Posted on 10/24/2006 3:59:13 AM PDT by rdb3
By Richard Cohen
Tuesday, October 24, 2006; A19
Ancient Rome had a term for a certain political process: cursus honorum , the honors race. It was, I am told by Anthony Everitt in his new biography, "Augustus," the process by which politicians moved up the ladder. Along the way, they were evaluated until, finally, some made it to the top. Nowadays, the system is different. All you have to do is appear on "Oprah."
I am referring, obviously and insidiously, to Barack Obama, who announced Sunday that he might run for president. This followed, of course, the aforementioned appearance on "Oprah" which I, diligent in pursuit of truth, watched. This is how I learned that Obama loves his wife and she loves him and they both love their children. Cursus honorum this is not.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Just something to fill up the paper.
Let's think why the MSM is changing the subject from this election to nexct election....THE TIDE IS TURNING IN THIS ELECTION, they want people to think of the FUTURE faces of the Dem party. The good looking faces. They want people to feel good about Dems so they vote Dem this eleciton. It's so obvious I could puke.
Because he's a soclialist. I fricken HATE socialists. Regardless of what party they are in.
I like disco.
Disco was King. Who cared about anything? We had dance fever, all we needed to do was dance, dance dance. Danny Terrio should have run for President. :-)
Carter was also a Naval Officer and experienced as Governor of a significantly large state. That's about all that was known and, after the Nixon mess and the Viet Nam disaster on the home front, it was, apparently, enough. His true self (small 'c' commie) emerged years after he was out of office and his treasonous activity didn't manifest until the nineties.
Disco was a reaction to the ugliness that had taken over our culture from @ 1967. The War, the assassinations, the Black Panthers, the Weather Underground, the SDS, Watergate, the riots at the DNC in Chicago 1968, the overblown but still felt hippie nonsense, the really ugly aspect of much of the music (totally non-romantic)...these years were ugly-ugly. In stark contrast Disco brought romance, style, a touch of elegance and a definite "Out of the darkness, let's have a party tonight" attitude. It was safe to be silly for a while.
Today's reality is very much different.
"And Osama's qualified to be President?"
One thread apparently shows Obama to be a Muslim from a line of Muslims. How is that gonna fly at the presidential level?
Why not Christy Brinkley?
FReepers who don't read the rest of the article won't discover that Cohen actually comes out in favor of a Obama run in 2008.
Since John Kennedy ran for President at the ripe old age of 43, presidential candidates now have this driving urge to run at the earliest possible moment, whether they know anything about the the world of politics or not. They may know nothing about the world scene, working the legislature, handling the National Security Council, defense, or the Department of Interior, but by golly they still have a full head of hair and no spare tire around the middle.
I'm just saying I suspect that Obama doesn't have a tenth of the experience necessary to run for President. And Cohen's idea that because Obama is black it would send a new message to the world is extremely insulting, as if all Obama has to do is be black to make a difference.
Bareback Osama?
True, he is a lightweight. But there's nothing wrong with being a Prettyboy.
I disagree. There's plenty of ugliness going on today that people will want to hide from. Disco-type music WILL return and people will claim it will be safe to be silly once again.
The silliness of the earlt to mid-seventies, of which Disco was just one symptom, was not hiding from the troubles, it was a rejection of the chaos and noise. It was a declaration that the sixties (and all that that implies) were over.
So much is made of his mixed heritage, but if I'm not mistaken, Obama never even knew his father.
Yup, I was there. The reaction of the 70's had an awful lot to do with an unpopular war. I wish I still had my draft card but I lost it in the backseat of someone's car. ;-)
I lost (and found) more than that in the backseat of my car...and on the golf course...and at the beach...suburban paradises...
Sure, why not? Ross Perot got 15-20% of the vote in 2000, and Kinky Friedman is likely to come close to that in the Texas Governor's race.
I think this scheme is to get Obama some badly needed gravitas, just in time to be Hillary's VP candidate.
Ah. Point taken. :-)
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