Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Obama Is Doomed

Maureen Dowd explains why. Especially revealing is the bit about how Bill Clinton got Vlad to invade Georgia while The One was surfing in Hawaii, so as to make him look soft.

And here's the polls to prove it.

Barack Obama, representing the teenage wing of the Democratic Party

12 comments:

Steve V said...

I don't know how anyone can say "doomed" at this point, just as I couldn't understand those that said "romp" a few weeks ago. It's going to be a dogfight, and it's barely even started.

The only thing I'd say at this point, McCain is showing an uptick in many of the key battleground states, the illusion that Obama could win red states becoming more realistic.

philosoraptor said...

Either way, I feel like I win.

If Obama wins, he's likely to start rebuilding at least a portion of the America that I respect.

If John McCain wins, he's likely to put the nail in the coffin of the America that I don't respect. This will just drag the neocon name down even further until it is completely discredited. I rather enjoy living in a country where we don't deny gays their rights, and where we aren't hamstrung by a religious right into banning potentially life-altering stem cell research. If America wishes to continue down that path while holding the neocon hand, I'm not going to stop them.

Ti-Guy said...

...he's likely to put the nail in the coffin of the America that I don't respect.

Yeah, but it'll still be a dreary spectacle right up until the end game. The Empire still has a line of credit with which to finance its disastrous foolishness and no one is considering calling in the debt anytime soon.

LeDaro said...

Yeah right, and Roman Empire is back. News is that it is about to invade United States of America. You do not have to go to Rome to find that out. Just go to your neighbourhood theatre.

I do not believe this survey. Fumbling bumbling McCain cannot win. If he does, watch out world. This senior citizen and unstable man can cause lot of harm.

Maureen Dowd of course is a comedian and she writes comic columns.

rww said...

"Maureen Dowd of course is a comedian and she writes comic columns."

Who better to analyze an electoral system that is one big joke.

Anonymous said...

charisma without substance is a dangerous thing.

Sums up Obama.

Butter him now 'cause he's toast

Anonymous said...

and he just lies too much, too often

A JPost.com exclusive blog


One of the knocks on Barack Obama is that his résumé is, so to speak, paper-thin. But that is not entirely accurate. Obama, in fact, has held some major job titles which are noteworthy all by themselves: United States Senator, Lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School, Harvard Law Review President-each of these titles puts him in rarefied company. Tack on a few Illinois State Senate terms, and his resume actually appears solid. Yet, in spite of these prestigious positions, Obama has increasingly resorted to making claims of accomplishment that are so patently inflated that even his cheerleaders at CNN and the New York Times are taking notice. Why?

It seems that Obama recognizes that while his résumé titles are impressive, his actual accomplishments are weak. It's as if he were jockeying to be the next company CEO with little to show for his prior high-profile management positions. So, he does what anyone else does who has spent years coasting on charisma without doing any heavy work: he pads his résumé--stretching the truth here, stealing credit there, and creating the illusion of achievement during his lackadaisical, undistinguished tenure in previous jobs.

A few examples? Take Obama's first general election ad. We are told that Obama "passed laws" that "extended healthcare for wounded troops who'd been neglected," with a citation at the bottom to only one Senate bill: The 2008 Defense Authorization Bill, which passed the Senate by a 91-3 vote. Six Senators did not vote-including Obama. Nor is there evidence that he contributed to its passage in any material way. So, his claim to have "passed laws" amounts to citing a bill that was largely unopposed, that he didn't vote for, and whose passage he didn't impact. Even his hometown Chicago Tribune caught this false claim. It's classic résumé-padding--falsely taking credit for the work of others.

Or take one of Obama's standard lines: his claim of "twenty years of public service." As pundit Michael Medved has pointed out, the numbers don't add up. Shall we count? Three years in the US Senate (two of which he's spent running for President), plus seven years in the Illinois State Senate (a part-time gig, during which time he also served as a law professor) equals, at most, ten. Even if we generously throw in his three years as a "community organizer" (whatever that means, let's count it as public service), that still adds up to just thirteen.

Obama's other activities since 1985 have included Harvard Law School, writing two autobiographies (including several months writing in Bali), prestigious summer law firm jobs, three years as an associate at a Chicago law firm, and twelve years part-time on the University of Chicago Law School faculty. As Medved notes, it takes quite the ego to consider any of those stints "public service." Which of them is Obama including?

Obama made yet another inflated boast last month during his visit to Israel. At his press conference in Hamas rocket-bombarded Sderot, Obama talked up "his" efforts to protect Israel from Iran:

"Just this past week, we passed out of the US Senate Banking Committee - which is my committee - a bill to call for divestment from Iran as way of ratcheting up the pressure to ensure that they don't obtain a nuclear weapon." (Emphasis added.)

Nice try. But as even CNN noted, Obama is not even on that committee. That is one peculiar "mistake" to simply have made by accident. Again, his claiming credit for the work of others just looks like clumsy, transparent résumé embellishment.

Would someone with Obama's stellar list of job titles resort to making stuff up? He seems to think he has to. In spite of the many impressive positions he's held, he's done almost nothing with them. If he wants to claim specific, relevant accomplishments, his only resort is to stretching the truth.

Look at his record: he's now completed over half of a Senate term; yet, is there even one signature issue he has taken hold of, other than his own presidential run? Similarly, as the New York Times recently pointed out, Obama spent twelve years on the University of Chicago Law School faculty--singularly famous for its intellectual ferment and incubator of scholarship--and produced not even a single scholarly paper. He was President of Harvard Law Review, but wrote nothing himself. Even as a state legislator for seven years-or community organizer for three years, there is little that shows his imprint. OK, to be fair, he did write two books. About himself.

For all his glowing job titles, Obama has never gotten much done. Is it any wonder that his spokesmen respond with sweeping generalities when asked what Obama has actually accomplished relevant to the presidency?

Obama has held several serious positions from which a serious man could have made a serious impact. But Obama made none. He remains a man of proven charisma, but unproven skill--and not for lack of opportunity. He's treated his offices as if they were high school student council positions-fun to run for, fun to win, affirmations of popularity, heady recognition from superiors, good resume-builders for stepping up to the next position of power, and…well, that's about it-actual accomplishments are not expected; heavy lifting is never on the agenda.

Obama's record of accomplishment is thin not because of lack of opportunity, but in spite of it. For twenty years, Obama has walked the floors of the most prestigious institutions in the nation, but has left no footprints other than those from his runs for whatever office came next.

It's been said that some people want to be President so they can do something; and some want to be President so they can be something. Obama has accomplished nothing noteworthy despite the golden opportunities and positions he's had; why should we believe he'd be a different man in the White House?

No company would hire anyone with Obama's empty track record, pattern of underachievement and padded résumé to be CEO. Is America really ready to hire him as President?

LeDaro said...

Rest in Peace, are you campaign manager for McCain. Anyone is better than the unstable old man who has too many senior citizen moments. God help us and US if he wins the elections.

Ti-Guy said...

A JPost.com exclusive blog

Ah, the standard poisonous character assassination cunt and pasted 240,000 times all over the Internets.

*tsk tsk* How immoral. Shame on you, Jerusalem Post.

LeDaro said...

A JPost.com exclusive blog is the scum of the earth.

Unknown said...

If Obama can't win this election then I'd say the Democrats are doomed. A controversial war; an economy in a serious slump, both of those should give the Dems the election easily.

This race doesn't really heat up until next month so a summer poll should be treated lightly.

Auntie Liberal said...

I thought Obama represented the opinionated-but-uneducated demographic. You know, people like ti-guy.