So now we see Barack Obama’s true colors. The federal campaign finance system has many faults, admittedly. It needs revision. And a sitting US Senator would have had a decent chance to fix it. But instead of doing so during his time in the Senate, Senator Obama decided to build a killer fundraising application for his presidential bid. And once he had proof that it worked, he decided to trash the previous reforms with the excuse that they have their problems. Ah yes, the truest of true Chicago politicians. The guy who revives the old patronage situation and calls it “real reform”. The guy who asks us to throw away the system and put our trust in him instead. Ah yes, the classic urban politician, with an “I am the law” mantra. Something like that also happened in Germany during the 1930s. OK, that’s extreme, but I am getting worried about the demagogue effect that Obama is having on a large chunk of the American populace. The guy is starting to scare me.
Really. I’m not kidding. There’s something about Barack Obama that reminds me of some cheezy science fiction story, the one where the aliens manage to create various copies of the perfect human leader (one for each powerful nation; i.e., an American version, a Russian version, a Chinese version, etc.). Then they sneak their guys down here to earth and bide their time while their humanoid agents rise in power and gain the trust of the unsuspecting human race. When the time is finally right, the big saucers show up in the sky and announce the formation of a ‘new world order’ (i.e., we’re taking over your planet). And their judas goat leaders on earth urge the people of the world to stay calm and cooperate, saying that it will be good for everyone. Yea, I definitely could not picture Barack Obama leading the revolt in Independence Day!
So don’t blame me if Obama is elected and we find out that he isn’t such a do-gooder after all. I’m not voting for him.
Now as to McCain and his flip-flop regarding domestic drilling in environmentally sensitive areas: Let me make it clear that I won’t vote for John McCain either. McCain is definitely pandering to the GOP powers-that-be, after a career where he gained fame for thumbing his nose at them. Perhaps McCain is as much as a phony as Barack Obama has turned out to be.
As to the actual idea of drilling offshore and in northern Alaska: it might make some sense, but only as part of a compromise. (A compromise which neither Obama nor McCain would seem to appreciate). Offshore and northern Alaska oil is perhaps the United States’ last significant untapped oil resource. If exploited, they wouldn’t nearly satisfy our need for oil, but they might make things a bit better for our economy for a decade. They might lower domestic energy prices by 5 or 10% over that period. But after those fields dry up (as has happened to Great Britain about 20 years with the big North Sea oil find from the late 1970s), we’re back in the same bind that we are now in — or worse. The USA has an awful track record in terms of energy foresight. So I have no doubt that if McCain were to allow an oil drilling free-for-all and gasoline prices started coming down over time, we’d go back to the same wasteful ways for another decade, with big houses and big cars, etc.
So if we are going to use our last untapped oil reserves, it would seem to me that a lot of conditions should be placed on the whole enterprise. First off, extreme caution and oversight regarding environmental despoliation is necessary. I realize that oil drilling technology has advanced since the bans on off-shore and Alaskan drilling were imposed back in the 1980s, and the specter of big oil spills is a good bit less likely now. Second off, the public would have to realize that we are NOT going back to the days of cheap gasoline again. One good way of doing that would be to set a federal taxation plan such that the prices of oil products would not go down, even if increased supplies would otherwise cause that. The increased taxation revenues could be put to good use, perhaps to pay for the various wars that we are now involved in and also pay down some of the federal debt. If anything is left over, it could be used to fix our crumbling roadways, railroads, bridges, schools, etc., and to increase energy conservation and alternate energy research.
I was around back in the energy crisis of the mid-1970s and in the early 1980s. Commentators were saying that by the turn of the century, perhaps new technology would allow our economy freedom from petroleum dependence. Well, here we are, almost 10 years into the new century, and the end of our petroleum dependency is nowhere in sight. So if we are going to use up our last shots of domestic oil, we’d better do it very smartly and carefully. Otherwise, the SUV era may come back for a few years, but the angst that will result once it ends will make today’s pain at the gas pump seem like a mosquito bite. Too bad that McCain isn’t independent enough to say something like that out loud.
Bottom line: the choices for the 44th President of the US aren’t looking too good right now. Especially considering the huge problems that our nation will face over the next eight years. Blame it on the men themselves or the political system, but no one is able to say AND DO the things that will need to be done if the USA is to maintain its strength and leadership throughout the 21st Century.
Jim,
And I find myself once again taking a tangential approach to your thoughts: Specifically, I wonder just what it is in the collective psyche of the American people that causes the nation as a whole (or so it seems) to make decisions that so-to-say are a version of shooting themselves in the foot.
The American people did it with George Bush–twice–and now with the Obama fascination they seem to have done it again. I too have been sitting back wondering about Obama. For a long time I’ve been saying over and over that he’s a politician who comes from the South Side of Chicago where the motto is “Where’s mine?” But then when he became the presumptive nominee, I tho’t perhaps he’d prove me wrong–or so I hoped. Then the first thing that happens is that he already has trouble with one of the guys on his VP committee. And it’s gone on from there.
What is it about the American psyche lately that seems to produce no REAL leaders? What is it about the American psyche that seems to blow in the breeze, whatever way the prevailing “breeze” of popular thought happens to be? What is it about the American psyche that seems unable to think something through and make truly informed decisions? I cite, specifically: Just about 8 years ago the nation was gung ho about GWB who seemed unable to do anything wrong when HE “flew the fighter plane and landed it” (give me a break!!) and proclaimed “Mission Accomplished.” (I’d like to hear the stories of the guys who were the real pilots on that plane. I wonder are they secretly laughing their heads off at the idea that GWB actually thinks he may have flown and landed that plane?) GWB seemed, then, to be unable to do anything wrong. I remember the almost jingoistic attitude of a great many people at the time. Yet here we are not even a full 8 years later and 1 in 4 people think he’s OK. The American people, who tho’t GWB was so terrific, can’t themselves stand by their guy and have abandoned him. I wonder about that. Don’t people see the incongruity of their fleeting opinions? Shouldn’t that “fleeting-ness” tell them something?
I find myself wondering: Is this American psyche “problem” the result of what seems to be the “sound byte” generation(s)? Is this the result of almost everyone getting their information from the media where everything has to be an answer of two or three words–and that answer is to complex questions?
And I find myself wondering about the “incestuousness” of the media itself. The guys at the NYTimes ask the guys in Washington; the Washington guys ask the NYTimes guys. And then I hear that the Bush administration (by way of Cheney) plants the go-to guys for the reporters to ask for confirmation of stories. Talk about “incestuousness”!! I can’t help but wonder if Hillary would have been a much better choice for the Dems–but the misogynistic attitude that prevailed won over. Again, the American public opinion blowing hither and yon.
Then the Midwest simply repeats everything the East Coast says. Are there any REAL thinkers out there when it comes to the media?
Well, except when it comes to sexual scandals–yet there is no real THINKING then either. Then, for some reason, the media swarms and can’t repeat enough the same thing over and over. And I find myself asking another question: What is it about the American psyche that needs to see over and over again, ad nauseam, the same 10 second loop of this or that latest scandal? Is there anyone at all in the media who can give more than a 10 second story about some CURRENT political question? Recently, I passed on a copy of the latest Newsweek to a person I know well. His comment to me was (and this person is definitely NOT what one would call a “reader”): What happened to “Newsweek”? Reading it is like watching TV–there’s not much more information in it than there is on TV. I had to hand it to him–he hit the nail on the head. (I’ve always known he was very intelligent.) And Newsweek is not going to be renewed.
Comment by MCS — June 21, 2008 @ 12:48 pm
Jim,
And I find myself once again taking a tangential approach to your thoughts: Specifically, I wonder just what it is in the collective psyche of the American people that causes the nation as a whole (or so it seems) to make decisions that so-to-say are a version of shooting themselves in the foot.
The American people did it with George Bush–twice–and now with the Obama fascination they seem to have done it again. I too have been sitting back wondering about Obama. For a long time I’ve been saying over and over that he’s a politician who comes from the South Side of Chicago where the motto is “Where’s mine?” But then when he became the presumptive nominee, I tho’t perhaps he’d prove me wrong–or so I hoped. Then the first thing that happens is that he already has trouble with one of the guys on his VP committee. And it’s gone on from there.
What is it about the American psyche lately that seems to produce no REAL leaders? What is it about the American psyche that seems to blow in the breeze, whatever way the prevailing “breeze” of popular thought happens to be? What is it about the American psyche that seems unable to think something through and make truly informed decisions? I cite, specifically: Just about 8 years ago the nation was gung ho about GWB who seemed unable to do anything wrong when HE “flew the fighter plane and landed it” (give me a break!!) and proclaimed “Mission Accomplished.” (I’d like to hear the stories of the guys who were the real pilots on that plane. I wonder are they secretly laughing their heads off at the idea that GWB actually thinks he may have flown and landed that plane?) GWB seemed, then, to be unable to do anything wrong. I remember the almost jingoistic attitude of a great many people at the time. Yet here we are not even a full 8 years later and 1 in 4 people think he’s OK. The American people, who tho’t GWB was so terrific, can’t themselves stand by their guy and have abandoned him. I wonder about that. Don’t people see the incongruity of their fleeting opinions? Shouldn’t that “fleeting-ness” tell them something?
I find myself wondering: Is this American psyche “problem” the result of what seems to be the “sound byte” generation(s)? Is this the result of almost everyone getting their information from the media where everything has to be an answer of two or three words–and that answer is to complex questions?
And I find myself wondering about the “incestuousness” of the media itself. The guys at the NYTimes ask the guys in Washington; the Washington guys ask the NYTimes guys. And then I hear that the Bush administration (by way of Cheney) plants the go-to guys for the reporters to ask for confirmation of stories. Talk about “incestuousness”!! I can’t help but wonder if Hillary would have been a much better choice for the Dems–but the misogynistic attitude that prevailed won over. Again, the American public opinion blowing hither and yon.
Then the Midwest simply repeats everything the East Coast says. Are there any REAL thinkers out there when it comes to the media?
Well, except when it comes to sexual scandals–yet there is no real THINKING then either. Then, for some reason, the media swarms and can’t repeat enough the same thing over and over. And I find myself asking another question: What is it about the American psyche that needs to see over and over again, ad nauseam, the same 10 second loop of this or that latest scandal? Is there anyone at all in the media who can give more than a 10 second story about some CURRENT political question? Recently, I passed on a copy of the latest Newsweek to a person I know well. His comment to me was (and this person is definitely NOT what one would call a “reader”): What happened to “Newsweek”? Reading it is like watching TV–there’s not much more information in it than there is on TV. I had to hand it to him–he hit the nail on the head. (I’ve always known he was very intelligent.) And Newsweek is not going to be renewed.
And I find myself still asking: Just what is it in the American psyche that produces the type of leaders we have had in the last several decades? It seems when they killed off the Kennedys and MLK, any other American leaders were killed off too. But I find it difficult to believe that idea; rather I think it is the American psyche that is not requiring of its leaders real leadership!
MCS
Comment by MCS — June 21, 2008 @ 12:48 pm
Jim,
And I find myself once again taking a tangential approach to your thoughts: Specifically, I wonder just what it is in the collective psyche of the American people that causes the nation as a whole (or so it seems) to make decisions that so-to-say are a version of shooting themselves in the foot.
The American people did it with George Bush–twice–and now with the Obama fascination they seem to have done it again. I too have been sitting back wondering about Obama. For a long time I’ve been saying over and over that he’s a politician who comes from the South Side of Chicago where the motto is “Where’s mine?” But then when he became the presumptive nominee, I tho’t perhaps he’d prove me wrong–or so I hoped. Then the first thing that happens is that he already has trouble with one of the guys on his VP committee. And it’s gone on from there.
What is it about the American psyche lately that seems to produce no REAL leaders? What is it about the American psyche that seems to blow in the breeze, whatever way the prevailing “breeze” of popular thought happens to be? What is it about the American psyche that seems unable to think something through and make truly informed decisions? I cite, specifically: Just about 8 years ago the nation was gung ho about GWB who seemed unable to do anything wrong when HE “flew the fighter plane and landed it” (give me a break!!) and proclaimed “Mission Accomplished.” (I’d like to hear the stories of the guys who were the real pilots on that plane. I wonder are they secretly laughing their heads off at the idea that GWB actually thinks he may have flown and landed that plane?) GWB seemed, then, to be unable to do anything wrong. I remember the almost jingoistic attitude of a great many people at the time. Yet here we are not even a full 8 years later and 1 in 4 people think he’s OK. The American people, who tho’t GWB was so terrific, can’t themselves stand by their guy and have abandoned him. I wonder about that. Don’t people see the incongruity of their fleeting opinions? Shouldn’t that “fleeting-ness” tell them something?
I find myself wondering: Is this American psyche “problem” the result of what seems to be the “sound byte” generation(s)? Is this the result of almost everyone getting their information from the media where everything has to be an answer of two or three words–and that answer is to complex questions?
And I find myself wondering about the “incestuousness” of the media itself. The guys at the NYTimes ask the guys in Washington; the Washington guys ask the NYTimes guys. And then I hear that the Bush administration (by way of Cheney) plants the go-to guys for the reporters to ask for confirmation of stories. Talk about “incestuousness”!! I can’t help but wonder if Hillary would have been a much better choice for the Dems–but the misogynistic attitude that prevailed won over. Again, the American public opinion blowing hither and yon.
Then the Midwest simply repeats everything the East Coast says. Are there any REAL thinkers out there when it comes to the media?
Well, except when it comes to sexual scandals–yet there is no real THINKING then either. Then, for some reason, the media swarms and can’t repeat enough the same thing over and over. And I find myself asking another question: What is it about the American psyche that needs to see over and over again, ad nauseam, the same 10 second loop of this or that latest scandal? Is there anyone at all in the media who can give more than a 10 second story about some CURRENT political question? Recently, I passed on a copy of the latest Newsweek to a person I know well. His comment to me was (and this person is definitely NOT what one would call a “reader”): What happened to “Newsweek”? Reading it is like watching TV–there’s not much more information in it than there is on TV. I had to hand it to him–he hit the nail on the head. (I’ve always known he was very intelligent.) And Newsweek is not going to be renewed.
Comment by MCS — June 21, 2008 @ 12:48 pm