Friday, March 27, 2009

Obama's Surge

We refer not to the new plan for Afghanistan, being announced by the Obama as we blog, but to the surge of media appearances by our Wunderkind President this week. For those who are keeping track, these include a press conference that preempted American Idol on Tuesday (featuring no teleprompter but a plasma screen monitor with script and talking points on the back wall), a "virtual town hall meeting" yesterday (heralded by media elites as a sign that the Obama is media savvy, as if streaming video were new and still cool), and the press event already noted, this morning's live announcement of Salvation for Afghanistan.

Too much exposure for the Obama? We say probably. Our hypothesis is that voters don't so much change political ideologies as tire of them and the people who articulate them. Many more weeks like this and the national chorus will sing in unison, "You're So Vain."

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

You didn't mention the recent Leno appearance. I imagine that won't help him much either.

Fiona said...

Giggle, giggle.

Chief Grinder said...

How come I knew you were going to post this LOL....now how do you reconcile this post as a Contrarian Leader believer in which you know opines that the leader needs to be be highly visible during a crisis?

Anonymous said...

I hope none of my non-believer friends ever read this blog. When SWNID writes on faith he sounds smart, like someone you'd want your non-believing friends to know. When he writes on current political events he sounds bitter, petty and Rushlimbaughian in his near glee in anything negative about the President.

Jon A. Alfred E. Michael J. Wile E. SWNID said...

Nobly concerned "anonymous," we celebrate the diversity of political opinion reflected among Christians, express our views with sarcasm that amuses ourself and at least a few others, and expect that rational people can understand the dialogue, not to mention the tone, which you wildly misinterpret as glee (again we wearily refer to the disclaimer at the bottom of the main page).

Any nonbeliever who would be turned off by our politics doesn't need us to be turned off. And then there are the folks who share SWINDish political views but not our faith. Might they react differently?

Jim Shoes said...

Didn't I read a pro-Obama post just a couple of posts ago?

Anon, you're preoccupied with style. SWNID isn't as cool ("sounds smart") as you think, even when he does stuff that you like. And Christian faith isn't so fragile that it needs someone cool to articulate it.

Martin said...

I can sympathize with Anon on a certain level. SWNID has some great things to say on many things and I have oft copied and pasted text from this blog to send to non-believing friends. But I am acquainted with the author and know a little of his sarcasm. Some sarcasm doesn't always come across on this medium the way it should. Sometimes SWNID has said some really important things about faith and I have sent them to friends but I don't want them to miss out the important things he says about faith because they misconstrued his sarcasm in other topics as less than loving-spirited. It is a danger that we sarcastic people have to live with. Not all people are rational on all subjects and many people become insanely irrational when it comes to faith and politics. Not all people read the fine print. Anyway, if Anon believes that SWNID has some good things to say about faith, he/she is free to copy/paste those things and pass them on as I have done in from time to time.

Jon A. Alfred E. Michael J. Wile E. SWNID said...

Anon, with a few days' reflection it occurs to us that the person you need to introduce your friends to, virtually or actually, is not our SWNIDish self but the esteemed Bishop of Durham, Dr. N. T. Wright. Dr. Wright is an exceptionally erudite spokesperson for the orthodox Christian faith who is also exceptionally well-tuned to the mindset of the post-Christian West. We consider ourself to be a mere dog licking up crumbs that fall from his table.

But the clearest advantage to you is that politically, Wright is way off to the left. Somewhere on the web, there's even an audio file of him and his wife singing "Blowin' in the Wind." You can give his stuff to your friends unafraid that he'll say anything remotely offensive to their fragile political views.

Anonymous said...

I love you man.....