ARTICLE: Barbara Ehrenreich on "Unstoppable Obama"

[Armstead]

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080303/ehrenreich

Published on Friday, February 15, 2008 by The Nation
Unstoppable Obama
by Barbara Ehrenreich

EXCERPT:

When did you begin to think that Obama might be unstoppable? Was it when your grown feminist daughter started weeping inconsolably over his defeat in New Hampshire? Or was it when he triumphed in Virginia, a state still littered with Confederate monuments and memorabilia? For me, it was on Tuesday night when two Republican Virginians in a row called CSPAN radio to report that they’d just voted for Ron Paul, but, in the general election, would vote for… Obama.

In the dominant campaign narrative, his appeal is mysterious and irrational: he’s a “rock star,” all flash and no substance, tending dangerously, according to New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, to a “cult of personality.” At best, he’s seen as another vague Reaganesque avatar to Hallmarkian sentiments like optimism and hope. While Clinton, the designated valedictorian, reaches out for the ego and super-ego, he supposedly goes for the id. She might as well be promoting choral singing in the face of Beatlemania.

The Clinton coterie is wringing its hands. Should she transform herself into an economic populist, as Paul Begala pleaded on Tuesday night? This would be a stretch, given her technocratic and elitist approach to health reform in 1993, her embarrassing vote for a 2001 bankruptcy bill supported by credit card companies, among numerous other lapses. Besides, Obama already just leaped out in front of her with a resoundingly populist economic program on Wednesday....

But I don’t think any tweakings of the candidate or her message will work, and not because Obama-mania is an occult force or a kind of mass hysteria. Let’s take seriously what he offers, which is “change.” The promise of “change” is what drives the Obama juggernaut, and “change” means wanting out of wherever you are now......

Clinton can put forth all the policy proposals she likes–and many of them are admirable ones–but anyone can see that she’s of the same generation and even one of the same families that got us into this checkmate situation in the first place. True, some people miss Bill, although the nostalgia was severely undercut by his anti-Obama rhetoric in South Carolina, or maybe they just miss the Internet bubble he happened to preside over. But even more people find dynastic successions distasteful, especially when it’s a dynasty that produced so little by way of concrete improvements in our lives. Whatever she does, the semiotics of her campaign boils down to two words–”same old.”

Obama is different, really different, and that in itself represents “change.” So yes, there’s a powerful emotional component to Obama-mania, and not just because he’s a far more inspiring speaker than his rival. We, perhaps white people especially, look to him for atonement and redemption. All of us, of whatever race, want a fresh start. That’s what “change” means right now: Get us out of here!

Barbara Ehrenreich, the author of Nickel and Dimed (Owl), is the winner of the 2004 Puffin/Nation Prize.

[Armstead]

1. kick

[NorthernSpy]

2. I like Ehrenreich...

:thumbsup:

[Iktomiwicasa]

3. K&R

:kick:

[msongs]

4. propaganda - obama as savior/messiah/jesus nt

[Cha]

43. Only in hilaryland eyes,

bubba.

[ErnestoG]

66. Thank you for a substanceless response.

This is what I have come to expect of the supporters of the Entitlement Candidate.

[saltpoint]

5. For the record, I do love choral singing, but Ehrenreich gets it done in

this piece.

This is yet another on a long list of extremely brilliant and perceptive women who are supporting Senator Obama.

It would be amusing to see those who feel Clinton is being rejected on (male) sexist grounds approach Ms. Ehrenreich or Katha Pollitt, for example, and accuse them of poor judgment. I'd pay some serious cash to listen to that exchange.

[Armstead]

6. Ehrenriech has literarally been in the shoes of working women

One reason she has a larger view of how the actual issues affect the actual status and conditions for women in modern America

[saltpoint]

7. Absolutely right. Hi, Armstead. Ehrenreich represents working women

as well or better than most, and her voice in this contest is a welcome one, IMO.

The very thing you point out about her here is also what makes her writing so vivid and convincing. It's coming from the blood and the bones.

[chimpymustgo]

15. "We, perhaps white people especially, look to him for atonement and redemption"

Call me crazy - or just "non-white" - but I'm looking for a lot more in a President. Especially given the troubles we face as a nation. Barbera Ehrenriech is a terrific and courageous writer and reporter. But I don't think she's come close to making a case for Obama for President.

[Armstead]

26. She's giving her own honest assessment

The article is not exactly a ringing, impassioned endorsement of Obama.

More like a rational, calm explanation of why she and others see Obama as representing a broader desire for change, without unrealistic expectations about him.

[saltpoint]

31. Hers is a personal account in that piece. In the larger mosaic, it is

one of millions such accounts.

Hi, chimpymustgo.

[chimpymustgo]

35. Old Crusoe, I can respect that. But what troubles me, is this is just another

testimonial of someone looking to this empty slate to absolve them of the sins of the past, and fullfill the dreams of future. It's an easy fix, based on nothing but the ubiquitous promise of "hope".

Frankly, it scares me, that so many would slip into lockstep on this march. Sure, it's a lot easier to believe this one act - this one vote - could offer atonement and redemption - without facing the really hard work that would be required for this nation to come to terms with its racial history.

It's blithe and infuriating. And saddening. Where others are looking for a prophet - I'm just looking for a President. I have a dream, too - a deadlocked convention, where Al Gore is chosen as the overwhelmingly consensus nominee.

Sure, I like to hope as much as anybody else. But I gotta live with the reality.

Nice talking with you, as always, Old Crusoe.

[Armstead]

38. If anyone understands your point it is Ehrenreich

She is one of those who has been doing the hard work and supporting a truly progressive agenda on a fundamental level for years.

She is among the last who need to "atone" for anything with the act of casting a vote.

Plese give her more credit than that. If ANYONE understands both the need and the difficulty of working hard to bring about meaningful change, it is she.

[chimpymustgo]

41. Too bad you don't seem to understand it.

And please, no need to chastise me about Ehrenreich's wonderful work. I won't repeat my points made earlier.

[Armstead]

81. I'm not chastising you

I am saying that IMO you are off base when you criticize her for what you perceive is an easy way out.

[Cha]

48. And, then there's Katha Pollitt's

<snips>

But right now, I'm supporting Barack Obama. On domestic politics, their differences are small-- I'm with her on health care mandates, and with him on driver's licences for undocumented immigrants; both would probably be equally good on women's rights, abortion rights and judicial appointments. But on foreign policy Obama seems more enlightened, as in less bellicose. Maybe Hillary Clinton's refusal to say her Iraq vote was wrong shows that she has neo-con sympathies; maybe she simply believes that any admission of error would tar her as weak. But we already have a warlike president who refuses to admit making mistakes, and look how that's turned out. The election of Barack Obama would send a signal to the world that the United States is taking a different tack.

When Obama won Iowa, I was surprised that I was glad. Much as I would love to pull the lever for a woman president -- a pro-choice Democratic woman president, that is --I realized at that moment how deeply unthrilled I was by the prospect of a grim vote-by-vote fight for the 50 percent+1 majority in a campaign that would rehearse all the old, (yes, mostly bogus or exaggerated) scandals and maybe turn up some new ones too. I wasn't delighted to think success would mean four more years of Bill Clinton either, or might come at the price of downticket losses, as many red-state Democrats fear. Democrats have nominated plenty of dutiful public servants over the years -- Humphrey, Mondale, Dukakis, Gore, Kerry . They have always lost (or in Gore's case, not won by enough to not lose). Obama may not be as progressive as we wish over here at The Nation-- and maybe someday we can have a serious conversation about why Edwards' economic populism, promoted for years by important voices at the magazine, was such a bust. But Obama is a candidate in a different mold. He's a natural politician who connects with people as Hillary Clinton, for whatever reason, just doesn't, and appeals to the better angels of their nature. He sparks an enthusiasm in people--independents, the young, the previously disengaged. An Obama victory could have big positive repercussions for progressive politics.

I usually resist words like "hope" and "change." But with Supertuesday barely 36 hours away what I think is, let's go with the charismatic candidate this time. Let's go with the candidate voters feel some passion about. Let's say goodbye to the Clintons and have some new people make history.

Plenty of feminists support Obama, by the way. for example Kate Michelman, former head of NARAL, and Ellen Bravo of Nine to Five. I signed a letter from " New York Feminists for Peace and Barack Obama." Other signers include the historians Linda Gordon, Alice Kessler Harris and Ros Baxandall; the sociologist Judith Stacey; the political scientist Ros Petchesky,and writers Margo Jefferson and Meredith Tax. You can read it and, if you are a New York feminist, sign it, here .

<more>..
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/anotherthing/?pid=279745

[OzarkDem]

47. No, she's made a profit selling books about them

Having worked in the trenches advocating for health care for low income working women, she's been less than helpful. She's an egomaniac and dilettante who is always absent when it comes time to push for real reform. This endorsement is par for the course.

I have zero respect for her.

[Armstead]

80. Please see my responses elsewhere on this thread

[ulysses]

8. heh.

It would be amusing to see those who feel Clinton is being rejected on (male) sexist grounds approach Ms. Ehrenreich or Katha Pollitt, for example, and accuse them of poor judgment. I'd pay some serious cash to listen to that exchange.

No shit.

Ehrenreich and Hightower both, huh? That's pretty good.

[saltpoint]

10. Hi, ulysses. The camp calling "misogyny" against males supporting

Obama conveniently forget that many women -- feminists among them -- support Obama, and that many males, misogynistic or not, support Clinton.

But in post after post, we get the wailing and gnashing of teeth.

[ulysses]

16. I haven't been spending enough time in GDP

to have identified that camp, but I've never doubted that it existed. I suppose it's to be expected that the fact that either one of them will be a history-making nominee would produce a rise in the rhetorical levels here.

[saltpoint]

20. Agree. But the long-term view is that our party is offering a woman and

an Afro American and from the looks of things, the Pukes are offering a walking corpse.

We win.

[ulysses]

22. pretty much, yeah.

Coming from my point of view having supported Kucinich and Edwards, I'll take that at least.

We still have a ways to go on policy, and Obama drives me nuts with some of his ideas on education, but I'm starting to feel better.

[saltpoint]

30. I love Dennis and John. And agree with you on the tenets of their

proposals/platforms.

And I sure do miss them.

[OzarkDem]

49. Ehrenreich is no help to Obama's cause

She's not respected among women activists. She's all talk and no action, until it comes to writing another book.

[saltpoint]

52. We disagree. In literary circles, she wields an ax and has earned her keep.

[OzarkDem]

53. Literary circles are one thing

Taking action in the halls of Congress are a different matter. She has a record of being a poor advocate on the subject she writes about. She's actually done a great deal of harm in helping get health care coverage for the women she writes about. This is just another example, and comes as no surprise.

Obama's health care plan is fatally flawed. Its riddled with problems and if enacted would fail miserably due to cost overruns and escalating insurance premiums. Once it fails, it will make real reform more difficult.

Once again, she either hasn't done her homework or is simply trying to promote herself.

[saltpoint]

55. Once again, we disagree. Senator Clinton, I believe, owned health care

under the auspices of her husband's administration in the 90s and she dropped the ball.

I would definitely not re-hire her for that job.

[Armstead]

11. Yep, they're both rightwing shills for Obama

They're also naive Obamabots who never had an original thought until Barak the Messiah filled their empty heads with propaganda.

[ulysses]

18. did you see the handwringing over Hightower's

support for Nader in 2000 the other night? :rofl:

[Armstead]

21. You mean that eeevilll progressive populist?

[ulysses]

24. "run away! run away!"

:D

[tishaLA]

34. An important point Prof Ehrenreich makes in passing

is the idea that being a feminist and being an Obama supporter are not in contradiction with each other. Because the message that he affirms--that we have to lead our own change--is so central to the tenets of feminism, he can speak to the feminist cause without relying upon the rhetorics of sisterhood, etc. Yes, patriarchy is a powerful poison, but creating real change from the grassroots is a powerful antidote.

[Armstead]

37. Good call

[saltpoint]

42. Agree, tishaLA. And Michelle Obama does not strike me as a

compliant supplicant. I think she's her own woman, likely has been for some time, and the two of them appear to have two great younguns.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

68. All politics aside, nice thoughtful post.

:thumbsup:

[Cha]

44. Katha Pollitt has come out

for Obama?! She's one of my favorite reads.

Looked it up..

<snips>

But right now, I'm supporting Barack Obama. On domestic politics, their differences are small-- I'm with her on health care mandates, and with him on driver's licences for undocumented immigrants; both would probably be equally good on women's rights, abortion rights and judicial appointments. But on foreign policy Obama seems more enlightened, as in less bellicose. Maybe Hillary Clinton's refusal to say her Iraq vote was wrong shows that she has neo-con sympathies; maybe she simply believes that any admission of error would tar her as weak. But we already have a warlike president who refuses to admit making mistakes, and look how that's turned out. The election of Barack Obama would send a signal to the world that the United States is taking a different tack.

When Obama won Iowa, I was surprised that I was glad. Much as I would love to pull the lever for a woman president -- a pro-choice Democratic woman president, that is --I realized at that moment how deeply unthrilled I was by the prospect of a grim vote-by-vote fight for the 50 percent+1 majority in a campaign that would rehearse all the old, (yes, mostly bogus or exaggerated) scandals and maybe turn up some new ones too. I wasn't delighted to think success would mean four more years of Bill Clinton either, or might come at the price of downticket losses, as many red-state Democrats fear. Democrats have nominated plenty of dutiful public servants over the years -- Humphrey, Mondale, Dukakis, Gore, Kerry . They have always lost (or in Gore's case, not won by enough to not lose). Obama may not be as progressive as we wish over here at The Nation-- and maybe someday we can have a serious conversation about why Edwards' economic populism, promoted for years by important voices at the magazine, was such a bust. But Obama is a candidate in a different mold. He's a natural politician who connects with people as Hillary Clinton, for whatever reason, just doesn't, and appeals to the better angels of their nature. He sparks an enthusiasm in people--independents, the young, the previously disengaged. An Obama victory could have big positive repercussions for progressive politics.

Lots more brillance from Katha..
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/anotherthing/?pid=279745

[saltpoint]

45. Hi, zidzi, yes. Katha Pollitt is for Barack Obama.

It would be difficult finding a more steadfast feminist than Ms. Pollitt.

I love her politics. I love her poetry.

[Bad Thoughts]

9. "atonement and redemption"

I think this has been the key to the entire campaign season: the nation that wants to heal, not go on fighting.

[ProgressIn2008]

12. Actually, I thought that part was revealing: atonement for white people

"We, perhaps white people especially, look to him for atonement and redemption."

I'm not sure how to parse that particular argument.

[Armstead]

13. How about she's being honest? No need for parsing.

Ehrenriech isn't worried about being politically correct. She's giving an honest assessment.

[Bad Thoughts]

17. For Iraq and Katrina

The atonement for which she speaks is probably that of a public that feels guilty for not being critical about the war at its earliest stages and for supporting an incompetent administration for political reasons. Does race play into it? It may, though not in terms of feeling guilty about black suffering. So much changed after Katrina that people feared being victims of partisan and ideological struggles.

[Straight Shooter]

29. Atonement, from a right winger's perspective, phrased a little more callously:

Like Doris Day he (Obama)is no wide-eyed innocent either in business terms or in political ideology. In ideology he is a hard neo-Fabian socialist with a romantic demeanor who can turn wistful and dream for reconciliation with the world. He wants to buy the world a Coke and have us pay for it. But let Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton issue the thunderous threats. That’s not Obama’s thing. He looks like an earnest young man, speaking from the heart. But I’ve known him just about the whole distance. He’s deceptive like Doris Day. All that’s missing is for him to croon “Que sera, sera!” whatever will be, will be. And watch the guilt-ridden white liberals stand up and applaud."

http://www.tomroeser.com/blogs/default.asp?categoryID=54

About Tom Roeser, who is no lightweight in politics:

Thomas F. Roeser, chairman of the editorial board of Chicago's first internet newspaper, The Chicago Daily Observer, www.cdobs.com is radio talk show host, writer, lecturer, teacher and former vice president of The Quaker Oats Company of Chicago. A former John F. Kennedy Fellow, Harvard and Woodrow Wilson International Fellow, Princeton, N. J., Roeser is theauthor of the book Father Mac: The Life and Times of Ignatius D. McDermott, Co-Founder of Chicago's Famed Haymarket Center. In addition he is Chicago correspondent of The Wanderer, the oldest weekly national Catholic newspaper and writes on his own blog www.tomroeser.com

He is a former assistant to the Secretary of Commerce and formed the nation's first program to assist minority entrepreneurs (now the Minority Business Development administration). He initiated and ran the government relations department for Quaker Oats, many of them as vice president. His teaching career includes service as adjunct professor of public policy at the Wharton School of Finance, University of Pennsylvania; the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University; Loyola University Chicago; DePaul University; the University of Illinois-Chicago; Roosevelt University, Chicago and St. John's College, Oxford University.

IOW, he has influence. More at link: http://www.tomroeser.com/about/

[Armstead]

32. If you read Ehrenreich's whole piece -- That is one sentence

And she is no starry eyed guilty white liberal.

She's tough and clear eyed about the larger issues. She included that as ONE OF MANY reasons behind the support for Obama.

[Straight Shooter]

33. I was addressing the atonement issue which the poster addressed. n/t

[Enrique]

14. good article, but I disagree with one part

she says "Obama is different, really different." I don't think so.

[K Gardner]

19. I met Barbara and heard her speak at an NNOC/CNA convention in Sacramento this

past Fall as the Keynote Speaker. She is an absolute advocate for full universal health coverage (ala HR 676) and a well-known journalist, historian and social critic. Barbara's book, Nickel and Dimed, is one of the best books I've ever read on working-class poverty and is now required reading at more than 600 universities.

In her Keynote speech, she remarked that Clinton's 1993 healthcare plan was 1300 pages long, remarkable for no input, secret meetings, was not single payer and gave power to six of the largest insurance companies in the U.S. She spoke at length against mandates and part of our convention was a march on the capitol in Sacramento and a rally against Mandates.

This is a very worthy and telling endorsement, coming from this accomplished woman who is an advocate for the working poor and AGAINST the status quo. It should also be noted that the Puffin Foundation Prize is awarded annually to an American who challenges the status quo through distinctive, courageous, imaginative, and socially responsible work of significance.

K&R

[Barack_America]

23. Thanks a lot for that background! n/t

[K Gardner]

25. Welcome ! She is truly an amazing woman :-)

[Armstead]

27. She was talking and writing about thsee things when many Democrats were in denial

An extremely impressive person.

[no name no slogan]

36. A lot of people forget that about HRC's 1993 health care plan

It was basically a giveaway to the six largest insurance companies in the country, and STILL did not provide universal coverage or effectively control costs.

People forget that her plan was NOT opposed by the big companies like Aetna, but by the smaller insurance companies who would have been effectively shut out of the insurance marketplace. The small companies were the ones who payed for those Harry and Maude ads and led the opposition to it.

Unfortunately, her "new" plan isn't much better, and is reminiscent of Nixon's 1974 plan. :(

[OzarkDem]

51. Her new plan is excellent

You should take the time to read it

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/feature/healthcareplan/summary.aspx

[no name no slogan]

60. I've read it. It's still not as good as HR 676

It keeps the insurance-industrial complex in place. And it's been tried before (by Republicans, no less).

[OzarkDem]

50. All talk and no action

She loves to talk a good game and write books. She's nowhere to be found when its time to get the work done.

[K Gardner]

58. LOL.. typical Hillary supporter: This (state, person, award, vote, etc) doesn't count. And you've

done WHAT, as compared to Barbara? I swear to God, this is why we absolutely cannot afford to have even FOUR years of Clinton bitterness, divisiveness and dismissiveness. In the middle of this beautiful thread about an extraordinary woman, you come in and piss on it and sully the name of a dedicated and true Democratic American Woman. Shame on you. But this is what you do and at some point you might want to stop the negative nastiness against any American who dares not to endorse Hillary Clinton. Because, quite frankly, you are outnumbered.

[OzarkDem]

63. When you show up in the halls of Congress

and have to advocate for real health care reform and learn who works for substantive reform and who doesn't, let me know.

[K Gardner]

64. I've been there, with 2000 fellow RNs and Barbara Ehrenreich. I've been there with

small groups and big groups. I've been there with patients and doctors and lawyers. Don't presume to tell me jack about "real healthcare reform". Your gal ain't offering it and is the SOLE reason we have been set back for the past 15 years to the point we are still at today, where tens of thousands of people die and 47 million are uninsured. These are the people I tend to, I care for everyday, and the people Barbara and thousands of us march and rally and lobby for. Don't tell me about reforming a system I work everyday in. And don't dare tell me Hillary can do it. That dawg won't hunt.

[Armstead]

79. Um, writing books is what she does.

People contribute to their beliefs in the way that suits them best and based on what they can do best.

She writes great books about topics that are important and too often ignored.

Anything she might do beyond that is a bonus.

[Mme. Defarge]

28. Yes, I'm sure I want to recommend

this thread! Kick.

[Scurrilous]

39. Great article.

:thumbsup:

[Johnny__Motown]

40. Well said, couldn't agree more

[OzarkDem]

46. Ehrenreich exploits the poor for profit

No surprise she likes Obama.

[ulysses]

56. huh?

Nickel and Dimed is exploiting the poor for profit?

Sorry, I've enjoyed posts of yours elsewhere, but that's just nuts.

[OzarkDem]

57. Writing is one thing

but the author has aligned herself with ineffective efforts to advance their cause. She seems to back the groups that provide her with the highest visibility, usually groups that have weak agendas that don't help low income women.

That she supports Obama, whose health care reform plan is inadequate and designed to fail, or to provide corporate welfare to insurance companies is another example.

As I mentioned in a post up-thread, she doesn't earn much respect from health care groups who lobby for women.

It probably helps her sell books, though.

[K Gardner]

59. Listen, dufuss.. I *am* in one of the largest health care groups in the United States, my union is

one of the largest healthcare unions in the United States.. we adamantly support Barbara Ehrenreich and I'm fairly certain your pathetic and nasty tone would be entirely different if she had endorsed YOUR candidate. This sour grapes bashing of good americans by you has GOT to stop. There is no excuse for it. You have bashed and denigrated every single loyal democrat who has endorsed Obama. Enough is freaking enough.

[OzarkDem]

62. Opinions of Ehrenreich

and her lack of substantive support for health care reform have been around long before this election.

Your lack of sincerity in discussing the flaws in Obama's health care plan reveals a great deal too. Advocacy groups who represent the interests of patients have a different view of health care reform than those who represent health care providers. What's good for the health care industry isn't always what's best for health care consumers.

Obama's plan may appear to be a short term fix for the problems of the industry, but patient advocacy groups take a longer view and in that view, Obama's plan fails. Disagree with me if you wish, but most economists and health care reform policy experts agree. Ask Paul Krugman.

As for ad hominem attacks instead of substantive debate, well that also speaks for itself. Your opinion doesn't reflect that of the doctors I'm acquainted with. They support the Clinton plan.

[K Gardner]

67. Ask Paul Krugman? LOL. And why would I even try to debate someone who knows nothing about

health care, who obviously has no passion for the poor or sick or injured; someone who will say and do anything to present their candidate as the "only" solution. I assure you, I could debate you ad nauseum on HR 676 and on the flaws of BOTH candidates' healthcare plans. But why would I waste that time doing so? An ad hominem attack, as you say, is really all you deserve. And btw, my opinion does reflect ALL of the doctors I'm acquainted with, work with, am friends with, socialize with and work on healthcare reform with. When given a choice between only the Obama v Clinton plan, they support the Obama plan.

[OzarkDem]

82. Its quite obvious

yu know little about health care reform and don't care to learn anything that conflicts with your worship of Obama.
Dissing the top economic and health care reform experts is ample evidence.

[ErnestoG]

73. WHAT?? LOL

Man you Hillarbots are getting desperate. Just like your attacks on Ted Kennedy or anyone else who dares endorse Queen Hillary's opponent.

[Armstead]

78. For Pete's sake. She is a PROFESSIONAL WRITER

She could be making a boatload more money if she had decided to write for People Magazine or write cookbooks or become yet another conventional wisdom pundit.

[saltpoint]

54. Armstead, I've stepped away then stepped back to your post here,

and say thanks for putting it up for us on DU.

Ehrenreich is someone I've admired for a while. I had the pleasure of hearing a reading by National Book Award finalist Patricia Henley, who had praise for many other writers that evening in the Q&A session, but especially for Barbara Ehrenreich and Russell Banks.

Anyway, I'm glad you put this up. Appreciated.

:thumbsup: :hi:

[AZBlue]

61. Fantastic article.

K&R

[ErnestoG]

65. Decent Article. It will sail over the noggins of the Hillarbots.

[David Zephyr]

69. This is worth reading twice.

Kicking this up. It is funny to the bone.

[paulk]

70. Ron Paul supporters voting for Obama is a good thing?

:shrug:

I don't get it.

I truly don't get it....

[Armstead]

77. She is pointing out the major hunger for change

In the original article linked to she writes later:

"It can even mean wanting out so badly that you don't much care, as in the case of the Ron Paul voters cited above, exactly what that change will be...."

Although Ehrenreich is supporting Obama, the article is NOT an unambiguously enthusiastic or unquestioning endorsement.

She is explaining her own observations of what is driving the extent of support he is receiving.

You should probably read the original article linked to in full rather than just the excerpt above.

[paulk]

83. I think it points up the shallow nature of political discourse in

this country.

It sucks - we argue over minutiae on this board, while the people who really decide elections vote for reasons that have nothing to do with issues or policy. They vote for who they want to have a beer with, or for even worse reasons.

How does one go from supporting Ron Paul to voting for Obama? They are on opposite ends of the political spectrum. Who cares about issues? But, that is what elections are about anymore - throw some words out there - brand yourself, build an image - it's politics as product.


Obama has done a brilliant job of exploiting a general dissatisfaction with our political process. He's cast himself as the outsider, the one who is going to ... change ... the system.

[Hill_YesWeWill]

71. Nice! Now for some random questions:

I haven't been here that long, can you guys help me out and tell me what kick and k&R mean?

[Hill_YesWeWill]

72. wait, don't tell me, k&r means kick & rec.?

but what does kick mean?

[Armstead]

76. When you respond to a post it moves it to the top of the pile

Or, as Emeril might say it "Kicks it up a notch." (At least until another thread gets a post.

:kick:

[question everything]

74. I have always admired Ehrenreich, however she is one of the white divorced women

who are not tied to a 9-5 jobs and who hold it against Hillary for not divorcing Bill.

I heard her comment on Radio Pacific some 10 years ago, or so, after he "Nickled and Dimed" was first published in Harper's Bazaar.

[Major Hogwash]

75. Yeah, change is good.

Nothing should stay as mucked up as it is today. We have to get out of Iraq. We simply can't "stay the curse" for much longer.