THURSDAY,  FEBRUARY 21,  2008

Teflon

Ronald Reagan was sometimes called the Teflon president.  No matter how much criticism he received, some said, he was able to wash it away quickly.  Nothing stuck.  Well, that's not entirely true.  Reagan went through the usual cycles of popularity, and, for a few moments in 1984, after a debate with Walter Mondale, it looked as if he could lose re-election.  He didn't.

Now we have a Teflon candidate in Barack Obama.  No matter what criticism is directed at him, and it isn't much, and no matter how many questions are asked - not much there either - he keeps rising in the polls.  His campaign is being called a movement.  The word campaign, some say, doesn't quite describe it.

But a campaign cannot be a movement, not legitimately.  It might grow out of a movement, of course.  Reagan's campaign grew directly from the rise of the conservative movement in America, which started in the 1950s.  But Reagan never described his campaign for president in 1980 as a movement.  He ran a traditional, within-the-party campaign.  He became popular, but never developed the cult of personality that we see with Obama. 

I've described the Obama campaign as frightening.  It becomes more frightening by the day.  While Reagan's speeches were filled with substance, Obama's continue running on empty.  While Reagan sat firmly on the shoulders of men and women who had made American history, Obama seems messianic.  Forget everything that happened before, I'm here now.  I, Obama.  While Reagan had programs in place that he launched from his first minutes in office, Obama has only vague ideas, and appeals to hope.  While no one doubted that Reagan would "protect and defend" the United States, some wonder whether Obama really believes in that concept at all.  While Reagan spoke of America as the shining city on the hill, based on great ideas and great documents, Obama seems a remake of an old Coke commercial - "I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony..."

Of course, Obama doesn't tell us what might happen if the world doesn't go along with the tune. 

Ohio and Texas vote in the Democratic primaries a week from Tuesday.  Will this runaway train be stopped long enough for us to take a breath, reconsider, and realize that we're talking about the presidency?  On that question might rest the future of this country.  But compared to the importance of TV ratings, hype, and "excitement," that seems a very minor issue indeed.

Warning lights

As proof of the above, The Politico runs a piece on the Obama obsession.  Of course, the wise and deep comments of Hollywood are included.  They tell the story:

His charms seem tough to resist, even for some of Hollywood’s biggest names.

"He walks into a room and you want to follow him somewhere, anywhere," George Clooney told talk show host Charlie Rose.

"I'll do whatever he says to do," actress Halle Berry said to the Philadelphia Daily News. "I'll collect paper cups off the ground to make his pathway clear."

Welcome to the cult of Barack Obama.

Seriously, did you read that?  "I'll collect paper cups off the ground to make his pathway clear."  Please remember that when someone tries to discuss the finer points of foreign policy, or the dangers of the Iranian nuclear program.

Details, why bother?

When people are ready to clean the floors for you, why bother with details?  Scott Johnson, at Power Line, calls our attention to a Mike Allen column reporting the following:

Showing a new aggressiveness and focus on Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) as the likely Republican nominee, the Obama campaign held a conference call with foreign policy adviser Susan Rice to “respond to Sen. McCain’s foreign policy attacks on Barack Obama.”

Rice called the argument that Obama lacked experience "specious."

"He's shown the judgment that's necessary, and that's what we need," Rice said.

Specious?  Why is it specious?  No details.

Judgment?  Where is the judgment?  No details.

I guess she means Obama's "judgment," rendered when he was in the Illinois state legislature, and had no actual information, that going into Iraq would be wrong.  That's not judgment.  That's guesswork.  Judgment is when you say you'll sit down with the world's dictators, without preconditions.  Judgment is when you announce you'll have an international conference with Muslim nations so they can give us their complaints, allowing them a field day in the press.  Judgment is when you select Zbig Brzezinski, a failed national-security adviser, and Samantha Power, who calls herself "the genocide chick," for your foreign-policy team.  That's judgment, and it ain't very good.

Hanson, again

I never tire of quoting Victor Davis Hanson, one of the fine writers and historians of our age.   Here, Hanson continues his theme, which we reported on yesterday, that the Obamas practice a kind of Ivy League populism. The quote:

The rhetoric of Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton about the sad state of America is reminiscent of the suspect populism of John Edwards, the millionaire lawyer who recently dropped out of the Democratic presidential race.

Barack Obama may have gone to exclusive private schools. He and his wife may both be lawyers who between them have earned four expensive Ivy League degrees. They may make about a million dollars a year, live in an expensive home and send their kids to prep school. But they are still apparently first-hand witnesses to how the American dream has gone sour. Two other Ivy League lawyers, Hillary and Bill, are multimillionaires who have found America to be a land of riches beyond most people's imaginations. But Hillary also talks of the tragic lost dream of America.

In these gloom-and-doom narratives by the well off, we less fortunate Americans are doing almost everything right, but still are not living as well as we deserve to be. And the common culprit is a government that is not doing enough good for us, and corporations that do too much bad to us.

And...

Likewise, students are failing to graduate from college because there are too few government-guaranteed student loans. We don't hear that thousands enter public universities without basic reading and mathematical skills - or that their college problems might in part be the fault of their own misplaced priorities in high school, and in part the fault of an educational system that is mostly therapeutic, offering fluffy courses and self-esteem training rather than rigorous math, science, literature and history classes. Nor is there ever mention of teachers' unions, the system of tenure, or a vapid, politically correct curriculum, as explanations why our students are not competitive in the global marketplace.

Well worth reading.

They shall return

Saturday Night Live is returning, following the writers strike.  The report is here.  The New York Times story ends with a quote from Lorne Michaels, the show's guiding light:

“We’re going to have to do Obama this week,” Mr. Michaels said. “We need to find our Obama.”

That's a statement for a nation.  We need to find our Obama.  Fast.  Very fast.  Before it's too late.

Preview of coming distractions.

The New York Times gives us a preview of how John McCain will be treated in the upcoming campaign.  It resurrects old rumors and unproved stories about a possible affair McCain had with a lobbyist, and suggests that favors were rendered in return.  I'm glad this is coming out now, so it can be forgotten.  There isn't much there.  And I'm glad the McCain campaign struck back at The Times with great vigor:

"It is a shame that the New York Times has lowered its standards to engage in a hit and run smear campaign," said communications director Jill Hazelbaker, in a prepared statement sent about an hour after the Times posted their story online. "John McCain has a 24-year record of serving our country with honor and integrity. He has never violated the public trust, never done favors for special interests or lobbyists, and he will not allow a smear campaign to distract from the issues at stake in this election.

"Americans are sick and tired of this kind of gutter politics, and there is nothing in this story to suggest that John McCain has ever violated the principles that have guided his career."

This campaign will be a great test of whether the mainstream press can free itself of its liberal bias and report the news, which will have to include some real digging into the life of Barack Obama.  This early example isn't encouraging, but we'll be fair and give the scribes a chance for redemption.  It's change we'd like to believe in.

Direct hit

The United States Navy has shot down that defective satellite that was about to hit the Earth.  A missile fired from the USS Lake Erie did the job.  Lake Erie has been used as a test ship in our anti-missile missile development program.

This is great news, and an advance in missile technology that will make our country safer.  Of course, the Washington Post story includes a note about our outrageous insensitivity.  I am ashamed for my country, ashamed, ashamed:

Before last night's intercept, some experts had expressed doubts about the seriousness of the risk and questioned whether the shot was an excuse to perform an anti-satellite test that many people around the world found controversial. Skeptics in the arms-control community have speculated that the administration chose to undertake the shoot-down partly to test missile defense technology.

Impeach Bush!  Impeach Cheney!  Impeach the Bush kids!  Impeach the Navy!

Mr. Obama has not yet commented.  But you can be sure that, if he's elected, this missile program will be one of the first things to go.

A real homelessness problem

Remember the Danish cartoons that sparked Muslim riots around the world?  Remember the cartoonist?  Well, he's a casualty of his own work.  He's homeless.  The report is here.  Does anyone care?

Two years ago Kurt Westergaard was in his Copenhagen home drawing pictures. One of them was of the Muslim prophet, Muhammad. Now Westergaard is homeless.

Draw a picture offensive to Muslim extremists, and you might find yourself without a roof. Ask Kurt Westergaard, one of the twelve Danish cartoonists whose autumn 2005 Muhammad caricatures lead to violent protests throughout the Muslim world. He was booted from his police-protected hotel room on Feb. 15 for being "too much of a security risk." And now the 73-year-old cartoonist and his wife are without a place to live.

Freedom of the press anyone?  Comment from The Times?  From Christiane Amanpour?  Anyone?  Anyone?

I'll be on the lookout, and will be back later.

Posted on February 21, 2008.