Friday, February 22, 2008

He As A Symbol

Actress Susan Sarandon likes Obama. Why? Well it is not for policy reasons that is for sure.

Sarandon: Well, I'm going to back Obama. But I hope - I think that he, as a symbol, has really excited people, and he's definitely confusing to everyone who really hates America for hating Muslims because a name like Obama and a Black man, they're probably going to go "Oh, wait a minute - what?" It's kind of like when you're out on the line for freedom to have an abortion and you're incredibly pregnant. They just can't quite figure it out.

So I think he definitely has convinced people that he stands for change and for hope, and I can't wait to see what he stands for.
Pig in a poke? I'm not buying it.

The last Democrat controlled Congress elected in Nov of '06 got elected on a platform of change without specifics. Evidently the American people are not happy with that deal given that the approval rating for Congress is well below the rating of the President. And yet Obama expects the American people to make that kind of deal again.

I'm doubtful.

H/T Commenter Fat Man at the Belmont Club

1 comment:

Snake Oil Baron said...

You know, the older I get the less insane the insane people of yesteryear seem. Once I thought that people who hated the UN and affirmative action were all insane (some of them were). But now that the UN has proven to be evil and affirmative action has proven to be damaging to the beneficiary, I feel like I owe some of those nut-bars an apology (not much of one given the racism and protectionism that motivated many of them to come to the right conclusion).

Here we are, approaching the era when a black man can be elected president of a major Western nation of European descent - one that has been portrayed as more racist due to its selectively remembered history (the European nations who bring up slavery rarely mention colonialism in the same breath) and what happens? The first serious black candidate is portrayed as being worth voting for because he is black. No accomplishments, no beloved policies... just race and happy speeches.

Do blacks really want the first president of their race to be a token gesture? Do they really want to be represented by someone who stands for "hope" and "bipartisanship" while being a complete partisan when not in front of a teleprompter?

Apparently yes, because the Democrats have convinced them that the only way for them to succeed is to be held aloft by guilty white leftists. The actual black success stories who are far more deserving of the US Presidency are the ones who have disowned this view and are thus depicted as being too white.

It is sad. What is more sad is that "hope" and positivity have been twisted into political slogans by someone who only understands them as talking points. He certainly has some good marketers. I just wish that the first black (or woman for that mater) could be someone that a large segment of Americans and others could be proud of.