The Times Hearts Obama (No, Really! Now, Let Me Tell You Where The Sun Rose Today)

The NY Times opens a new line of adoration with a front-pager about Obama's security situation.  Allow me to summarize - since Obama is John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King rolled into one, he needs to be protected from hate-filled righties.  However, "Renegade" (that's his cool Secret Service name) is far too brave to be personally concerned about his safety, and shows a nice common touch (as well as cool urban authenticity, i.e., street cred) by playing basketball with his Secret Service detail.

Gahhh!  The prospect of four years of this sort of press coverage is the best case for a Hillary comeback.  Whatev.  At about paragraph four hundred the Times delivers its "To Be Sure" caveat:

Gerald Posner, author of books on the assassinations of President Kennedy and Dr. King, said he did not believe that Mr. Obama was under a significantly higher risk than President Bush or Mrs. Clinton. The fears are more openly discussed, he said, because he is the first black candidate to come this close to winning a major party’s presidential nomination.

“Barack scares those of us who think of the possibility of an assassination in a different way,” Mr. Posner said. “He represents so much hope and change. That is exactly what was taken away from us in the 1960s.”

Neither W nor Hillarity represent either hope or change so the prospect of their being wacked is, I infer, less troubling.  Or at least, less newsworthy.

ERRATA:  George Bush is "Tumbler", picked up when he was 34 and Dad was the new VP.  Hillary is "Evergreen"; I smell a Streisand connection.  And since they like to be alliterative with family members, Chelsea was "Energy" when she was a much younger lass.  Reagan was "Rawhide".  More here.

OBVIOUSLY:   Presumably the Times story was sparked by the story from Dallas flagged all weekend by Drudge, but they have chosen not to mention the obvious and are instead presenting a loftier theme.

DALLAS -- Security details at Barack Obama's rally Wednesday stopped screening people for weapons at the front gates more than an hour before the Democratic presidential candidate took the stage at Reunion Arena.

The order to put down the metal detectors and stop checking purses and laptop bags came as a surprise to several Dallas police officers who said they believed it was a lapse in security.

Dallas Deputy Police Chief T.W. Lawrence, head of the Police Department's homeland security and special operations divisions, said the order -- apparently made by the U.S. Secret Service -- was meant to speed up the long lines outside and fill the arena's vacant seats before Obama came on.

"Sure," said Lawrence, when asked if he was concerned by the great number of people who had gotten into the building without being checked. But, he added, the turnout of more than 17,000 people seemed to be a "friendly crowd."

GUNS AND BOMBS:  The Times story (and the Secret Service approach) seems to be oriented towards a 60's era lone gunman threat, rather than a more contemporary bomber or suicide bomber.  Does that make sense?  I would guess that Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia would prefer to kill McCain and his 100 year commitment, rather than Obama with his early exit.  (Al Qaeda in Waziristan is harder to gauge since Obama wants to boast about attacking inside of Pakistan with or without the permission of the Pakistani government while McCain thinks that we ought to pipe down, at a minimum.)

Comments

[anduril]

The WaPo does, too, sorta, as Ed Whelan notes:

In its lead editorial today, the Washington Post editorial board, after observing that the National Journal ranked Barack Obama the most liberal senator in 2007, struggles to persuade itself that Obama might be something other than “a standard liberal clad in the soothing language of inclusiveness”. The first piece of supposed evidence it offers for Obama’s possible centrism is that he “not only declined to filibuster Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.; he was initially inclined to vote for him, according to [a Post reporter].” Pardon me for puncturing the Post’s audacious hope, but it’s grasping at straws. Especially in light of the fact that there has never been a partisan filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee (see point 1 here), it’s peculiar that the Post would posit that not filibustering the nomination of one of the most qualified Supreme Court nominees ever might be some evidence of moderation. In any event, no senator voted to filibuster the Roberts nomination, for the simple reason that there was no cloture vote on that nomination. Whatever Obama’s supposed initial inclinations, the relevant facts are that he voted against Roberts’s nomination, that he voted to filibuster the Alito nomination, and that he voted against the Alito nomination. No senator was to Obama’s left, and in all these actions he went against the Post’s editorial recommendations. It’s passing strange, and particularly telling, that the Post would find in Obama’s approach to the Roberts nomination the strongest evidence of Obama’s possible centrism.

[Great Banana]

I've always wondered what the point of having a code name is if you tell everyone what the code name is? I mean, if you aren't using the "code name" to try and hide what you are talking about, what is the point, other than to try and be cool?

[Paul Zrimsek]

Renegade vs. Maverick! Who will get to be Top Gun, assuming he doesn't get shot down first?

Only time will tell whether Obama represents as much hope and change as Gerald Ford.

[Rick Ballard]

GB,

"Renegade" is the public code name - the real code name is known only to the SS detail. It's a good thing, too. Can you imagine the reaction if "Jugears" became public knowledge?

Oops.

[Ranger]

Andrul,

Another interesting thing about Obama the "uniter" is that when he voted with those trying to filibuster Alito he said (captured on tape) "It's a stupid vote, but I'm going to do it in the name of party unity." One is left wondering what other self admitedly studpid things Obama will do in the name of party unity.

[bgates]

Obama is John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King rolled into one
-he has a wiretap on his own phone?

[Sanjay]

Mr. Maguire: I think the word is "whacked," mith an "h." There's a resonably good case that the people you meniotn - Hillary and W - are already "wacked."

[PaulV]

Obama'shold on FEC nominee is more of the same old politics of political advantage.

[J. Peden]

Why do I keep thinking of Santa Claus?

[Ranger]

I may have to correct my previous comment. For some reason I now think it might have been Joe Biden who made that comment about it being a dumb vote but he was going to do it anyway.

[kim]

Well, Ranger, whoever said it, it is a line worth plagiarizing, if not in the word, in the deed.
============

[cathyf]

What I find interesting is that no one seems to be mentioning the question of whether Obama fits Islam's rules for being a Muslim apostate, and as such any shaheed gets 72 raisins for whacking him.

Of course answering that question would require that one actually explore what the Muslims in question actually believe, as opposed to thinking of them as cardboard cutouts invented by the dreaded neocon adversary.

[Pofarmer]

For some reason I now think it might have been Joe Biden who made that comment about it

Ahhh, Liberals.

They all look alike to me.

[cathyf]

-he has a wiretap on his own phone?

By the way, bgates, you just earned today's QOTD!

[kim]

cathyf, I've wondered if the fatwah about apostasy applies to children. I know some religions don't hold a child to his promises, only adults. Almost certainly, in Indonesia, Obama averred that Allah is the one and only God, and Mohammed is his prophet. Is he still held to that by the poobahs of Islam?
==============================

[Rick Ballard]

"Is he still held to that by the poobahs of Islam?"

Sure he is - it's an eternal writ and cannot be set aside anymore than can the extent of the [imaginary] caliphate which includes Andalusia and Jerusalem.

[GMax]

The Poobahs of Islam.

You indirectly have hit on the issue. Islam, more than any other religion that I have any degree of familiarity with, suffers from a lack of a hierarchy. Since the fall of the Great calliphate, there is no head to Islam. And there does not appear to exist any mechanism for dealing with wayward Imams either.

So if some imam says so, well thats it. Despite another somewhere else saying exactly the opposite.

It seems to be a problem, from the outside looking in.

[cathyf]

kim, I also wonder about the age they set the cut-off as "children". Obama was 10 when he left Indonesia. Could a fatwa-shopper find one iman willing to stipulate that 10 was adult enough to make him an apostate?

[cathyf]

Yeah, GMax, if I think that Islam is closest to Baptists in the total inability to enforce any doctrinal order. My husband jokes that all you need to form a Baptist congregation is 3 lawn chairs and a sign.

(I read somewhere that while every Baptist group explicitly prohibits female clergy, 1/3 of all Baptist ministers are women.)

[Neo]

I think it's preposterous of the NYT to think that somebody who displeases the Clintons would be under an increased security threat.

LOL!!

[kim]

Wow, McDougal had dizziness and emesis and they threw him in solitary where he died of a heart attack? Someone screwed up.
=============

[glasater]

There is something called "ketman" that is supposed to describe the hierarchy within Islam.
Hitchens had one take on it but I have not found it explained very well in other venues.

[pagar]

"kim, I also wonder about the age they set the cut-off as "children". Obama was 10 when he left Indonesia. Could a fatwa-shopper find one iman willing to stipulate that 10 was adult enough to make him an apostate?"

Apparently there is no wondering what age they find suitable for girls to marry. If the original founder is to be believed.

[GMax]

I dont think ketman deals with hierarchy. According to the wikipedia, it is defined as:

Ketman is the act of paying lip service to authority while holding personal opposition. Though the term was originally used exclusively in regards to Islamic authority, the term is most frequently encountered in reference to Communist authoritarianism.

[J. Peden]

“Barack scares those of us who think of the possibility of an assassination in a different way,” Mr. Posner said. “He represents so much hope and change. That is exactly what was taken away from us in the 1960s."

Seriously now, how can nearly anyone in America be robbed of their own hope unless they to it to themselves? Posner simply has the "sickness unto death", and therefore possibly seems to know that he's already dead, somewhat like Michelle Obama, who expresses her form of the sickness as anger at being alive, then blaming America for it, imo.

Whatever, it's got to be a living Hell in there for those of the "Progressive" mind, who also seem to be fantasizing about Obama's murder as a proxy for their own self-imposed, very sad situation.

[Hoosierhoops]

Tom M.
GUNS AND BOMBS: The Times story (and the Secret Service approach) seems to be oriented towards a 60's era lone gunman threat, rather than a more contemporary bomber or suicide bomber. Does that make sense? I would guess that Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia would prefer to kill McCain and his 100 year commitment, rather than Obama with his early exit.

a couple thoughts..Since Obama can leap tall buildings in a single bound and is faster than a speeding bullet..why would he care about a lone gunman?
Also if Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia tries to kill John McCain in a suicide blast..would the Times then refer to them as Al Qaeda in Arizona?

[glasater]

GMAX--"I dont think ketman deals with hierarchy"

Yeah, you're right. I was thinking of another term that isn't coming to mind right now and that is--when two moslems get together--one of them has to dominate the other.

[Jane]

I really think the Farrakhan endorsement of Obama is the icing on the cake, but I really wished it had come in October.

[GMax]

Some positive/negative numbers from Rasmussen:

Thirty-four percent (34%) of all voters say they will definitely vote for John McCain if he is on the ballot this November. Thirty-three percent (33%) will definitely vote against him while 29% say their support hinges on who his opponent is.

Barack Obama has the same number who will definitely vote for him--34%. But, more people are committed to voting against him than McCain. Forty-three percent (43%) say they will definitely reject him at the ballot box. For 18%, their support depends on his opponent.

Not a single "Where's beef" or "hang onto your pocketbook, Obama wants (spare ) change" ad has even run yet.

With those numbers you might wonder what all the fuss and "movement" talk was all about. Obviously, you are as dense as the NYT readers and you just dont, no make that really dont get it, do you?

[GMax]

OK if you have not seen it, follow the link to the video of the SNL skit nailing the media on their fawning over Obama the magnificent. You dont laugh your sass off I will be less than understanding.

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/#mea=221776> SNL Democratic Debate

[GMax]

OK if you have not seen it, follow the link to the video of the SNL skit nailing the media on their fawning over Obama the magnificent. You dont laugh your sass off I will be less than understanding.

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/#mea=221776> SNL Democratic Debate

[centralcal]

GMax, I have already seen it. It is funny and not funny at the same time, because it is so true.

Howard Kurtz actually showed a clip from it on Reliable Sources on Sunday.

[DER]

Cisco. I think they were a spin off of the computer backbone of the phone company. The partner list is interesting. DS9 had that captain and he was mean. I mean a painer, like Montel. DS9 had some characters on there and they seem to be real life people. Anyway, CISCO was considered garbage when it came out and look how important it is now.

Obama is a joke. His wife is a joke. He is mad how he got where he is and his wife is doubting how they became what they are; how they got the money and power. Obama is wasting our time. He is not progressive, but historical, building on the past, which is how he wanted the power and money. He is Tony blair 2 in America, just check his legislation. Geldof was having lunch with Bush in Africa. I don't think he cares about Obama or his country tax.

[Syl]

It is funny and not funny at the same time, because it is so true.

Agree.

But I actually liked the 'B*tch is the new Black' thing better.

[Elliott]

I think this point has been made before, but a major lesson from this election cycle is to view Other Tom's anecdote as an instruction manual.

No one went after McCain during the fall because they thought he was toast. The Clintons failed to define Obama, believing it was unnecessary. That worked out well.

[Tom Maguire]

Also if Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia tries to kill John McCain in a suicide blast..would the Times then refer to them as Al Qaeda in Arizona?

The Times would report that McCain was too close to foreign lobbyists.

[Pofarmer]

Saw a few political clips on the TV while out for supper.

Clips of Obama and McCain.

Obama spouting rhetoric about "Changing trade treaties. We must have aggrements that beneifit main street and not just Wall Street. No lead paint in toys, etc, etc."

Then they have a segment with McCain talking, and immediatly start in on "McCain denies involvement with such and such lobbiest."

Bias, what Bias?

Not even sure of the Channell.

[centralcal]

I was happy to see that El Rushbo had the same reaction I did to the Obama in Somali elder outfit that I did yesterday, when I giggled and compared it to J fn Kerry in his blue vinyl suit with bunny ears lopped off.

He has both of those pictures side-by-side on his home page. I haven't heard his comments yet.

I don't have a problem with "ethnic" costumes or celebrations. Actually, I think that is what makes America richer. I am far more disturbed by Obama's wife, his pastor, his closeness to domestic terrorists, and the mutual admiration expressed by Louis Farrakhan (or, however you spell his name). Those BOTHER me a lot.

[centralcal]

Hey, Pofarmer - after spending 30 some odd years of my adult life in agriculture (alfalfa, oat hay, registered Holstein dairy, cotton, almond orchards - to name a few), what crops do you guys grow?

[Pofarmer]

Beef cattle, dabble in sheep for the kids.
Alfalfa, commercial grass hay, corn, beans wheat. Also do custom fieldwork and some hay brokerage and hauling.

[hoosierhoops]

i know I'm in trouble...I got this on a super duper wire tap...

Obama National hq’s 2-25-08 9:43pm
___________________________________
Ring ring
Staffer: Hello? Hello
Voice: Is the big guy there? Obama?
Staffer: Yes, one moment please..
Obama: Hello?
Voice: Hey big guy..it’s karl rove and George here!
How are ya all doing big O?
Obama: I guess i’m doing ok..why are you guys calling me?
Voice: Listen pal..we just want you to know you are doing a smash up job over there..
(Background laughter)
That whole thing about dressing up like Osama Bin Laden during an election..just priceless!
I mean I thought Kerry in the bunny suit was great..
But you just take the cake! I mean priceless!
( Voice in background) Hey Karl! ask em about his wife just now loving America..laughter..
Voice: giggles: hey Obama.. George wants to know about the old lady..She doesn’t love america..? That true bro?
Laughter
Obama: hey she loves america!!
Voice: hey no worries..She makes theresa the ketchup bitch look like mother theresa..
Laughter: you can’t buy this stuff!!
Obama: hey who is this really? come on!
Voice: (giggles in background..)
hey listen Big O ya need any policy statements?
I got some old Reagan shit ..unused of course..wink wink
That will just have ‘em crying in the thier seats..I mean really good shit..ya know..hope, faith and the american way..giggles
you know..compassionate conservative, lets bring us all together, sing a song..I mean it worked for us..
Crashing sounds and laughter..
George in background..somehow singing ” Don’t stop believing” laughter
George: I love that song..ya hear that Obama? HAhA
Karl Rove: hey listen kid..no kidding..we are so right behind you and support you a 100%..
Background voice: Hey no shit big O..I love you man!!
Karl: hey no shit Obama..you and louis F. need a tour of ground zero..give me a ring..I’m serious, You put on that little outfit of your’s and my photo people will be right there for you..
Obama: Yes we can! yes we can!
Karl: laughter: George! grab me another beer..this is better than i thought!
hey obama! hey Obama! I got a question..
When you reach across our little island..hehehe
ya want us to hand you your right arm or dick first?
Laughter
Bush in background: gawd you’re funny karl..
hangup hangup!! holdup georgie..
Karl: so what..Obama.. I got one for you..
That whole thing about holding your hand over your heart during that american song thing..you know what I’m talking about?
Obama: uh yea?
Karl: well don’t do it!! It makes a commander-in-chief look like a wuzz.. laughter!! glass breaking!
Obama: Really?
Rove: I swear to gawd!! Laughter..
Rove: I love you man!
Voice in background: I love you too!! hang up karl..hang up!!
Click: Dial tone:
Obama: did anybody take notes? Hello? Lordy..get O’dowd on the horn..I need to try alittle tenderness.. People? People?

[BOATBUILDER]

GMAX--about that Rasmussen poll: Maybe we should assume that the 18% whose decision whether to vote for Obama in the general election will hinge on who his opponent is probably won't end up voting (since it seems unlikely that they will figure out when the election is, or where they should go to cast their vote)?

[BOATBUILDER]

Or maybe, in keeping with the subject matter of TM's post, they're just thinking ahead . . .

[Porchlight]

Hoosierhoops, that is awesome.

[clarice]

hoosier--it is fabulous. (Where's Soylent?)

[Topsecretk9]

stupidity...

New York, NY (Sports Network) - Seven-time Cy Young award winner Roger Clemens could face more trouble in the coming weeks, namely a criminal investigation into whether he committed perjury during testimony about his use of performance-enhancing drugs.

The New York Times reported Monday that staff members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform drafted a letter referring Clemens, but not his accuser, Brian McNamee, to be investigated by the Department of Justice...

Can they draft a letter to the DOJ about Valerie Plame's perjury?

http://www.sportsnetwork.com/default.asp?c=sportsnetwork&page=/mlb/news/AAN4133748.htm

[Bill in AZ]

"Can they draft a letter to the DOJ about Valerie Plame's perjury?"

But this is important.