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After the election?
by
Rich Gardner | 10.30.2008
What are the chances Obama & McCain will sit down after the election and peacefully and productively discuss the future direction of the country? RELATED: Note to Progressives for Obama: What Happens After Election Day? II Fun Thoughts: Messin' With Republicans II McCain the "Gook Hater" II "I do not want a black man running my country" - McCain Supporters in PA say "Bomb Obama" II "Kill Him!" -- A Political Chronicle II Meeting Myself in Bucks County: Pennsylvania in the Political (and Personal) Crucible  I have to agree that this is about the dumbest idea I've heard all week: Last, I believe this [that Obama will pursue a centrist strategy] is likely because Obama understands that to succeed, he must make peace with John McCain just as he has done with Hillary Clinton. When this historic election concludes, I expect the two to sit down, without precondition, and negotiate an agenda of reform.
The problem here, is that if Republicans had any serious ideas for how to run the country better, they would already have been talking about those ideas. Instead, Karl Rove's "big idea" is for them to have started attacking Barack Obama's relationship with Palestinian-American Professor Rashid Kahlidi last spring instead of waiting until the week before the election. To attack Professor Kahlidi is racist to the core as: [Kahlidi] is a distinguished scholar, and the only objectionable thing about him from a rightwing point of view is that he is a Palestinian. There are about 9 million Palestinians in the world (a million or so are Israeli citizens; 3.7 million are stateless and without rights under Israeli control in the West Bank and Gaza; and 4 million are refugees or exiled in the diaspora; there are about 200,000 Palestinian-Americans, and several million Arab-Americans, many living in swing vote states). Khalidi was not, as the schlock rightwing press charges, a spokesman for the Palestine Liberation Organization. He was an adviser at the Madrid peace talks, but would that not have been, like, a good thing?
John McCain has attacked Professor Kahlidi as a "neo-Nazi" and of course, Matt "the GOP-friendly Internetist" Drudge has splashed the story onto his home page, and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has been pushing the story as only a Vice-Presidential candidate can. The Obama campaign's very appropriate answer is that the whole controversy is: ...another recycled, manufactured controversy from the McCain campaign to distract voters' attention from John McCain's lockstep support for George Bush's economic policies.
And this was a good one: At an event Wednesday in Raleigh, North Carolina, Obama said McCain has spent the last few days calling him "every name in the book."
"I don't know what's next. By the end of the week, he'll be accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten. I shared my peanut butter and jelly sandwich," Obama said.
Governor Palin then went on for a few paragraphs about achieving "energy independence" from Mideast oil, but didn't once mention alternative energy. Simply drilling for more oil runs into the "Peak Oil" problem (A few decades ago, the US had already pumped more than half the oil it will ever pump and the rest of the world is now at or very near that same stage). Nuclear energy has a lot of advantages, but storing the nuclear waste is a problem that hasn't been solved yet. ...the DOE acknowledges much progress in addressing the waste problems of the industry, and successful remediation of some contaminated sites, yet also major uncertainties and sometimes complications and setbacks in handling the issue properly, cost effectively, and in the projected time frame.
So, while "energy independence" is most certainly a valuable and worthwhile thing to do, it's far from clear that the McCain-Palin campaign has any seriously meaningful ideas for actually achieving such a thing. How about in other areas? How's the War on Terror going? Well...er...not so hot, actually. It's really cool for: ...defense contractors, lobbyists, think-tankers, ambitious military officers, the hosts of Sunday morning talk shows, and the Douglas Feith-like creatures who maneuver to become players in the ultimate power game
but, as for the rest of America, it's a fiction, a gimmicky phrase employed to lend an appearance of cohesion to a panoply of activities that, in reality, are contradictory, counterproductive, or at the very least beside the point.
Sorry, but the idea that Obama and McCain can sit down after the election and talk productively with each other about the future direction of this country is, well, a pretty stupid one. I simply can't see McCain having anything serious to propose. Update: Aaugh!!! The stupid!!! It HURTS!!! Uhh... Governor Palin thinks her 1st Amendments rights are being violated because people are disagreeing with her and saying things that she doesn't like. No Governor Palin, no, no, no. When people are free to disagree with you, that means rights are alive and well. It doesn't mean your rights are being violated. |
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Comments
this quote is great
Submitted by HansBennett on Thu, 10/30/2008 - 11:27pm"I don't know what's next. By the end of the week, he'll be accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten. I shared my peanut butter and jelly sandwich," Obama said.
Obama Stole My PBJ and...
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 10/31/2008 - 10:04am...gave it to other kids.
Then he sat down and ate all of his own sandwich.
Thanks Rich for your
Submitted by monique abu jamala (not verified) on Sat, 11/01/2008 - 9:40amThanks Rich for your stupidity. I often wonder what goes on in the minds of absolute idiots. Thanks for letting me know.
You're welcome
Submitted by Rich Gardner on Sat, 11/01/2008 - 10:17amAnd it's not that I think you're an idiot either, it's just that you make such short, uninformative comments with so little backing evidence, that I'm left to conclude "Well, some guy somewhere for some mysterious reason disagrees with me."
Well y'know what? That's life. Ya comment on politics, people are gonna disagree with you.
Oh well.
Reasons to disagree
Submitted by monique abu jamala (not verified) on Sun, 11/02/2008 - 8:19amThere are so many untruths and crap in your post that it begs to ask the question, are you really that stupid? Why is it racist to call attention to his association with Kahlidi? That is bullshit. Why was it racist to call attention to Rev Wright and his hatred of white america, it is racist to breathe around the great BHO. All bullshit. If you think that BHO is going to pursue a centrist position, then you are naive to the core. He is a socialist, and a black racist. He will pursue a radical left agenda that will hurt America worse than any president in history. Of course you don't see that, all you can do is write ignorant lefty loony crap filled with untruths and outright stupidity.
We call the accusation on Khalidi racist
Submitted by Rich Gardner on Sun, 11/02/2008 - 8:47ambecause the one, the only, the exclusive objection to him is that he's a Palestinian. Period. No one has been able to find any substantive reason to call attention to Obama's "association" to Khalidi other than that.
Nobody objects that Rev. Wright is actually a wonderful man or that he's misunderstood or that it's racist to criticize him, our objection to making him a central issue is that his objectionable comments are few and far between and that it's ridiculous to assign such critical importance to someone who's played such an insignificant role in Obama's political philosophy and outlook. Sure, they know each other personally, but Wright has had zero influence on Obama's political viewpoints.
Most of the rest of what you say is just Fox News/Karl Rove propagandistic talking points.
More worried about Boy Scouts than PLO...
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 11/03/2008 - 3:53pmYeah, that he worked for the PLO has no bearing on anyone's opinion.
Follow the link
Submitted by Rich Gardner on Mon, 11/03/2008 - 4:52pmfor the highlighted term "racist to the core" and you'll get to Juan Cole's explanation as to what Khalidi has done in his life. You'll see that the "He worked for the PLO" charge is complete nonsense.
Update: Harper's Magazine just found some new information on the case at:
http://harpers.org/archive/2008/11/hbc-90003795
Governor Palin
Submitted by Ben (not verified) on Tue, 03/17/2009 - 8:12amGovernor Palin then went on for a few paragraphs about achieving "energy independence" from Mideast oil, but didn't once mention alternative energy. It is true.
Essay
There are about 9 million
Submitted by bedroom furniture (not verified) on Thu, 04/02/2009 - 7:59amThere are about 9 million Palestinians in the world (a million or so are Israeli citizens; 3.7 million are stateless and without rights under Israeli control in the West Bank and Gaza; and 4 million are refugees or exiled in the diaspora; there are about 200,000 Palestinian-Americans.
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