More and more, Barack Obama is talking plain talk.
And more and more the MSM is attacking him for it.
Truth or political expediency? Always a fine line to walk for the would-be politician.
Read on for specifics.
First, he said during a speech Saturday in Omaha:
Now…that phrase could very easily have been lifted verbatim from an Ahmadinejad or Chavez speech.
During the same speech, he said:
He also called for the closing of Guantanamo , saying:
Strong.
And how is he being covered by the hypnomedia?
This from Newsweak. ( Under the webtitle “Naughton: Obama’s Tough Talk Backfires in Motown – Newsweek Driving Forces – MSNBC.com” Notice that this site is an MSNBC website. The same people who bring you Keith Olbermann. I guess the truth is OK as long as it is snarked. But plain talk? HELL no!!! THAT’S not entertainment!!!And what does the “MS” in MSNBC stand for again? MicroSoft NBC? Mainstream NBC? You be the judge.)
Here is what he said right to the face of the Corp movers and shakers of Detroit at the Detroit Economic Club,
BINGO!!!
The anti-Enron speaks.
And how was he received? Presented in breathlessly approving prose by some MSM Pekinese of the Press named Ken Naughton?
The Democratic candidate’s tough rhetoric backfired in Detroit.
Nine years ago this week, Al Gore warmed up his run for the presidency by making a visit to Motown and speaking to the Detroit Economic Club. I covered that speech and recall that Gore was entering hostile territory. Detroit, an SUV boomtown in those days, was deeply skeptical of the vice president, who famously called for the death of the internal-combustion engine. But Gore, keen on endorsements from Big Labor and contributions from wealthy auto execs, changed his tune in Detroit. “Here in Motor City, we recognize that cars have done more than fuel our commerce,” he rhapsodized. “Cars have freed the American spirit, and given us the chance to chase our dreams.”
My, how times have changed. This week, Sen. Barack Obama attempted to fuel his presidential run with a scalding speech to the Detroit Economic Club, castigating Motown’s big wheels for driving our dependence on foreign oil. “For years, while foreign competitors were investing in more fuel-efficient technology for their vehicles, American automakers were spending their time investing in bigger, faster cars,” Obama told an audience stunned into silence after greeting him with a standing ovation.”Whenever an attempt was made to raise our fuel efficiency standards, the auto companies would lobby furiously against it, spending millions to prevent the very reform that could’ve saved their industry. Even as they’ve shed thousands of jobs and billions in profits over the last few years, they’ve continued to reward failure with lucrative bonuses for CEOs.”
What played as an act of courage in the rest of the country, is being seen as political suicide here in Detroit. “People were looking for so much more from Barack Obama,” Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick told me. “He left a lot to be desired with that message.” Kilpatrick, who introduced Obama to that thunderous ovation, met with him privately afterward and told him he missed an opportunity to woo Michigan voters by addressing their concerns about soaring health-care costs and fair trade. “As president, he needs to say what he would do to stand up for these other issues,” says Kilpatrick, “instead of just slamming these companies for their [lack of] fuel efficiency.”
It goes on, but why bother?
Now…when you front THESE motherfuckers in public, you just KNOW that their hired media (How much money is spent by Detroit and the gas companies in advertising every year???)…you have GOT to know that the “ARRRRGH!!!”-meisters will have their knives out, just WAITING for Obama to slip up.
And I am afraid that he will.
If he has not already.
While the crafty vet Hillary just cruises along, picking up a vote here, a couple of million there…
This is real American politics.
And although I would love to see it otherwise, I think that Obama may not only be blowing his chances for the Presidency, but also for the Vice Presidency. Clinton will have to pay back her favors, and a corporate veto is even stronger than a Presidential one. If they say “No” to Obama as VP, that’s it.
Politics.
It’s what’s for dinner.
Here in America?
It is always what’s for dinner.
Bet on it.
AG
How much truthiness is TOO much truthiness?
We gonna find out.
Real soon, if Obama keeps on stating the obvious to the obliterated American sheepmind.
Watch.
AG
P. S. Tips + recs appreciated.
I’ve been having this same discussion at home: Is Obama too smart to be elected? His comment on Palestine (which was about THEIR problems with good government and had nothing to do with ISRAEL) was right on. No one has suffered more [FROM PALESTINIAN BAD GOVERNANCE] than the Palestinians. And all @#$%^& breaks loose.
Good question… though I think there’s something to be said for speaking the truth, even if it’s not popular with all audiences.
Republicans have made an art form out of telling their audiences what they want to hear — that all their problems are due to someone or something else, whatever the pet scapegoat is for that term or that audience. Focus the attention of middle-America on the “loss of morals” (ie, sex, abortion, gays), not on the fact that their incomes have remained stagnant for years while CEOs and Wall Street rake in record profits. Focus on the fear of strangers, of foreigners, of terrorists, of immigrants … not on companies who outsource jobs to China, rather than accept lower profit margins to keep those jobs here. Focus on the fear of losing Social Security, not on the rising cost of healthcare that is falling more and more on their shoulders, or the fact that health insurance can be cancelled at any time, such as the first time they file a significant claim.
People want to hear that their problems are someone else’s fault, that they are not responsible, even a little, for their own situation. They don’t want to believe that their leaders have lied and betrayed them, or that they were gullible enough to believe that Al-Qaeda hates us “for our freedoms.” Or that the noble speeches they hear every Memorial Day and Fourth of July are merely advertising slogans concealing decades, if not centuries, of exploitation (often at gunpoint) of other people they have never met or cared about. They don’t want to believe that those low, low prices at Wal*Mart are connected to the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs, or that the American automobile is a tradition that may need to change with the times, or that if they want a government that is responsive to their real needs, they need to pay more attention and take responsibility for who makes the decisions on their behalf.
And the last thing that big corporate donors to either party want is someone pointing out how badly their ever-growing demand for bigger profits next quarter has short-changed the American Dream for everyone else. Blame the desperate immigrants from Mexico — not the companies who would rather pay 1/4 the cost for a day’s labor, with no benefits or safety standards.
I’m glad Obama (and Edwards) are speaking out — even if Hillary ends up with the nomination, perhaps the truth will start an echo effect that all the corporate dollars cannot quite make fade away. Even when the truth hurts, it’s a better pain than the slow-spreading cancer that most people prefer to pretend doesn’t really exist….
The obscenity of Big Motor, Big Oil, Big Pharma, Tobacco…..hell Big Anything….is not simply the unbridled ignorance of what is even in their own long term best interest, but the utter contempt with which they look down their noses at their own employees, the very engine of the multi-millions of dollars corporate boards dole out to CEOs in bonuses. How many thousands of families could be supported by those bonuses paid for with the emigration of those very employees’ jobs. The downfall of American capitalism will be the utter greed, hubris and idiocy of Corporate America. Hmmmm, sounds like the gene pool for corporate boardrooms and our current occupiers of the White House: greedy, corrupt, ignorant, yet arrogant elitists surrounded by a variety of gutless sycophants.
Here in Mass we had our very own “grassroots” Deval Patrick. I’m so far from impressed. I generally hold the belief that corporate owns them all, the “choice” we have points to one kind of Apocalypse vs another kind of Apocalypse.
Either way I still get to ride the horse.
first time he’s appealed to me. We’ll see where he goes with this. My guess he will come to his senses and retreat from the truth.
It shows that he KNOWS the truth.
I personally hope that he DOES “retreat from the truth”.
Publicly.
It has been said that the truth shall set you free.
THIS kind of truth?
In American politics?
This kind of truth will also set you free.
Free of winning elections.
Sad but true.
And so it goes.
AG
Isn’t that inherently the problem though, with American politics? If politicians aren’t willing to tell the truth during campaigns, what makes you think they will convert to the truth once elected? They don’t tell the truth, because they won’t get donations from the power elite. To stay in office, they continue to delude themselves and the American people. Its a vicious cycle.
I’m not convinced any politician will break that cycle. But maybe the people will.
It is not going to be broken.
Not until the corporate hold on the media is broken.
And THAT won’t happen until the media feature the problem. Big time. 27/7. YOU know….like they featured the glorious invasion of Iraq?
And THAT won’t happen as long as the Corps own the media.
Catch 22.
Three strikes and you are…back at the beginning.
I am sorry duranta.
I really am.
But short of a total breakdown of this system as it now stands…economically caused or by other means (man-made OR “natural”)…this fact is not going to change.
Face it.
AG
I still don’t understand how someone like Obama will get us out of this mess. Sure, he’s probably the lesser of two evils when it comes to comparisons to republicans. However, true change in this country has always come about through grass roots activity. And many grass roots movements have lost their steam when members decided to pour their energies into electoral politics.