Obama and Substance
Posted by Kevin

The interesting thing to me about last night, where Obama won pretty handily in both Hawaii and Wisconsin, was that Obama seems to be taking the “all fluff” criticism to heart. A good deal of his victory speech dealt with detailed policy points. It seems that the Obama camp thinks that might be a fertile avenue of attack. The all fluff stuff was always a lie — Obama has had some of the most detailed, in some areas the most innovative, policy proposals around — but its interesting to me that the Obama team is worried enough about it to respond. I don’t think it matters that much. If policy mattered a great deal than the incoherence of Bush’s policy statements in 2000 would have been the story instead of the bullshit the GOP made up about Gore. It will be interesting to see how much these attacks change Obama’s stump speech approach.

February 20th, 2008 General, Politics | 9 comments

9 Comments

  1. Morris writes:

    “Obama has had some of the most detailed, in some areas the most innovative, policy proposals around”

    LOL

    Comment 2/20/2008


  2. Ron writes:

    He did a good job with the policy part of last night’s speech especially on Iraq. He should keep it up.

    Comment 2/20/2008


  3. Tim writes:

    Morris, if you are going to mock us, could you at least be funnier and more clever about it? I understand we are far far below your perfect understanding of constitutional law, philosophy, ethics and history. But could you zing it up a little? LOL? What are you? A 6th grader who got his or her first cell phone?

    You could go pythonesque:

    “I fart in your general direction Obama supporting Pig-Dogs!”

    or perhaps Wayne’s world style:

    “Obama has deep policy proposals, NOT!”

    or perhaps a reference to obscure, quickly-canceled 80’s musical TV shows:

    “Obama has great policies regarding predatory lenders and international diplomacy………. If you like Cop-Rock!”

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Euk1N0zVyww

    Just some pointers to help you out.

    Comment 2/20/2008


  4. Morris writes:

    LOL

    Comment 2/21/2008


  5. tgirsch writes:

    Tim:

    I’m pretty sure that link violates the Geneva Conventions in some way…

    Comment 2/21/2008


  6. Matt writes:

    “Obama has had some of the most detailed, in some areas the most innovative, policy proposals around”

    Robert J. Samuelson at Newsweek disagrees (at least on the innovative part): http://www.newsweek.com/id/113672
    This article seems to me to be a legit criticism of Obama. He talks about hope and change but his policies are not much different than Clinton’s…

    Comment 2/21/2008


  7. tgirsch writes:

    Matt:

    I dunno, that Newsweek opinion piece seems an awful lot like cherry-picking to me. As a counterexample, blogger hilzoy makes the case for Obama’s substantive accomplishments. Contrary to Samuelson’s opinion, Obama has both substantive accomplishments and substantial differences from Clinton on his resume.

    And, of course, when comparing any two candidates from the same party, no matter who they are and no matter what party, what’s important isn’t the similarities, of which there are bound to be many. It’s the differences that matter. From a voting record perspective, Obama has distinguished himself from Clinton on Cuba, on energy policy, and on tax policy.

    Comment 2/21/2008


  8. Morris writes:

    “Obama has distinguished himself from Clinton on Cuba,”

    I agree. Barry Hussein Obama has agreed to meet with any thug or dictator in the world.

    Comment 2/22/2008


  9. Steve Plonk writes:

    OBAMA, THE LEMON CAKE BOY:
    A Satire

    By Steve Plonk

    Lemon cake boy, he’s so pretty
    Lemon cake boy nice and sweet
    Lemon cake boy hands out fivers
    When he sees girls on the street

    Lemon cake boy drives yellow camaro
    He loves buttercup bouquets
    Pretty blonde girls hang on his arm
    Swoon at everything he says

    Lemon cake boy he got’s a million
    Never had it so good,
    Lemon cake boy wears shiny suits
    Never lived inside the Hood

    Lemon cake boy smiles for the camera
    Gives out his cake walk lines
    He’s such a shiny do-good angel
    That all the home-girls think he’s fine

    All that homies like his fivers,
    Lemon cake boy gives them a ride
    Lemon cake boy wins their favors
    When they vote, he’s satisfied.

    Lemon cake boy he “Johnny come lately”
    Always done the way he should
    He used to work lovely at the bakery
    Delivering cakes down to the Hood.

    Lemon cake boy, he straight up shiny
    Looks like a Hollywood star,
    He even drives that yellow camaro
    Without even a stitch of tar.

    Comment 3/1/2008


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