on, what else? Obama and the presidency. I just read a story on how Obama's backing away from the constant media exposure that characterized his first several months in office. In and of itself, I think that's an excellent thing. It always smacked of a diversionary tactic - kind of like the whole bowing thing - when he had the polling numbers to support it. But it occurred to me that there's a reason for a lot of his problems with consistency. Not having the basic personality for it, he's always been able to rely on his natural skills to get him by, right? He's also been able to skip out on the consequences and not see things through to their end. Here's the catch, though. As president, he can't just quit this job and move on to the next "higher" calling without finishing out his term. He's always had an excuse for not taking the heat for getting one thing right before giving up on it. This time is different. Unless, of course, he really is shooting for emperor of the world... :taunt:
<snark> That would solve his problem of getting out of the "how do I get out of this" dilemma, wouldn't it?
I agree, I'd prefer less show and more business. I'm still hoping there is some substance to go along with his style. Given the advances in Spinology nothing is impossible. He could always write a book, like Governor Palin, or Vice Presdent Gore, heck he already has a Nobel prize, the revenue from speaking tours alone would fill the coffers of the DNC reelection fund twice over for years. Of course promoting either side of our one party system isn't something I'd consider a higher calling. But... I realize it is the foundation for identity, reality, and the favored sport for many folks. So for them, walking the Earth, spreading the word, and raising a fortune is a higher calling.
Those other people you mentioned ditched lower level jobs. I don't see him bailing on the presidency in the same way. For good or ill, he's going to have to see this one through. And, for something as vital as Afghanistan / Iraq and national security in general I hope he's very successful in promoting the long-term interests of the U.S.
Seems unlikely to me as well, but today's spinologists can make any turn of events sound like good news. Me too.
Well, he has to worry about brand saturation before he ends up like the Geico commercials... Seriously, anyone else see Beck's bit about Howard Dean's "Perpetual Campaign" model last night? That's what you are actually seeing here.
Well essentially he showed a clip of Dean making a speech somewhere in which he said that the old model of compainging for a year and then stopping to govern for three years was flawed and that he had introduced a stratage in which everything was handled in campaign mode. all the time. And then Beck went on to discuss that this is the startagy being employed by the obama situation. You really need to see it to get the full point. It's not groundbreaking (and he's not the first to suggest that this iswhat's happening) but it's just that I can't do it justice from memory. wait .... here ya go: [yt=Permenant Campaign Mode]u5BpvPwG9RI[/yt]
Gore didn't "ditch" a lower-level job, he ran for President and was defeated. And I don't think giving up a seat in the Senate to become Vice President counts as "ditching" either, myself. YMMV.
I didn't see Beck's show. Generally I don't watch such crap. But "permanent campaign mode" sure seems to be how Obama is running things, doesn't it?
"Ditching" in the sense of not finishing one thing before moving on to the next. So, yes, Gore did do that but he was given a pass just like many others have been. My point was that Obama can't ditch the presidency like he did with his other jobs.
