JOLLY DAYS

Fallows On Political Rhetoric

This exhaustive article by James Fallows about the rhetoricians called politicians and the media provocateurs called journalists covers an awful lot of ground, but its conclusion, that Obama is “thoughtful”, seems on the face of it untrue. Obama has again and again gone with the flow, speaking to whatever group is in front of him in ways that go beyond the usual ingratiations of politicians, into a characterless slide. What is presented though in Obama's fastidious declamations, which are reminiscent of parson McGovern's manner, is that Obama is a fud.

Much of the public wants Obama to win and doesn't care or care to pay attention. They are just tired of the Republicans and want to give Democrats a chance and if Obama is the cipher, so be it. It does matter though. Obama's tanking his opportunity to explain his long relationship with pastor Wright devalued him enormously. He never really recovered. It was his Rubicon. Obama is an ordinary and somewhat cynical politician; I don't know what thoughtfulness can mean if the person doing the thinking is manipulating rather than speaking from core values.

Fallows lists his worst offenders — the questions that should never be asked in a debate by the moderator:

1. The will you pledge tonight question, which is always about something no responsible politician could ever flat-out promise to do.
2. The gotcha question, involving any change of policy.
3. The loaded hypothetical question, which assumes factors that can’t be known.
4. The raise your hand question, for reasons of intellectual vulgarity and personal rudeness…
5. The lightning round, in which the candidates have 30 seconds to address a point.

The media self-congratultion inherent in the apotheosis of Tim Russert after his untimely death never obscured what James Fallows points out — that Russert was the worst offender.

To be fair to Fallows, an excellent journalist, the article presents pro and con on most of the issues considered. I did think though that this point Fallows makes about Obama had particular weight:

Whenever he talked about certain topics, including China, it seemed to me that [Obama] was reading from cue cards (“manipulating their currency,” etc.) rather than expressing policies he had thought through. The policies he has made his own—on race, Iraq, constitutional issues, family values—are subtly or dramatically different from the Democratic orthodoxy…

Of the debates, I thought Charlie Gibson was the only moderator to ask Obama questions that really challenged him. For this ABC met with herd attack, and for all I know, may have taken it to heart, ignoring their own honorable performance. Narcissists like Obama don't like to be questioned seriously. It's unfair.