What's up with Krauthammer?!

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[Post New]07/21/2008 12:27
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Hmmmmm. Maybe I just have an exceptionally low opinion of myself, but if, by my mid-forties, I had:

Been elected President of the Harvard Law Review;
Worked for a very prestigious law firm;
Gave up that lucrative work to do organizing on the streets of Chicago -- with success;
Gone on to work for a prestigious civil rights firm -- with success;
Become involved in Chicago politics, without the help of any political ties in Chicago;
Was elected to the Chicago state legislature;
Had the mettle to run for a Senate Seat, lose, and learn important lessons from that loss that made me a better candidate;
Written two books that have made me millions;
Was asked to be a law lecturer at the University of Chicago (one of the greatest schools in the country);
Married someone intelligent, kind and very physically attractive;
Had two great kids AND
Ate healthy and stayed in great shape

Well, I'd feel pretty high on myself too.

Maybe Krauthammer feels threatened by Barack. Makes him insecure.

As an Obama supporter, and one who rarely agrees with Krauthammer's patronizing conservatism, I hesitate to criticize your note. But assuming you intended it as part of the Obama side of the dialog, I would respectfully suggest that it tends more to play into the hands of the "Obama is an elitist" argument.

Again, I am not disagreeing with you on substance, only on effectiveness: attacking a guy in a wheelchair and bragging about Obama's superiority is probably not a great way to win friends and influence people.
[Post New]07/21/2008 12:39
Anonymous
Would you suggest I treat Krauthammer with kid gloves because he is in a wheel chair? I think Krauthammer might object to that.

As for feeding into the "elitist" argument of the Republicans. It's not my fault that Republicans tend to elect these shit-kickers who have no intellectual curiousity, and then call those who value it "elitist". I don't think we have to pretend that Obama's accomplishments are less than they are so that more people will want to have a beer with him. Or whatever.

The Catch-22: Talk about Obama's tremendous accomplishments, and you're feeding into the elitist thing. Don't talk about them, and then be silent and endure a litany of people saying, "If he weren't black, he'd be nothing!!"
[Post New]07/21/2008 13:40
Anonymous
Krauthammer's in a wheelchair? When did that happen?
[Post New]07/21/2008 13:43
Rich
Member Offline
Anonymous wrote:Would you suggest I treat Krauthammer with kid gloves because he is in a wheel chair? I think Krauthammer might object to that.

As for feeding into the "elitist" argument of the Republicans. It's not my fault that Republicans tend to elect these shit-kickers who have no intellectual curiousity, and then call those who value it "elitist". I don't think we have to pretend that Obama's accomplishments are less than they are so that more people will want to have a beer with him. Or whatever.

The Catch-22: Talk about Obama's tremendous accomplishments, and you're feeding into the elitist thing. Don't talk about them, and then be silent and endure a litany of people saying, "If he weren't black, he'd be nothing!!"

Kid gloves? No way! In addition to patronizing, I'd add that he's pompous.

And I don't mean to argue that you should accept the anti-intellectual outlook of much of the body politic. My point is simply that winning debating points is not the goal, it's winning votes. And the last thing that's likely to win votes is for us to bash each other on process when we probably agree on the issues, so I'll shut up for now.

Rich
[Post New]07/21/2008 13:45
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Krauthammer's in a wheelchair? When did that happen?

13:40 again. Just googled this and I found out he injured his spine at the age of 22 so I guess he has been in a wheel chair for years! Didn't know that. Interesting.
[Post New]07/21/2008 14:58
Anonymous
Still think he is jealous of Obama.
[Post New]07/21/2008 15:08
Anonymous
The wheelchair buys no sympathy. I met Krauthammer. He seems spiteful.
[Post New]07/21/2008 15:40
Anonymous
I forgot to put in my original list of Barack's accomplishments: Won a seat in the U.S. Senate. He has so many accomplishments at such a young age I can't keep track of all of them!!
[Post New]07/21/2008 16:14
Anonymous
jsteele wrote:
Or maybe Krauthammer is just another Hillary supporter who resents that she didn't win the nomination that was rightfully hers (at least in her supporters' minds)?


Um, no. Not a Hillary supporter. But a pretty astute diagnostician. He doesn't need to be, though: everyone's picking up on Obama's ego problem. Even Andrew Sullivan, and that's really saying something!
[Post New]07/21/2008 17:51
jsteele
Site Admin Online
Anonymous wrote:
Um, no. Not a Hillary supporter. But a pretty astute diagnostician. He doesn't need to be, though: everyone's picking up on Obama's ego problem. Even Andrew Sullivan, and that's really saying something!


You know, you always sprinkle your posts with name drops of writers. I really don't care what Andrew Sullivan thinks of Obama. Sullivan has been wrong about enough that he can be pretty easily discounted. Give him six months and his position will be completely different in any case.

But, let's take your "astute diagnostician". I just ran through a bunch of Krauthammer's Washington Post columns. He criticized Obama in 15 of his last 25 columns. Several of his columns, including three of the last four, have consisted of nothing but attacks on Obama. I may not be astute, and I may not even be a diagnostician, but I think its safe to say that Krauthammer has an obsession with the Senator from Illinois. For all his alleged astuteness, I'm surprised the good doctor was not able to pick up on Obama's apparent egoism a little earlier. You would have thought he might have gotten to that within his first 10 attacks or so. Its surprising how Krauthammer's diagnostic abilities so eerily mimic Republican talking points.

Its not important to me whether Obama has an ego problem (and I don't actually agree that he does). We have two candidates in this election. The other one has problems that far outweigh any of Obama's. Moreover, as I have complained about time after time, the Washington Post has not been providing fair coverage of the candidates this election. No Post columnist has devoted 15 of his last 25 columns to attacks on McCain. You were a great proponent of the Post's coverage of Obama's mortgage, a story I criticized. The Post's Ombudsman has since weighed in and agreed that the story was unfair. The Post has not covered the fact that the Iraqi Prime Minister has sided with Obama regarding a troop withdrawal timeline. That's a game changing story given that it undermines many of McCain's attacks on Obama. The same newspaper that has devoted not one, but two, stories to rumors about Obama's religion can not find its way to report what may be the most important story of the week.

Obama was right when he opposed the war in the first place. Obama was right when he suggested a 16 month timeline for withdrawal. The Post editorial board and Charles Krauthammer, along with McCain were wrong on both of those issues. McCain is wrong on a whole host of issues. But, what's important to the Post, Krauthammer, and a few Hillary dead-enders is that Obama has a high opinion of himself. I expect no better from the first two, but its that last group that just astonishes me.



[Post New]07/21/2008 20:13
Rich
Member Offline
The Post may be of questionable objectivity on the election, although I bet McCain supporters think it favors Obama, just as Obama supporters think the opposite (maybe they just go for fluff on both sides). However their sister publication, in my opinion, did us a great service in printing Fareed Zakaria's article How Obama Sees the World: http://www.newsweek.com/id/147763

Rich
[Post New]07/21/2008 21:30
Anonymous
Krauthammer needs a check up from the neck up. His hatred of Obama is obsessive, and personal. He is probably asking himself, "if a Black man like him could get that far, how come not me?"
Yes, Mr. Steele, you can remove this post if it is too inflammatory.
[Post New]07/21/2008 23:06
jsteele
Site Admin Online
Anonymous wrote:Krauthammer needs a check up from the neck up. His hatred of Obama is obsessive, and personal. He is probably asking himself, "if a Black man like him could get that far, how come not me?"
Yes, Mr. Steele, you can remove this post if it is too inflammatory.


The only thing you wrote that bothers me about your post is that you called me "Mr. Steele". What's wrong with Jeff?


[Post New]07/21/2008 23:13
Anonymous
I just left work, I am in a formal mood.
[Post New]07/22/2008 10:13
Anonymous
I'm shocked, shocked to hear that a presidential candidate has an ego problem! And of course well-known pundits are usually quite humble and self-effacing.
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