aguywhoplaysthief on 17/2/2008 at 22:44

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It's pretty hard to have gone through the education system and not have seen every famous clip from the 20th century of people being suckered by charismatic politicians. I see this happen in 3rd-world nations today, when some general or bureaucrat stirs crowds to vote them into office by appealing to whatever cause or concept is relevant at that time. Ten years later, when things are a bit better (or a lot worse), I think, "Hey, that's what happens when you get enough illiterate people in a room together".

But this Obama thing...it just stuns me. I never thought, in my lifetime, in modern America, that I'd see so many intelligent, well-educated, and generally with-it people get so hyped up by some Chicago pol with good looks and a crack team of speech writers. This is all calculated. They do focus groups and phone polls, and if enough people say that "hope" and "change" is good this year, that's what they say.

It's one thing to think that this or that politician represents your positions the best, and you vote, or give money and time to them because of that, but I just can't understand, at a gut level, putting your faith and emotions into leaders like this, whether they be business leaders, government leaders, or religious leaders. I just can't fathom how people think that a president can solve all their problems.

Have you seen the fainting clips at Obama rallies? What. The. Fuck.

Obama is just another in a very long line of ambitious manipulators who happens to be better at convincing people that his bullshit is genuine than anyone else in the last couple of decades. Oh, and his website has a laundry list of center-left positions instead of center-right ones.

Inspiring! For me, in 8 years, the only thing that will change is that my 1040 will be a bit more complicated to fill out.

That's all. That's what he offers. If you agree with his political views, then great, vote for him. But this hysteria - I'm just baffled by it.

And one other thing, about that Wisconsin speech: King wrote words like that in prison cells because his people were being beaten. The Founding Fathers wrote the Declaration under the threat of death. Obama's speeches were cooked up in a lab - there's no comparison, and I'm stunned that no one has called him on this.

Gingerbread Man on 18/2/2008 at 00:42

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Would that be Hitler, Bush, Stalin, Gandhi, Gorbachev, Pol Pot, Churchill, Elvis Presley, John the Baptist, or Steve Irwin?

The_Raven on 18/2/2008 at 00:48

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Wow, imagine if you mixed them all together....

a flower in hell on 18/2/2008 at 01:17

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vin diesel

Thirith on 18/2/2008 at 09:34

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Why the "instant"? Why is that more important than allowing enough time for the checks to be thorough and, ideally, nation- rather than statewide?