Leader For Life Of The Obama Fan Club

Charles Krauthammer sees a problem where I see a reason for comfort in Obama's supreme self-regard:

Americans are beginning to notice Obama's elevated opinion of himself [I noticed!]. There's nothing new about narcissism in politics. Every senator looks in the mirror and sees a president. Nonetheless, has there ever been a presidential nominee with a wider gap between his estimation of himself and the sum total of his lifetime achievements?

This is a tricky attack argument - although John McCain is not Mr. Humilty he has earned some of his self-regard.

For the first few months of the campaign, the question about Obama was: Who is he? The question now is: Who does he think he is?

I think Obama has about one core belief, which is that he can talk his way past any audience and any problem.  My guess/hope is that he will be a huge disappointment to those hoping for an earnest and committed lefty.

Comments

[kim]

It seems that too many liberals and progressives laid their hopes and dreams with this flim-flam artist. He does not have too elevated an opinion of himself as a Great Bullshitter.
========================

[Pagar]

Good Morning to all.

For a fun read this morning:

From the Noquarter blog?---------

"The closer we get to November, the more light will be shed on this joke of a "nominee", Barack Hussein Obama. My head is spinning at the reality that Obama is the one the DNC party bosses are pushing forward as the nominee of the party, despite all of the evidence that he is not built for the job of leader of the free world and that he doesn’t have the experience to boot. He will never beat John McCain."

lun

[Jane]

WOw that's quite an admission. And Good Morning right back at you. I see TM has been very very busy. Time to dig in!

[bgates]

Kim - they don't care if he's the Great Bullshitter, so long as he's not the Dread Bushhitler.

[kim]

Whoa, Pagar; tish does the bomba on Obama, no? bg, it's not 'Obama, Man of the Hour', it's 'Obama, Manure'.
=============================

[daniel a]

from BushHitler to Bullshitter.

Ahhhh......

[Appalled]

If the Lenos and Lettermans of the world finally figure out that this is the comedy key they have been looking for to make fun of Obama, look out.

[Rick Ballard]

They have to stop drying his feet with their hair first Appalled. When they do we'll be seeing a tanned Alfred E. Neuman all over the place.

[MikeS]

...we'll be seeing a tanned Alfred E. Neuman all over the place.

For some reason I see a tanned Gilligan.

[clarice]

Heh--We're all in our places with sunshiney faces, I see.

[narciso]

Of course, the Brandenburg Gate, has no relation to the current reality. The house of 54 Marienstraffe, Hamburg where Atta hung out,or the King Fahd mosque in Bonn, are more on point; where the next group of plotters are likely being groomed. Or the Siemmens/Mannesman office in Munich and their work on the Iranian nuclear program. But those are a bit too pointed, a reference
for some.

By the way, the Zelig of disaster, Jamie Gorelick, Justice Department deputy, 9/11
commissioner, defender of the Islamic Banking Federation, Fannie Mae executive
and now director at France's Halliburton, Schlumberger, not responsible for the oil spike out at all.

[bio mom]

The media are totally in the tank for Obama and determined to shove him down the throats of the American electorate. I am increasingly resentful. Their latest stunt of following him to Europe and the Middle East to cover his triumphant reception there is the last straw. We are in deep trouble in this country when the media is so corrupt.

[clarice]

Zelig of disaster--heh- that is one of your all time best posts, narciso.

[Barney Frank]

Zelig of disaster--heh- that is one of your all time best posts, narciso.

Agreed clarice. And I didn't even need my decoder ring to understand it.

[clarice]

I blogged narciso's suggestions for alternative venues in Germany and it's onlinenarciso in case you want to watch for and/or respond to the comments.

[bgates]

If the Lenos and Lettermans of the world finally figure out that this is the comedy key they have been looking for
Yeah, because up till now there's been nothing. Obama is just an ordinary guy whose mother Stanley raised him in Indonesia. He's a Constitutional law scholar whose 2nd Amendment views turned up to the left of Ruth Bader Ginsberg, in that he thinks no one has a right to a gun (unless maybe they're part of the new Civilian National Security Force). He was President of Harvard Law Review apparently without writing anything (so he must have really scored in the swimsuit competition). He got started in politics with the help of Bill Ayers, who's some kind of Bizarro World angry version of Tommy Chong.
To keep himself grounded, he attends church regularly not in a while usually when the other guy is preaching (not the Catholic one, the other other guy. Steve. You don't know him.)
Barack Obama also enjoys spending time with his wife Michelle, who you can't hear for a minute without thinking "winsome" (and then, immediately, "yalosesome".) Michelle has become the most successful Vice President of Community Relations at any hospital in America, despite being black. She enjoys taking her six thousand dollar weekly paycheck to Chicago bodagas and haggling over slightly bruised fruit.
Obama's chief campaign platforms (as of 11:02 EST 7/18) are that Iran absolutely isn't not not not a significant danger that no one in their right mind would be worried about more than him, and the desire to help all Washington achieve the integrity of his beloved Chicago.
There's a word for that last part, but it's "chutzpah", and Obama's supporters can get testy about Yiddish - some, because Yiddish resembles Arabic, and they don't want Obama's historic mission to endear America to the peaceful followers of the beautiful religion of Islam threatened by the vile and hateful slander that he's a Muslim; the rest, because they hate Jews.

[bgates]

Funnier.

[MayBee]

brilliant, bgates!

I think Obama has about one core belief, which is that he can talk his way past any audience and any problem

spot on, TM.

[clarice]

Very, very funny, bgates.
I esp loved this:"He was President of Harvard Law Review apparently without writing anything (so he must have really scored in the swimsuit competition)."

[Porchlight]

That was great, bgates. Better than the Onion piece.

Is anyone else sensing a shift in media coverage of the Messiah? Skepticism appears to be easier to voice and it is definitely becoming easier for people to laugh at him, despite what that silly NYT article said. If he makes any major gaffes on his upcoming trip, and/or the MSM coverage of the trip is too over the top in its fawning, I think the trickle will become a stream.

[GMax]

OT

The American Physical Society has now backed off their previous conclusion that anthropologically global warming is "incontrovertible" and now acknowledges that there quite a bit of dissent in their ranks about something that supposedly had been consensus.

This seems remarkable to me, as its much tougher to admit you might have been wrong previously and I would say if this is properly disseminated it will have a profound effect on the public. Will it?

Kim, you are really plugged in to this. wadda ya think?

[clarice]

He cannot help but make major gaffes when he visits Israel and the PA--the question is whether the press will report it.
Soylent! Where are those bags of suros we need to get out the right sort of costumed crowd for O?

[clarice]

**Euros**

[MayBee]

Is anyone else sensing a shift in media coverage of the Messiah?

You know....I don't know.
I do think the networks may feel a little pressure to not fawn the entire time they are traveling with him. The question is whether they'll feel any resentment that his campaign put them in the spot that they pretty much had to travel with him to get access.

None of them want to be responsible for not letting this man have his moment as president, though.

(bonus question: will Obama criticize Bush or current US foreign policy while overseas? Will his politics stop at water's edge?)

[MayBee]

suros

ha! It's the currency of Soros.
That was a good typo, clarice.

[DaleinAtlanta]

He's the cosummate Bullshit Artist, and fueled by Anti-American/Pro-Jihadi Self-loathing/White Liberal Self-Hate the Left laps it up like manna from heaven!

All Hail, Barack HUSSEIN Obama, the new Messiah! (PBUH)(SWT)(SAW)!!

[DaleinAtlanta]

He's the cosummate Bullshit Artist, and fueled by Anti-American/Pro-Jihadi Self-loathing/White Liberal Self-Hate the Left laps it up like manna from heaven!

All Hail, Barack HUSSEIN Obama, the new Messiah! (PBUH)(SWT)(SAW)!!

[Appalled]

bgates:

Comedy, as practiced by our network late night heros, goes to finding a stereotype, and pounding it hard. Thus, we have Ronnie Ray Gun, snoozing and senile. George Bush -- It wouldn't be prudent...Bill, the bbq eating lech. W -- well, those stereotypes seem right to me..

Obama is really new on the horizon. Who had heard of him this time in 2007? It's only now, with Hillary out of the way, that he's been out there alone. And now we are seeing, not just someone who seems habitually eloquent, but someone who rather often engages in the speechifying equivalent of an opera diva singing "Like a Virgin". We see, not just smeone who can be inspiring, and is able to draw on personal experience in talking about policy, but someone who takes self-absorption and obliviousness to others to levels not seen since the Jack Benny Show stopped airing. We also see someone who has very little sense of humor about himself, which makes it incumbent on others to find it for him.

Your list of stuff doesn't strike me as a Leno Letterman ready, bgates. All politicians flip flop, and Michelle isn't enough of a publiic figure just yet to make her much of a figure of fun. Plus, no network comic an ts to touch the racism third rail -- which howlers about Michelle's alleged black radical aspirations risk. As for Chicago politics and Bill Ayers -- those charges don't really attach to Obama in any personal way.

No, what one sees is Obama is vanity. Lots of fine comedy has come from vanity.

[clarice]

Vanity and childish naivete--I thought the jibjab "Let's go Campaignin'" shot of him singing inanities about change while riding a unicorn in a Disneyland like setting was spot on.

He's effeminate, too. Though I suppose no one will touch that. (I suspect polls are telling him that's what people think because suddenly we're getting lots of media fluffernut stuff about him working out.)

[Porchlight]

the question is whether the press will report it.

That has certainly been the main problem to date. My thinking is that the heavy MSM coverage planned for his Big Trip means the gaffes will be harder to hide. Also, the events will be widely covered by the press in the host nations. So with luck, the holes in the bushel will be big enough for the idiocy to shine through.

[centralcal]

Okay - Dean Barnett does it again! Great photo(shop) of the brilliant Obama and his most recent gaffetastic remarks about "the bomb" that "fell" on Pearl Harbor.

Scroll down, you can't miss it.

LUN

[Appalled]

clarice:

I don't think anyone who operates in Chicago and survives is naive, and the dismantling of Hillary in the primaries (or, more accurately, the caucuses) was a shrewd, shrewd, operation. I think much of what looks like naivete -- the, I will talk to any leader and good things will naturally happen -- is actually just more vanity.

[Porchlight]

Appalled,

It is possible to be sophisticated and skilled wrt Chicago politics and still be totally naive about the rest of the country and the world. And vain, too. I see all those qualities in Obama.

[clarice]

Could be..or it could be that he is the ultimate pol--shrewd about what advances his own interests but clueless about the substance of any issue before him.

Think about his preposterous foreign policy statements and remember he graduated with a major in international relations from Columbia University with good enough grades to get into Harvard law school. Either he cheated his way thru or he gamed the system..taking every easy course and learning and regurgitating what the professors in that far left, anti-American branch of the school wanted to hear.

[GMax]

Aguy who grew up in Hawaii knows almost nothing about Pearl Harbor? Even if he snoozed through history class, isnt it as part of Hawaii and the Alamo is to Texans? Did he ever get to go on a field trip to the memorial?

I think it was a freudian slip of the tongue. Too many arrugula munchers/donor speech where he spoke about the bomb in a context quite unfavorable to America. Its quite common on the Left to lament the WWII use of the weapons on Japan. So he was just falling back on something comfortable, and forgot he was bashing the other side for a change!

[Don]

Ummm the guy is under 50 and is going to be the next President of the United States. Try to give him just a little credit.

I admit Bush is proof a drooling moron can get elected, but he was over 50 and had Daddy's help the whole time.

[clarice]

Maybe his speech in Germany can be about how FDR made a big mistake going after Germany and Italy when it was Japan who "dropped the bomb" on Pearl Harbor and that we just repeated the same mistake in Iraq.

[Don]

Maybe he could to Czechoslovakia if McSame will give him directions.

[clarice]

Or Obama could ask his putative VP candidate, Nunn, who just referred to the Czech Republic as Czechoslovakia himself--old habits are hard to break and not nearly as indefensible as saying there are 57 states in the USA, Don.

[Sue]

You know, you'll have to forgive us old timers who grew up calling Bombay, Bombay, Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union. And I have already said Obama probably saw the movie with Ben Affleck about Pearl Harbor, so he knows there was more than one bomb.

[Don]

"old habits are hard to break"

Not at all. McSame said for years and years that he would recite the defensive line-up to his North Vietnamese captors.

Although campaigning recently in Pennysylvania he changed that to Pittsburgh Steelers.

So maybe you old dogs could learn some new tricks too!

[Don]

That would be Green Bay Packers for years, but who cares.
Mcsame is worse than Obama on any count you care to point out.

[Ranger]

Maybe he could to Czechoslovakia if McSame will give him directions.

Posted by: Don | July 18, 2008 at 12:33 PM

No need for Obama to cross party lines*, he can just ask his close advisor Sam Nunn.

* Which, if his record in the Senate is any indication, he's not capable of anyway.

[Jane]

Clarice,

I just sent you an email to the Yahoo account with all the letters. I hope it is current.

[clarice]

Got it and replied,Jane.

[MikeS]

Not at all. McSame said for years and years that he would recite the defensive line-up to his North Vietnamese captors.

I'll bet Danube knows the right word for someone who can mis-type his criticism of someone else for misspeaking.

[Ranger]

If the Lenos and Lettermans of the world finally figure out that this is the comedy key they have been looking for to make fun of Obama, look out.

Posted by: Appalled | July 18, 2008 at 09:33 AM

Actually, the fear on the part of many comedians to make jokes about Obama is the second data point I have seen that leads me to believe this may be the first serious effort to create a "corporatists"* system in the US.

The first data point was the call for a "post partisan" politics. This is clearly an effort to crush any opposition to a political effort by declaring that opposition "partisan" and therefore illegitimate.

The rejection of humor is very troubling because the level of political humor in a democratic system is an important measure of how healthy the system is. Slavko Zizek has pointed out that the first time he really understood how bad the situaiton in Former Yugoslavia was getting was when people could no longer tell enthnic jokes. Yugoslavs joked about each others' ethnicities all the time for 40 years after WWII. Why did that matter? Because a person can not kill someone else over a subject so trivial that they both agree they can laugh about it. But, when an issue becomes so important that to joke about it transgresses boundaries, it is becoming something so important that is definatly can be killed to protect.

Luckily, Obama seems to believe in nothing, so it is doubtful that he would really try to "transform" society. I worry more about those who will come after him, and try to use the post-partisan, humorless political circumstances he is crating to "transform" America.

*Corporatism is the actual political science term used for the basic system of social organization that is the basis of "Fascism." Fascism is actual only the Italian variation of the effort to completely "Corporatize", or organize sociesty in to unified blocks each with a single recognized "corporate" entity which engages in politics for the identified block. All modern societies have some degree of this type of corporatist entities, but corporatism as an ideology seeks to make this the only way that political interaction takes place.

/rant

[Ann]

If you have time, listen to the conversation going on now at:

Karl Rove Witch Hunt at Meetthebloggers.org

or see their video proof at:

Send Karl Rove to Jail!

[Ranger]

BTW, does Obama's remark about the Pearl Harbor remind anyone else of the lines:

"Over? Over!? Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?"

"Germans?"

"Don't worry about it, he's on a roll."

[BOATBUILDER]

I was going to suggest that everybody lay off the Obama stuff for a while and talk about something else (which TM has, of course), but I changed my mind. Bgates rant is priceless, and the phrase "Zelig of disaster" will forever be the caption in my mind of any photo or appearance of the horrific Jamie Gorelick. And Obama as Jack Benny. Rare form Today, all.

[sbw]

Be careful people. The Colorado convention has not happened. And She-who-is-traveling-under-the-radar still lives.

[Appalled]

sbw:

She-who must-be-inevitable is now living for another day. My guess is that it is later than August, but four years sooner than 2016

[fdcol63]

The horror of Jamie Gorelick and the atrocious impact she's had on American policy and security simply underscores just how dangerous Obama will be if elected.

We got Gorelick in a supposedly "moderate" or "conservative" - depending on how far to the left you are - Clinton Democratic administration.

Can you imagine the kinds of extremists we'd get at all levels of Federal bureaucracy and judiciary riding in on the coattails of a CHE-adoring, Marxist, anti-American, black separationist, UN-idolizing Obama?

[fdcol63]

And we're still wondering just what documents Sandy Pants Burglar considered damaging enough to steal from the National Archives, aren't we?

[BobS]

Oh, let it be so, sbw. Can you imagine the great TV a resurgance of a Clinton nomination provide? It would be like the tanks going into Rammalah again. Or Chicago 1968 at the least.

[sbw]

Appalled, you are probably right. Remember the advantage of being not responsible but authorized to carp. She will assume the Teddy mantle.

[PeterUK]

"I'll bet Danube knows the right word for someone who can mis-type his criticism of someone else for misspeaking."

May I help? Here we would call him a "tosser".

[fdcol63]

Here we would call him a "tosser".

But I thought you guys across the pond called them "wankers". LOL

[whosonfirst]

sbw,

I've been trying to keep these presumptuous folks aware of that since last spring. Anything is better than the Clintons back in the White House.

[davod]

Whenever you decide to update the programming on the blog, I would love to have the Posted by line placed at the top of the entry.

I get tired of reading halfway through the gibbersih of some writers before realizing I am wasting my time.

[sbw]

Davod, I used to recommend that in the days of Carol Herman but I've come to realize half the fun is figuring it out before you get to the end.

Then you find you actually almost miss them when they vaporize.

[davod]

life is to short.

[Rick Ballard]

"life is to short"

Taking a long position on death is actually a better bet. Even without leverage it's a guaranteed pay off.

Cashing out can be problematic though.

[PrestoPundit]

Obama is actually the worst sort of leftist -- a lefty who has "seen the light" and turned grossly expedient. Obama reveals this turn in his memoir and in some interviews, when he speaks of coming to see that his idealistic /socialist father (who's idealism Obama had adopted as his own "dream") had been a failure because he wasn't politically "practical". Obama then reveals that he'd sworn to himself to never forget to be brutally practical in the pursuit of his idealism, promising never to make his father's mistake of being a "truth teller" to power rather than being a practical and expedient political fighter.

Obama's major lesson in life is the example of the failed political career of his truth telling father. Obama hasn't abandoned his father's idealistic dreams and aims, he's abandoned his father's naive methods, and instead he's adopted the typical methods of many, many other successful leftists.

[BobS]

Why does it seem though that no issue like Plame-Wilson brings out the lefy sock puppets like no other?

[Ranger]

Well, I just noticed that Karl at PW had the same reaction to Obama's Pearl Harbor comment that I did. Guess I should have checked there before asking.

[clarice]

BobS, I think it was a remarkably successful bit of propaganda and the left has fewer and fewer of those.

___
I thought Va was going to be a hard nut for McCain, but that may not be so--Rasmussen has it a dead heat.

[clarice]

Click the Dr No ad on the right--another good McCain ad.

[BobS]

I saw that too, Clarice. But I'm concerned the No Virginia will deliver for Obama. PLus it seems that warner's senate seat will go to the Dems.

[clarice]

I am concerned but I do find this survey some cause for optimism..Perhaps even Northern Virginians realize he's a foolish fop.

[wen]

Just noticed that Glenn Reynolds has tagged the same Krauthammer artcle and dubs Obama a "Gilderoy Lockhart". I know Tom must love that.

[Jim Miller]

Tom - I beg to differ. You think that Obama believes only in Obama. I think that he believes in Obama and -- as part of believing in Obama -- he believes in the set of leftist ideas he has been clinging to (bitterly?) since at least his college years.

Here's how I put it in my Monday post:

"Briefly, I think that Obama will govern as close to his leftist ideas and values as he can get away with."

But I will admit that the question is still open. Which is pretty amazing, in itself.

[Ralph L]

one core belief, which is that he can talk his way past any audience and any problem.
Sounds just like Bill Clinton (no wonder he's so mad).

[Thomas Collins]

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/07/18/1208178.aspx

I love this McCain ad. Watch the B57Oites howl about the "Country First" theme, which howling will draw attention to the fact that McCain has in his life put country first.

[MayBee]

No, what one sees is Obama is vanity. Lots of fine comedy has come from vanity.

You know, appalled, even that is treading dangerous ground. When Obama was first called elitist due to the "bitter" comments, a lot of people screamed that he was being called uppity.
I think vain could be misconstrued in the same way.

[PrestoPundit]

If you want to understand Obama, think _All The Kings Men_. And I'm guessing that at this point in his life Obama identifies with both Willie Stark and Jack Burden.

[Enlightened]

Obama is 'da Bomba....(in more ways than one)
PS - has anyone seen the Ebony Magazine cover about the 25 Coolest Brothers of all time? It could be me (and probably is) but I found it disturbing. I know - I'm white, so I don't get a "black" magazine's perspective. But besides that - the cover just bothered me. Maybe because I find it interesting that they crowned Obomba a "brother" when it appears that there are underlying issues in the black community about his true blackness, and he probably is over protective if his nuts right about now.

[Jane]

So I flipped over to Hardball and Mike barnacle is talking to some black reporters about how McCain and the President are now taking Obama's approach to Iraq.

I kid you not.

[hit and run]

Baffling.

Begin immediate redeployment to be completed in 16 months = "general time horizons"

Want more? This AP article is also surreality based.

[Sara]

Be careful people. The Colorado convention has not happened. And She-who-is-traveling-under-the-radar still lives.

sbw:

Oy, a couple of nights ago I had a dream (or nightmare) of an empty and dark Invesco Stadium except for one lone individual sitting halfway up on the 50 yard line, while a voice boomed over the PA system, "Senator Obama, get over it, no one is coming, they nominated that woman, go home."

[Danube of Thought]

Sorry to have missed all of today's proceedings. Having done so, I suppose I can weigh in way off topic: According to the latest poll, the CA initiative to amend the constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman now trails, 51-42. It is going to lose, big-time.

[centralcal]

Thanks for that statistic DOT! yuck.

While eating dinner, I am watching Hannity and the Chihuahua (Colmes) and Michael Steele is in the place of Hannity.

Go Michael!

[Lesley]

Some weeks ago, Kim made a very funny but prescient comment about Obama with reference to the fact that about the second night into his presidency he'd be wearing Depends to bed, ie, the guy just ain't ready for the huge responsibility of being the POTUS.

Regardless of his inflated ego, having 300 different individuals to advise him on foreign policy alone is worrisome to me. If this is indicative of his presidency, his administration will be a virtual Tower of Babel.

Babel was a city which unified humanity through the use of a common language. The Tower of Babel was built to glorify man, not God, so God confused their language and scattered its people. Obamamessiah, the great uniter, with his cacophonous cast of thousands....(I know, its stretching the analogy, but what the heck).

NYT A Cast of 300

[Chris]

DOT,
"[...]the CA initiative to amend the constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman now trails, 51-42. It is going to lose, big-time."

I think you're referring to a Field Poll. Their research is consistently wrong. They had Gray Davis winning the recall out here, for example. Not saying that it's gonna pass or fail. Just that the Field Poll is a statistician's nightmare.

Will read up on it and check back.

[Thomas Collins]

I got off the commuter train tonight and started my walk toward the ice cream shop at the station (where one of my children works). Ahead of me was a man wearing a shirt with OBAMA 08 on the back. I can't escape Messiahmania in Massachusetts. I half expect to see a tattoo exhibiting His Holiness's name (complete with a B57O Pre-Presidential Seal).

[Chris]

DOT,
Depends a bit on how the question is phrased, as well. This is from the Field Poll in May, which got the same result:

(VERSION A: ASKED OF RANDOM SUBSAMPLE OF VOTERS) Do you favor or oppose changing the California
State Constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman, thus barring marriage between gay and
lesbian couples?
(VERSION B: ASKED OF RANDOM SUBSAMPLE OF VOTERS) There may be a vote on this issue in the November
election. Would you favor or oppose having the State Constitution prohibit same-sex marriage, by defining
marriage as only between a man and a woman?

Seems like version A gets the more negative response. I'm a little leery of amending the constitution myself and not because I favor gay marriage.

Overall, I'll give them props for sampling likely voters, vs. anyone with a pulse, which seemed to be what they were doing during the CA recall.

LUN

[Danube of Thought]

Chris, I have never ever heard anyone say that the Field Poll research is consistently wrong. Without doing any research at all, I can pretty comfortably say that for polling on issues in this state, it has always been regarded as second to none, and inarguably free of bias or of producing results for the purpose of furthering any agenda. I invite any contrary evidence.

I don't know the manner in which the question that produced the latest results was phrased (and I can't even confirm that it was indeed a Field Poll), and I no longer have that newspaper.

All I can do is tell you, as a Californian who will vote in favor of the initiative, that I have very high confidence that it will lose. Come November, you are welcome to hold my feet to the fire if what I tell you tonight (and have been telling you for a couple of months) proves wrong. My feet would gladly endure the heat in such a noble cause, but I don't expect they will have to.

[Soylent Red]

In the spirit of not making promises I don't keep, and since I have been remiss in bringing you closer to The Explanation, I bring you this...

Qom, Iran, November, 1960

The young American woman felt quite at home in this unique and wonderful culture. Even though the leader was a fascist, she couldn’t hold the country responsible for Pahlavism. She loved the country for what it could become, with right thinking people in charge.

She moved through the crowded streets and into an open air market. She had been trained in how to spot and evade SAVAK operatives, but she knew at a glance that she was safe here, near the seminary.

She passed out of a tangle of alleyways and saw the seminary across the street in front of her. She covered her head with a shawl and made her way toward the large building. Once inside she was greeted by her sponsors, members of an Iranian Marxist organization using religious muscle against the fascist regime. The two young men smiled and escorted her into a courtyard. The directed her to sit down on a nearby bench and await the professors.

While she waited, Ann reflected on how she had gotten here. After being approached by Alan Ginsberg in Lawrence, Kansas, she had gotten involved with a group of young activists who were beginning a movement to fight The Pig. It was among this emerging people’s army that she had met Barack.

Although he didn’t know she was here, she was sure he would approve. He was passionate about freeing the original peoples of the earth from the white devil and uniting the ummah under its historical Moorish banner. Only then could they rise up and drive the inferior devils from the earth. It was with this in mind that Ann accepted the invitation when the two operatives of H.O.P.E.-C.H.A.N.G.E. asked her to participate in what they called “Operation HAGAR”.

Presently, three religious professors appeared and she was escorted to a small room just off the courtyard. The room was an infirmary with a large aluminum examination table covered in white butcher paper. Without speaking she pushed herself up onto the table, swung her legs up, and hiked up the black skirt covering her legs.

When the procedure was over, the professors deposited the turkey baster into a waiting garbage can, and stepped out of the room into the courtyard. The religious students were moving toward the mosque for midday prayers. Soon, Ann emerged, covered her head and wordlessly left the seminary, knowing that she would have the privilege of giving birth to The One who would lead them all to a new age. Just thinking of this sent a tingle up her leg.

The professors watched her leave. The youngest spoke in a hushed tone to the oldest. “Marja Seyyed Ruhollah, will the infidel woman bring the child to term? Can we trust her?”

The older professor stroked his longish graying beard and mustache. “I believe she will Marja Reza, God willing. For now, we have our own revolution to build. God will grant us victory if The One is born, but first we must free our people from Phalavi.”

“But what of his American records? How can we ensure that His Destiny is fulfilled?”

The older man smiled and stoked his beard. “We have already found a way.”

[clarice]

Excellent, as usual, Soylent! But you gave away the secret and now must face the penalty..............

[Charlie (Colorado)]

It would be like the tanks going into Rammalah again. Or Chicago 1968 at the least.

Dude, you're not only talking about my home town, I very likely will be doing standups for Pajamas Media in the middle of it. Bite your tongue.

[clarice]

I hope that's so, Charlies. I think Jeff Goldstein will be there covering it, too,

[Soylent Red]

Oh no I haven't given up the secret.

There's more.

[Chris]

DOT,
I don't know how the constitutional amendment will play out but I think the manner in which the question is asked is important. I also would direct you to the link under my name showing how far off they were on the most recent propositions. Indian Gaming-off by 9 points. Eminent Domain-off by 14. In 2000, they were off by 8 points on the DOMA Prop. That would seem very relevant. They are good to watch as far as trend but they often are way off the final tally. Their initial poll on the Gray Davis recall was off by 9 points as well.

[JM Hanes]

Marja Reza? Hmmmm.

[paul]

media, media, on the wall,
who is the fairest of them all?

[Elliott]

Remarks of Senator Barack H. Obama the Second, President Presumptive
As prepared for delivery* in Berlin, Deutsche Demokratische Republik Germany

Thank you, thank you.

Danke schön, Berlin!

Thank you, for that warm welcome.

It is a privilege for me to be here in Germany, where you have inspired the world over the past two decades.

In the United States, too many believe that Americans are hopelessly divided. They say that if the divisions are not political, they are cultural. If not racial, regional. They say the divisions are too deeply entrenched, too long solidified to be put to rest.

When I say we can repair our divisions, the cynics say, "He's being overly idealistic."

To those cynics, I say, "For 50 years, great power rivalry partitioned a country and separated its people. Rival political and economic systems were established. But these divisions could not deter the German people from their desire for freedom and unity. And almost two decades after the Cold War ended, Germany is not only a prosperous and united nation, but a nation that is a leading and esteemed voice in world affairs."

If this hopeful spirit of change and unity could prosper in a climate of such division, I know that in America we can follow your example. For, in comparison to the challenge you faced, our divisions are modest. We did not live for 50 years under different governments,* needing permission to travel between blue states and red states.

Likewise, America did not spend 50 years at loggerheads with Europe. Our transatlantic alliances are long-standing and it will be my top priority that these friendships remain strong so that together we can confront the challenges of the twenty-first century.

Let us emulate the great triumph of the German people. For you have shown us what is possible when people rally around what unites them. Let us be like Berliners.

Thank you.
____________________
*Okay, okay, not really, this is a joke.
**It is patently false that an earlier draft suggested that one of the systems is "not deficient, it's different."

[Joseph Goebbels]

the speech works for me.

[clarice]

Joseph, Darlingk..Lung time no zee..

Elliott--He's going to talk for ONE HOUR with video screens lining the path behind him..All that's missing is a chorus of Springtime for Hitler.
Ich Bin Ein Hot Dog ought to be flashed on those screens if only there were a hacker at my command...

[Soylent Red]

Nice bit of work Elliot, but why use up precious manpower when you can automate?

[Elliott]

Clarice,

Since we're marching to a faster pace here at JOM, I thought you would prefer the cliffs notes.

Soylent,

What ever makes you think it wasn't?