"Whoa. This Guy’s Good."

[babylonsister]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/18301

Whoa. This Guy’s Good.
by Brady Bonk | October 29, 2008



There is a movie starring Sandra Bullock (who hails from Joe McWeirdsmile's "Communist Country") called 28 Days. It is about a 30-something woman who goes into rehab and, as my wickedly witty ladyfriend says to describe this particular hackneyed Hollywood meme, "learns how to love." The film is, almost wholly, a cliché, the kind of movie I ought to hate. But if you've seen it, chances are good that you have a certain adoration for the film, as do I. Because of how it ends. (I won't spoil even if the movie is eight years old. Add it to your queue. It's not bad.)

The recency effect—the idea that short-term memory grasps and strokes first what it encountered last—is immensely powerful. This is why Barack Obama's decision to buy a half hour of prime time this evening was so utterly smart. It was an entire half hour, his, all his, in which he got to frame himself and the issues exactly as he liked. It will be one of the last impressions voters hold in their brains as they go to the polls.

And it was good. As a production, as a broadcast, as an argument, it was stellar. It told grim stories about Americans facing tough circumstances but never got bogged down in "malaise." It allowed Obama to be self-endorsing with a little bit of humble, which is when the man is at his best. It included endorsements from heavy hitters, including a hearty one from a military man. It featured Joe Biden, who still has more gravitas than any V.P. pick since LBJ has had in his left pinkie toenail. It offered the candidate the opportunity to squash directly and coolly the most hideous attacks on his character and his patriotism. And, it featured many of these stories and endorsements from key states and ended with him live from the perennially spoiling and for-some-reason-important Florida.

The fact alone that this candidate thinks big enough to purchase a half hour of prime-time television indicates how serious a candidate is Barack Obama. The fact that he pulled it off indicates how mind-blowingly smart a candidate he is. As I've been saying for a very long time now. Barack. Obama. Is. The. Real. Thing.

This broadcast tonight, it was brilliant. I am walking on ceilings due to it. I can only suppose that it nudged a few million fence sitters. I do fear that he has tonight upped the ante, and that in 2012, everyone's going to want one of these, leading every candidate to require gazillions of dollars more, and that this unique event of 2008 will lose its special quality as has the candidate cameo on Saturday Night Live. But damn. Biden was certainly on the nose, was he not?

[Booster]

1. I was watching Obama's special with my niece who is from

Alabama and just as it started she said "if this is just a half hour of slamming McCain, I'm gonna blow my stack". Well, as you all know it wasn't, and, although she hinted that she wanted me to change the channel, I didn't and forced her to watch it. At the end of it she said my nephew (her husband) had decided to vote for Obama and she said softly "I think I will too". Folks, this was a moment for this family. She said McCain doesn't have any ideas and I just agreed. I don't really expect her to vote at all, but at least she won't be voting for McCain.

[babylonsister]

2. Now can you encourage her to vote-the right way? At least her

eyes are opened, with your help. :thumbsup:

[Booster]

6. Like I said, I doubt that she will vote at all because she's really

just into herself, but during the show there was also a commercial for Yes on Prop 8 and we started discussing that. I had printed out something that showed what benefits married couples get and told her about a conversation I had with a Christian woman who said "we have to stop this". I told my niece that I told the woman "you can stop this. Just insist that ALL of us, whether gay, married or single, get the exact same benefits". My niece agreed with me on that too. So, even though she's not interested in politics, I'm beginning to think she's come a long way since she married my nephew and moved to California. California has a way of opening people's eyes and making them more open to other views. I love this state.

[thereismore]

3. Wow. Evidently, $3 mil well spent. I mean it. nt

[Cha]

4. What a great review to read after last

night's stellar Obama Special paid for by the American people!

I loved the way Biden was shown, too!

[ellenfl]

5. so, somebody please tell me how 28 days ended. i saw the

film but the ending did not leave an impression.

i am really hoping that obama totally reforms campaign finance. campaigning time needs to be shorter and special interest money needs to be eliminated. as long as everyone has to abide by the same rules, it should work.

ellen

[Bake]

7. I thought it was the zombie movie.

No?

bake

[ellenfl]

9. that's '28 days later'. eom

[roguevalley]

8. she caught viggo shagging someone and found out she had

to depend on herself and that is how it ended. I think. Its been a while.

[ellenfl]

10. thanks. i guess i will have to watch it again . . . or not. eom