Obama

The two remaining Democratic candidates are frustratingly similar, but to talk to their sycophantic followers you'd think the differences span the gulf between Mao and Lord Reagan. I've got plenty of problems with Hillary, but Obama definitely suffers from a cult of personality. I fear he will not properly use the bully pulpit of the presidency to bat back Republican opposition.

Ending "partisan bickering" sounds great but we all don't agree about the "changes" necessary. Talking about universal health care in bromides won't make right-wing opposition to it any less fierce (not that Obama is offering true universal health care anyway).

The "Yes We Can" so-called song by Will.I.Am released recently captures precisely what I hate so much about his campaign. Many people find it inspirational but it makes me gag. It's about a celebrity made by celebrities. And it's clear a lot his followers have projected their greatest desires onto him.

In Will.I.Am's (does this guy have a real name?) post on the his obligatory celebrity blog at the Huffington Post he explains why he wrote it. Instead of a straight forward grammatical structure with complete sentences, it's written in a bizarre, pretentious poem-like ramble:

and then there was New Hampshire

it was that speech...
like many great speeches...
that one moved me...

Do people lose all skepticism of politicians when they talk a good game? (see The History of Mankind for the answer). What you really have here is a campaign speech that was carefully crafted by speech writers to be broad, inspirational and lack substance. Then a bunch of millionaires got together, laid down a guitar track and sung the speech, all while staring earnestly into the camera.


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You've probably seen it all over the internet, but the McCain parody of that video is brilliant.