Charles Krauthammer: Obama's Altitude Sickness

[Chuckiechan]

RealClearPolitics - Articles - Obama's Altitude Sickness

One star fades, another is born. The very next morning McCain picks Sarah Palin and a new celebrity is launched. And in the celebrity game, novelty is trump. With her narrative, her persona, her charisma carrying the McCain campaign to places it has never been and by all logic has no right to be, she's pulling an Obama.
But her job is easier. She only has to remain airborne for seven more weeks. Obama maintained altitude for an astonishing four years. In politics, as in all games, however, it's the finish that counts.

[MTAtech]

I thought just a few weeks ago McCain was telling us that celebrity was bad?

[tony_j15]

only when the celebrity belongs to the other side.

[Chuckiechan]

I thought just a few weeks ago McCain was telling us that celebrity was bad?

It's not that it's bad, it's that eventually you need to back it up with something. It is not a perpetual motion machine.

As the campaign left the faithfull in the primaries, the rest of the country began to slowly pay attention to "Ok, who is the guy Obama everyone is talking about?"

And now his message is seen as thin, partisan, and unrealistice, and to compound his problems, a new star has been born on his watch.

[Toadman]

Unless the candidate himself is a celebrity.

"But Palin is not just a problem for Obama. She is also a symptom of what ails him. Before Palin, Obama was the ultimate celebrity candidate. For no presidential nominee in living memory had the gap between adulation and achievement been so great. Which is why McCain's Paris Hilton ads struck such a nerve. Obama's meteoric rise was based not on issues -- there was not a dime's worth of difference between him and Hillary on issues -- but on narrative, on eloquence, on charisma.

The unease at the Denver convention, the feeling of buyer's remorse, was the Democrats' realization that the arc of Obama's celebrity had peaked -- and had now entered a period of its steepest decline. That someone like Palin could so instantly steal the celebrity spotlight overnight is a reflection of that decline."

[Disley]

How shallow can you get, in the real world we'd be able to compare the candidates and there policies, but Sarah Palin isn't allowed out of the sight of the McCain minders, who vet everything she says and where she goes.
A free televised discussion with no scripted questions and answers would never be allowed to happen, because McCain and Palin would come out of it looking like the dummies they are.

[DoubleK]

How shallow can you get, in the real world we'd be able to compare the candidates and there policies, but Sarah Palin isn't allowed out of the sight of the McCain minders, who vet everything she says and where she goes.
A free televised discussion with no scripted questions and answers would never be allowed to happen, because McCain and Palin would come out of it looking like the dummies they are.

Sadly although I rarely agree with you Disley, you are dead on here.

Why can't the rest of my country pull their heads out of their asses or are we to believe that their unwavering support for their candidate is based on unbiased responsible journalism?

Chuckie, Toadman and jokostel, I only point you three out as you are quite vocal on a lot of the threads I subscribe to and seemingly lean to the right. Surely you cannot believe that electing either McCain/Palin over Obama/Biden is the answer to our countries woes and is really going to fix anything conclusively one way or another.

Hopefully as fellow fence sitters we once again will not buy into either sides rhetoric and "take a vote away" from the lesser of the two weevils.

I am voting for change. That is, anyone not on the Republican or Democratic ticket. Much like our "Unions" they have been infiltrated by special interests to deeply. At least it will be entertaining watching Ralph Nader trying to accomplish anything. Maybe after a few presidencies of an independent thinker (not necc. Nader) we can truly experience the change WE ALL desire.

[osprey4]

Obama has nothing to worry about. As he once said:

We are the ones we've been waiting for.

Victory is predestined.

[mad1]

Obama has nothing to worry about. As he once said:


Victory is predestined.

The anointed one has spoken!:

[MTAtech]

Tiptoeing Through the Mud

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- It has been hard to remember lately that the country is in the midst of one of the most consequential presidential elections of our lifetimes.
...
Here's the problem: Few voters know that Obama would cut the taxes of the vast majority of Americans by far more than McCain would. Few know Obama would guarantee everyone access to health care or that McCain's health plan might endanger coverage many already have. Few know that Obama has a coherent program to create new jobs through public investment in roads, bridges, transit, and green technologies.

[Epidemic]

How shallow can you get, in the real world we'd be able to compare the candidates and there policies, but Sarah Palin isn't allowed out of the sight of the McCain minders, who vet everything she says and where she goes.
A free televised discussion with no scripted questions and answers would never be allowed to happen, because McCain and Palin would come out of it looking like the dummies they are.

Actually she did one last night but of course truth would not be something you are looking for.

I think o-riely was the first interview that barak has done to date in an even remotely hostile environment.

[Toadman]

In case of emergency descent or cabin de-pressurization I'm sure The Annointed One has a form-fitted O2 mask.