Providence keeps providing Obama with pathways to excellence and McCain with trails to failure. Now Obama gets to show McCain how to interrupt his own campaigning, maintain the campaign at full tilt, gain tremendous sympathy for his empathy and love (older voters are just going to swoon over this one) and revisit his thoroughly Kansan roots, all the while appearing perfectly and consistently logical. There will be comparisons with McCain's dumb stunt and none of them will be favorable. I would like to see the inevitable ugly spin from Limbaugh, Malkin and the hateful fringe.Not me. At any rate, no one is saying Obama asked for this, or is even implying that he's exploiting it. But it's very hard to miss the parallels.
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Two posts on the subject, and its creepy to do analysis at a time like this, but I do think that this e-mail I received is on point:
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Unless you're one of those weird pro-family Republicans who isn't on speaking terms with your family (see Giulliani, Reagan, and I think Gingrich at one point), you do need to interrupt your campaign in such a case. (I'll note that I give McCain a lot more slack on the fidelity stuff than some of my compatriots because as near as I can tell from outside he's on good terms with all his children, and that says something about him as a dad. Though Cindy recovering from a stroke alone gives me pause.)
I hope his grandmother makes it a few more months, if that's what she hopes for. But if not, I'm glad she could have lived to see this, how far the nation has come and how her grandson, whom she helped form, embodies that.
At any rate, no one is saying Obama asked for this, or is even implying that he's exploiting it.
Give it time. I'm sure by a few hours from now at least a few troglodytes will be saying this was all part of BHO's evil plan.
And yes, he looks like his maternal grandfather. Got his chin, for one thing.
I'm fairly new to this political blog scene. Thank god for u- TNC, Sully, Ambinder, Dkos and several others. My question is what bug crawled up Malkin's ass and died? I guess the same one that bought Rushie his oxy. Maybe he's back on his ill gotten meds.
I don't think Providence exists, much less is on anyone's side. You make your own luck. Obama could've acted the same way John McCain did during the financial crisis-- resorting to stunts, acting erratically, 'suspending' his campaign for cheap photo ops. He chose not to. McCain could've tried to use the crisis to his advantage-- sharply and clearly criticizing Bush, offering a coherent plan to help everyone affected by the crisis and a clear economic point of view. He chose not to.
It's not an accident of fate that Barack Obama is acting like a humane individual with sound, clear judgment. He is one.
The Freepers and the Malkinites are spewing even more disgusting shit than usual over this tragedy. They're not just bereft of decency - they're incapable of it.
Ta-Nehisi, with respect, I can't believe you think this email is "on point"!?
Obama's grandmother might be dying. It's shameful and downright tacky to talk about this in terms of how politically expedient it might be for Obama. And doubly so to suggest that Providence's divine guidance has chosen her death as a way for Obama to score cheap political points.
I see your caveat Ta-Nehisi, but there are other ways to demonstrate the parallel.
"And doubly so to suggest that Providence's divine guidance has chosen her death as a way for Obama to score cheap political points."
Yes, providence is the wrong word. For whatever reason, I didn't take it as a literal invocation--i.e. the hand of God. Still, after consulting the dictionary. You're right.
I do not think this post or many others that I have seen around the blogger-globe is in poor taste at all. People will view it through their own lenses. Maybe, we could quibble of this notion of "providence" or the lack of "tact, as Tessa mentioned above me.
The thing that strikes me most in our response to this is that we are forcing ourselves to analyse this moment in Obama's life through an opaque political lense. Supporters of all stripes forget these candidates are mere humans with families that they love. We have to make public figures less than human to oppose them or worship them beyond mortality to support them. Obama deserves to take this time to be with his grandmother. Whether it is kosher to speak of it or not, atleast regard that Obama and McCain (for that matter) are after all only human and deserve our common regard as such.
Mucho paz
Supporters of all stripes forget these candidates are mere humans with families that they love.
Which is why I appreciated Ta-Nehisi's first post so much, which by the way I think was in good taste.
This post on the other hand just rubbed me the wrong way. We should be able to dispense with the narrative of how this helps Obama politically, or how it highlights McCain's erratic behavior, and just let it be.
If you have to lie, you either don't have a good argument or are too dumb or lazy to make it. The truth is always the best argument. A lie will eventually look like a stunt and will always generate backlash. When the truth sinks in, those who were wrong will be forgiven, those that lied will be disgraced.
By "providence", I simply meant fate. Life comes at us from all directions, and how we return the volleys ultimately marks the shuffling we do in this mortal coil.
I don't believe for a millisecond that Obama or his campaign are intentionally profiting from the situation. Just like his grandparents and mother, it is in Obama's nature to do the right thing, and the right thing he shall do.
But when you're doing the right thing under the klieg lights of a campaign that now has been running for twenty months, then EVERY move and EVERY utterance of yours will be interpreted politically by the political interpretation natterers. By doing the right thing, as he has done in every aspect of his campaign, Obama is reinforcing the perception of a steadfast, moral and decent human being. There is no running away from the fact that Obama's Hawaii trip will be viewed positively by most Americans. Whether or not it helps his campaign is entirely irrelevant to the man; I believe it will, because I made my measure of him last year and know what moves his heart and mind.
We should not judge providence so harshly and so logically. It certainly has acted in Obama's favor throughout the campaign--but there's no guarantee the next two weeks won't throw a giant monkey wrench at us and bust open stresses I'd rather not see tested until after the voting ends. The illness of his grandmother will give us another facet by which to view the man, and with every test he impresses more and more Americans. If anything, I would prefer more tests of this nature than the fake and bland posturing of the debates. I watched Maddow last night and she almost crossed into public panic regarding Obama's absence from the trail, but a life test will reveal more than months of campaigning have shown us.
Obama's move, in comparison with McCain's move, will look good precisely because it's genuine, because it will not be seen as a thinly disguised attempt to impress. At precisely the right moment in time, we'll get to see a narrative bit on Obama, rather than analytical policy discussions. In a sense, the policy thing has exhausted itself, and now voters are searching for the final push to sway their choices. I cannot imagine a more appropriate scenario than the one unfolding this week.
It is not my purpose to sound crass about the whole matter, but one needs to be a realist and understand the impact this episode will have on Obama's public image. Heck, it could have been an exchange at a supermarket with Josie The Cashier. The point is that every event in Obama's public and private life sheds another spotlight on him. There is no harm in this.
As for his grandmother's illness, I'm generally not a sentimental person, but it's already tugging at my heartstrings. I believe it will do the same for millions.
The week has started with Powell and will end with his grandmother. In the middle we have Limbaugh getting ready to bust all four of his guts. So if I have to be coldly calculating just to see Rush blow all his gaskets, fine, I'll take that any day.
Well, of course, the wilder fringes of McCain/Palin's community are already accusing Obama of "using" his grandmother's illness, just as they accused him of abandoning her (for some reason) at an earlier stage of the campaign. The family values party will never stand for allowing that a liberal or a progressive can have real family love, or family life, because its a tenet of their false religion that liberals *don't* marry, they just have sex just as they don't have children, they abort and just as they don't love their parents/are loved by them but abandon them/are abandoned by them. You see the same attitude in the recent video of the woman explaining that Obama isn't christian because "his mother was an atheist" and anyway he isn't christian because no one but her kind of christian is christian. In the McCain/Palin universe there can be only one kind of american, one kind of family, one kind of family love. They will not extend to Obama any of the thoughtful respect that he and his family deserve qua family just as they have not extended to him the respect he deserves qua candidate. Its a manichean world view. (though, no doubt, if asked specifically sarah palin will say "bless his heart" as she attacks him for going to hawaii...to steal his own birth certificate (this, btw, is one of the current internet rumors about why he is flying to hawaii).
aimai
Omar Juma writes: "In the middle we have Limbaugh getting ready to bust all four of his guts."
Now that's funny. I'm betting the shock of "President Obama" will set the bastard off on an oxycontin binge he'll never come back from.
I think Persia's comment is really on point.
Now that's funny. I'm betting the shock of "President Obama" will set the bastard off on an oxycontin binge he'll never come back from.
==
I have to disagree. An Obama Presidency would be great news for Rush. Rush Limbaugh worries about the entertainment side as much as (if not more than) the political side. Having Democrats in charge makes his show a lot easier to do, and will fire up his listeners into a good ol' Clinton-Era Frenzy(tm).
An Obama Presidency would be great news for Rush.
Sure, after the dust settles. But for the next two months, he's going to maxi-rant and go after everyone and everything. Rush might like the entertainment revenue, but he's Nazi-mad about getting the government he prefers. So we're going to be treated to embarrassing, ugly, repulsive and ignorant broadcasts, all of which will serve as fodder to further marginalize him.
Monday's anti-Powell diatribe was a preview. He might as well put on his grand wizard robe and be done with the charade.
But Rush might get less material than he did during the Clinton years. There's little personal sleaze on Obama. He doesn't have a funny Southern drawl or a chalky voice. Obama will manage the country with skill that would make Jack Welch green with envy. And he'll do so with the broadest political coalition this country has seen in decades.
Where Rush goes for material will be challenging. If he digs deeper into klan territory, he most definitely will lose a part of his audience. If he goes all moderate and soft, he'll lose an even bigger part. So he's going to have to invent a new crusade. He'll lose audience that way as well.
People can ill afford his kind of crap when they're worrying about food, medicine, health, home and schooling. That schtick worked in the Clinton and Bush years when the money spigots were wide open. It won't have the same resonance in the new era we're about to enter into.
Omar is right: every action gets interpreted in light of the campaign, even though I'm sure Senator Obama would suspend whatever he might be doing at any time in his life to go visit his ailing grandmother. Every second of the campaign is watched, so a perfectly natural, human action is looked at as a campaign activity (or "stunt" if you are choosing to be pejorative) even though it so obviously isn't.
As Persia wrote very well, it's no accident that through the course of this campaign, as things happen in the world, Obama comes off better than McCain and benefits politically. The reason is Obama is simply better: a better person and candidate and, surely, leader. No amount of punditry or spin can change that. And after such a long and relentlessly watched campaign, people are really beginning to see that.
Let's hear one for decency.
I mean... he's simply doing what a normal person would do, right? He was raised by this lady, she is the last remaining elder in his family. What is he gonna do, not visit her? She is gravely ill, isn't she? Occam's razor. All available information suggests that this person is very important in his life and that he is a decent, regular guy in many ways. His very competent staff can take care of necessary functions in the meantime, outreach etc. I know if I was in a similar situation, I wouldn't be able to do much work anyway.
Not that you're wrong to consider the political implications, but I think there basically aren't very many, since they haven't (to my knowledge) made a big splashy announcement or any announcement with political overtones, just the minimum 'obama will suspend campaign while visiting grandmother' press release. I don't think it's so comparable to McCain's suspension because that was under very different public (not private) circumstances, but clearly that was intended for political effect, while this... it would take quite a cynic to figure, "those sly obama campaign chieftains, putting this subtly out there and letting the Obama-loving media pick it up and praise him for it while appearing independent!" which btw isn't much happening beyond a couple blogs. As far as I can tell.
"Fate" is indeed the word here. Truly it would be a shame if there was no one from Barack's immediate family to see this day coming.
That said, one small political consideration that's been overlooked here - last night I heard Alter talking about how taking 4 days (actually 1½) out of the last 15 was such a big deal, but this story is actually likely to drive the narrative all week, and right into Sunday. And Steve Schmidt's campaign has been all about grabbing the headlines day after day.
Only the bitter reality of the situation prevents me from describing this as schadenfreude, viz-a-viz the herky-jerky McCain campaign.
(and Limbaugh and his ilk will be richer than ever with an Obama Presidency to play off of with the mouth-breathers)
I don't think it's so comparable to McCain's suspension because that was under very different public (not private) circumstances
The MSM have proven to be fantastically stupid and will compare a dinosaur bone to a squirrel's tail if it suits their purpose. Heartbreaking family narrative on the first black American to get this close to the presidency, two weeks before the election...
Where's there's a dollar, there's a way. There's ratings in them thar hills, son.
Let's come back here in a few days after the pundits have spoken.
The difference is Obama's not calling for McCain to suspend anything. When McCain suspended his campaign, he wanted to move the debate. Obama isn't asking for McCain to change a thing. Obama is also killing McCain in the polls, so for anyone to suggest this is a political stunt just doesn't make sense.
Good point Stacy. I had forgotten that McCain actually asked Obama to suspend HIS campaign. Still I think Omar is right. Someone above mentioned that Obama is just doing what any human being would. But that is exactly the point. The campaign to "otherize" him relies on you seeing him as a Muslim terrorist--not as a guy who loves his grandmother. I know those things are mutually exclusive but they tend to be incongruos in people's minds. I AM NOT SAYING THAT THIS IS A CAMPAIGN TACTIC. But people do look at how you respond to crisis. You have to consider Obama acting like an oridinary person, against the backdrop of people saying he pals around with terrorists.
I had forgotten that McCain actually asked Obama to suspend HIS campaign.
This is too tempting. Let's see if McCain goes to visit his mother later this week, replete with photo ops and toady journalists.
Nobody ever says "mucho paz". Nobody ever says "mucha paz" (which would be grammatically correct).
Unless you're one of those weird pro-family Republicans who isn't on speaking terms with your family (see Giulliani, Reagan, and I think Gingrich at one point)
Giuliani does not belong on this list. Giuliani has never pretended to be a "pro-family" Republican in the sense of being socially conserative. He was always a "law-an-order" Republican, to a lesser extent a "cut taxes and be ro-business" Republican, and during the 2008 campaign, a "he'll kill the [insert derogatory term for arabs and Muslims] and that's good enough for me" conservative.
Oh dear Spanish teacher! I don't mind correction.
But apparently a sweet and dear Argentinian always says that to me. And I wouldn't give a damn if any one else said it or not. Much love and peace to you too...
:-)
Omar:
No, but he does have a, well, y'know, "dusky complexion"....That's been "material" enough for--what?--five hundred years now, hasn't it? Surely no one thinks that's too low for Limbaugh to stoop.