Hentoff takes the piss again....

[Blue_Tires]

During my more than 60 years of covering national politics, I have never seen a candidate's principles and character so effectively tarnished - after so extraordinarily inspiring a start - as Barack Obama's.


He has come to resemble another mellifluous orator I came to know in Boston during my first time reporting on a campaign - James Michael Curley, the skilful prestidigitator whom Spencer Tracy masterfully played in the movie "The Last Hurrah."

Obama's deflation has not been due to ruthless opposition research by John McCain's team but by the "change" candidate himself. Like millions of Americans, I, for a time, was buoyed by not only the real-time prospect of our first black president but much more by the likelihood that Obama would pierce the dense hypocrisy and insatiable power-grabbing of current American politics.

Also, as a former teacher of constitutional law, Obama gave me "hope I could believe in" that he would rescue the Constitution's separation of powers, resuscitate the Bill of Rights and begin to restore our reputation around the world as a truly law-abiding nation.
http://www.mdjonline.com/content/index/showcontentitem/area/1/section/17/item/115338.html

[islandmkl]

1. hentoff is a great one to be 'disappointed' by Obama...

Nat has a fairly mixed-bag set of principles...and the older he gets, the more mixed up they become...

he feels let down by Barack, but he had no trouble promoting and endorsing war with Iraq...

[grassfed]

8. He'll be on Fox soon.

[sui generis]

2. well, erm.

As much as the tone of the article is critical rather than constructive, I have to say I pretty much agree.

But, hey if Obama wants to reach so far outside the tent flaps that the middle collapses, that's evolutionary too.

Didn't Clinton have the same first term issue? When you try to please everyone, you're no longer a leader for anyone. But Clinton also matured in the job and as a politician and statesman.

The real problem is we're getting what we asked for: a candidate who listens to "America", and "America" is telling him that they want religion in government as much as I despise the thought.

The second issue is Obama "is an expert" in ___________, whatever he needs to be. So an expert who teaches constitutional law who is likewise willing to claim he is an expert and "is satisfied" that FISA harmed nobody's constitutional rights as an individual is a bit full of himself, or else doesn't understand what a modern constitution describes: it describes the values of a people.

It serves to protect the rights of individuals and guarantee the freedoms of anyone to do what they wish as long as it doesn't trample on the rights of other individuals. It also has a whole bunch of flowery passages about protecting us from government gone wrong, which apparently is right in line with what Obama perceives to be the emerging "values" of our nation.

As performances go, this Mrs. Lincoln thinks the play could have been better.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

3. Thanks for sharing your concern, Hentoff.

It's not like he's going to suffer personally from a McCain presidency.

[sui generis]

5. criticizing Obama does not equal support for McCain

jeez people.

[geek tragedy]

7. Hentoff thinks Terri Schiavo was murdered.

And he blames Obama for taking the wrong side in that story.

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/hentoff032608.php3

Nat Hentoff hasn't been worthy of respect for ages.

[sui generis]

9. not talking about terry schiavo

??

And not looking to love the guy either. I'm addressing WHAT he said, not who he is.

[geek tragedy]

11. Hentoff thinks Obama is too pro-choice and wrote him off because

of that. That, and the Terri Schiavo thing.

Hentoff is de facto member of the Dobson right, so of course he's not going to vote for Obama.

[sui generis]

12. can anyone discuss the points he made or is this just all ad hominem?

I get it. He's a horrible person, and a curmudgeon.

But he made some points that bear discussion. The second thing is, he has a following and he's probably speaking on pulse to them. If we can't answer the points he brought up among ourselves then how are you going to be able to convince people outside of here to vote for him?

Imagine yourself on a talk show. Nat says, "I don't like religion in government". You respond with "you thought Schiavo was murdered".

Not a good tactic. Anyway, if you recall, half of DU thought Schiavo was murdered too, but MANY for reasons that require a complex insight into right-to-life arguments. I happen to think she should have been ex-machina at the point where they decided to install a feeding tube.

But we're talking about Obama, not Terri.

[geek tragedy]

15. It's the usual crap--he's a sellout because of FISA

and public financing, blah blah blah.

It's classic concern trolling from someone who opposes Obama because Obama is too supportive of civil liberties.

[grassfed]

4. Nat, gayn cacken ofn yam!

[sui generis]

10. oy vay!

!זײַ מוחל

[geek tragedy]

6. Hentoff is a nut. He wanted to 'rescue' Terri Schiavo.

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/hentoff032608.php3

Screw him.

[hfojvt]

13. How much of this is wishful thinking?

Hentoff has certainly been doing his best to tarnish Obama's principles and character for the past couple of months.

And Hentoff claims to be disappointed by Obama's recent actions, although he made the same claim two months ago, calling Obama an extremist on the abortion issue. Therefore, Hentoff is lying when he claims to be disillusioned by Obama's recent proposals.

And to think Media Matters calls Hentoff a liberal.

[Joe Bacon]

14. This ass wanted Clinton impeached

His mind died years ago!

[hfojvt]

17. Well, yeah, but so did Ted Rall

so that doesn't take away from a person's progressive cred.

[Joe Bacon]

18. Nat Hentoff is a progressive?

Could have fooled me! Especially since he out-Naders Nader for his hatered of Democrats and his silence when it comes to Republicans. I still remember what a progressive Hentoff was in 1976 when he publicly stated he would vote to keep Buckley in the Senate and he repeatedly slammed Moynihan.

[hfojvt]

16. Nat Hentoff is the flim flam man

He writes on July 23, 2008

"I haven't seen such a surge since Obama's first chorus, but I can no longer believe in this messenger of such tidings."

I can no longer ... Since when? How ironic that he wrote almost the same thing on May 7th.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5888918

May 7, 2008

"I was once strongly inclined to vote for Barack Obama for president (assuming he won his party's nomination) based on his record as a community organizer in Chicago and in the Illinois state legislature. He's had nitty-gritty street experiences absent in the resumes of most aspirants for the Oval Office: He worked in poor neighborhoods to get job training for the unemployed and found ways to reach school dropouts. And in the legislature, he got a bill passed to mandate electronic police recording of interrogations in homicide cases. But then I learned Obama's voting record on abortion."


How many more columns will we get from this lying sack of excrement claiming "I was gonna support Obama, but now he has done ..."

Not to mention on this latest column, there is no mention that McCain will be better on any of those issues - faith-based social action or taking money from high rollers. Plus, Obama was going to $500 a plate fund-raisers in places like Atlanta almost from the beginning of his campaign. So if Hentoff thinks this is something new, he hasn't been paying attention. Either that, or he is lying again.