TIME's Joe Klein: "something just a wee bit creepy about the mass messianism"

[MethuenProgressive]

"And yet there was something just a wee bit creepy about the mass messianism — "We are the ones we've been waiting for" — of the Super Tuesday speech and the recent turn of the Obama campaign. "This time can be different because this campaign for the presidency of the United States of America is different. It's different not because of me. It's different because of you." That is not just maddeningly vague but also disingenuous: the campaign is entirely about Obama and his ability to inspire. Rather than focusing on any specific issue or cause — other than an amorphous desire for change — the message is becoming dangerously self-referential. The Obama campaign all too often is about how wonderful the Obama campaign is."

http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1710721,00.html
A "wee bit" is an understatement, Joe.

[Blue_In_AK]

1. Incoming! Incoming!

:hide:

[MethuenProgressive]

13. "Joe Klein's a hack!" or "Joe Klein's peachy keen!" - the Obamas need to make up their mind.

Mind. Not minds.

[islandmkl]

29. "Joe Klein's a hack!" or "Joe Klein's peachy keen!" - the Clintons need to make up their mind.

damn...cut & paste saves time...and thinking...as in "Do you have to think about a thoughtless statement?"

[DJ13]

2. Joe Klein

:boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring: :boring:

[Armstead]

4. Double ZZZZZZZ -- He's the epitome of lame "conventional wisdom"

[MethuenProgressive]

9. And yet, the ObamaBots celebrate him - when it suits them, that is.

Or course, they need to cherrypick out of context quotes to do so...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4606093

[Armstead]

15. A stopped clock is right twice a day -- But I still think Klein is lame

Too many times over the years when he's been dismissive of anything and anyone outside of the mold of the Beltway Elite or the Conventional Wisdom.

Give me William Greider anyday. Now there's a pundit who actually thinks and researches.

[tridim]

3. That article is a wee-bit old

and has been discussed a wee-bit too much already.

[MethuenProgressive]

5. "The Obama campaign all too often is about how wonderful the Obama campaign is."

Yeah, I can see where the Obamas wouldn't want this talked about.

[tridim]

10. Do a DU search, there were about 962 threads on this article last week when it was fresh.

[THUNDER HANDS]

6. i thought I read that before

[islandmkl]

20. i'm amazed...i missed something 962 straight times?

[elixir]

24. Classics never get old.

[milkyway]

7. There's something more than a wee bit creepy about Joe Klein.

[smoogatz]

35. And it's not just the comb-over.

I think it's the way he sort of pretends to not be a Republican.

[jefferson_dem]

8. Recycling tired, old non-stories, huh? This Joe Klein piece was posted several times a week ago.

Instead of starting a new thread, couldn't you have just kicked one of those?

:boring:

[MethuenProgressive]

19. It's not the Joe Klein peice being celebrated by you Obamas today?

:popcorn:

[Orsino]

38. Who the hell is celebrating a Klein piece?

If Jerkoff Joe says the sky is blue, check to see what shade of orange it really is.

[MethuenProgressive]

42. Time used to Luv Obama

http://politicalbetting.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/obama%20time%

[Lerkfish]

11. get your smear decoder ring re-synchronized: "Cult" was last week's smear meme

this week, its "empty words won't put food on your families"

please, do try to keep up.

[jefferson_dem]

23. Actually, I think their slogan du jour is "solutions not speeches."

Maybe some of this stuff she's trying to hock will help reveal the "invisible people" she used to talk about.

[Lerkfish]

25. I know, I was going for a more humorous rendition of it. (oops! did I use the word "rendition"?)

:)

[NoBorders]

12. Thanks for posting this yet again

Helps out the productive discussion here.
:sarcasm:

[bunnies]

14. again with this?

:banghead: It must kill you that he now says Obamas a better executive than Clinton. Especially after he wrote this scathing crap. Says a lot about Clinton doesnt it.

[MethuenProgressive]

22. You folks need to figure out where you stand on Joe Klein.

Is he a good witch, or a bad witch?

[NMMatt]

26. I don't know about Klein in general...

But his article is tired, cynical, and represents why we have such a hard time winning elections. Deep down we believe that our ideas aren't popular. We react with cynicism when we find someone who communicates our ideals well and focus instead on some of the over-exuberance of some of his supporters. We see Obama, and keep suspecting it will all come crashing down in some kind of Howard Dean scream.

So half our electorate would prefer sending probably the least popular Democrat, who is certainly competent, but comes from a long line of Democratic candidates who simply cannot communicate well with the public, because she reminds us of her husband who was our last effective politician. Half of us are chosing this small-minded approach, because we don't like the fact that Obama is popular, because we are suspicious of anything new and exciting, because we find enthusiasm creepy?

[Lerkfish]

27. actually, what I'm seeing in this thread is what comedians call "failing to take

the temperature of the room".

In other words, when your schtick is tanking, find something else. Repeating the same failed joke over and over will not make it funny, it will just make you look pathetic.

[bunnies]

34. I cant speak for all the "folks"...

but Ive never said anything about him either way. And in fact, I doubt theres a single journalist with whom I constantly agree. Good witch? Bad witch? Beats me. I didnt even know he was a witch!

edit: correcting can to cant.

[MethuenProgressive]

41. ...

[islandmkl]

16. "mass messianism"....yeah, I guess Joe had the good sense...

to not phrase it as "Barack is pimping-out his supporters"....myself, I wasn't that hot on Obama till I caught that walking-on-water routine he did after spreading the vote to the masses.

[yardwork]

17. Something extremely creepy about Joe Klein.

I've had no use for him since he wrote that hatchet job about the Clintons, published it as anonymous, and then lied about being the author when confronted by his employer.

[NMMatt]

18. Leave it to Democrats

To take a gifted candidate, who inspires people to rally behind Democratic causes such as affordable health care, raising the minimum wage, ending a disasterous war, appeals to Independents through optimistic rhetoric, and has the potential to break barriers concerning minority electability... Leave it to old-school, cynical, worn-out, battle weary and defetist Democrats to reject all this, because they don't like the fact that he is popular, or that some people cry at his speeches, or that his language is uplifting and might help people believe in themselves.

And you wonder why we've lived under Republican rule for so long. If Obama were a Republican, using similar language, but arguing for Tax-Cuts for the Rich and 100 years of War, I don't think they'd be worried about the creepiness of some of his supporters enthusiasm.

[elixir]

21. Don't forget BOs recent speech. He warned that he would be talking policy(eek!)less time for applaus

e. He's soooo humble and self-effacing.

[NMMatt]

28. Actually he just has a sense of humor

Something that Hillary pretty much lacks.

[SoxFan]

30. Time for a new meme

What's wrong, does Taylor Marsh have the flu? You need a new one. Maybe those unpaid parking tickets in Somerville, Mass back in the early '90s?

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

31. Hi, MethuenProgressive!

:hi:

[smoogatz]

32. I can't believe you wasted one of your three posts on Joke Line.

I'm kidding. It makes perfect sense.

[dave123williams]

33. Joe Klein, proceeding under the old Time, Inc. saw that the only way to get fired from Time...

...is to appear on the cover of the magazine.

"A wee bit creepy". Just one asshole's opinion.

[tandem5]

36. really good article nt

[LibertyorDeath]

37. Klein's article is pure Shit as is your regurgitation of it.

Hilary is done....

Just a matter of time.

[AX10]

39. As usual, Obamanistas will dismiss anything...

short of worshiping their messiah.

Joe is right on target with his analysis.

[Beregond2]

40. Klein

Funny, I don't rmember the MSM using phrases like "mass messiahnism" in regard to Reagan, whose speeches actually were the things Obamas are accused of being: empty rhetoric, fatuous double-talk, and so on. Then it was just keen, because he was all about further enriching the corporatists who own the media. But when rhetoric is used in the service of populism, suddenly it is "creepy."

Consider the source.