President-Elect Obama is black intellectual. I "colorize" intellectual because it is EXTREMELY important. Obama acts like and talks like many black intellectuals I have come into contact with: extremely measured, very cautious in fluid situations. They do not want to miss something and yet miss things (but do not want to miss the "thing" stupidly). But they are going to be consider, reconsider, theorize, postulate, present, and debate themselves internally before putting out a response. The late author Harold Cruse basically said as much in his groundbreaking book "The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual".
This is what President-Elect Obama is. In the Blagojevich affair, Obama basically has concluded the he means nothing to his "master plan" and seems to be slightly irritated at the fuss. Whether that assessment is wrong or right, time will decide.
Personally I think Obama did not want to be involved with Blagojevich at all and ol' Blago didn't like that. As for chief Obama aides, that is another matter all together!
GeorgeSorwell
· 1 year ago
Patrick Fitzgerald isn't a leaker like Kenneth Starr was. He's conducting a methodical investigation. The news he revealed about Blagojevich was a bombshell. Everything else since then has been speculation. Eventually, more actual news will be made according to Fitzgerald's schedule, not according to Obama's.
That's the way it should be.
Isn't it?
DLS
· 1 year ago
One of the far lefties on this site, Chris WWW, had Obama figured out fairly quickly. Obama's a lib and Dem, but first and foremost a clever politician, just like all the white guys who have preceded him. This guy is particularly smart and good at covering himself -- note the nature and extent to which he has been screening applicants for even the lowest-run positions in his administration.
Of course he is involved to some extent with Blagojevich and the rest of the Chicago gang. In the case of the governor, it is independent of the Chicago-gang stuff -- _of_course_, even _before_ he vacated his Senate seat, he was talking to people in Illinois. It would be irresponsible not to do it.
mikkel
· 1 year ago
Uh is no one paying attention to the fact that it is most likely an ongoing investigation that may very well have more charges brought up and therefore they don't want to expose everyone that was involved in the "sting?"
As for change, anyone can see that any statement is going to be parsed a billion times and if he says anything that later turns out to be inaccurate then it will be a complete nightmare. The same for making decisions.
Really I can't blame politicians for the way they interact with the public/press because people don't care about substance, politics is all about image. I mean Politico keeps running stories about the new transition website feature that lets people ask questions and rate which ones they like. Instead of focusing on the top questions, they are obsessing over the fact that people keep voting down the Blagojevich ones because it's the scandal du jour and it "proves" censorship or something.
Our leaders can't run a new politics until the populace lets them; and that starts by caring more about reality than discussing marketing.
Also I interpret his pause to be more of a sign of his introverted nature than parsing. If you know any introverts that are strong speakers, they often pause to construct answers when they aren't just going off a playbook but then can talk for quite a while without missing much of a beat; that's also the reason why he says "Well look" a lot, as it's a throw away segue that lets him construct his answer but without extroverts being suspicious about the pauses. When he is stumbling a lot with tons of "uhs" that means he doesn't really know what to say and would rather say nothing because he's afraid of being held to something he doesn't want to be -- but due to his introversion that is a more natural response than just a string of market speak BS that means nothing, although he'd be better served by doing that perhaps.
I always could tell that he was an introvert even though everyone was going on and on about which personality type he was and they thought he was an extrovert. My suspicions were confirmed a couple weeks ago in a story about how his personal habits have changed.
DLS
· 1 year ago
Also, I believe credit ought to go where it is due here. While so many "progressives" are childish about what Obama has been doing (going mainstream rather than wholeheartedly extremist with his administration-head choices), one of the far-lefty users who posts comments on this site, Chris WWW, had Obama de-mythologized pretty much right from the start of his post-election decision-making, and I suspect he is not surprised at all by his latest round of conservative (and, more to the point, cautious) public statement-making.
T-Steel
· 1 year ago
With millions of microscopes on you, guess you better be measured.
DLS
· 1 year ago
"Obama acts like and talks like many black intellectuals I have come into contact with: extremely measured, very cautious in fluid situations."
He has a lot on his shoulders, already -- _before_ taking office. Most of us see the color of his skin the same way we see the color of someone's hair, or failing that, of eyes, etc., as a superficial thing and mainly a matter of appearance, nothing more. But obviously many see or think of more. Ken Burns's "Baseball" was full of gimmickry (the voice gimmick is especially overdone), reliance on liberal Northeastern dolts (Cuomo, Goodwin) about whom we don't care what they have to say about baseball, and really overdid the liberal garbage about the USA in depicting Jackie Robinson as Jesus. (Obama is not the first Messiah to save us from the Evil USA, in a tired and tiresome liberal political theme, which Burns's "Baseball" is.) But obviously Obama is a meaningful social as well as political phenomenon (black Americans rightfully deserve to be proud of his election; I am especially happy for the black centenarian children of slaves who got to vote for him last month and some of whom are making the journey or even _pilgrimage_ with other black Americans to Washington see him inaugurated next month) and I suppose keeping him "safe" is so important it may strike me as excessive and unnecessary but isn't seen that way by Obama and by others.
DLS
· 1 year ago
"millions of microscopes on you"
More than I sometimes realize, I admit, and I try to view the real world realistically.
christoofar
· 1 year ago
I totally agree with the "million microscopes" comment. That's what first came to mind when reading the story. The media's ready to pounce on every syllable to begin their "careful, measured" analysis. I'd rather let Fitzgerald let us know what is really going on when he's ready to.
All Comments
This is what President-Elect Obama is. In the Blagojevich affair, Obama basically has concluded the he means nothing to his "master plan" and seems to be slightly irritated at the fuss. Whether that assessment is wrong or right, time will decide.
Personally I think Obama did not want to be involved with Blagojevich at all and ol' Blago didn't like that. As for chief Obama aides, that is another matter all together!
That's the way it should be.
Isn't it?
Of course he is involved to some extent with Blagojevich and the rest of the Chicago gang. In the case of the governor, it is independent of the Chicago-gang stuff -- _of_course_, even _before_ he vacated his Senate seat, he was talking to people in Illinois. It would be irresponsible not to do it.
As for change, anyone can see that any statement is going to be parsed a billion times and if he says anything that later turns out to be inaccurate then it will be a complete nightmare. The same for making decisions.
Really I can't blame politicians for the way they interact with the public/press because people don't care about substance, politics is all about image. I mean Politico keeps running stories about the new transition website feature that lets people ask questions and rate which ones they like. Instead of focusing on the top questions, they are obsessing over the fact that people keep voting down the Blagojevich ones because it's the scandal du jour and it "proves" censorship or something.
Our leaders can't run a new politics until the populace lets them; and that starts by caring more about reality than discussing marketing.
Also I interpret his pause to be more of a sign of his introverted nature than parsing. If you know any introverts that are strong speakers, they often pause to construct answers when they aren't just going off a playbook but then can talk for quite a while without missing much of a beat; that's also the reason why he says "Well look" a lot, as it's a throw away segue that lets him construct his answer but without extroverts being suspicious about the pauses. When he is stumbling a lot with tons of "uhs" that means he doesn't really know what to say and would rather say nothing because he's afraid of being held to something he doesn't want to be -- but due to his introversion that is a more natural response than just a string of market speak BS that means nothing, although he'd be better served by doing that perhaps.
I always could tell that he was an introvert even though everyone was going on and on about which personality type he was and they thought he was an extrovert. My suspicions were confirmed a couple weeks ago in a story about how his personal habits have changed.
He has a lot on his shoulders, already -- _before_ taking office. Most of us see the color of his skin the same way we see the color of someone's hair, or failing that, of eyes, etc., as a superficial thing and mainly a matter of appearance, nothing more. But obviously many see or think of more. Ken Burns's "Baseball" was full of gimmickry (the voice gimmick is especially overdone), reliance on liberal Northeastern dolts (Cuomo, Goodwin) about whom we don't care what they have to say about baseball, and really overdid the liberal garbage about the USA in depicting Jackie Robinson as Jesus. (Obama is not the first Messiah to save us from the Evil USA, in a tired and tiresome liberal political theme, which Burns's "Baseball" is.) But obviously Obama is a meaningful social as well as political phenomenon (black Americans rightfully deserve to be proud of his election; I am especially happy for the black centenarian children of slaves who got to vote for him last month and some of whom are making the journey or even _pilgrimage_ with other black Americans to Washington see him inaugurated next month) and I suppose keeping him "safe" is so important it may strike me as excessive and unnecessary but isn't seen that way by Obama and by others.
More than I sometimes realize, I admit, and I try to view the real world realistically.
Would we rather see "don't even blink?"