Savior to the Monuments

Maureen Dowd, op-ed columnist for the New York Times gleefully writes about the restoration of civil liberties, the returning pride of a nation, and how all the luster of DC is lost by the last few administrations ....

As we start fresh with a constitutional law professor and senator from the Land of Lincoln, the Lincoln Memorial might be getting its gleam back.

-- Bring on the Puppy and the Rookie, New York Times, Nov. 5, 2008

Obama ... Restorer of Monuments!

Now He's Teaching Madison Avenue a Thing or Two

"Nov. 4, 2008, will go down in history as the biggest day ever in the history of marketing." So says Al Ries, in his November 5, 2008 article What Marketers Can Learn From Obama's Campaign. The biggest day ever? Again I ask, the biggest day ever?

Without a doubt, the Obama campaign fired on all cylinders. The few missteps that were made were quickly corrected and all but forgotten about. The McCain camp struggled with a moving message, as much internally-caused (and maybe more so) as it was a reaction to the Obama campaign.

If you can get beyond the gratuitous hyperbole in Mr. Ries article, it seems incredulous to think that a 6+% popular vote victory would represent the "best day ever" in marketing. Coupled with America's tendency to yo-yo from party to party every 8-12 years, not to mention the stagnant economy and a less-than-stellar performance by his opponent, one would think Obama would have needed to gather at least more than 53% of the vote to have revolutionized marketing.

Further review of the article yields a glaring omission:

Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels was the master of the "big lie." According to Goebbels, "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it."

The opposite of that strategy is the "big truth." If you tell the truth often enough and keep repeating it, the truth gets bigger and bigger, creating an aura of legitimacy and authenticity.

The author never qualifies which strategy the Obama campaign employed.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

Commemorate one of the most important events in American history - Barack Obama's election as the 44th U.S. president.

Preserve this important event with the actual New York Times newspaper on Nov. 5, 2008, which boldly reported Obama's decisive victory over John McCain. [As if they weren't in the tank for him, already. ed.]

Price includes the full newspaper with a resealable plastic envelope. Ground shipping within the Continental United States is included in the purchase price.

Allow up to 2 weeks for shipping.

Price : $14.95

-- The New York Times Store

Let's see ... knock off the included shipping costs and you're probably paying $12.00 for a paper that would normally cost $1.50. For the mathematically challenged, that represents an almost 800% increase in the price of the paper!

Maybe the resealable envelope is gold-plated. Or maybe The Times is just getting a jump on next year's tax bill.

(HT: The Wall Street Journal)

And the Gold Medal Goes To ....

Slate reminds us that the quid pro quo inherent in politics suggests that Chicago Mayor Richard Daley may reap quite a few benefits of watching Obama's back while said Obama was out politicking. Could Obama Derangement Syndrome strike Switzerland, home of the International Olympic Committee, and reward Mayor Daley with an Olympic-sized plum?

The biggest boon may be to the city's bid for the 2016 Olympics, which the IOC is scheduled to award in October 2009. Chicago is one of four cities competing for the games that year, and it's fair to say that Obama has the other would-be hosts—Madrid, Tokyo, and Rio de Janeiro—in a panic. "I have a sense of crisis," one Japanese committeeman told the AP.

-- Chicago Hope, Slate, November 10, 2008

Panic. Crisis. Next thing, society will break down into sheer pandemonium. Oops, that appears to have already happened in some quarters.

Many A Truth Is Said in Jest

Best-selling Croatian author, Slavenka Drakulic, warns that Europeans have high expectations of American presidents:

We would like him (especially if it is our favorite Barack Obama) to: stop the war in Iraq, divert funding from the military industrial complex and use it to improve the lives of the poor, introduce national health insurance, sit down with Putin and discuss how best to bring peace to the world, persuade China and India to restrict dangerous gas emissions, get rid of the Taliban in Afghanistan, make a deal with Iran, sign the Kyoto Protocol, catch Osama bin Laden and, finally, bring peace to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Of course, all of this should be accomplished in close collaboration with European governments -- and all in the first year, possibly in the first days of his presidency.

-- as quoted in Speigel Online, November 5, 2008

Though clearly meant as a warning to fellow Europeans to tone down their Obama Derangement Syndrome, one is amazed at the prevalence of the idea that President Obama can heal the world's ills. And very quickly, to boot.

Planning under way for Obama holiday

From the Topeka Capitol-Journal, Sunday, November 9, 2008:

Plans are being made to promote a national holiday for Barack Obama, who will become the nation's 44th president when he takes the oath of office Jan. 20.

My guess is it will become some sort of high, holy day for Obama worshippers.

Founder of a New Republic?

In Obama and the Dawn of the Fourth Republic, author Michael Lind posits that America is due for a new republic, which he sees as occurring in approximately 72-year cycles (biorhythms, anyone?). While the author's synopsis of history seems sound, the evidence for a sea-change in politics and the underlying culture that drives it appears spotty at best and reeks of making the data fit a thesis, in this case, that Obama is the one. But let's get to the money quote:

And even if I am right that the new era began four years ago, historians are likely to identify the first president of the Fourth Republic of the United States as Barack Obama, not George W. Bush. Obama may join Washington, Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt on the short list of American presidents who, thanks both to their own leadership and the fortuitous timing of their elections, presided over the refounding of the United States.

Leadership? What leadership?

And isn't it a bit premature to be even considering to link him with Washington, Lincoln, and Roosevelt?

To beat it all, the author then finishes his article with a statement that emphasizes just how much impartiality the author might have used in reviewing the data.

Yes, he can.

Uggh.

Hollywood ODS

Hollywood ODS started early:

Well, I'm going to back Obama.

and seconds later, ...

So I think he [Barack Obama] definitely has convinced people that he stands for change and for hope, and I can't wait to see what he stands for.

-- Susan Sarandon, February 11, 2008 interview with Tavis Smiley

So she supported Obama, yet she doesn't know what he stands for? Scary.

Obama Derangement Syndrome Defined

Obama Derangement Syndrome (ODS)

Insane state of mind and lack of critical thinking or reasoning on issues surrounding Sen. Barack Obama's bid for the 2008 White House; usually used in reference towards his supporters.

(courtesy of "Flyfish", Urban Dictionary, retrieved 11/10/2008)