I think I'll let the Democrats define themselves more clearly at the convention before I comment on it. But I cannot help but regard Obama's choice of Joe Biden as a blunder. Hillary must be going nuts and thinking: "How many votes did I get and how many votes did this guy get? Is this affirmative action for white males or what?" Leave aside the fact that the choice is unimaginative, uninspired, banal. It seems that Obama is going after the hoi polloi by naming one of their undistinguished number to the ticket. Sure, Joe is a jovial character, but when is the last time he had an idea? To date his best lines have been plagiarized from others. Let's just hope he doesn't begin his convention speech, "Four score and seven years ago..."
Well, it's Obama who's at the top of the ticket and it's Obama we should be focusing on. So far it sounds like Obama is running not for president of the United States but for president of the world. Obama is a globalist, and in his Berlin speech at the Brandenburg Gate Obama decalred himself a "fellow citizen of the world." I guess this means that in conflicts between our world and other worlds, Obama is decidedly on the side of Planet Earth.
Sure, there's more to Obama's argument than his platitudes. Essentially Obama has been arguing that "there is no challenge too great for a world that stands alone." The problem with this is that there are competing ideals and competing interests in the world. China would like to be a regional bully and kick around the little countries that are in its neighborhood. Russia too would like to restore some of its czarist and later Communist hegemony. How exactly does our Chicago community activist propose to change these global realities?
Obama's answer is: through the power of prose. In his stump speeches Obama has been sounding a Robert Frost note, talking a lot about walls. According to Obama, the greatest threat in today's world is not terrorism or nuclear war. Rather, the "greatest danger of all is to allow new walls to divide us from one another." According to Obama, the walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic, or between natives and immigrants, or between races and religions, "cannot stand."
"Something there is that doesn't love a wall," Frost wrote, and certainly we can all share the feeling. Perhaps the best example of an unloved wall is the Berlin Wall, which came down thanks to the efforts of people like Reagan, Thatcher, the Pope, Havel, Walesa and Solzhenitsyn. Yet Frost's poem ends with these striking lines: "Good fences make good neighbors." Frost's point is that the sentimental resistance to walls must be modified by the recognition of the utility and even indispensability of walls. I'm quite sure the Obamas understand the principle quite well: they would not be happy if their neighbors' kids crossed into their yard and treated it as their own. Good fences make good neighbors.
So when should walls be taken down? Consider a contemporary example. It's possible that the wall the Israelis are building is saving Israeli lives and protecing that nation's security. It's also possible that the wall is unncessary, and that it's fueling further Palestinian grievance. My point is that the correct position is going to derive from a careful analysis of the situation on the ground. Vague and lofty talk about the badness of walls isn't going to help. Yet that is precisely the level of analysis that we are getting from Barack Obama. Now will the press stop genuflecting before this man and do him--and our democracy--the dignity of critically examining his views?
Reader Comments ( Page 3 of 17)
31. Dinesh is trying to use a new variation on the new right's talking points, but on even cursory logical analysis his argument fails.
Cheney wasn't picked for VP based on the number of votes he got in primaries, was he, Dinesh? Even McCain will be hard pressed to criticize Biden's foreign policy creds.
This is a complex world with complex, often interrelated risks that seem to become more ominous every year. In contrast to Bush-McCain, who want the world (and evil) to be simple, and who seem to think that loudmouthed bluster works even when you haven't a spare soldier to mobilize anywhere, Obama-Biden and the Democrats know that war really is a last resort, and being strong at home means more than handing over your laptop at the airport.
Elder Berry at 2:36PM on Aug 26th 2008
32. one could reasonably be expected to see the figurative nature of walls, and how it's a positive message for us to not need them.
double-dope
America's Most Gangsta at 12:35PM on Aug 26th 2008
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Of course it's a positive message! That's why the right is jumping on it, to try to make it seem less positive. After all, they can't have their opponent talking about good and positive things, can they? Too bad it's so obvious this time. It really makes them look petty and small.
Saint Brian the Godless at 12:42PM on Aug 26th 2008
33. AMG,
Is it only a dream that there'll be no more turning away. All in all you're just another...
Mokele Mbembe at 1:42PM on Aug 26th 2008
34. 31. Its funny that DD is commenting on actual walls. I dont think Obama was referring to outlawing all walls. "Any walls that we find will be shot on sight"
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It is funny, cackodemon. (Are you the former captain that self-promoted to Major?) You are aware that the prefix "caco" before the greek "demonioi" means "evil" or "bad" aren't you? :-) Ad in "evil spirit."
It is funny, but it is also intentional. How else to make something that is practically universally considered a good thing, somehow sound like a bad thing? You have to change it's meaning to defeat it, since it's meaning is practically saintly in it's simplicity and inherent goodness. And I know saintly when I see it!
Saint Brian the Godless at 1:45PM on Aug 26th 2008
35. Moke, I *feel* one of my turns coming on....
Cold as a razor blade, tight as a tournequet....
Run to the bedroom, in the suitcase on the left you'll find my favorite axe. Don't look so frightened, this is just a passing phase; one of my *bad days...*
Saint Brian the Godless at 1:54PM on Aug 26th 2008
36. This entore DD blog is based on misdirection and intentional dishonesty. AS IF Obama were talking about physical walls! I mean, c'mon! It's so transparent what DD is attempting to do here, and frankly it's an insult to any person's intelligence. Even a hypochrist's.
Saint Brian the Godless at 2:00PM on Aug 26th 2008
37. Let's review terminology here...
Christian: A good, honest person that follows the words and actions of Christ, as in loving all others. Note the capital "C"
christian: See hypochrist. When I refer to someone like Botts or Lloyd the Lurker I *always* use the capital "C." So when I merely say "christian" I refer to the more common variety, those of the hypochrist stripe.
Hypochrist: A self-styled christian that acts contrary to how Christ would have acted. Sometimes even diametrically opposed to how Christ would have acted.
Christain or christ-stain: A self-styled christian that acts not only contrary or opposite to how Christ would have acted, but is particularly obnoxious and evil and dishonest about it, even using profanity and hate speech to make their point. A blemish on the very memory of Christ.
Satan's Advocate: I had to coin this term for those that seem to not even hold beliefs but merely like to argue for the existence of the deity using arcane logical terminology and convoluted reasoning. The "apologists." These are intelligent people, but heartless and with no moral compass. They simply realize that the theistic side can be argued for sucessfully if you're devious enough, and that you can make money that way since most christians can't use logic themselves, hence there is a shortage of effective apologists. Of course, DD and renzo fit nicely into this box.
Any suggestions for more? I'm open.
Saint Brian the Godless at 2:20PM on Aug 26th 2008
38. Better watch out...
There may be dogs about.....
America's Most Gangsta at 2:24PM on Aug 26th 2008
39. You mean the Dominicans?
(domini canis = dog of God)
Saint Brian the Godless at 2:30PM on Aug 26th 2008
40. Oil, in the ground.
Just look at the problems Iraq and Georgia found.
Oil, it's a crime;
Send your money to bush and cheney,
You can eat another time.
Oil, it's a hit;
Don't give me that freedom and democracy bullshit.
No-bid contracts
Four-star generals
Think I need another war.
Oil, so they say.
Needs to be drilled for off the coast to-day.
But if you ask why the rise?
It's no surprise
That Exxon made 12 billion to-day.
America's Most Gangsta at 2:33PM on Aug 26th 2008
41. Pink is rolling in his grave...
Saint Brian the Godless at 2:37PM on Aug 26th 2008
42. (I always think of Roger Waters as "Pink" from the lyric "The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think/oh by the way, which one's Pink?")
Saint Brian the Godless at 2:40PM on Aug 26th 2008
43. Douche.
You can slam Obama, the Dems and liberals in general all you want, but nothing you say will change the fact that the absolute worst American president in history by far was a low down, stinking, conservative, Republican and self titled born again Christian with the IQ of a pile of tepid excrement.
So get on your knees and suck on that.
Uncle Meat at 2:53PM on Aug 26th 2008
44. This is the same level of oratory as "General Betray-Us" which was so cool because it rhymed. But like the walls stuff it really doesn't stand up to even the most cursory examination.
xx
If you had actually given it a cursory examination instead of doing what you were told, you'd see that historically, every time a member of the military brevetted himself to the executive level he was relieved of command.
This was true of MacArthur and even Smedley Butler who saved America by doing what he did.
Save the heavy lifting for liberals. You are what they rebelled against to form a nation and what they defeated in WW's I and II. If you're a ditto head, you lose any privilege of respect. If we heard it from rush first, there's no need to weigh in - just say dittoes rush and go back to whatever keeps you from committing suicide.
Clif Kuplen at 2:57PM on Aug 26th 2008
45. nothing you say will change the fact that the absolute worst American president in history by far was a low down, stinking, conservative, Republican and self titled born again Christian with the IQ of a pile of tepid excrement.
xxx
there's a worse one waiting in the wings. Vote for mccain and get bush and busher in your face for another term.
Clif Kuplen at 3:03PM on Aug 26th 2008