Obama: the honeymoon may just be over - Democratic Underground

elixir

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Thu Feb-14-08 08:55 AM
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Obama: the honeymoon may just be over

Larry Johnson's Diary

"The Obama cult is a phenomenom. A weird phenomenom. People are enthralled with the idea of Obama and know nothing about his past, his performance, and the scandals that will bring him down. And, smack dab in the middle of the enablers, are most of the TV and print journalists. Very few are writing or reporting the kind of tough stories they unleash on Hillary on a regular basis.

My neighbor, who is a prominent Republican lobbyist, was commenting the other day on the inspiring nature of the Obama campaign. He was repeating the positive vibe. I then asked him about issues such as Rezko and the disconnect between his rhetoric and how he actually votes. He was surprised and shocked. He said, "I haven't heard any of this." Obviously he's not a reader of NoQuarter. But he is a politically astute, well-informed guy. When he heard the true story of Obama's past (including Obama's Kenyan ties and muslim relatives). He flipped.

Let's face it. The establishment media have a habit of doing this shit. They happily went along with selling the Bush Administration bullshit and lies about the threat of terrorism and the need to invade Iraq. Oh sure, some, like Sy Hersh pushed back, but his efforts were overwhelmed by the likes of Michael Gordon and Judith Miller, Tim Russert, Chris Matthews, and the Washington Post. There were clear voices warning beforehand that the intelligence was fixed and that the war was not needed, but the press played along with the Bush propaganda machine and persuaded a majority of Americans that war with Iraq was the only solution for keeping us safe.

And don't start in with Obama's so-called opposition to the war. One damn speech really doesn't count. What counts is what he has done since coming to Washington. He hasn't joined the likes of Russ Feingold in pushing for an immediate withdrawal. He's played the politically safe game. I do not fault him for that. My beef is he thinks, rightly so, that most of the voters are too fucking dumb to realize that he is blowing smoke up their ass. Say one thing and do another.

Yeah, Obama is Mr. Anti-Washington. He is surrounded by Tom Daschle, Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, and Patrick Leahy. If you believe that those guys represent "changing the way business is done in Washington," then you will believe anything.

We will know next week if Hillary can recover. I give the Obama camp credit. They organized and spent resources in Virginia and Maryland and thumped Hillary. Hillary's campaign was awful in Maryland and Virginia. Obama's folks made an effort to personally visit and speak with every registered Democrat. Hillary did not. Obama's folks called every registered Democrat (or at least tried to) to ask for their vote. Hillary did not. This explains in part, I think, why Patti Doyle, the campaign manager, was fired. She is incompetent. I hope for the sake of the country that Maggie Williams has time to right the ship and get Hillary back on top.

In the meantime, we have to watch the equivalent of a papal coronation, as the media and fans exhult in the Obama Messiah, the black Jesus come to save us. But sometime in the next four months, the excitement will fade as the reality of who Obama is comes out."

You may not agree but you must realize that he is up for a big whooping if he's the nominee. Let's hope he's up for it.