I predict we’ll be hearing a slanted view of this on Fox real soon.
“See, he’s not really the inclusive candidate for change.”
I fully expect Obama to be a politician and I’m watching to see how his political animal reveals itself {other than a brillaiant campaign} but dam, either the guy is disingenious and incredibly adept at the game or he’s the real deal. A man trying hard to actually bring integrity into politics.
Here’s the part I like.
He wanted the indcident to be aired instead of stifled? He called them personally to apologize? Is it possible that we might get a president who , amid his flaws, tries hard to walk it like he talks it? A president who is more concerned about reality than creating an image and protecting it? Who’d a thunk it?
to clarify, the thread title is sarcasm in anticipation of how this will be twisted.
I think Obama is in a difficult position here, because of the danger of losing votes by being too closely associated with Islam. However, he did do the correct thing, in spite of that danger.
I’m a Canadian, but I really wish we had someone like him here. I’ve been tired of the same dissembling political riff raff we’ve been faced with year upon year, and Obama’s apparent open and frank dialog intrigues me. I daresay it impresses me – and I am otherwise numb to political rhetoric and feel like every other word out of a politician’s mouth got there by way of the bowels. But there’s something a little more genuine about that man. Either he’s stunningly good at faking authenticity or … or he’s authentic. And that’s just unheard of.
At Fox headquarters right now they’re arguing over whether they should lead with “Obama bans religion at his rallies” or “Obama tries to conceal Muslim support for his campaign”. They’re going to run it past some focus groups to see which one plays better.
Maybe you already have one and he or she needs to be encouraged to run. The problem in the US IMHO is that we didn’t pay enough attention to our politics and things got worse and worse until we got Bush and this war. The citizens have to pay attention and demand some changes.
That’s right – and often volunteers have their own agendas. So Muslim women dressed with headscarves may be deliberately sitting where they will be in the picture in order to symbolise Muslim support for Obama , while other volunteers will want them out of the picture to downplay that Muslim support. A political campaigner needs to delicately balance things, to keep everyone as happy as possible, and to keep the public view of the campaign consistent with the message of the campaign.
Incidentally, there’s nothing new about trying to manipulate demographics in campaign images. At every GOP Convention, they always go round up all three black people in the crowd and put them right up front for camera shots.
And McCain got criticized for a talk in Selma, I think, with all white people in the audience. You can’t win.
Everyone is going to either make a mistake or have people around who screw up. The mark of a true leader is to own up to it, and to change course when needed. One of the best bosses I ever had, a high level guy, came down and apologized for screwing up, even for things that seemed to bother him more than us.
Obama will be a nice change from the guy who can’t think of anything he did wrong.
