Largehearted Boy-Why Obama?
I know, I know, all the swing voters out there had been breathlessly anticipating the much-coveted Passion of the Weiss endorsement. By contrast, Colin Powell’s decision to support Obama was mere small potatoes. After all, Andrew Sullivan, Chris Matthews, and even that twerp, Sean Hannity have concurred that my opinion will probably swing Ohio and certainly Florida to the Dems (what can I say? I hold clout among Septuagenarian Jews.)
Rather than bludgeon you with a heavy-handed diatribe here, I’ve decided to contribute to Largehearted Boy’s Why Obama series. Instead of squawking about policy proposals or differing ideologies between the two candidates, I opted to focus on the concept of the “elite,” the philosophy of “elitism” and how Republicans have conflated the two. There are jokes about Andrew Jackson, John C. Calhoun and aerial wolf hunting galore. If that doesn’t sell you, I don’t know what will.
Download:
MP3: Noreaga-”The Change”
MP3: Steely Dan-”Change of the Guard”
Stumble It!
October 24th, 2008 at 11:26 am
I happen to be voting for Obama, but that was awfully unconvincing. There are very obvious reasons why some people don’t care to be governed by elitists. Not because they think that elitists can’t govern (although when you said “why wouldn’t we want to be governed by the best and brightest,” Halberstam on Vietnam had to occur to you, and of course the invasion of Iraq was orchestrated by a ton of exceptionally bright people, our president excepted), but because they fear that elitists will discount their less than elite values and concerns and run roughshod over them. That was the whole significance of the clinging to guns/religion comment. People hear that and think, maybe rightly, maybe not, that Obama doesn’t think much of guns or religion, that he’d take away their guns and aggressively push for not just a secular, but a secularizing state, particularly with regards to public education, and naturally they don’t like that. They also resent the implication, one that Obama made in that comment, one that’s basically the whole thesis of Thomas Frank’s famous book on Kansas, that liberal elites know what’s better for them than they do themselves. That they’re too dumb or blinded by bitterness to perceive how better off they’d be with the Democratic economic plans, and therefore persistently vote the ‘wrong’ way. In part because nobody likes being told they’re stupid, but also because they might actually have a different understanding of what is ‘better’; maybe they’re willing to make a tradeoff between slightly enhanced material prosperity and guns, or public displays of religiosity. I think that’s why some people don’t care for elitist governance. Of course, this is just my informed attempt at mindreading, as I wouldn’t really fall into the elitist-hater demographic.
October 24th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
You’re so informed, Tray. Can I follow you around for a week and learn from you. I’ll pay.
October 24th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Yo, Jeff.
Not sure if you already caught this, but I’m interested to read what you have to say:
http://guerillabusfare.blogspot.com/2008/10/jackin-jackin-ms-krish.html
October 24th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Utterly ridiculous. That story had been green-lit months prior to me even contacting the rappers. Furthermore, I have e-mails to each rapper’s representatives dating back to late July/early August, well before her pitch was received. Hell, I’d done most of the interviews by that point.
Jonathan Kim, Blu’s manager; Dart Parker, the Knux’s manager. Bishop Lamont; or Carl Gillespie, Pac. Div’s publicist can all confirm this.
October 24th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Beyond all the obvious stuff — the war, the economy, a fairer tax system - Obama has also been having discussions with Lawrence Lessig, the Stanford Professor who wants to reform our antiquated copyright laws. I can’t imagine why any sane person would vote for McCain and Palin - they have nothing to offer.
October 25th, 2008 at 1:38 am
My life is boring, Mr. Weiss; I attend classes at Duke, do other Duke things. And sans sitting and reading what I read with me, which would be annoying, I hate people looking over my shoulder, you wouldn’t become much more informed. Now to be honest, I kinda hurriedly scanned your piece, and I didn’t see that you were making this conflation point. But, you know, I don’t think that’s what McCain’s people are doing. It’s not like the argument is “Obama’s an elite, and all elites are elitists,” it’s more like, “Obama’s an elitist, even though he’s not necessarily, class-wise, an elite.” Is he really an elitist? Who knows? I tend to think not, but obviously if he were he’d try to avoid coming out and saying so.
October 25th, 2008 at 8:31 am
I still don’t see how Obama’s anything more than the lesser of two evils. The main reason for not “squawking about policy proposals or differing ideologies between the two candidates” is that there aren’t a great many between McCain and Obama. While Sarah Palin is a “love her or hate her” right wing nut, both presidential contenders are mired in the rump centre. Shold he be elected, it’ll be on serious structural reforms in healthcare and economy, as well as a new direction in foreign policy that Obama should gain his props for. At the moment he’s just the next JFK, and that’s hardly a good thing.
October 25th, 2008 at 8:45 am
Fair enough, but some of those parties have to be fun right?
I’m glad you read closer, because your last comment really didn’t address my points. The crux of the piece isn’t “We need elitists,” but instead attempts to assail the way Republicans (and their antecedents) elevate the common man to absurd heights and celebrate ignorance. Meanwhile, elite values like intelligence and eloquence are nebulously conflated with “Elitism-” two obviously different things.
I don’t know if McCain’s people think Obama’s actually an elitist or not. It’s more a cynical bid to stir up class warfare and instill fears into a portion of the electorate drunk on their own self-importance. (I think we can agree that Sarah Palin’s nomination extols the notion of the common person having more foresight than the smartest Harvard-trained lawyer, no?)
October 26th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Not this shit again…
Tray, Duke undergrad?