January 17, 2007: Obama: Bland is Beautiful

I have to agree with David Corn that Barack Obama's announcement of the formation of a presidential exploratory committee is pretty much of a snore. The Candidate seems already positioned to play a role in his own version of the 1972 Robert Redford film. He feels packaged from the start in this short video that ventures hardly a centimeter from the usual pieties about the need to come together, etc.

Of course in this world of focus group politics, that's probably all we can expect from people who intend to win. It makes you yearn for the fringe candidates like Kucinich and Tancredo. At least they stand for something, not that I care much for either of them.

The presidential season is beginning very early (we'll be sticking our stake in the ground at Pajamas next week) and I'm not sure it's entirely a bad thing to run these candidates through a lengthy wringer. What we may have learned in recent years is that a person's character is more important than his or her supposed positions on the issues. They change anyway. Whoever wins the presidency in '08 is going to be under tremendous pressure from day one. Like it or not, believe it or not, he or she will be a wartime president to one degree or another, probably to a large degree. They can debate the minimum wage or health care until their blue in the face or blue in the cross [Yuck, yuck, yuck.-ed.] but the moment they get their hand off that Bible, Koran, Bhagavad Gita or collected works of Robert Ingersoll, they are going to have to deal with Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Somalia, the Philippines, Thailand and on and on. The world is going to be in nuclear-armed ferment for years to come. The next president better be tested.

Comments

Comments require registration through TypeKey. Abusive remarks may be deleted. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of Roger Simon.

I kind of miss the days when there was actually an off season.

Posted by: Terrye at January 17, 2007 4:25 PM

Indeed, is there never a time when these turkeys are not running?

Posted by: Dick Stanley at January 17, 2007 6:44 PM

Same here. Jeez, I want to be an involved citizen, but I feel like playing ostrich for a couple of years.

Posted by: mikem at January 18, 2007 2:34 AM

A perpetual presidential campaign fuels the pervasive politicizing of the war on terror, suiting the enemies of the US just fine.

By running so early, Senator Obama stokes the fires he purports to be dousing.

Btw, has anybody measured Osama's gravitas?

Posted by: Lem at January 18, 2007 7:30 AM

Sorry, that's Obama's gravitas.

Posted by: Lem at January 18, 2007 7:35 AM

By running so early, Senator Obama stokes the fires he purports to be dousing.

Well, its not like he was the first or second, or even fifth to announce his possible campaign. Indeed, he's at the 'exploratory' phase while a number of others are already 'running'. (Not that I like him... just that he, in particular seems no more or less ignorant of divisive politics than McCain, Vilsack etc.

I wonder how much of this constant political BS is fueled by the campaign managers, consultants etc that make their bread and butter running these things?

Posted by: dclydew at January 18, 2007 7:51 AM

Oh, come on Senator Kennedy.....er sorry Lem

Posted by: promoguy at January 18, 2007 9:50 AM

I wonder how much of this constant political BS is fueled by the campaign managers, consultants etc that make their bread and butter running these things?

Answer: a lot.

Posted by: Roger at January 18, 2007 10:14 AM

Obama makes gets admitted and makes law review solely because of the color of his skin, sends his kids to private schools, and compares himself to Abraham Lincoln (and Lincoln, lest you wonder, comes out second best in said comparison). No thanks, Obama. If I want a charlatan, I'll call Al Sharpton.

Posted by: TheManTheMyth at January 18, 2007 11:51 AM

Email This Post