Ok Ok...... so I have given your minds too much of a vacation - this is evident. I shall continue to post run routes so that you can track your inferiority vs. my superiority, but, in addition to all that, we must get back into some political discussions with the elections approaching rapidly.
Obama was in Fayetteville today - if only he would discuss what "change" means and in what we will be putting our "hope" - I might give a thought to voting for him - he is the most presidential of all three remaining. However, as he continues to mire in the trite sound byte, we are left to rue what could have been. I must endorse John McCain at this juncture - stay tuned.....
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3 comments:
I don't understand this criticism of Obama. It's true that he employs simple, repeatable sound bytes. That's how effective narratives are formed, how successful leaders create space in the collective discourse for their proposals to resonate.
But in point of fact, Obama's proposal for Iraq, the subject of today's speech, is far more thoughtful and detailed than either Clinton's or McCain's. Read the transcript.
How can "simple, repeatable sound bytes" be "thoughtful and detailed?" Isn't the essence of "simple" exactly the opposite of "detailed?"
I don't mean to be rude, but having watched this guy debate for a year and a half, to say that he is "detailed" is a far stretch, at best. He is the best public speaker of the bunch and he delivered a doozy today, BUT......
What I meant is that he is capable of both.
Consider the purpose of primary debates: to distinguish oneself from a field of similar candidates by dramatizing subtle differences. That is where the power of narrative comes into play. In broad strokes, Obama becomes the candidate of hope, who promises a program of good faith in place of the current program of cynicism, while Clinton becomes the candidate of experience, who will apply an even hand to the economy and foreign policy. Simple, repeatable sound bytes based loosely around true facts.
However, as he showed this morning, and on Tuesday with his remarks on race and Rev. Wright, beneath the narrative exists a positive program of change for Iraq, a thoughtful understanding of race relations in the US today, and detailed proposals addressing health care, education, and poverty, which each reflect the contours of his narrative of reconciliation.
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