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Christopher Hitchens asks some interesting and hard-to-ignore questions about Obama's current election hopes:
By the end of that grueling campaign season, a lot of us had got the idea that Dukakis actually wanted to lose—or was at the very least scared of winning. Why do I sometimes get the same idea about Obama? To put it a touch more precisely, what I suspect in his case is that he had no idea of winning this time around. He was running in Iowa and New Hampshire to seed the ground for 2012, not 2008, and then the enthusiasm of his supporters (and the weird coincidence of a strong John Edwards showing in Iowa) put him at the front of the pack. Yet, having suddenly got the leadership position, he hadn't the faintest idea what to do with it or what to do about it.
He explains further:
Look at the record, and at Obama's replies to essential and pressing questions. The surge in Iraq? I'll answer that only if you insist. The credit crunch? Please may I be photographed with Bill Clinton's economic team? Georgia? After you, please, Sen. McCain. A vice-presidential nominee? What about a guy who, despite his various qualities, is picked because he has almost no enemies among Democratic interest groups?
First off, let me say that I'm not at all convinced that all of this is true, but I have caught myself at times, based on some of the mistakes Obama has made in the campaign, asking whether he really wants it as bad as he says he does. Again, Obama, win or lose, has run an impressive and historic campaign, but some of his rookie mistakes are quite puzzling. His refusal to admit he was wrong on the surge, or his haphazard and passive to a fault handling of the bailout issue.
I've made my still undecided status clear before, and I'm holding to something similar to the Althousian vow of cruel neutrality (albeit less cruel, and less neutral), but I just thought this was interesting. Read the whole thing, as always.
HT: Althouse
ADDED: And this interesting gem from Jac, who reflects on his transition from enthusiastic Obama supporter, to skeptical supporter. His situation is somewhat similar to mine, which I'll expound on later.
HT: Althouse again.
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Well, I don't usually agree
Well, I don't usually agree with CH's take on many things, but he has a point. I alluded to this in my response to you on another thread. NK? Iran? Nuclear umbrella for Israel? Hell, nuclear energy, drilling, FISA, guns.....HHhhmmm. Here's a good one. Pakistan?
"As I said before" (meaning he has changed his position), is the typical Obama response while uttering a new triangulation. The various flip flopping and qualifying indicates confusion to me. What is most shocking Raf, is that HE DIDN"T HAVE TO ACT LIKE THIS. Maybe that's where arrogance comes in. It goes way beyond his rookie status. Come clean and strike out those centrist markers. Now it is a bit too late.
So Chris is right in pointing out 1. Obama's responses suggest a poor understanding of realistic solutions (do you WANT to lose?) 2. Obama is loath to admit "change" (required of a transparent evolution of thought) in his own positions as he clings to the notion he is not, nor has ever done what CH is accusing him of doing.
And one more thing. Obama often jokes that he is far from perfect and has made mistakes. Insincere comes to mind when I find it hard to locate a single example where he points out a specific mistake he made (except the lame brush off concerning Rezko). You can't feign humility and deliver what Obama has done so far.
wanting and getting
Well, I don't wonder whether Obama wants it. But I do agree quite strongly with the idea that Obama most likely started his campaign with expectations that he would probably not win, He's too smart not to have seen what an uphill struggle he faced. Fortunately for him, Hillary was so sure of her victory that she wasn't ready to contest the caucus states. Obama did quite well for himself, for sure, but Hillary lost the nomination as much as Obama won it.
Of course, it would only be human for a candidate to harbor some doubts, and it would be VERY human for those doubts to have grown substantially in the wake of the current financial crisis. I imagine anyone who gets close to the Presidency has the nightmare of waking up as President giving the SOTU in their underwear and getting blamed for every crisis they just inherited. That's the success nightmare...that you win...and you wake up the day after the inauguration to discover that you're Herbert Hoover.
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I have often said, and oftener think, that this world is a comedy for those who think, and a tragedy for those who feel. -Horace Walpole