tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23938076.post7869007307082090372..comments2023-10-15T10:48:01.870-04:00Comments on Roxie's World: Going NeutralRoxie Smith Lindemannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06455529922082930949noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23938076.post-70628427373953606792008-06-17T19:37:00.000-04:002008-06-17T19:37:00.000-04:00Thanks, Roxie, for this excellent overview. If I ...Thanks, Roxie, for this excellent overview. If I had the time, this is what I would write!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23938076.post-57240373141233763512008-06-17T13:41:00.000-04:002008-06-17T13:41:00.000-04:00Eitan, I appreciate your beliefs, but there are ju...Eitan, <BR/><BR/>I appreciate your beliefs, but there are just too many close associates surrounding Obama who are far from ethical for me to think that he is as honest as you say. Time and again he has said, "that's not the man/woman I know" when one of those associates with whom he has worked for years is revealed to be ethically compromised. <BR/><BR/>And do you really think that Obama's "whole team is cool as a cucumber"? I'm curious about that because they sure have seemed hysterical over the past several months, as soon as his winning streak slowed dramatically and Clinton started to pick up so many votes. They stoked negative stories about her, adamantly refused to allow revotes in Michigan or Florida (when private funds had been raised to do both), encouraged the media to try to hound her out of the race, bullied the DNC into giving Obama votes they *say* he didn't need, and have cried foul at even the slightest hint of a criticism of Obama. That sure seems far from cool to me, and they've very nearly seemed to be in something of a lather for the last few months, really since Feb 19. <BR/><BR/>The following set of facts continues to bother me, and perhaps explains why they have been so hysterical, and have felt the need to proclaim so loudly that he is the "winner":<BR/><BR/>http://www.talkleft.com/media/caucusjune2rev.pdf<BR/><BR/>In their yelling and in their insistence they remind me very much of Bush Team 2000. That the fear of counting the votes is still so very much with us is very sad to me, and shows just how broken our system is. A video about the above can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmikfM4TqAM<BR/> <BR/>So maybe some day I'll see the cool you do, but they seem very, very nervous to me, and very insistent on trying to say things in order to make them happen or make them so. That can work, but only to a certain extent.<BR/><BR/>Neutral me,<BR/>GooseMartha Nell Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10066686045532002283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23938076.post-14817494162459924292008-06-17T13:34:00.000-04:002008-06-17T13:34:00.000-04:00Let the record show that Roxie's World officially ...Let the record show that Roxie's World officially agrees with 99% of what Eitan says in the previous comment. ;-) We might quibble over your characterization of the Clintons' version of hardball politics, but we appreciate your candor about Obama's campaign tactics and share your admiration for "dirty Chicago political muscle." Rest assured if we ever come around to endorsing Obama, we will be grateful to have a shrewd, tough guy like Axelrod in his corner. He seems to know how to win, and that's clearly something Dems have needed for a long, long time.Roxie Smith Lindemannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06455529922082930949noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23938076.post-10857499093254285572008-06-17T13:03:00.000-04:002008-06-17T13:03:00.000-04:00A quick comment, because I'm at work and don't hav...A quick comment, because I'm at work and don't have a whole lot of time here to hash out some ideas worthy of a LGBT Studies Certificate candidate. But in regards to the mantra of change and the "new politics" that Obama has promised to give... I've always thought, even as an Obama supporter, that that was the most complicated part of his campaign message, fraught with inconsistencies and hints of self-aggrandizement.<BR/><BR/>But, in a way, I think that Obama's Chicago attitude is one of his most maddeningly unavoidable appeals. The Clintons' approach to hardball politics was so deeply rooted in the culture wars that it became indistinguishable from the obnoxious self-victimization of the far left. It is impossible for me to ignore the fact that Bill "The Other Original Messiah" Clinton played fast and loose with the gay community in the early 90's, courting their support in the 92 election and then turning around and inking his name on two of the most heinous legislative crimes against the gay community <I>ever</I> -- DOMA and Don't Ask Don't Tell. <BR/><BR/>Obama's approach, on the other hand, is not rooted in the Mark Penn mold of cynical pandering to an endless array of micro-demographics ("soccer moms," "office-park dads," et al) but in the blunt, extremely transparent strong-arming mold of Axelrod and the Daly family. It's no small matter that Chicago was the home of ballbusters like Eliot Ness and Jim Malone, who may or may not have actually uttered the line made famous by Sean Connery: "They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way!"<BR/><BR/>My point is, you point to the long list of Dem losers, and they're a truly embarrassing bunch. You look at what they did wrong, and what it comes down to is the toughness and resourcefulness of their staffs. John Kerry could have been Rambo himself and he still would have lost to W, because he had a staff that couldn't throw a punch.<BR/><BR/>So yes, any intelligent person can see that Obama is not a shepherd of a new era in campaign politics. But I do believe that he's ethical, I do believe that he's honest, and I do believe that he represents a transformational moment in our nation's history. The way he's going to beat John McCain is not by relying on timid east coast micromanagers like Bob Shrum, but by relying on some dirty Chicago political muscle like Axelrod. You get the sense that Obama's whole team is cool as a cucumber, and that they barely broke a sweat during the entire primary campaign. That attitude is going to help in November.Eitanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06048819747086690385noreply@blogger.com