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The Dopiness of Hope

Raasch actually calls it “the audacity of,” but goes on to caution that balloon will need to be pumped up with more than just hot air or the meanspirited Republicans will pop it.  Includes the interesting note that at a recent Obamathon, ”There was even cheering from the roped-off press area, where some media members had crossed an unwritten line and brought family.”  But here’s the hopeslap: 

Beyond hope, nearly nine months of tough politics lay ahead.

“Are Democrats coming surprisingly close to nominating a phenomena rather than a fully vetted candidate?” asked Steve Jarding, a long-time Democratic activist. “The answer to that appears to be a frightening, ‘Yes.’

“Once again, we seem to be falling in love in February only to be headed to a bitter breakup in November when our true love turns out to be much less than expected.”

Jarding, who said he considers Obama “unique and gifted,” has mostly stayed out of presidential politics since a brief dalliance with John Edwards in 2004. But the co-author of Foxes in the Henhouse: How the Republicans Stole the South and the Heartland and What the Democrats Must do To Run ‘em Out, has long warned that Democrats should avoid the mistakes of past elections.

“Historically, while hope may well sell in the spring, it wears thin by fall when it is trumped by issues of security and experience,” Jarding said.

One of his biggest complaints is over the “gushing of the media” toward Obama.

“In my 30 years of doing this,” Jarding said, “I have never seen anything like the swooning the … primarily television media has done over Obama.”

Eventually, that will change.

The theory is, they’ll eventually get embarrassed, and turn on him. Unless Obama proves to have transcended the mortal bonds of mere politics, and the hopeful hagiography only soars ever higher in the thin autumn air, and the cheers from the rope line give way to a heavenly chorus.

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Topics: pols

  Posted by Jules Crittenden at 7:29 am on Friday, February 15, 2008

17 Responses to “The Dopiness of Hope”

1. Don Surber » Blog Archive » Headline du jour Says:
   February 15th, 2008 at 8:00 am

   [...] Jules Crittenden: “The Dopiness of Hope“ [...]

2. Mr. Bingley Says:
   February 15th, 2008 at 8:30 am

   Well, the media has been having their own faux lovefest with McCain to get him the nomination, because quite frankly they think he’ll be the easiest Republican to beat. Don’t you find it curious that all these investigative sleuths at the various MSM outfits have not onceuttered the phrase “Keating 5″ during this Primary season? Perhaps I’m overly cynical in my advanced age but I think McCain is going to get destroyed in the general campaign by the press. And when there’s the first debate with his hunched, shriveled form standing next to young and smooth Obama…

3. Too late « Cadillac Tight Says:
   February 15th, 2008 at 8:47 am

   [...] Posted on February 15, 2008 by Joe Tobacco Jules Crittenden quotes Steve Jarding: “Are Democrats coming surprisingly close to nominating a phenomena rather [...]

4. The_Real_JeffS Says:
   February 15th, 2008 at 9:44 am

   Yeah, I’ve noticed the Hollywood approach in Obama’s campaign. All fluff and no go, IMHO. I doubt it’ll sit well with that portion of the American voters who actually think about their candidates (apparently a shrinking population, alas). But Jarding makes a good point; people can eat pure sugar for only so long.

   Mr. Bingley, though, brings up a good point. McCain is likely getting set up for a public thrashing by the MSM. Pathetic.

5. Byshup Says:
   February 15th, 2008 at 9:44 am

   The press will try its usual best to cover for Obama’s inadequacies, but eventually even they will have to face facts. Sure, the MSM will do its liberal duty in trying to destroy McCain, but the man will still mop the floor with Obama in the debates; there just isn’t any “there” there.

6. Fatty Bolger Says:
   February 15th, 2008 at 9:45 am

   Even sports reporters know there’s no cheering in the press box.

7. SoldiersDad Says:
   February 15th, 2008 at 11:13 am

   Mr Bingely,

   “Don’t you find it curious that all these investigative sleuths at the various MSM outfits have not onceuttered the phrase “Keating 5″ during this Primary season?”

   There are no investigative sleuths in the MSM. The Watergate scandal…the most famous of all investigative reporting cases…the one that every Journalism Graduate dreams of reprorducing…was handed to them by someone “In The Know” that was unhappy about something.

   My mother was a news editor for 30 years..everyday was the same…an endless parade of people with some axe to grind against someone or something burying her and her reporters in one-sided ‘half-truths’. She was fortunate in that she ran weekly papers…so there was pleny of time to track down someone who was knowledgeable about the “other side of the story”…and then somehow produce a “balanced” article.

   Then there is the cold hard reality of knowing that without major advertisors, the editorial budget will be slashed once again and that in an election year(The only year many news outlets actually make a profit)…the largest advertisors by far are the polictical partisans”. The rules in an election year are pretty simple…if the partisans have a story to tell…there is plenty of available advertising space in which to tell it.

   If the newspaper doesn’t make a profit in an election year..the owner will have to sell out to one of those nasty conglomerates(NY Times/WaPo/CapCitiesABC et al) who will fill the paper with news from their central offices and then have a couple of reporters left to provide ‘local flavor’.

8. RebeccaH Says:
   February 15th, 2008 at 12:52 pm

   It’s pretty obvious Obama is all hat, no cattle, and also obvious that Big Media will try to savage John McCain (after all, he has plenty of weaknesses of his own). I wish Obama were a better candidate, but he’s not. As it is, this may turn out to be another Kerryesque fiasco for the Democrats, and I can only say, they deserve it.

9. The Thunder Run Says:
   February 15th, 2008 at 2:22 pm

   Web Reconnaissance for 02/15/2008

   A short recon of what�s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day…so check back often.

10. Dave Surls Says:
    February 15th, 2008 at 4:48 pm

    ”There was even cheering from the roped-off press area…”

    The supposedly objective press cheering on Democrat Party socialists?

    Dog bites man.

11. Terrye Says:
    February 15th, 2008 at 5:41 pm

    I don’t think McCain will be the easiest to beat at all. He was the only Republican nominee who had an approval rating over 70 among Republicans and over 50 among the overall electorate. And if Republicans had actually got behind another candidate instead of just bitching about everybody there might have been someone else. There was not, McCain won, so it is time for conservatives to grow up and realize that there is no way in hell Mitt Romney was going to beat Saint Obama.

    BTW, Obama is creeping me out.

12. Dave Surls Says:
    February 15th, 2008 at 5:47 pm

    ‘”In my 30 years of doing this,” Jarding said, “I have never seen anything like the swooning the … primarily television media has done over Obama.”‘

    You obviously haven’t followed the career of swooners like that withered old hag, Helen Thomas. She’s STILL panting, like a bitch in heat, for JFK, and the poor guy has been dead for 45 years.

    Total bias in the media is so rampant, and so blatant, it isn’t even an embarrassment any more. Just a fact of life.

13. tanstaafl Says:
    February 15th, 2008 at 7:50 pm

    And when there’s the first debate with his hunched, shriveled form standing next to young and smooth Obama…

    That doesn’t seem quite right.

    McCain’s “people” have spiffed him up considerably, given him a tan and more.

    “young” and “smooth” are not adjectives that come to mind in describing Barack Obama. Slick, maybe…his “hope” is too much the messianic variety, (hope through or from him) not your own to accomplish on your own.

    Besides, his ears stick out.

    I hope this helps.

14. Michael Lonie Says:
    February 16th, 2008 at 12:04 am

    From what I read Obama is crippled without a teleprompter. Stick him in a debate where he has to think on his feet in an impromptu style and the guy is toast. Giving a speech using index cards instead of a teleprompter leaves him stumbling and hesitant. Like Rebecca said, all hat and no cattle.

    I don’t know who will win. I long since gave up trying to predict how the electorate will go. McCain has a good chance, I think, against either Dem nominee.

    McCain will be very saddened and hurt when his pals in the media turn on him like a pack of rabid jackals as soon as he is the Pack candidate. But when they bring up the Keating five one thing he can say is “I learned from that and that’s the reason I’ve been so aggressive about Campaign Finance Reform ever since.” Mind you that is a reason conservatives don’t like him, but the media loves CFR and most people are scammed into thinking it’s a good thing. So I think that scandal will not get much traction against McCain this year. Besides, it’s very old news.

    More damaging to Obama is likely to be the fact that he has literally nothing to show for his 46 years. Even his Presidency of the Harvard Law Review was lackluster. But as long as Obama can keep making speeches that say nothing, and have people swooning over them, he might make it. After all, the spell only has to last until the day after the election.

15. tanstaafl Says:
    February 16th, 2008 at 12:52 pm

    Maybe Gen X will tire of the “hope” thing.

    http://www.slate.com/id/2184536/

16. The_Real_JeffS Says:
    February 16th, 2008 at 5:26 pm

    Not all of the young people take Obama’s crap at face value — see what one young man thinks about The Messiah™.

17. A NEWT ONE Says:
    February 17th, 2008 at 2:05 am

    BREAKING: The Psychological Causes of Political Ma

    As most of us know, there is an oddity that drives the Liberal Proponents of Guilt and Shame to frenzied hate and pitiful rhetoric filled with platitudes, bumper sticker sloganeering and utter contempt for those which do not comply or adhere to the L…

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