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First, let me be the first to say that I'm not the brightest bulb on the block (but I can mix a metaphor....right? Right?) but I have read George F. Will's essay in the latest issue of Newsweek no less than four times and I still can't figure out what the hell he's trying to say.... except that he thinks Barack Obama is a boastful snob.
He seems to take issue with Obama's statement that he (Obama, not Will) is "America's first Pacific President." calling it "an exercise in rhetorical grandiosity." He then goes on to admit that Obama did live in the Pacific for 14 years but that two Presidents lived on the Pacific and many others had really important things happen to them ....wait for it..... in the Pacific. So, basically, he's trying to say that Obama shouldn't get to claim the Pacific for himself.
I think.
He ends by saying that Obama spent seven days in Asia recently and that was what earned him the (self-proclaimed) title of the First Pacific President and "Such rhetorical inflation devalues the currency of words with which we think."
May I be the first to say WTF?
If Obama were the first politician to be guilty of rhetorical inflation then George F. Will would have something to complain about. Rhetorical inflation is practically a job requirement. If Obama wants to say he's the first Pacific President instead of the first President from Hawaii what the hell does it really matter?
By pointing his finger at this, the nerdy, pouty kid in the corner trying to show off his knowledge of history and his big vocabulary looks like a big baby and renders his essay .... in his own words....exquisitely meaningless.
It’s probably my fault for turning on the Presidential debate and expecting to see the candidates actually answer the questions asked and discuss their plans for running the country, but I feel so let down today. It took McCain only 8 minutes to ditch the questions and start attacking Obama – off-topic. How is that supposed to prove you are Presidential? All it proved to me is that he is a cranky old guy who can’t let it go (much like grandpa when you change the channel but change it back when he insists he wasn’t sleeping and then he keeps bringing up how you changed the channel ALL freakin’ afternoon).
And since I’m getting picky, what was with the lurching around and the windmill arms? It’s like his body had absolutely no idea what he was saying and was either A) performing some kind of obscure I-wanna-be-President dance or B) trying to escape. And he kept getting closer and closer to the audience when he talked to them (while not answering their questions) and at one point I swear he was going to climb up into the seats and sit on that woman’s lap. She looked positively frightened.
And when asked who he would appoint Treasury Secretary McCain “joked” (because I can’t use the word in this context without air quotes – it was nothing like a joke) “Not you, Tom.” Oh, ha ha ha. Like anyone thought Tom Brokaw wanted to be or was qualified to be or would ever be considered to be Treasury Secretary. Where, exactly, is the joke there, John? Or do you need to learn the rules of comedy as well as the rules of debate? One rule they have in common – STAY ON TOPIC!
Now we can truly see which voters Sarah Palin and the McCain campaign are going after. People too naive (I held myself back from saying “stupid” but only with tremendous effort) to understand that serving on a board with someone who has radical views (and practiced these views when you were a CHILD) and denouncing said radical views WHILE serving on the board does not constitute “palling around with terrorists.” (And what kind of message is that sending to her children? "No, Piper, you may not call someone fat, even if they weigh 400 pounds, but it's ok to insinuate that someone is a terrorist if you are Running for Office.")
Palin told supporters that Obama does not “…see America as you and I see America.” So I guess she sees America as a place where one should only serve on boards with or sit on the PTA with or go to church with or run for office with people who believe EXACTLY the same way, talk EXACTLY the same way, and have NO difference of opinion.
Too bad McCain didn’t think of that before he chose her.
I admit to being tempted myself. For some reason the signs that say “Another Family for McCain” really irritate me and I have to fight the urge to scribble “There goes the neighborhood” (I guess you know where my feelings lie) on the bottom of the sign. And, really, is the WHOLE family for McCain? Did they take a poll? What about the dog?
A friend told me that she woke up one morning last week to find that the Obama sign in her front yard had been changed to read Nobama. What is the point of this? I could understand if he was running against a guy named Nobama, then it would make sense to switch over one guy’s sign to really stand for the other. But did the Midnight Defacer hope that by changing the sign he would cause someone to drive by and think “Obama. No, wait! That sign says NObama! Well, I’m going to CHANGE MY VOTE!”Yesterday I saw a handmade sign that read “Sign stealers. Every time you steal one of my McCain signs I will put up two in its place” which I thought was hysterical. I could see it escalating into some cartoonish tug-o-war with signs missing every morning and the yard doubling its sign population by nightfall. Though I think it would have been funnier NOT to warn the sign stealer and just DO what the sign threatened so when the sign stealer drives by the house the next morning he says “WTF! I stole that sign last night! And now it’s back and it had a baby!”
In the sign-stealer’s defense, the house IS near an elementary school with impressionable young children.
I guess I don’t get the purpose of the yard signs at all. Our country has a private ballot so we don’t HAVE to let anyone else know who we intend to vote for. If you put a sign in your yard aren’t you – in essence – saying “I’ve got enough pull in this neighborhood to make my neighbors change their vote!”? “Honey, quick, look! The Jones’ are voting for McCain! Now WE’LL have to vote for McCain or we won’t be able to show our faces at the next neighborhood barbecue.”
And you know how good Mrs. Jones’ potato salad is; wouldn’t want to miss that.
I don’t know about the other states but it feels like McCain and Obama have moved here to Michigan. Every time you open a newspaper you read about a visit from one of the Presidential contenders. They’ve each appeared in our state twice a month since May and Obama is expected back tomorrow.
Is Michigan the hot cheerleader state that everyone wants to date?
No, Michigan is the homely, orphan, blue-collar girl in a teen movie starring Freddie Prinze Jr., and she disdains the snobby rich boys who have nothing better to do but bet on who can make her fall in love with them first. Then, of course, he will dump her. Along the way she gets a makeover and I’m just hoping that when the election is over that Michigan gets to keep the lip gloss and new hairstyle that either Obama or McCain have supplied. Because we could really use it.
Of course now we have another character – the popular prom queen who conspires with one of the rich boys to make the homely duckling into a beautiful swan, laughing behind her back the entire time.
Just put your big glasses back on, Michigan, and give the prom queen back the miniskirt she loaned you. You may have better “natural resources” but she is part of the in crowd and no matter how much they might make you think you are in on the joke, the joke is still on you. And when November is over and they don’t need you anymore they won’t even acknowledge you when you pass by in the hall.
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