Letters to the Editor
Ladouceur de Vivre
Published Letters: 21 Editor's Choice: 1
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@goomey
[Read the article: Obama and the white working class]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]He will return our proud and heroic ARMED FORCES, back in to the Meals on Wheels, that it was in the 90's.
Well, doesn't that just telegraph it all!
Embedded as I am in the land of POW/MIA flags and "God, Guns and Guts" bumper stickers (and those that read, "If you're going to burn my flag, wrap yourself in it first"), I understand only too well the completeness and power of the mythology our white underclass has created to counter the emasculating effects of our warehouse and Walmart economy.
The bolts of defensiveness some working white folks have wrapped themselves in an attempt to survive their trip over the post-industrial waterfall is a tough (and effective) hide.
Obama has his work cut out for him convincing people that under him it will be safe to shed this skin.
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It Ain't Me Babe
[Read the article: Hey, Obama boys: Back off already!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I was an early fanboy, having heard the "Obama on Iraq" news clip like a year and a half ago now.
My partner/wife/friend of 20 years thought him a bit of a "girly-man," and opted to support the woman she characterized as "mean-mommy." (With three kids of her own, she identified.)
But things have changed. While I still stand by my commitment to vote for the Democratic candidate, whoever he or she may be, my wife has grown increasingly disgusted, and now claims she will now opt-out of the election if Hillary is the nominee.
This was all Hillary's doing. My occasionally wavering (but now solid) affection for Obama had nothing to do with it.
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We are all creatures of faith
[Read the article: Clinton, Obama, and the forum on faith]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Sorry all you hard-nosed rationalists, but we are all creatures of faith – whether that be a faith in our innate depravity, or a personal god, or progress, or my favorite, the right of the individual to explore his or her relationship with their fellow-humans, life and "the creation" in any way they damn well fell like.
Obama hit it EXACTLY RIGHT when he spoke of the validity of our respective faith languages, our right to think and express ourselves in those languages, and finally, our obligation to translate our words to the common language of the public square.
Me? I'm an atheist. But I know I have not cornered the market on truth nor own the only vehicle in which to travel through an 80-year long or so life. My advice: Get humble, open your mind and welcome diversity. There is an election to win ... and a universe to explore.
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The Real Elitists
[Read the article: Clinton, Obama, and the forum on faith]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The real elitists are those of us who believe we have "evolved beyond faith." Anybody who believes that understands neither evolution nor faith.
You can squeal now.
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Free Fallin'
[Read the article: Kristol plays the Marx card]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Who says you can't teach an old Democrat new tricks? Now, instead of defending against the old "elitist/commie" canard (again!), we find ourselves divided by it.
Thanks Senator Clinton.
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Barack had it. Michelle blew it. And for the moment at least, we are seriously screwed.
[Read the article: Obama can't close the deal ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As my wife frequently notes, though they don’t have much money or power, and though they are only benchwarmers, her blue-collar sisters and their spouses can at least say they are part of the greatest team on earth. The USA.
Early on, Obama generated a surprising degree of enthusiasm among this mostly Catholic crowd. Though my academic friends bristled, Barack’s invocation of “American exceptionalism” – symbolized in his stump by the “only in America is my story possible” bit – struck these folks as appealing, and struck me as a frame that could counter the more jingoistic and militant invocations of the right.
But that all came crashing down when Michelle uttered the unfortunate phase, “for the first time in my life I’m really proud of my country.”
We can parse and contextualize, note that the word “really” is a significant qualifier, but I don't think one can exaggerate the damage this worm has done to the shiny apple that was Barack.
PA showed two things: One, a mere +10 delegates shows Clinton cannot win the nomination without a coup that will seriously alienate African-Americans and depress a new generation of sure to be life-long Democratic voters. And two, Obama cannot win the election unless he can recast himself as an option for blue-collar folk who, if they have nothing else, at least have a country they can root for.
Clinton’s solution is to act more Republican than Cheney, to promise to give a nuclear elbow to Iran if it messes with Israel. That proves to me she cannot lead a country that needs to be guided away from its unaffordable military footprint and its ridiculous imperialist fantasies.
Obama has better ideas. But unless he can get Michelle to offer an apology for her tone-deaf comments, as galling as I know that would be for a black girl from the South Side, come November it’ll be Bush III.
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Bottoms-up
[Read the article: Will Obama's "new kind of politics" involve new policy ideas?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]That Obama is not promising to fight to the death to implement this or that specific policy concerns those who believe that a head on fight is the only way to get things done.
This concern may be valid. And Obama may be smoking dope to believe any other politics is possible.
But I am moved by Obama's belief in bottom-up verses top-down politics; his core faith that a broadening of political voice, encouraged and guided, will lead to emergent good. For me, his remarkable campaign is proof that this kind of "network" thinking actually works.
The alternative, represented by Hillary, is the cynical belief that only way to overcome the Republican Propaganda Machine is with a more brutal Democratic Propaganda Machine. Can we "win" that way. It appears so. But what will we have won exactly?
GOBAMA 08