Karen Heller: Obama's forte: Cool competence | Philadelphia Inquirer | 10/21/2... - The Diigo Meta page

• 21 Oct 08
  

  Clay Burell

  I love how the 24/7, everything is recorded and archived and easily retrievable media is shaping up to be a FORCE THAT KEEPS POLITICIANS HONEST. (Or at least more careful.)
  
  Check out this journalist's use of McCain in December versus McCain in September.
  
  It's one of a million examples of how ridiculous candidates can make themselves look if they veer too far from their historical record.
  
  Anybody have the video on these interviews? A simple splicing of the raw footage into a 30-second clip would be a sure viral hit.

  elections08 media youtube mccain palin obama

  • But economics is not McCain's, you know, thing.

    
    "The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should," he said in December. A month earlier he mentioned that, with a vice presidential candidate, "you also look for people who maybe have talents you don't, or experience or knowledge you don't, as well." He said he'd look for "somebody who's really well grounded in economics."

    
    Oops. Palin's talent is energy.

    • 

      Clay Burell on 2008-10-21

      If anybody mixes a video of these two interviews ending with the announcement of Palin as running mate, let me know.
  • Barack Obama remains calm in the most heated moments, a tremendous palliative for an anxious electorate. And he's learned about the economy, which makes McCain's resistance to do so appear arrogant and foolish.

    • 

      Clay Burell on 2008-10-21

      EDUCATORS should love this insight: Obama HAS shown himself to be a "life-long learner" on this front. He really does seem to do job-related homework - which is probably why it's so easy for him to stick to the issues high-road: he studies them, and can talk about what he's learning.
      
      After the proud "I DON'T READ" (or worse, "I READ CAMUS' EXISTENTIAL NOVELS") Bush/Cheney years, an intellectual (and a writer) for president seems somehow fantastical. That's how bad America has become.
  • 1 more annotations...

  • • The more Palin talks, the more it's clear that governing her state is inadequate experience for the vice presidency. That's because Alaska is rich in resources, flush in capital and scarce in residents, the absolute inverse of the nation.

      
      The McCain campaign's talk about grassroots organizers, domestic terrorists and socialists is suspect. If you are a cynical person, you might say that such chatter stokes racial anxieties without mentioning race. If you're an optimist, you might believe that most Americans are better than that.

      • 

        Clay Burell on 2008-10-21

        This woman's journalism is so lean and compressed. She's an analytic laser-beam.

Public Stiky Notes

• 
  Clay Burell on 2008-10-21
  If anybody mixes a video of these two interviews ending with the announcement of Palin as running mate, let me know.
• 
  Clay Burell on 2008-10-21
  EDUCATORS should love this insight: Obama HAS shown himself to be a "life-long learner" on this front. He really does seem to do job-related homework - which is probably why it's so easy for him to stick to the issues high-road: he studies them, and can talk about what he's learning.
  
  After the proud "I DON'T READ" (or worse, "I READ CAMUS' EXISTENTIAL NOVELS") Bush/Cheney years, an intellectual (and a writer) for president seems somehow fantastical. That's how bad America has become.
• 
  Clay Burell on 2008-10-21
  This woman's journalism is so lean and compressed. She's an analytic laser-beam.

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