A bunch of Hollywood types have joined to create a video incorporating words from an Obama speech with some things that resemble music.
There's creativity in this thing. But there's also creepiness. We think Obama is a very able guy. If his voting record in the Senate weren't so at odds with everything that we hold to be true, we'd seriously consider voting for him.
But this is starting to look like a personality cult. There's not a word of substance in this speech, and there's little substance in anything that seems to come from him. Of course, why deal in boring specifics when you can get folks going with positive-thinking mantras like this?
But we'll say that the worst of this is that Herbie Hancock has been reduced to plopping down a few chords in these bland changes and tinkling a couple of ornaments on top near the end.
22 comments:
the cult of personality aspect is really very interesting. since i study russian politics, i find this a relevent topic in regard to putin and how he's represented in the media (just type "putin rules" into google images and see what i mean, also the pictures section of the kremlin website is very telling). on that very same google image search, however, you will see a rival picture of barak (not that i'm comparing him to putin), but an interesting question of how world leaders use a macho image to gain popular support
The first entertainer to appear in the video is will.i.am of Black Eyed Peas fame. He brings such change-oriented anthems as "My Humps" and "Let's Get Retarded."
Stop being a hater Doc. This is why I and many others are going to for the first time in our voting lives particiapte in a primary and vote for Obama. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120209506834139945.html?mod=rss_opinion_main
We will refrain from further hater-statements like "We think Obama is a very able guy."
We also think that Napolitano is a very able person (can't use "guy" in this case). But she's not putting any substance on the "hope and change" bones either.
We hope that a President Obama would not simply recycle the redistributive policies of the Democratic mainstream over the last generation, leaving us with no better social or economic situation nationally and nothing in anyone's pockets but change.
Whenever I see video like this that focuses on the person of a politician rather than the policies, it gives me an eerie feeling that I'm watching German National Socialist propaganda films from the 1930s.
Please be kind to me, Obama supporters. Your guy is not Hitler, OK? But his supporters are starting to remind us of Goebbels.
Senator Obama, please tell us what in the heck you're actually going to do as President, since it seems pretty likely that you'll be President. Please!
Ok Doc - you are not a complete hater! Both you and Jim Shoes are operating on a flawed root assumpiton- that the typical American expects substance from political speeches. Your charges of little substance in speeches can be leveled at any political candidate IMO. You know this is a soundbite generation and Obama is the master of the soundbite. I suspect that he has little substance in his speeches because he has little experience and his policies are not fully developed. But here is what you and Jim Shoes don't seem to want to recognize. I and many others don't really care about that.
Here is some inisght for both you and Jim Shoes. Being a college football fan, I liken my Obama support to the just passed national signing day for football recruits. I get excited because of a recruits potential. I have no clue how some high school phenom is actually going to perform on a college football field. But I do know that he passes the look test. It's the same for me for Obama. I have no clue if he can really deliver on his idealistic view of the world. But I know that I hated both the Clinton and Bush presidencies and the Republicans don't care about those of the darker hue. So I will cast my lot on potential.
PS/SWIND: "Stop being a hater Doc."
SWNID: "We will refrain from further hater-statemtnts like 'We think Obama is a very able guy.'"
PS/SWIND: "Ok Doc - you are not a complete hater! ... "But I ... hated both the Clinton and Bush presidencies ... ."
Me: Who, exactly, is the hater here: SWNID or the guy who can't spell "SWNID" correctly in his own moniker?
And while I'm at it, who's the Bozo who can't spell "statements" correctly?
Ah -- JB using the oldest tactic in the book. When you have nothing to say attack the messenger. Good job for not paying attention to the arguments and talking about stuff that has nothing to do with the conversation. I guess if this was a dissertation I would care about things like correct spelling. But since I am commenting on a blog I could give a rip if I mispell everything, but I digress. BTW I am the biggest hater out there concerning both Bush & Clinton. I am also sure that SWIND took no offense to my playful jab becasue we are having an adult conversation without petty things like looking for spelling errors and calling people names.
PS/SWIND: You should pay closer attention to what other people say. The only person I called a name was myself. (I'm the Bozo who misspelled "statements.")
Obviously you didn't get my point about spelling, since you made the same mistake again. Perhaps I was too subtle. The proper spelling is "S-W-N-I-D," not "S-W-I-N-D." Or do you not "give a rip" about how to read, either?
No I don't give a rip about that either. BTW Dr. Spellcheck do you have anything intelligent to say about the topic?
Only that I'm surprised you're an Obama supporter, since you don't give a rip about reading or writing.
ps/swnid:"the Republicans don't care about those of the darker hue."
This must come as a surprise to the african americans republicans who are in office.
ThHere is a difference between caring for a group of people and exploiting them. The dems do the latter.
Kevnik, are you really telling me that overall the Repulican party cares about minorities in this country? For instance McCain has the audacity to suggest that we work to help illegal immigrants. In his party that puts him behind the 8-ball. That is not their voting base and you know it. How many African American Republicans do you think are in office? There are many reasons that over 90% of blacks vote for and run on the deomcratic ticket and Latinos (sans Bush) are probably going to go the same way.
Like I thought...JB (er. Dr. Spellcheck) has NOTHING of substance to say...so I'll leave you alone.
PS/SWIND: I'm confused. Obama goes for months without saying anything of substance, and you give him unconditional support. I go for only a few sentences, and you write me off.
Um, let's remember the admonitions about personal remarks.
We note in passing that in matters of race we prefer the Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln (Emancipation Proclamation), Teddy Roosevelt (inviting Booker T. Washington to dinner), Dwight Eisenhower (sending the 82nd Airborne into Little Rock to enforce school desegregation), and Everett Dirksen (getting the 1964Voting Rights Act passed in the Senate despite Southern Democrats' fillibustering)to that of Richard Nixon (originator of the so-called "Southern Strategy"), Strom Thurmond, Trent Lott, et al. Call us a "Jack Kemp" Republican, who wants people of color to be extremely welcome in what has become an almost racially homogeneous party.
PS/SWIND:
I don't doubt you have a sound rationale for supporting Obama. However, your inability to express any substantive reason for doing so is troubling and gives credence to recent columnists' (both left and right) theory on the "cult" of the messianic Obama.
I found this one over at First Things especially interesting: http://www.firstthings.com/blog/2008/02/11/is-obama-a-cult/
Some highlights:
". . . And a politician who promises to put an end to politics must be subjected to the most stringent skepticism. What they want to put an end to, of course, is the politics they disagree with, while wrapping their own politics in a rhetoric of consensus and optimism."
". . . he claims to transcend politics, which is merely empty rhetoric, but because, like all liberals, when he says he is transcending left vs. right, he is really being more leftist than ever. He wants to replace arguments over real differences with feelings of good will, and that is the real danger."
Re: Calus
I actually think "Let's Get Retarded" would do well as the Obama campaign theme song.
I gave my reasoning. If you don't think it is substansive we obviously agree to disagree, which is cool. As "jon a" said Republicans are racially homgeneous and they need to reflect their historic past to not remain that way. BTW I really am not a Democrat. I voted Republican the first part of my voting life. But when ALL of the leading Republican candidates do things like snub the Tavis Smiley sponsored debates I am left with no choice but to become an "Obamacan".
No need to be confused. I blew you off because you werr not interacting with the points of the debate. You began by apointing yourself my English teacher. Now that you have let me ask you this: Is Obama the only POTUS candidate in this race that has gone for months without saying anything of substance?
Ah, now that's true bipartisanship, PS/SWNID and JB in CA. Now, let's all join hands and sing "Kum Ba Yah" before the next primary.
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