Barack Obama does Hillary Clinton's act

America Wants To Know just watched Barack Obama's thirty-minute political message, televised on three broadcast networks and four cable networks.

We barely recognized him.

Gone was the Obama we saw in the primaries, the candidate of optimism and can-do American exceptionalism. In his place was a national welfare caseworker, canvassing the country for hard-luck stories and offering promises that the government will help.

Even worse was a soundtrack with unbearably whiny, poignant, tearjerking, chick-flick music.

It made The Grapes of Wrath look like a Mel Brooks movie.

Lightening the mood, though, was the selection of soon-to-be welfare cases on display for the voters' empathy, or pity. The show began with the story of a white family that bought a house in the suburbs to keep the kids out of the city schools. Now they're sad and surprised to find that their expenses are higher.

Then there was the African-American woman whose husband decided to retire ten years ago, leaving her without any health insurance to cover the cost of the twelve prescription drugs she takes every day. "Five of those years he had to go back to work," she complained.

Imagine having to work to support your family. That shouldn't happen in America. Music up!

Then there was the white woman who worked with at-risk youth and special-needs children, probably on a salary paid by the taxpayers. She was feeling put-upon because food and electricity and other living expenses were taking a big bite out of her paycheck.

Now we're getting to it.

In Barack Obama's America, you have the right to spend your money on fun stuff.

Then, when you run out of money, all you have to do is look sad and move to a swing state, and Barack Obama will jam legislation through the Democratic Congress to pay for all those dull-but-necessary things like housing, food, utilities and health care.

What a depressing finish to a depressing presidential campaign.

Barack Obama has adopted Hillary Clinton's world view. "I've met families in this state and all over our country who've lost their homes to foreclosures," Senator Clinton said in her New Hampshire election night speech, "Men and women who work day and night but can't pay the bills, and hope they don't get sick, because they can't afford health insurance. Young people who can't afford to go to college to pursue their dreams."

This is what Barack Obama said that night:

"No matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change. We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics. They will only grow louder and more dissonant in the weeks and months to come. We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope. But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope. For when we have faced down impossible odds, when we've been told we're not ready or that we shouldn't try or that we can't, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes we can."

That's all gone now. Tonight his message was: Abandon hope, sign here for welfare.

Depressing.

America Wants To Know just can't believe that's a winning message in this country.

We can't believe Americans think "the rich" can or should be taxed at a high enough rate to guarantee that "the middle class" can move to nicer neighborhoods, retire early, and have extra spending money for fun stuff.

We can't believe Americans will vote for a candidate who tells them they're the beaten-down victims of an unfair fate.

We can't believe Barack Obama teased Rudy Giuliani about cross-dressing, and then turned up on seven television networks disguised as Hillary Clinton.

Does Sportsbook.com still have McCain at 4-1?


Copyright 2008

Editor's note: You might be interested in the earlier posts, "The Romantic Appeal of Barack Obama," "Hillary Clinton and the basic bargain," "Michelle Obama is good," "Barack Obama explains socialism," and "Barack Obama: 'We don't mind....'"

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