His middle name is Hussein. His experience in foreign policy is virtually nil, and it shows. Some of his policy statements border on the ridiculous. No man manages to say nothing with such aplomb. And yet, for all his evident weaknesses, Obama has become virtually untouchable. The frustration in Hillary Clinton's camp is palpable as she helplessly concedes front-runner status to the Black Adonis from Illinois.
What's going on here? There are a lot of theories about Obama's success, yet two of the main ones seem to have escaped notice. First, Obama is enjoying African American immunity. This idea that if you are a black person you are above criticism is especially strong among liberal Democrats. These are the people, after all, who invented political correctness. From this point of view, if a black man is reasonably articulate his statements have to be treated as Shakespearean genius. If he seems comparatively decent he must be celebrated as a paragon of humanity. The slightest criticism of such an individual is seen as harsh, carping, unfair. Thus when the Clintons quite reasonably disputed Obama's repeated invocations of Martin Luther King, pointing out that it took presidential action to give policy significance to some of King's ideas, the liberal genuflection camp expressed immediate outrage. How dare Hillary state obvious facts when those facts might tarnish Obama's moral and political halo?
By the way this African American immunity won't completely insulate Obama in the general election. If he gets the nomination the level of scrutiny will certainly increase. Even the lapdogs in the media are going to have to start asking some tough questions. And Republicans aren't terrified of criticizing a political figure just because he happens to be black.
A second factor behind Obama's success is this. A majority of Democratic voters, and even some leading figures in the party, seem to have quietly figured out that Republicans were right all along about the Clintons. For years no Democrat could bring himself to admit this. Democrats were in full partisan mode, defending the Clintons, covering up for their shameful deeds, putting on a straight face while mouthing the Clinton lies in public. But all of this seems to have left an unpalatable taste in the Democratic mouth. Secretly, Democrats know that this is a pair of self-serving opportunists who will do anything, even destroy the Democratic party, in order to have power. David Geffen in his early endorsement of Obama blurted out a widely-held sentiment when he said that while lying may come naturally to politicians, the Clintons have taken prevarication and dissembling to a whole new level.
Disgusted with the Clintons, and fearful of bringing this dysfunctional couple back into the Oval Office, Democrats now have an alternative. Backing Obama not only makes Democrats feel cool, it also makes them feel clean.
As a Republican, I confess I'm enjoying Hillary's political frustration. She can't blame this one on the "vast right wing conspiracy."
Mo Rocca has appeared on a bunch of shows, including 'The Daily Show,' 'I Love the 80s,'...
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How Obama Got His Halo
Posted Feb 26th 2008 8:38AM by Dinesh D'Souza
Filed under: Elections, Democrats, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama
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Reader Comments ( Page 2 of 15)
16. Here, I found it:
Democrat 8 years vs Republican 8 years
or 2000 vs 2008
-------------------------------------------------
GDP growth 4.09%, Bush 2.65%
National Debt 5.7 T, Bush 9.2 Trillion
Surplus 431 B, Bush Deficit 734 Billion
Jobs Created 1.76 Million, Bush 369,000
Poverty 31.6 Million, Bush 36.5 Million
Trade Deficit 380 B, Bush 759 Billion
US Dollar 1.07 Euros, Bush 0.68 Euros
Uninsured reduced by 4.5 Million,
Bush Uninsured increased by 8.5 Million
Yearly Health Premium Cost 6,230 Family,
Bush Health Premium Cost 12,106 Family
Median Household Income 49,163,
Bush Household Income 48,023
Change in Income $6,000 increase,
Bush $1,100 decrease
Number of earmarks in 2000: 6,073,
Number of earmarks in 2005: 15,877
Avg days/year Congress was in session: 162,
Avg days for the Republican Congress: 109
And at the highest percentage since the Great Depression,
mortgages exceed the value of the home underwritten.
Strados at 11:43AM on Feb 26th 2008
17. Here, I found it:
Democrat 8 years vs Republican 8 years
or 2000 vs 2008
-------------------------------------------------
GDP growth 4.09%, Bush 2.65%
National Debt 5.7 T, Bush 9.2 Trillion
Surplus 431 B, Bush Deficit 734 Billion
Jobs Created 1.76 Million, Bush 369,000
Poverty 31.6 Million, Bush 36.5 Million
Trade Deficit 380 B, Bush 759 Billion
US Dollar 1.07 Euros, Bush 0.68 Euros
Uninsured reduced by 4.5 Million,
Bush Uninsured increased by 8.5 Million
Yearly Health Premium Cost 6,230 Family,
Bush Health Premium Cost 12,106 Family
Median Household Income 49,163,
Bush Household Income 48,023
Change in Income $6,000 increase,
Bush $1,100 decrease
Number of earmarks in 2000: 6,073,
Number of earmarks in 2005: 15,877
Avg days/year Congress was in session: 162,
Avg days for the Republican Congress: 109
And at the highest percentage since the Great Depression,
mortgages exceed the value of the home underwritten.
Strados at 11:43AM on Feb 26th 2008
18. Sorry for the double. Stupid AOL
Strados at 11:43AM on Feb 26th 2008
19. PS....can you as a republican learn how to make the title of the article agree with the subject of the article?
Lorelei at 11:48AM on Feb 26th 2008
20. What Dinesh and the vast right wing conspiracy are trying to do is confine Obama to a black political ghetto.
They are subtly trying to play the race card by suggesting that Obama's appeal derives from the fact that he is black and any white person who votes for him is a traitor to their race.
What the vast right wing conspirators can't understand is that people are tired of their kind of politics. They have nothing to offer but fear and divisiveness. Obama's appeal comes not from some supposed black immunity (how ridiculous) but from the fact that he is the only viable candidate who inspires a sense of optimism, change and hope.
randy at 11:49AM on Feb 26th 2008
21. The problem with this country is that you always a bunch of nobody's self righteous enough to think they can dictate the future of the world, based of absolutely nothing. You've got countries like India, and China whose ecomomy and technological advances dwarf anything that Americans are doing. People bury their head in the stand hate his neighbor because his skin is not the same shade.Stupid idiots.I work in the telecommunications field which is the wave of the future. That's the difference between the Stone Age and Nano technology. Keep up the bickering, the hate and whatever you idiots can come up with to divide people,and the country.10 years from now this great country will be a has been. Like the New England Patriots.18-0 till they lost the game that really counts. Wake up you stupid jerks
chuck easy at 12:05PM on Feb 26th 2008
22. I will admit the Democratic candidates are lacking -no fan of Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama has his issues, although there is much that is good about him.
But, let's cut to the chase - if all the GOP is offering up is a 72 year old washed up career politician (McCain), whom many in his own party reject - and a snake oil bible salesman (Huckabee), honestly, do Republicans really have much to brag about here?
David S. at 12:06PM on Feb 26th 2008
23. Other than the "Oprah" factor, why does B/O enjoy so much Afric/Americ immunity? Isn't he as much white as he is black? As for optimism, in what? Hope, in what? Change, to what? We're still waiting for all those answers. No Republican gets away with such vacuous statements, but then, the race had always been tilted in favour of Dem's.
fanmanaf1 at 12:10PM on Feb 26th 2008
24. Personally, I don't think Obama would have such a following if liberals hadn't driven religion out of the party.
First liberals turned to the religion of Global Warming, and now have moved on to the Preacher as he leads them all in a chours of Kumbyah.
Mister feel good is running for president, with the slogan of "Yes we can." Yes we can ... what? Prove that liberals are sheep willing to follow just about anyone, even when they say absoultely nothing?
Clue: Obama wouldn't win the nomination for dogcatcher if he wasn't running against the most polarizing political figure in our history. The Obama glow will fade when he's up against an American hero instead of one of the most hated figures in American politics.
Thomas J Gassett at 12:15PM on Feb 26th 2008
25. I enjoy the fact that you can't actually bring anything of substance against Barack.>>
One must have substance, before you can attack it.
So what if he lacks experience? What the hell has experience gotten us? Look at where we are. We're on the cusp on a recession.>>>>
This is a very dangerous argument. The posters points to current problems and claims they are due to experienced political leaders. The logical end to this arugment is inexperence can't be worse. If we buy into this CRAP we are in for a lot of serious problems ... not solutions.
Mister feel good is the last person we need in these most serious of times.
Thomas J Gassett at 12:25PM on Feb 26th 2008
26. The ultimate conspiracy: a muslim at the White House. Is it possible?
John Porta at 12:27PM on Feb 26th 2008
27. "And Republicans aren't terrified of criticizing a political figure just because he happens to be black."
Two words: Clarence Thomas
Or is it just that the whole "black immunity" thing works fine for Republicans when Antonin Scalia needs a houseboy?
JD at 12:43PM on Feb 26th 2008
28. So, his middle name is "Hussein." What does that imply, DD? Maybe you're itching to add, "and Obama rhymes with Osama??
Get it folks. DD is just another right wing blowhard along the lines of Limbaugh, Hannity and Coulter. Maybe not as crass as those three, but in substance, no different. The theory that Obama is "immune" from criticism because he's black is the same racist canard for which the right wing is deservedly famous. I, for one, have no problem criticizing Clarence Thomas, for example, as the worst Supreme Court justice ever, a dumbf***, a primitive and a sex pervert, the very essence of a "token." A gnat compared to Thurgood Marshall.
Regarding the Clintons, hey, they may be liars and powermongers, but they're "Bush league" compared to the Bushes in those respects (pun fully intended). I don't support Hillary because she's too Republican for me, not because she scares me as a man. (I'm convinced that's why
most Republican men hate her, she makes them feel emasculated. Does she bother you too DD in that way? Does she make you feel like the little boy that you are?) Hillary's votes to authorize the Iraq war and to continue its funding make her no different than McCain, himself a total warmonger. (Give "W" a third term, vote McCain!!)
If Obama becomes the Democratic nominee, I, and I’m sure many other progressives, will stand ready to pressure him to enact our concerns without regard to his skin color (or gender, facts that seem to bother DD greatly).
David at 12:52PM on Feb 26th 2008
29. Peggy Noonan, a former speechwriter for Ronald Reagan and George 41, had a very interesting column in last Saturday's Wall Street Journal.
Obama is a very good speaker, but his speeches are just standard boilerplate. In other words, his content is far less eloquent than his speaking style.
On the other, JFK, with whom Obama is compared, gave speeches that are enjoyable as reading material, as well as to hear them delievered by JFK.
In other words, Obama is not the great thinker that JFK was.
One could even call Obama the anti Gerald Ford. Ford's speaking style was at best, mediocre, and at worst, painful. But his content was thoughtful and interesting reading. One oberver described his address, when he announced that he would pardon Nixon, as Lincolnesque in tone, discussing the need to forgive and move on, just as Lincoln felt that the South needed to be forgiven and the Union reunited.
So, the choice becomes one of a straight talker or a fancy speaker with little depth to his words.
Kent at 1:19PM on Feb 26th 2008
30. Great article!
IRONBLUEEYES at 1:26PM on Feb 26th 2008