ryansutter.net

Hey Lee,

I quite disagree with your take on Obama being a fraud and phony. Rather than attempt to argue that (which would likely be a pointless exercise since you seem so passionate about it) I gotta ask who you DO support in this race? Is there a candidate that you think represents you? Also, what has Obama ever said that would give you the impression that he has no respect for typical "salt of the earth" Americans?

Ryan

I say let them destroy each other. The Democrats really have no positions to run on other than "Hate Bush, Hate Conservatives, Hate Any War" and it's ab so frickin loutley fun to watch them run on the politics of hate on each other.

Obama probably truly hates Middle America. (Sorry Latinos, we coined the name for our country first, don't bother trying to muscle in on our poetic name for our country.)

The way the guy speaks about the typical, salt of the earth American smacks of derision and aloofness. Sure, middle America has a lot of flaws. For a long time, as an African-American (I'm not from Africa, so why the hell am I an African-American?), I had to give the "ghetto stare" (Ask Brian about the "ghetto stare") to hicks in bars and restaurants that disliked me based on the color of my skin.

But at the same time, many of those same salt of the earth Americans (Except the REALLY rabid, crazy ones) accepted me in due time once they figured out that most of their ideas about blacks were based on what they saw in the media and from these little black hooligans that they see at the Mall. And I've found out that's the case for most typical salt of the earth Americans.

On the other hand, most liberal elitists I've known still would stick to their opinions even if their opinions were proven to be based on fallacies. I once knew a liberal that wanted to ban all guns, even hunting rifles. I asked him what would people who live in the woods do for food and for defense against wild animals? His response: a crossbow.

Obama in my opinion, has little to no respect for the typical salt of the earth American and has no business running for president. His view of the country is typical of a person that seldom if often left his large city and visited the hinterland. (Which is the view I used to have of the rural areas before I actually went there)

I stopped being a liberal when I realized that the mainstream liberal establishment is just another hate machine, almost as bad as any white racist group.

And I find it VERY ironic that Hillary's main constituency in this primary are Reagan Democrats. When she was in office, she ran to the left of many Democrats. She's a fraud and a phony, much like Obama.

Yeah, maybe my anecdote derailed my train. The point is that in a contest for votes, kudos to the person who moves the voters in their direction no matter how they do it.

Hillary annoys the piss out of me, but someone over in her camp has a brain and I think that's what's made this close.

I just read that she wants to go head to head in debate with Barack (no moderator). Brilliant! The challenge is an instant win for her. At first thought you might think, "He'll mop the floor with her." He owns debate, public speaking, thinking for himself... but he's already set to win. He'd get nothing from taking the challenge. On the other hand, it opens him up. Even if the odds of a misstep are slim, there's a risk that isn't there if he doesn't take the bait. All risk, no benefit.

But how do you decline a head to head without losing some face? Good luck.

So she'll gain some points when he declines and if it's too many points he'll have to do it anyway. Again, good luck.

The problem is that Obama is a little too good. As we've already heard, he's writing his own speeches. It makes me wonder what else is he doing for himself. And you might say it makes him more "real". But to me it's the old singer-songwriter scenario. What are the odds that a really great musician will also be a great lyricist as well as a great singer?

She's the name and the face and that might be it. It's obvious that she has someone else make up her positions. Someone else does her writing. Another one allocates the money. She's got a team of strategists.

I'm guessing she's got Hari Seldon working for her cause her insight into what will move the mob in her direction is very acute (and counter intuitive). What thinking person have advised her to start tearing up that time? But it worked. The examples escape me, but I've laughed at her seemingly stupid attempts a number of times only to see the numbers sway her way in response.

Meanwhile Obama is probably cutting his own hair, tying his own ties, and is certainly deciding how to accessorize for himself (no pin?).

But don't get me wrong, I'm elated that this guy will be our next President. I mean the contrast between him and Bush are well... hehheh.

That was a really interesting post man... although, are you saying that Hillary or Obama are playing by a particular strategy here? I'm not sure I'm seeing the connection, although I'd love to see the commercial you made. :-)

I wanted to comment on your last Obama post, but it was a little too ranty. This post goes well with what I wanted to say.

Obama's been in the catbird seat for a while now. The numbers have shown an inevitable win for some time. So why doesn't he run a more conservative campaign? Why make (politically) stupid comments?

At this point, there's almost nothing Hillary can do or say to capture a win. The ONLY way Obama can lose is by saying or doing something really stupid. So what I would expect is for Hillary to get absolutely crazy (nothing to lose, everything to gain) and for Obama to play it safe - no attacks on Hillary, no potentially controversial statements (no matter how bitter the uneducated hicks really are).

So when Hillary's camp jumped on Obama's "bitter" comment, it made sense. This is a political campaign - a contest. This has almost nothing to do with who will be the better President - it's who's the best at competing for the job. It's like Top Chef (a "reality" contest show). It doesn't produce the best chef, it produces the best contestant on the show, Top Chef.

When Obama made the "bitter" comment it made no sense. What does it matter if he's right? He's not some idealist running for 2% of the vote. He's a baby kissing, cow nursing, bowling, gonna-win-it candidate. Save the honest, intelligent speeches for when you stand to lose a few public opinion poll percentage points, not when you stand to lose the nomination.

He talks smart and maybe even thinks smart, but I'm not exactly blown away by his campaign smarts.



In my Senior year of High School we ran a mock election. Being a politically neutral JW I didn't figure I could run as a candidate so I convinced my friend Ian to run as an independent with me as campaign manager.

To make it as realistic as possible, the thing was rigged so that the independent couldn't win. Each candidate was given a budget in the form of units that represented money and time. The Republicans and the Dems were each given the same amount and the Independent was given considerably less.

The rest of the class that were not taking part in the campaigning were each assigned a voting block to represent. Again the Independents were slighted by not having as many points to award.

Our task was to allocate our budget by campaign aspect (speeches, ad spots, platform, etc.) and by voter block (similar to funding/spending time in specific states). You multiply the money/time units by the points awarded in their respective categories and that is your total votes.

The strategy: Put all our eggs in Jesse's basket.

There was a limit to how much you could put in any one category/block. Since the voters were graded on how well they reflected their voter block, it was best for the parties to put their money/time units into their respective party voter blocks. By doing so, the Republicans and the Democrats would be in a virtual tie with the independents far behind. The winner would be whichever Republican or Democrat allocated their funds the best.

Well instead of bothering with the impotent independents, I put the maximum allowed into our ad spot and in one particular Republican's voting block controlled by a kid named Jesse. I then took a camcorder to the Mall of America to get some footage of random passersby endorsing my candidate. It was really just filler for the commercial I made cause the ending was all that was needed - The Hooters girls saying "Vote Ian..."

Of the seven classes that staged the mock elections, ours was the only one for which the teacher decided NOT to announce the winner. :)



It's not a test, it's not a job interview - it's a vote. Play accordingly.

Oh, and, OH BAH MAH! OH BAH MAH! OH BAH MAH! OH BAH MAH! OH BAH MAH! OH BAH MAH! OH BAH MAH! OH BAH MAH! OH BAH MAH! OH BAH MAH! OH BAH MAH! OH BAH MAH!