The Obamessiah’s World Tour, Part II (Updated)
[Guest post by DRJ]
According to Gallup, Barack Obama’s world tour and in particular his Berlin speech led to a 6 point bounce in the polls. However, the Politico quotes Obama campaign manager David Plouffe as downplaying expectations of a bounce:
“We wouldn’t expect any sort of, I guess the term people use is ‘bounce,’” Plouffe said by phone from campaign headquarters in Chicago.
In London, Obama went further to lower expectations regarding the impact of his foreign travel on the polls:
“I wouldn’t even be surprised if in some polls we saw a little bit of a dip because we’ve been out of the country for a week.”
It’s fortunate that Obama and his staff are good at lowering expectations. They will have to do a lot of that if Obama is elected President.
UPDATE: The UK’s Evening Standard reports that Obama’s Kenyan relatives have experience with lowered expectations or, as they call it, “Obama’s lapse.”
— DRJ
I have a hard time believing that that empty cliche-ridden “speech” would put Obama up in any polls.
SPQR (26be8b) — 7/26/2008 @ 8:01 pmIt’s fortunate that Obama and his staff are good at lowering expectations.
Given that the MSM will gleefully assist, I’d call that snatching victory from the jaws of apathy.
Dodd (daf003) — 7/26/2008 @ 10:04 pmOuch…
Lil snarky there, ain’tcha DRJ? 🙂
Scott Jacobs (d3a6ec) — 7/26/2008 @ 10:44 pmI guess it sounds that way, Scott, but I said it because I think it’s true. Obama is promising to heal everything that’s wrong with America and, after his world trip, with the world. If he’s elected, sooner or later he’ll have to lower expectations.
DRJ (b1ff9b) — 7/26/2008 @ 11:28 pm…sooner, much sooner rather than later, don’t you think…
Dana (f3e2a8) — 7/26/2008 @ 11:37 pmYes, I agree.
DRJ (b1ff9b) — 7/26/2008 @ 11:40 pmevery liberal i know is shallow enough to be drawn in by exactly that sort of thing. i guess you just dont know enough liberals.
chas (82ec6c) — 7/26/2008 @ 11:47 pmDRJ…
I know it’s true… But it was still very funny. 🙂
Scott Jacobs (d3a6ec) — 7/26/2008 @ 11:50 pmI felt badly for Obama’s family and the villagers after reading the Evening Standard link. And although they are disappointed in the broken promise, they are still hopeful. Perhaps thats Barack’s hope-and-change message come to life. Those unable to do much about their circumstances have nothing other than hope. Unfortunately they placed it in the wrong person.
Broken promises. What a politcian.
Dana (f3e2a8) — 7/26/2008 @ 11:54 pmAnd the minions like Scientologists suing anyone who speaks ill of Hubbard will tear you a new one with the fullest extent of their profane vocabulary if you dare speak ill of the Great One Dear Leader Messiah Grand Poobah Flash! Ah-Ahhhhh! Savior of the Universe St. Buddha Obama the Almighty and dare deny that he with his magic touch and healing (teleprompter enhanced) oratory will save humanity. Obama is the fucking Lonesome Roads of Face in the Crowd come to life in full glory. Pay no attention to the community organizer behind the curtain!
Jack Klompus (b796b4) — 7/26/2008 @ 11:59 pm#10 spoken like a true believer of Bushitler and as a typical cracker racist. I denounce you and your neocon ilk. How can you deny that the oceans began to recede and the earth began to heal itself after our exalted Lightworker won the nomination? Yes, I know we still have the convention, but that and HIS election is a foregone conclusion. The world cries out for Barry’s healing touch. No more animosity between organized religions. No more hunger, slavery, genocide, filthy rich conservatives, greedy oil companies and so on. All hail Mother Gaia and a Brave New World. Soon Michelle and the cherubs will be blessed with unlimited fresh fruit and slackers like you will have to show respect to your intellectual and moral superiors, which include the thoughtful liberals on this blog whom you have verbally abused for too long. Repent and join the legions of Obama’s true believers. Feel that thrill run up your leg! Change! Hope!
madmax333 (0c6cfc) — 7/27/2008 @ 1:32 am#4 – DRJ
Obama is promising to heal everything that’s wrong with America
— And in order to make that promise he has to list all of these “wrongs”, exaggerating when necessary and including problems that cannot be “healed” no matter how much taxpayer money is thrown at them.
Icy Truth (242ec7) — 7/27/2008 @ 2:42 amTime for the man of acton to step up to the plate and pay for the work – Yes. I do mean McCain.
davod (5bdbd3) — 7/27/2008 @ 5:52 amThe people of Chicago would probably mention his lapse as well when it comes to his projects there, like the slums he sponsored and the park that is still a dirt patch. Obama and Rezko
Patricia (f56a97) — 7/27/2008 @ 8:07 amDRJ, do you think Obama would make a great president if he wins? I am talking about gut feelings now. Do you sense he could succeed as president? If he wins, that is.
love2008 (0c8c2c) — 7/27/2008 @ 8:22 amI think there is still at least a 50% chance that Obama will be elected. As HL Mencken once said,”No one ever lost money underestimating the intelligence of the American public.” I don’t think it is intelligence but a certain gullibility that has been augmented by the loss of reading and critical thinking since the 1960s. If he is elected, I think he will be the second term of Jimmy Carter although Carter had more military knowledge.
Mike K (586583) — 7/27/2008 @ 8:41 amGiven that you have shown no interest in facts, logic, history, experience, integrity, and basic honesty, all you have left are “gut feelings”.
Do you drive around town using those “gut feelings”?
Do you have a “gut feeling” that Jimmy Carter succeeded as President?
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/27/2008 @ 8:44 amIf Obama wins, its pretty likely that he’ll be among the two or three worse presidents of the last half century. He seems to be enamored with ideologies that lack any grounding with reality, to have extraordinarily silly ideas of economics, and to propose ideas with no concept of the consequences.
SPQR (26be8b) — 7/27/2008 @ 8:45 amI hope he has a design contest to determine the look and cut of the new uniforms for that domestic security force that’s going to get the same budget as the military.
Jack Klompus (b796b4) — 7/27/2008 @ 9:17 amI’m betting the shirts will be brown. Maybe with a nice kerchief around the throat.
Plus a
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/27/2008 @ 9:34 amJugend UnterKorpsJunior Cadets for the kids.He could at least donate some of his used underwear to Grandma or does Michelle copy Hillary, donate it to a non-profit and claim a tax writeoff?
Could this really have been a Slick Willie blonde?
A blond goes into the cleaners and drops off a blouse
to be dry cleaned. As she’s leaving the man behind
the counter says “Come again.”
The blond stops and says, “No, it’s mustard this time.”
“Stolen from the Grouchy Old Cripple in Atlanta” blog.
Scrapiron (c36902) — 7/27/2008 @ 10:16 amScrapiron-
Speaking of blondes (those with matching cuffs and collars, I assume)
Sick Leave for Blondes:
Was having a very frustrating day. I said to myself,”I urgently need a few days off work, but I know the boss won’t allow me to take leave.”
I thought maybe if I acted ‘crazy’ then he would tell me to take a few days off. So, I hung upside down on the ceiling and made funny noises.
My female co-worker (who’s blonde) asked me what I was doing.
I told her that I was pretending to be a lightbulb so the Boss might think I was ‘crazy’ and give me a few days off.
A few minutes later the Boss came into the office and asked, “What in the world do you think you’re doing?”
I told him I was a lightbulb.
He said,”You are totally stressed out. Go home and recuperate for a couple of days.”
I jumped down and walked out of the office…
When my co-worker (the blonde) followed me, the Boss asked her, “And where do you think you’re
going!?”
She said, “I’m going home too. I can’t work in the dark.”
madmax333 (0c6cfc) — 7/27/2008 @ 11:16 amlove2008 #15,
I don’t have to use my gut to evaluate Obama fairly but if you really want to know what my gut instinct is, it is that Obama and a Democratic Congress will spend us into a severe recession or a depression – not just financial discomfort like we have now – that will cause great suffering to many Americans and severely weaken the US economy.
If that happens, I fear countries like China, Russia, and Iran will take that opportunity to expand their power in their regions, undermining US security and economic interests throughout the world and jeopardizing free countries in Eastern Europe as well as Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Taiwan.
So maybe it will make you feel better to hear what my head tells me. I think Obama would do everything he could to be a good President. Because he is trained as a lawyer, I think he would seek counsel from experts and look for the perfect solution to each problem. Because he is a liberal, I think he would consider how policies affect the most disadvantaged of our society.
However, I also think those qualities are dangerous in a President. Because the American legal system is mature and stable, lawyers have the time and resources to consider issues and fine-tune solutions. Thus, we lawyers are tempted to look for perfect answers to each problem. That is a wonderful feature of a mature legal system but it doesn’t translate to running a nation as big and diverse as the United States. Courts and laws can be organized and controlled. Nations and governments – not so much.
For one thing, if our President waits until he identifies the perfect answer to a problem, that problem will have been replaced by 10 other problems and it’s not always the best answer to let problems slide. Social security is an example of that.
In addition, I believe people and businesses – not government – make America successful but government policies can gum up the works and make it harder for people and businesses to succeed. I am concerned that Obama and the Democrats will try to micromanage America and, as a result, everyone but government will suffer.
Finally, it’s one of America’s and Americans’ best traits that we care for the disadvantaged but it is a problem when most government policies are designed for the disadvantaged (excluding, of course, policies specifically intended to apply to the disadvantaged like civil rights and the ADA). For example, it would be bad if my town’s school system designed all its programs with my autistic child in mind. Yes, there should be teachers and help for my child but the curriculum and resources of the school system should be focused on the average child, not the least able child.
If government policies adversely affect people, courts can and should remedy those injustices but it doesn’t make sense to design policies by focusing on society’s least representative members. Government policies should focus on the big picture and be aimed at making the American economy work better. Why? Because, the bottom line of what makes America great is an economy that affords us the resources to help ourselves and others.
DRJ (de3993) — 7/27/2008 @ 11:51 amMax #22,
I really like that joke!
DRJ (de3993) — 7/27/2008 @ 11:53 amWhat possible reason could someone have to think Obama would be a “great president”?
Please give me a reason to vote for him.
TomB (c3f8e5) — 7/27/2008 @ 12:09 pmDRJ- sent to me by a blonde. But a really great one is Mercedes Benz ad about having beauty without brains in a video of a blonde in a library. It came from cartoonland.de but I can’t locate the link. Do have the attachment if anyone wants it.
West Texas? Hit from behind by Greyhound bus outside of El Paso many years ago. Jay and the Americans old song brings back the memory (Come a Little Bit Closer).
madmax333 (0c6cfc) — 7/27/2008 @ 12:10 pmDRJ did a good job above. I’m concerned about a lot of Obama’s unrealistic ideological positions but high among my concerns is that his ignorance of economics will lead him to give left-wing labor unions what they want, and destroy the gains we’ve made under Clinton and Bush administrations for free trade.
A new set of trade wars could put the US into very serious recession for an extended period of time, if not a real depression.
SPQR (26be8b) — 7/27/2008 @ 12:13 pmMax,
El Paso is west of where I live but it’s easy for drivers (even bus drivers) to be lulled into carelessness by our empty, monotonous West Texas roads. After being hit by a bus, you must feel lucky to be alive.
DRJ (de3993) — 7/27/2008 @ 12:17 pmGreat state though. I’m more familiar with Wichita Falls.
madmax333 (0c6cfc) — 7/27/2008 @ 12:27 pmI vaguely recall at the age of nine rolling hills and desolate landscape. Think the banging around where her hip was severely bruised exacerbated my mom’s health as she was dead that year of bone cancer at age thirty. Anyway it was a glancing blow as bus passed and threw the new Ford across the road. No doubt today’s airbags would have ameliorated the damage. I drive a less than one ton two seat Honda and shake my head at the ubiquitous overturned Ford Explorers.
“. Obama is promising to heal everything that’s wrong with America and, after his world trip, with the world. ”
You must be hearing different speeches than me.
afall (6e6b68) — 7/27/2008 @ 3:16 pmHe already stopped the oceans from rising, afall. Just by getting the nomination. He is a lightworker.
JD (5f0e11) — 7/27/2008 @ 3:22 pmReceeding oceans…
This will open up a lot of work for the Corps of Engineers… All those harbors to be dredged out so the super-tankers can get in again without scraping bottom….
Seriously…
Another Drew (8018ee) — 7/27/2008 @ 3:27 pmLet’s not forget that the Great Depression was not caused by the Crash of ’29, but by the world-wide shut-down of trade due to Smoot-Hawley and the responses to same. Without S-H, the US would have just gone through another economic correction (the Crash of ’29, etc); but, when trade shut down, the economy bottomed, and banks failed, and those with wealth that could have been used to re-invigorate the economy, stopped investing/spending/employing.
This is the scenario we need to fear!
“Let’s not forget that the Great Depression was not caused by the Crash of ‘29, but by the world-wide shut-down of trade due to Smoot-Hawley and the responses to same.”
Lets DO forget that it had one cause.
afall (4daa88) — 7/27/2008 @ 3:40 pmafall #30,
I don’t know what you’ve been listening to but I relied on Obama’s speeches, including his Berlin speech in which he preaches that “this is the moment” to cure all that ails the world and he’s the one who will lead us to:
>> “… build new bridges across the globe … and join together, through constant cooperation, strong institutions, shared sacrifice, and a global commitment to progress, to meet the challenges of the 21st century.”
>> “… defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it.”
>> “… rout the terrorists who threaten our security in Afghanistan, and the traffickers who sell drugs on your streets.”
>> “… secure all loose nuclear materials; to stop the spread of nuclear weapons; and to reduce the arsenals from another era.”
>> … [see that] every nation in Europe must have the chance to choose its own tomorrow free from the shadows of yesterday.”
>> “… build on the wealth that open markets have created, and share its benefits more equitably.”
>> “… answer the call for a new dawn in the Middle East … [and tell] Iran that it must abandon its nuclear ambitions.”
>> “… come together to save this planet.”
DRJ (de3993) — 7/27/2008 @ 3:50 pmFor the sake of brevity, I did not wish to go into the uterly stupid economic policies put into place by the first FDR administration, that exacerbated the situation, ensuring a prolonged Great Depression.
Another Drew (8018ee) — 7/27/2008 @ 4:03 pm“he’s the one who will lead us to:”
Everything else is in quotes, but those are your words. I don’t see him promising to deliver any of those things, but rather telling us ‘we’ have to do them. Its part of why people think his speeches are inspirational, rather than simply promises.
afall (1bf27e) — 7/27/2008 @ 4:08 pm“For the sake of brevity, I did not wish to go into the uterly stupid economic policies put into place by the first FDR administration, that exacerbated the situation, ensuring a prolonged Great Depression.”
Or the 1920’s. Sure. Or the rather unbrief economic history that has been done on this topic. For the sake of brevity.
afall (1bf27e) — 7/27/2008 @ 4:10 pmafall, inspirational? If I was a manufacturer of cliches, I’d be inspired. Otherwise, not so much.
SPQR (26be8b) — 7/27/2008 @ 4:14 pmHis speeches are an amalgamation of quotes from Successories.
JD (5f0e11) — 7/27/2008 @ 4:24 pmJD, rejected motivational posters.
SPQR (26be8b) — 7/27/2008 @ 4:38 pm#29
love2008 (0c8c2c) — 7/27/2008 @ 5:20 pmSometimes Max, I imagine you to be incapable of expressing emotion. But I was touched greatly by your post about you mom. Though terribly belated, do accept my sympathies.
Here you go, madmax #26.
nk (c1e92f) — 7/27/2008 @ 5:38 pmThanks nk. I do wonder if the blonde gene is applicable to only real blondes or also those who merely bleach?
Thanks love2008. I do express emotion when I see how leftwingers blindly worship the obamessiah. Now I know I am really no one and yet as an adult, I realize my dear old dad was worthless as far as my welfare, having abandoned the family some years prior to my own mom’s death and making zero effort to support us in any way. I only mention this private stuff because I see whatver the hell they are called, people like Halle Berry and Obama who heap praise on black father’s who abandoned them and give short shrift to the mom’s who were there. Ok, in Obama’s case, his flower child hippie freak mom gave him over to her parents. Still, I was there at my own mom’s death bed. So- please explain to me how an adult Obama could not bring himself to even visit his own mom on HER deathbed before she expired at 52, I think? Afterall he cares so much and truly ‘loves’ America. Why would he adore someone who was porking and impregnating various women all around the world? I also note the media would be going gaga for some of McCain’s biographical details if they applied to Obama. Check out the story of his adopted Bangledesh daughter and another child his wife Cindy brought back from Asia which an aide adopted. Bridget would not have gotten medical treatment to save her life even under the wing of Mother Theresa, where Cindy found her.
madmax333 (0c6cfc) — 7/27/2008 @ 8:37 pmWhat mostly ticks me off about liberals in general is that they are opposed to everything that actually makes America a better place or would lessen our reliance on terrorist-friendly states. I get tons of spam from a site called care2.com…..green to the extreme and opposed to everything Bush or the GOP would support. ..vehemently opposed to any controls on abortion, any domestic drilling, anything remotely fair to the average joe and everything skewed to victim politics.
Are you saying that Obama abandoned his mother? Thats a very serious thing to say Max.
love2008 (1b037c) — 7/28/2008 @ 5:53 amI do express emotion when I see how leftwingers blindly worship the obamessiah. Now I know I am really no one and yet as an adult, I realize my dear old dad was worthless as far as my welfare, having abandoned the family some years prior to my own mom’s death and making zero effort to support us in any way.
Matt (a6c6e6) — 7/28/2008 @ 8:16 am