Obama Is the Best BS Artist Since Bill Clinton

[sellitman]

By Matt Taibbi, RollingStone.com. Posted February 14, 2007.

The "talent of the century" hits the campaign trail, and while it isn't clear who Obama really is, he's certainly helping make it clear who the bad candidates are.

<Snip> As far as political positioning goes, his strategy seems to be to appear as a sort of ideological Universalist, one who spends a great deal of rhetorical energy showing that he recognizes the validity of all points of view, and conversely emphasizes that when he does take hard positions on issues, he often does so reluctantly. He is a black man from Chicago who gets away with praising Ronald Reagan, which is not an easy task. His political ideal is basically a rehash of the Blair-Clinton "third way" deal, an amalgam of Kennedy, Reagan, Clinton and the New Deal; he is aiming for the middle of the middle of the middle. <Snip>

More: http://www.alternet.org/story/48051/

(BTW...this post sums it up pretty good for me- Kevin)

[XemaSab]

1. .

:popcorn:

[bluehighways911]

14. Buy Matt Trippi A Brain

Could we buy this hack a brain. Did you see one piece of substance.

Obama is my Senator, and he kicks ass. And it started in the primaries. People lined up to sign the petition to get him on the ballot.

In the debates. He destroyed Keyes. Keyes had the ususal Reich Wing dribble. Obama would stare at him, tear him down with one line, and then look at the audience and fire off the real issues. Their was no BS.

And the best news I got. Talking to my Reich Wing Bud on the phone. And he said, Man, I am watching Obama. And he is the real thing. I think he is just what America needs right now. No BS, that was word for word.

And we need Matt Trippi to go back to covering his own ass. Which is full of you know what.

[davidwparker]

18. Welcome to DU.

[Capn Sunshine]

39. It's "Taibbi" Trippi is a different hack

BTW Matt Taibbi's reportage of theKerry Kampaign included dropping acid and wearing a gorilla suit to see the reaction of others.

Taibbi always has an axe to grind, and you just have to wonder who he's grinding for this month.

[Hippo_Tron]

2. FDR also had no clear ideology when he was running for President

During the 1932 campaign he actually attacked Hoover for running of the deficit. After he was elected he simply put together a team of the smartest people he could find to come up with a plan for ending the depression. Thus the New Deal was born.

Of course I'm not sure I agree with the premise of the article in the first place.

[sellitman]

4. I would love to feel something else about him.

He just has been too vanilla for my taste so far. I hope he makes me eat my words.

[liberalpragmatist]

10. Have you read his '02 antiwar speech?

Delivered at an anti-Iraq War rally in October of 2002, prior to the authorization of the IWR:

http://www.barackobama.com/2002/10/26/remarks_of_illinois_state_sen.php

Remarks of Illinois State Sen. Barack Obama Against Going to War with Iraq
| October 26, 2002

I stand before you as someone who is not opposed to war in all circumstances. The Civil War was one of the bloodiest in history, and yet it was only through the crucible of the sword, the sacrifice of multitudes, that we could begin to perfect this union and drive the scourge of slavery from our soil.

I don't oppose all wars. My grandfather signed up for a war the day after Pearl Harbor was bombed, fought in Patton's army. He fought in the name of a larger freedom, part of that arsenal of democracy that triumphed over evil.

I don't oppose all wars. After September 11, after witnessing the carnage and destruction, the dust and the tears, I supported this administration's pledge to hunt down and root out those who would slaughter innocents in the name of intolerance, and I would willingly take up arms myself to prevent such tragedy from happening again.

I don't oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other armchair, weekend warriors in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne. What I am opposed to is the attempt by political hacks like Karl Rove to distract us from a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the median income, to distract us from corporate scandals and a stock market that has just gone through the worst month since the Great Depression.

That's what I'm opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics.

Now let me be clear: I suffer no illusions about Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal man. A ruthless man. A man who butchers his own people to secure his own power.... The world, and the Iraqi people, would be better off without him. But I also know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors...and that in concert with the international community he can be contained until, in the way of all petty dictators, he falls away into the dustbin of history.

I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda.

I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars. So for those of us who seek a more just and secure world for our children, let us send a clear message to the president.

You want a fight, President Bush? Let's finish the fight with Bin Laden and al-Qaeda, through effective, coordinated intelligence, and a shutting down of the financial networks that support terrorism, and a homeland security program that involves more than color-coded warnings.

You want a fight, President Bush? Let's fight to make sure that...we vigorously enforce a nonproliferation treaty, and that former enemies and current allies like Russia safeguard and ultimately eliminate their stores of nuclear material, and that nations like Pakistan and India never use the terrible weapons already in their possession, and that the arms merchants in our own country stop feeding the countless wars that rage across the globe.

You want a fight, President Bush? Let's fight to make sure our so-called allies in the Middle East, the Saudis and the Egyptians, stop oppressing their own people, and suppressing dissent, and tolerating corruption and inequality, and mismanaging their economies so that their youth grow up without education, without prospects, without hope, the ready recruits of terrorist cells.

You want a fight, President Bush? Let's fight to wean ourselves off Middle East oil through an energy policy that doesn't simply serve the interests of Exxon and Mobil.

Those are the battles that we need to fight. Those are the battles that we willingly join. The battles against ignorance and intolerance. Corruption and greed. Poverty and despair.

[Bucky]

16. Intellectually strong, but rhetorically weak.

Talk about a clunky use of repetition. Then the ending sorta fizzles out into fluffy generalities. It's clear Obama has gotten loads better in writing speeches since 2002. I agree with everything he said, but man, what a stinker of a speech!

(on edit: weak, not week--sheesh)

[dennisnyc]

47. But Obama DOES have clear policy positions.

They're not being reported but they are in his books, at his website, etc.

He is frankly very liberal, looking for progressive solutions to the problems that face our nation.

[sam sarrha]

3. that can be really good down the line..!!

[Doctor_J]

5. well, if he can be as good a president as Clinton, the US might be

salvaged during the 8 years he's in office.

[liberalpragmatist]

6. Anybody else find Matt Taibbi's writing a little irritating?

Everything he writes about politics drips with too-cool-for-school cynicism. It gets a little tiresome, because every piece he writes has the same snide tone, the same sarcasm, the same criticisms of everybody.

Far be it from me to worship a politician. They are human beings with human flaws and failings. But I find complete cynicism just as much of a turn-off as personality cults.

[Bucky]

22. Taking one paragraph and count the BS lines and pointless fluff...

Taibbi and (me):

"My usual instinct (as opposed to his rarely used holidy instinct?) when presented with this type of Zelig-esque, Eddie Haskell, non-stick personality (Zelig? because he's not black enough for Matt? Haskell? I don't think anyone's accuse Obama of being treacly or insincere. Non-stick? That's another way of saying "non-confrontational" or "inclusive") is to violently reject it.(to make Matt Taibbi vomit is a terrible thing) But over the course of the last few weeks I've found myself increasingly amused by the Obama phenomenon. (Puny humans! Your antics amused me for a nonce, but now begone!) For one thing, he clearly pisses off Hillary to no end. Same with Biden and all of those other windbag jerk-off assholes (Every Democrat is an asshole... or an Obamesque con artist) in that revolting (revolting jerk-off assholes) "national security Democrats" clan in the Senate. (revolting jerk-off assholes in the clan!) There is something subtly racist (in Biden's case, not so subtle) in the way these more entrenched Democrats are riding Obama's lack of credentials and acting like the '08 nomination is their birthright, (nutshell argument: it's racist to run for office against a black man and running for office at all is anti-democratic) like he hasn't "waited his turn" or something, paid his dues. As if any of these clowns would wait ten seconds to declare for the White House if they had the same odds that Obama has now (please note, they have declared for the White House, most with far less public suppport than Obama).

(By the end of his rant, I honestly don't even know what his point was. Obama is shallow but everyone else is a closet Marie Antoinette? Obama is an Eddie Haskell-like sociopath, but everyone else is running for office as a form of masturbation? I'm starting to think Mr Taibbi may be acting out a few unavailable-daddy issues through his search for a presidential candidate. Gad, who needs Ann Coulter when we have Taibbi?)

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

35. Taibbi has always annoyed me, and for exactly the reasons you point out.

It's all snark for snark's sake, sort of like Maureen Dowd. Both of them are talented writers, and they occasionally come up with good insights, but more often than not they're just enjoying the cleverness of their own words, standing back as all-knowing, supremely sophisticated observers, mocking the shallowness of it all. Matt and MoDo are superior; they can see things we peons can't; and it's ever so much fun for them to sneer at the candidates we benighted fools find admirable.

[AtomicKitten]

7. Good for Obama.

It will serve him well in his campaign.

[wyldwolf]

8. BS Artist, thy name is Matt Taibbi

What a dumbass.



Think David Sirota off his meds. In 2005, he wrote the utterly disgusting The 52 Funniest Things About The Upcoming Death of the Pope. He was an editor of the Moscow-based eXile newspaper (think Jackass with a radical political perspective) where he once bragged about being immune to libel laws. In other words, he knows how to pull sophmoric stunts and write the revolution-ladened prose those on the far left like to read, but he’s hardly a reputable source or a responsible journalist and certainly not someone the left should desire as a spokesperson.

[Eurobabe]

32. Same asshole who wrote HIT PIECES on Clark in 03-04

Stick a fork in this jackass! LOSER!

[Radical Activist]

9. It should read: "Obama is the best at connecting with voters since Bill Clinton"

That's a great thing for us who want to, you know, WIN AN ELECTION instead of engaging in "I'm more progressive than you are" pissing matches.

Obama has a very progressive background, both in office and before entering office. We have a former community organizer and civil rights lawyer running for President. Be happy people!

We have a progressive candidate with a message that reaches moderate voters. That's a GOOD thing. Why do we progressive always have to destroy eachother?

That article is destructive and misinformed. It shows that the author is just too lazy to do a days worth of research to find out who Obama really is. It isn't that hard.

[tabatha]

11. Matt Taibbi once wrote a terrible article

about Wesley Clark just as Clark started his campaign in 2004. Taibbi was so off the mark it wasn't funny. The article was for the Nation magazine and they received a ton of mail - even from overseas where Clark is held in the highest regard - critical of the article.

While Taibbi may sometimes get it right - he often gets it wrong, and without any understanding of the consequences.

[liberalpragmatist]

13. He also bashed Kerry relentlessly during the campaign

Like I said, everything he writes is ultra-critical and drips with too-cool-for-school cynicism. None of them are "pure" enough for him.

[Renew Deal]

41. I remember that.

And I have never trusted Taibbi since.

[enough already]

12. Thanks for checking in, Hillary n/t

[k_jerome]

17. any time Dick Morris. nt.

[John Q. Citizen]

44. Are you and Dick still hanging out together? I'd thought I'd heard you two had a

falling out, sometime after your 1996 re-election campaign.

Well, I guess time heals everything.

[skipos]

15. Wow. That DOES NOT sum it up for me.

Obama isn't my 1st pick either.

[Bucky]

19. having now read the whole article, let me just say...

Peee-yuuu! Taibbi's pumped up an entire article like a helium balloon to promote his one astounding observation that... wait for it... Obama is a successful politician who talks in generalities sometimes to avoid alienating swing voters.

MY GOD!! What a scandal!!

[madrchsod]

20. that is one of the best hit jobs i have ever read

trash journalism at it`s zenith

[Bucky]

23. Best? He's shooting for such a tiny point with all that rhetoric, like shotgun blasting a cockroach

For all the fireworks, his point is that Obama is a politician who sometimes avoids specifics to win over swing voters and is good at public speaking. To make this hardly insightful point, he manages to call every other Democrat running a "jerk-off asshole."

This isn't a hit piece--a true hit piece would have facts or innuendo, or at least a point. This is a tantrum.

[madrchsod]

24. a better analysis and great choice of a word-tantrum-

yup that was a tantrum

[xkenx]

21. Matt Taibbi is a first-class turd. NOTHING he says sould be listened to.

This guy was Nazi-like in his support of Slobodan Milosevic, of all people.

[renate]

25. I'm recommending this for the trashing of Matt Taibbi

Not because I agree with the OP.

I subscribed to Rolling Stone solely for the great articles that were coming out about the voting machines etc. Their printing something by this buttwipe is really disappointing.

[Clarkie1]

26. This article is not worth the paper it's printed on. nt

[fujiyama]

27. I think I remember seeing this clown on the Daily Show once a while back

during the election.

He bashed Kerry the entire time, while not laying a hand on Bush.

He sounds like a hack.

[jonnyblitz]

28. ah, Matt Tiabbi, the guy that Clark supporters love to hate,

especially after that telling piece he did on CLark in The Nation before the last presidential election in 2004 that got all the Clarkies panties in a twist. I will never forget reading all the hysterical hate mail The Nation got after that. :crazy: Matt Tiabi is a great bullshit detector. Thanks for posting this.

[Jim Sagle]

36. Chickenshit bullshit. Wes RRRRAWWWXXXXX, Matt SSSSUXXX!!!!

[shance]

29. I wish I could feel I could 'trust' the image I see of Obama. But to me that is all it is.

An image, not a reality.

In fairness I could say I have observed the same "fakeness" with all of our Democratic candidates. And not only are the Republican candidates (witholding Ron Paul) fakes, they are much more malevolent and harmful.

Bottome line, while we have heard lots and lots and LOTS words, the actions of our candidates, actions that actually have meaning and courage and sacrifice, have been nonexistent in my observation. All of them to put it lightly in my opinion have not come close to earning the title of president. Of course I would include that for the Republican candidate again, sans Ron Paul. He has taken risks and gone against the grain which can be a very dangerous road to take in Washington especially these days.

So why are we so enamored with the words of candidates?

Are we that cheap of a date? Are we that easy? I sure hope not.

There's little conviction and/or authentic fire I see in any of our candidates. I would say Gore would *have* been the closed candidate.

I think the rest are honestly actors more than leaders.

Just my instincts from what I see and from observing their actions, which of course where the real marrow of character resides.

[Bullet1987]

30. ...

liberalpragmatist: That speech shows how Liberal Obama is, that's why I like him!!! Now, he has toned it down lately for good reason, but that man that gave that speech at an ANTI-WAR RALLY is the SAME man running for President for 2008!!! Which is why it shocks me when people mis-label Obama as a warhawk or a moderate. Obama will RUN as a moderate, but he is left-of-center in reality.

[Telly Savalas]

34. You criticize Obama for lacking substance

while praising a guy who wants to get rid of most of our social programs and is opposed to Roe v. Wade. Interesting.

[ripmolly]

43. Barack is genuine

He's the real deal, genuine, smart, and doesn't have the baggage Hillary does. We don't need another dynasty. We need new blood and he is it!


I'll still vote for Hillary if she wind the nomination.

[Boo Boo]

31. As a Clarkie, I can't stand Matt Taibbi, but...

when you're right, you're right.

Obama was in town today, and so they covered him on the local news... and they were talking to people who attended his fund raiser... who could not say one damn thing real about why they support the man. One person declared that what the country needs right now is...

"magic."

I kid you not.

For me, Obama's rhetoric is too heavily salted with what I'd characterize as happy-clappy bullshit. The bigger problem, though, is that he is not likely to be elected President. On the news this evening they quoted a poll that showed 36% of respondents willing to vote for a black candidate.

What?! Does anybody else find that number surprisingly low? Unbelievably low?

If true, that's bad news for Barak.

[Eurobabe]

33. Come on boo-boo, it's not wise when

us Clarkies (or whomevers) start trashing the other Dem candidates. Where was this news program that you saw about 36% willing to vote for a black candidate?

Are you buying into the Right wing memes too? :wtf:

[unblock]

37. and what's wrong with the middle? must one be an extremist?

:wtf:

[goclark]

38. IMO, the middle with compassion may win it for the Democrats

We all want the perfect candidate but we ain't going to find it.

Kerry/Gore were about as perfect as we could get and the voting machines gave them the WH.

I'm not bashing any candidate for our Party. I'll leave that to the ReCONS.

[OneBlueSky]

46. what's wrong with the middle is that it's not going to solve ANY problems . . .

the middle, by definition, is where the status quo hangs out . . . the middle is the protector of the status quo -- the same status quo that brought us the Iraq war, environmental devastation, job outsourcing, a healthcare crisis, and all the rest of it . . .

the ONLY approach that will change anything is a radically progressive one, an approach that looks at the problems with clear eyes, recognizes their true causes, and proposes REAL solutions . . . the middle may indeed win, but if it does, we're fucked . . .

as the old saying goes, ain't nothin' in the middle of the road 'cept white lines and dead armadillos . . .

[unblock]

51. these days the far right is the protector of the status quo, or close to it.

the middle would restore sanity. personally, i'm quite lefty on most issues, but i see nothing wrong with appealing to the middle.

[OneBlueSky]

59. nice thought, except the boundries have moved . . .

today's middle is what used to be the extreme right . . .

today's left is what used to be the center . . .

today's extreme right is what used to be Nazi Germany . . .

[MannyGoldstein]

40. He Put His Butt On The Line In That Speech - Unlike...

I'm not convinced that I buy into Obama - but I will definitely admit that, unlike certain other Democratic candidates who are craven triangulators that have never taken a controversial stance, Obama clearly has.

At this point, he's the only announced Democrats who has ever acted in a way that is consistent with leadership.

[w4rma]

42. I mainly think Obama is a weak candidate for the top of the ticket.

I agree that he usually talks in platitudes that have little or no meaning. I have no idea what his economic positions are.

I don't think he'll win the nomination. I am, unfortunately, 99% positive that he isn't able win the general election. I, unfortunately, think this anecdote from Adlai Stevenson would sum up his campaign in the general election:

During his 1956 presidential campaign, a woman called out to him, "You have the vote of every thinking person!" Stevenson called back, "That's not enough, madam, we need a majority!"

I'm not interested in watching hard working Democrats, during the general election, whine that "If only they would listen to him he would be polling better." He's a poor choice for the nomination.

[fuzzyball]

45. I agree, Obama talks in platitudes and middle of the middle of the middle

Thanks but no thanks, senator. You are not qualified to lead
the country. Have you ever ran a business and met a payroll?
What management experience you have except as a back bencher
in senate with not a single bill which made news?

I am tired of platitudes and empty rhetoric.

[dennisnyc]

49. might I respectfully ask that you do a little research first?

His books are full of commonsense approachs to the most important problems facing our country.

He is a very liberal, very intelligent candidant with real grassroots support.

[fuzzyball]

52. Excuse me, but I would much rather have another Clinton economy redo

than monkey with an Obama economy. Obama has neither the
experience or record of successfully running a large business
or economy.

[PVnRT]

58. Neither did Bill Clinton

Unless you consider Arkansas a "large economy."

[Nimrod2005]

50. They sold us Bush as the first MBA, blah blah blah...He can't manage a fish in a bag!!!

Obama is going to be just fine.

[fuzzyball]

53. Bush had a similar problem as Obama....no proven record of success

in the business world. A degree in business management does not
make you a successful executive. The Clintons have a track record
of fostering record boom times in the country. Why would anyone
want to monkey with Obama economy?

[zulchzulu]

55. Cheney ran a business that met a payroll

I'm glad that's how we measure leaders... Bush ran a few businesses too.

:sarcasm:

[fuzzyball]

56. Well, I have to give Cheney economy one credit...however

begrudgingly! The US Treasury will collect record tax dollars
in 2006. Taxes are directly proportional to incomes. Inflation
is very mild, housing is abundent, mortgage loans are cheap,
unemployment rate is near record lows.

If it was'nt for the Iraq blunder, Bush-Cheney might have had
a different historical judgement.

Bill Clinton had even a better result with the economy. Why would
I want to monkey with an Obama economy?

[K8-EEE]

48. Maybe you have to be a BS artist to be elected

and we just have to find the most benign one.

Am I too dismissive of the US electorate?

I don't think so....you can't have someone who doesn't have access to 100 million dollars or someone who is not "telegenic" even be in the running...

Just because someone is adept at schmoozing or BS doessn't mean they are disqualified, it might be a prerequisite for the job.

[zulchzulu]

54. One man's BS is another's charismatic leadership quality

I'm glad Taibbi woke up halfway through an Obama speech to scribble something down before going back to sleep. The guy is probably so used to people saying his diatribes are BS to even figure out it's he that has the BS label on his forehead.

[DancingBear]

57. Hee, hee - if you don't like Taibbi, you're gonna hate Alexander Cockburn

of The Nation (amongst other places), who has nickamed Obama "Senator Slither."

The Nation is still OK here to quote here, isn't it?

I mean, who can tell these days???

[karynnj]

61. I already though Cockburn was a creep and a disgusting person

knowing he is going against Obama, raises Obama's appeal in my eyes.

[Crunchy Frog]

62. I've felt that way about Cockburn ever since

he used to trash Gorbachev. I like his brother Andrew though.

[Strawman]

60. Spot on

Matt's book was brilliant too. He exposes these campaigns for the worthless spectacles they are. I think he crosses over into nihilistic territory, (Obama is an impressive bs artist, but he tenatively endorses him out of hate for the others? umm, ok.) but there is alot of truth in what he has to say.

I think where he fails sometimes in his articles is to demonstrate some respect for the civic virtue of the grassroots volunteers who participate in these campaigns. He was too derisive to the Clarkies and Deanies in that Nation article and I think he is more sympathetic and comes off as less of an ass in his interactions with other volunteers in his book.

He can come off like a real asshole, but he's right.