Duh...

Adam Nagourney must have finally read or heard about my arguments, or he is a year later than I in coming to this conclusion...

It's Snowing and I Hate Grading, soo...

I'll write more on how John McCain revealed himself to be a rather postmodern thinker today on Fox News, but for now, I simply wish to predict that, in the aftermath of a relatively large coastal snowstorm, many of the cable TV idiots (me being charitable)/demagogues (me being accurate) will use this single event to generalize to a trend.

Sorry, peeps, one snowstorm does not generalize to a refutation of glabal warming...dispute science with science, not with stupidity...this is yet another front in the battle on postmodern conservatism: they love to grasp at events as scientific conclusions.  The best we can do with these people is let them fulminate and ignore them, focusing instead on a Jeffersonian (or, to bow to my learned colleagues, a Rousseauian) ideal of political education for those willing to use their god-given brains as more than impulse machines.  So, I am doing so by entering this here and not in a venue where stupidity can make an equal claim to rationality...

Back to grading...

Obama in Norway

Obama's speech is yet another example of how he gives us exactly what is in his mind.  This was a unique and gutsy move, and he seemes to have made his hosts feel uncomfortable.  He was also, as usual, in the middle between the realists and idealist.  Can he stay in the middle of the road without being run over?  Stay tuned.

An Analysis of Obama's Speech Far Better Than Anything I Have

A former counterterrorism expert from Australia, Leah Farrell, has an excellent and unconventional spin on Obama's speech the other day.  Read it; it is really worth the time...

http://allthingsct.wordpress.com/2009/12/03/first-thoughts-on-obamas-speech/

Another Voice That Obama Should Heed

Bob Herbert, of the New York Times.  I too think this is like LBJ and Vietnam escalation, although I do not think Obama is going to fall into the same trap.  LBJ was responding in part emotionally, since he felt inferior. There is not a shred of evidence that Obama feels inferior to anyone.

The Audacity of...?

President's Obama will announce his decision on troops in Afghanistan tonight, and if the impressions are correct, it will mean what some might label as a "smart surge," that surges, but not enough to make those who feel an all-out commitment of troops is necessary.  If so, this will verify my call nearly twoyears ago that this is the centrist, modernist leader we haven't seen muhc from since LBJ.

But it is also likely to do significant damage in the postmodern realm of media buzz for Obama.  Why?  Because it contradicts the image that won him a Nobel Peace Prize within days of being sworn into office.  And, it will disappoint many of his strongest supporters.

An example of the argument for why this is the wrong move can be found here.  If this argument resonates with me, I bet it resonates with many other people who supported candidate Obama.  This is not merely angering the base; it has the potential for creating disenchantment among young voters, perhaps the most important new part of the Obama/Democratic coalition in 2008.