Noonan wrote, "We are a nation of Willie Lomans."

So, then, Noonan thinks we are a nation of deluded, suicidal lost souls?

I can see that you folks still don't get it about "character". Let me try to spell it out in terms you might relate to.

Consider Maslow's hierarchy of needs. In human development, certain aspects of living must be fulfilled before being able to progress further. The basics of food and shelter have to be secured before education, for instance.

The same applies to candidates. One has to KNOW that their leader shares a bond with the group, before addressing the cerebral aspects of the campaign. Clinton had it, Gore and Kerry didn't. That item alone has more power over voters than any other. It is the "secret" that has kept Bush where he is, and is currently being examined in Obama and Clinton.

Obama is being successfully challenged as an outsider, a carpet bagger if you will. He doesn't share American history, doesn't seem to like the American people (Michelle's opinion), and is seen as casting in with a racist preacher for 20 years. Unless and until Obama is seen to appreciate and reflect the finer aspects of America outside of his own race and class of limousine liberalism, he is going to be seen as fatally flawed by corrosive self-absorption as exemplified in Rev. Wright.

The candidates have similar policy objectives, the only difference seems to be slight difference in method. So who cares? If the candidate is objectionable as a leader, it doesn't matter. Don't think so? Ask John Kerry about it.

For anyone who is interested in having Obama as a contender, Noonan's observations are on the money. The only way he can move forward is to embrace the American experience, and leave the truly "bitter" behind.

Shooter writes exactly as one dimensional and as poorly as Noonan. Pulitzers all around.

OBAMA IS BLACK, PEOPLE!

Earlier today, the New York Times's John Broder published an article (“As Clinton Seeks Gas Tax Break for Summer, Obama Says No”) with the following quote:

“President Bush’s spokeswoman essentially sided with Mr. Obama in saying that tax holidays and new levies on oil companies would not address the long-term problems of dependence on foreign oil.”

As the article appeared this morning, that line was followed by several paragraphs comparing Obama's supposed opposition to a windfall tax to Clinton's support for the tax. The problem is, Obama has repeatedly stated that he is in FAVOR of a windfall tax on oil sold at over $80 a barrel. Here is the proof:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080425/ts_alt_afp/usvotedemocratsenergy_080425211322

http://www.taxfoundation.org/blog/show/23059.html

http://www.xdtalk.com/forums/political-view/69230-obama-calls-windfall-tax-oil-profits-gas-prices-soar.html

Interestingly enough, the article appears to be changing as the day wears on. Now, instead of stating that Clinton alone is in favor of a windfall tax, it states that "They have both called for the suspension of purchases for the national strategic petroleum stockpile, a supply of oil to protect the country against sudden supply disruptions; new taxes on oil companies..." Previously, this was ascribed to Clinton alone.

Also, Obama's specific windfall tax plan is still not mentioned AT ALL, while the misleading Administration quote which Broder previously used as the centerpiece of his comparison of Clinton and Obama remains intact.

I am not an Obama supporter, nor do I particularly like him. That said, I am not merely sucking up to my own candidate when I say that the whole lapel pin, patriotism-questioning crap that surrounds Obama in the media right now is absolutely, completely ridiculous, and if not racist, then it certainly reeks of a white-centered understanding of America. And a white-centered, imperialist, romanticized understanding of America is fine, as long as you acknowledge the fact that there are other understandings of American history as well, and that those understandings are just as valid.

Yeah, all those things about America that Noonan mentions are important parts of American history and identity, as long as you're white and milquetoast and middle class. Our fondness for those events, ideas, and people is inexplicable, given the fact that no one alive today was around to witness them or partake in them. The fact is, though, there is a large percent of the population that is more than a little dissatisfied with the fact that America, in reality, has never quite matched up to the America of principle. Our glorious country has been failing that mark since day 1. And I'm not just talking about blacks. Blacks who have a cultural history of being mistreated by this country are just one part of the demographic that refuses to romanticize America's sordid history.

For many of us, the question of patriotism is not "How much you love your country, the way it is." It's "How big do you dream for your country, the way it could be."

It's been a long long road to get here, Kitt. It started perhaps with Susan Sontag equivicating for three hours on Bookspan TV, on the eve of the Iraq war. Either you don't know or you don't'care. Insinuating I don't know what I am talking about because I directed these items to an open format, is precisely the sort of tool a propagandist would use to discredit someone with a personal attack.

FYI there is a nice piece on the doctored photos the CIA released of the Syrian nuclear reactor, on the 5things post. Brian Williams, is not a Liberal newscaster, (that sounds like Right Wing propaganda), and NBC is not fair and balanced, just because the Left is represented by a sportscaster.

A lot of people have been swallowing their crap for so long they are starting to take THEIR assumptions into the Liberal vernacular. Let's assume that's what happened here.

YOU don't understand!

Brian Williams is an omniscient American network anchor. He embodies the warp and woof of the traditional, white American poobahs of national broadcast news, who themselves were molded out of the rough clay of Murrow, Cronkite, Brinkley et al.

Trouble is, today, with declining audiences for network news fare, people like Williams have nothing new to say and react, as parody, to disturbing public statements, rather than offer something new and up to date.

To Williams, Noonan makes perfect sense in her pining for "Morning in America" one more time.

It's like we're all supposed to sit at the kitchen table with Auntie Peggy and Uncle Brian and listen to them hold forth, rapt, over our bowls of corn flakes.

No discouraging words, please. Otherwise the cowboys might storm the pantry, demanding answers.