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Whatever
Ann reads a letter demonstrating why. It is, to say the least, nauseating. Quite aside from the content (which is the usual mixture of half-truths, overstatement, contradiction and pablum), what makes me particularly queasy is the knowledge that this guy is lauded as eloquent. This -- this sanctimonious saccharine bombast, this simpering, pretentious drivel -- this passes for eloquence today? By that standard, Budweiser is a "gourmet beer"!
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You Brits...
...have a way with words. Americans just don't write like this:
Did I miss something?
From what I saw of the video at Ann's blog, I'm not sure what you're talking about. She on;y got through the first sentence of the letter (unless I clicked the wrong link), and from the little I heard of the actual letter, I see no reason to doubt his eloquence, unless one has already made up his or her mind beforehand about Obama.
"In the world you will find tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world."
John 16:33
She spends nearly ten
She spends nearly ten minutes reading - purportedly -the entire letter, Rafique.
Same problem as Rafique--the
Same problem as Rafique--the video ends right as she starts reading.
Lemme check my email stash, I'm sure there's an Obama missive in there somewhere that would be close enough. Guy writes me all the time, trying to suck some funds out of my wallet even though we've never been buddies. He's almost as bad as those guys who hang out down at the bus station. He even sicced that Caroline Kennedy weirdo on me, not to mention his wife and that Dick Durbin fella. Ah, here we go!
Tully --
We just won a decisive victory in North Carolina thanks to people like you.
Indiana remains too close to call. But what is clear is that we did much better than all the pundits predicted, despite Republicans changing parties to support Senator Clinton, believing she would be easier for Senator McCain to defeat.
Here's where we stand.
As of Tuesday morning, we needed just 273 delegates to clinch the nomination. When the votes are fully counted Wednesday morning, we will have gained more than a third of them in a single day.
We have a clear path to victory. But now is the time for each one of us to step up and do what we can to close out this primary.
Please make a donation of $25 right now:
https://notachanceinhell.som/
Thank you for everything you're doing,
Barack
Yeah, that's eloquence for you.
And while I was posting that
And while I was posting that I got ANOTHER half-Nigerian-scam letter, and now the 'tard has also passed my email on to that Daschle guy, who talks too much. They showed up at the same time as an invite to have lunch with President Bush. If I were going to cough up the bucks, I think I'd go with the people who would actually feed me. But since I'm cheap, I'll likely skip both.
Rafique, I see what's
Rafique, I see what's happening: Ann just updated her post, she's having technical difficulties. The full vlog is nearly 10 minutes.
Figured as much.
Still, it couldn't have been that bad, right? :)
"In the world you will find tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world."
John 16:33
Meh...Definitely NOT Eloquent
You don't even have to analyze the substance of what he says to realize how ineloquent Obama is. He is a HORRIBLE off-the-cuff speaker. It's one thing to read off of a teleprompter something your speech writer came up with. Anyone with a little bit of training could do that. But it is something else to answer questions eloquently, to debate eloquently, to speak to people without a prepared speech eloquently. And Obama can't do any of those things well.
--Fern
I watched the whole thing--not that bad, I still didn't hear
anything that would make me doubt his eloquence elsewhere, although I must say that Ann was spot-on with regards to Obama's position on Iraq, which may be the real issue that hurts him in November. Why no boundless hope there? It seems McCain could do an ad, in which he says: "Can we win in Iraq? Yes we can!"
Now, I'm sure there's a serious answer to this question, and its one I'm willing to listen to being that there's a strong chance I will vote for Obama, but I've made no secret that Obama's position (and heck, the base of the Democratic Party right now) on Iraq (and Iran) doesn't really sit well with me, even though don't think either candidate will pull the troops out.
"In the world you will find tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world."
John 16:33
pretty rare to find eloquence
It's pretty rare to perceive eloquence in someone whose ideas you reject, let alone in someone who immediately conjures your visceral distaste.
It's not very surprising when anyone is better at delivering prepared remarks with poise and polish than they are at doing so with off-the-cuff remarks. Nature of the beast. First lesson of PR is to stick with the script, and that's why.
Now, because Obama is so VERY VERY VERY good at delivering prepared remarks with such poise and feeling, we'll be repeatedly given his off-the-cuff remarks by the GOP in an attempt to blunt his magic. Makes sense from the GOP PoV, because Obama's inspirational eloquence is an extraordinary weapon that John McCain just doesn't have. McCain can't even deliver prepared remarks very convincingly unless they concern the subset of issues about which he has some genuine passion. Otherwise, he gives off a decided vibe of going through the motions.
The fact is that very, very, few folks can come anywhere near matching the eloquence of prepared remarks when they are instead trying to digest, think, and speak very quickly. Not even Newt Gingrich, Simon. I'm sure you think he's ALWAYS eloquent, but when your perception is filtered through your overweening man-love that grants unquestioning benefit of the doubt, then of course you'd think that.
How can anyone sane accept the testimony of one who has been so long nurturing a now quite finely developed case of Obama Derangement Syndrome, replete with an intricately woven architecture of rationalizations that make it all seem not like derangement at all? What you cannot see is that it's your viscerally negative response to the guy that leads to your granting yourself continual license to hold him to singular standards.
________
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
Re: Brian
To the contrary: I've often (albeit not on-blog, to my recollection) praised Justice Souter's writing, and (less frequently) Justice Breyer; I think they are both totally wrong on a large number of very important issues, but they are wonderfully effective and eloquent writers (I completely disagree with Souter's Alden dissent, for example, but I find it mellifluous and elegant in terms of style). Concededly, I do not have a visceral distaste for Justices Souter and Breyer, but nevertheless.
What does that have to do with a letter? We're not talking about extemporaneous remarks - not even a speech from a prepared script, where one might expect some flubs of said script. We're talking about a written letter, sent out and presumably proofread beforehand.
I should also say that when Obama spoke here in town, I had completely the opposite reaction to prepared remarks vs. Q&A. I wrote in an email to Ann and Amba that evening:
What drives Obama partisans mad isn't "hold[ing] him to singular standards," it seems to be holding him to any standards. To question the narrative - the messianic story arc that paints Obama as an eloquent, reasonable post-partisan uniter who will (this always advanced without a hint of cognitive dissonance) shiv the GOP - is tantamount to thoughtcrime. He isn't special. He is a very, very ordinary old-school liberal old-school Chicago politician, and he either doesn't realize it or he's trying to hide it. At least his more liberal supporters have the decency to admit that they know it's a trojan horse.
I've seen much the opposite
I've seen much the opposite in Obama unscripted moments--if it's not an answer he's practiced, he does indeed tend to flounder and make unforced errors. Not nearly as quick on his feet as one would think. A campaign Q&A is a semi-scripted moment. Most of the Q is predictable, and some even planted. And for the not so predictable there are still formula responses where you can say something witty or smooth while otherewise saying nothing at all.
What drives Obama partisans mad isn't "hold[ing] him to singular standards," it seems to be holding him to any standards.
Bingo.
Say it aint so, Joe!
Well, speaking as a non-partisan, what drives me nuts IS holding him to singular standards. Which is often part of what you when you attack him.
I have no problem cheerfully acknowledging that the Obama true believers brook no discouraging words. As a first-year logician could reason with colored blocks, their irrationality simply doesn't therefore make Obama's most avid critics correct. I have not seen it proven that Obama is a so-called trojan horse. Nice turn, though, especially the part where you appeal to decency. How objective of you. Of course, what you're trafficking in is, as you know quite well, an anecdote.
So congratulations on demonstrating via anecdote that Barack Obama is not in fact a perfect inspirational and articulate thinker in every living and breathing instance. Well done. I'm sure all the folks who previously believed this are just crestfallen. Say it aint so, Joe! :-)
As for the rest of us, the upcoming november festivus will involve choosing the candidate whose policy direction, political approach, and personal energy seems most appealing and sensible. I haven't made up my mind yet, and continue to think both Obama and McCain are quite appealing options compared to what has been offered in the previous elections I've experienced in my adult lifetime.
_________
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
Well, speaking as a
I attack him when he fails his own standards, that's true. But that's not because I'm irrationally holding him to a higher standard than most politicians, it's because I'm holding him to the standard he sets for himself. I'm taking him at his word that he is not the same as an average pol. He sells himself as a new kind of politics, as a post-partisan uniter, and one of the consequences of that is that there are things he can do that attract utter contempt and scorn that would not even make it onto the radar for most politicians. A politician doing normal politician stuff is par for the course; a politician who bases his appeal on being better than par for the course who is caught doing normal politician stuff opens has left themselves wide open to criticism.
musta missed
[stifling guffaw] Oh, right! I musta missed the part where Obama said he was NOT in fact a politician. As well as the part where he said he would do no political things, undertake no actions for any reasons which could conceivably be politically motivated, and so on and so on and so on.
All people behave in ways that can be conceived of as political. That makes Obama human. Your argument relies on the conception of Obama as a godlike person promising a true and giant difference of KIND. That's he's an unpolitician. That's not realistic. He is, as we know, a politician in fact, practicing politics of some sort. That's a given. f you had, as you say, any decency, you'd concede this. but you won't. You'll keep trying to unmarket him as deserving of being held to a singular standard, based on your spin of what that standard allegedly is.
Given that sane folks all know that he is in fact a politician, he can only possibly represent a difference in degree, that of a politician who is not identical to all others, but one who claims to differ in some ways. I'll continue to evaluate him on that much more reasonable basis. You say he's no different. I don't believe that has been established. Were you to instead say that some things suggest that he's not all that different, I wouldn't find anything to crab about.
But you can't resist overselling. ;-)
_________
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
Oh, right! I musta missed
You didn't miss the part where he proclaimed his raison d'etre to be politics as normal, and by implication, himself above it. As to things showing he's no different to other politicians, we've posted an awful lot of that over the last year and a half.
bad logic
What part of the logic have you missed here? You haven't posted anything showing he's "no different." You've posted anecdotal items pointing out ways in which he closely resembles other politicans.
For someone to be "no different," that means they have to be in fact identical. If you are "no different," that means you are the same in all respects. That's your oversell. You have shown SOME instances in which he appears for all intents and purposes to be like other politicans. Which, as I have repeatedly and successfully clobbered you with, should be unsurprising to all the sane folk.
Maybe you have taken it to be your mission to talk the Obama true believers out of their trees. If so, I must question YOUR sanity, or at least label your quest quixotic. Now, what percent of Obama's supporters are glassy-eyed true believers, I can't say. Obviously they are in the front row, and more interesting to cover, much easier to make fun of, and WAY more likely to be the focus of the attention of Obama's opponents than his rational supporters.
I continue to believe that the overwhelming majority of Americans will not choose their next President because they have opted in to an unreasonable cult of personality. If Obama wins, that will certainly be the GOP claim. However, as Reagan showed, that's usually more of a 2nd term phenomenon.
__________
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
A Trojan Horse? Well, it is
A Trojan Horse? Well, it is somewhat of a reasonable speculation when considering a Hollow Man.