish Giuliani the best. He may have an uphill battle for the nomination against social conservatives like Brownback, and the Republican Old Guard. He may even expose the fault-lines in the Republican coalition that make it an untenable coalition and pit pro-business forces against Focus on the Family types.

Still, there is something refreshing about Giuliani’s brand of Republicanism – a sensible, middle course between the excesses of either the ideological liberals or the ideological conservatives – and this author wishes him the best for the Republican nomination.

Posted by George Gordon at 1:37 AM | Permalink

Come on, he had to know that these are the headlines his comments would generate.

Posted by George Gordon at 3:18 PM | Permalink

Today, on Meet The Press, John Edwards showed that he’s charming, likeable and not-quite ready for prime time. Edwards has a questionable record on many issues (the war, Yucca Mountain, etc) and Russert nails him over and over, without Edwards being able to effectively explain his stances.

Edwards’ rambling, unfortunate response on gay marriage came across as insincere, and his convoluted stance on the war took at least half the program to settle. Further, I’m not sure how wise it was to unequivocally pledge to raise taxes (Walter Mondale “Let's tell the truth. Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won't tell you. I just did”, anyone?) to pay for a Universal Health Care program.

Edward’s clever dodge on the question of Obama’s experience was wise, given that Edwards hasn’t much more governmental experience than Obama.

If anything, Edward’s appearance benefited Obama. Russert read this 2002 Obama gem:

“I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda.
I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars.”

Obama’s foresight is truly remarkable. Still, I don’t mean to defame Edwards. He’s a reforming liberal populist, and his policies are generally sound, but his efforts to tone down his liberal rhetoric for a national audience unfortunately falls flat.

Posted by George Gordon at 2:46 PM | Permalink

As for Joe Biden, its not a great sign that he kicked off his umpteenth campaign for the Presidency with quite a little racial gaffe. I first read about his little comments in the NY Time’s “The Caucus,” but the paper itself has picked up the story by now, and Biden is well on his way to political oblivion, just hours/days/weeks after his announcement for the Presidency (depending on which announcement you want to count).

Indeed, there seems to be really very little enthusiasm for a Biden candidacy – he’s been running below or close to the margin of error in many recent polls, and Obama and Clinton have been hogging the limelight.

Posted by George Gordon at 6:08 PM | Permalink

An interesting few days have passed.

I don’t know how I feel about this Boston Aqua-Team/Performance Art/Guerilla Marketing situation. I initially felt that the BPD acted professionally to what they thought could have been a terrorist threat- after all a number of suspicious devices around the city could have constituted an actual danger.

On the other hand, when it turned out to be all a misunderstanding, it seemed ridiculous to press charges against two young men who had been hired by a company – the company seems liable in this situation.

My sympathy began to erode when these two fools started making ridiculous statements, like that they wanted to discuss “haircuts in the ‘70s and how they affect our lives today and how we live in the future" instead of the incident at their press conference.

Still, their media-whoring aside, perhaps Attorney General Coakley and Mayor Menino could step back for a moment, drop the charges, and chalk all this up to a post 9-11 misunderstanding.

Posted by George Gordon at 6:02 PM | Permalink