Posts by Russell Brown
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Another reason to be cheerful ...
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Any comment, Russell?
I don't doubt there would be interesting discussions about it, but no, there isn't a ban as such.
I might note that a couple of the people who were supposedly banned subsequently appeared on the show.
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Posted on another near dead thread: Noam Chomsky has a slightly less optimistic take on Obamania. I'm inclined to agree with a lot of what he says ...
That was from November, but in truth, I'm struggling to imagine a realistic scenario in which Chomsky would express approval. It doesn't really matter to me: I haven't listened much to Chomsky since (ironically) I heard him speak in Auckland years ago, and and felt vaguely insulted to be listening to a man on ideological autopilot.
So, yeah, the nature and clarity of this week's executive orders continue to give me great cheer.
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Oh man. Hopkins can bitch about pop stars all he likes, but if this doesn't melt your heart you don't have one ...
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I'm just so happy that there is an American President who can speak English beautifully, form correct sentences and convey complex and interesting ideas in his speech.
I really liked what Tracey Barnett said on the Sunrise coverage: that she works with words for a living, and when you do that you have to believe that words actually mean something .
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__Perhaps some of us Wellington-based PA regulars could organise a less formal get-together?__
A grand idea
Indeed. I'll see what I can do to help.
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Oh, ballocky bullshit, Sofie. What happened was the peaceful, orderly transfer of power which has been going on in the United States for over two and a quarter centuries.
I think Leonard always had his tongue in his cheek a bit with that song.
But OTOH, I think it's quite viable to say that a degree of democracy has been restored to the USA by the events of the past 48 hours.
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Jim Hopkins Godwins himself this morning:
And while this particular someone is clearly unique, we should still beware those gospel chorus journalists whose uncritical credulity makes mock of the scepticism their craft requires. This rush to anoint Barack H. Obama as a secular messiah ignores the fact that we've already seen a few of those, Adolf Hitler arguably being the most obvious.
Fortunately, there was also Winston Churchill - a man of greater character and restraint - to stem the Fuehrer's messianic crusade.
Who knew there was no middle ground to be had between "deeply unpopular" and "Hiteresque"?
But oddly, I agree with Hopkins' conclusion:
For the moment, our scribes seem preoccupied with what should be the least important thing of all, the colour of the President's skin.
There is beauty in the symbolism of Obama's victory but it shouldn't matter.
Competence, not race, should be the only measure of every politician. That and the fact that politicians will always be driven to compromise and equivocation. It's immaterial whether a leader is black or white or if they encourage others to see the world in black and white terms - the choices they make will always be grey.
I'm surprised how little Obama's race seems to matter now that he is in the White House. What matters is those first, decisive executive orders.
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It's not just Obama by the look of it. This video of Hilary Clinton's arrival at the Stare Department is extraordinary:
Scott Horton at Harpers, possibly overdoing it a wee bit, says "The reaction of State Department employees as Hillary Clinton arrived this morning apparently bears comparison to the liberation of Paris at the end of World War II."
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A completely insane post by Glenn "Instapundit" Reynolds:
But Barack Obama’s election allows Americans to feel better about themselves, for electing him President. Chesley Sullenberger’s accomplishment, on the other hand, stresses the benefits of hard work, experience, and coolness under pressure — things that require effort, and that might make Americans feel worse about themselves to the extent that they realize that they might not measure up. That’s why Sullenberger’s triumph is an old-fashioned one, and Obama’s is tailor-made for the 21st Century.
On the other hand, there are reasons for Americans to feel good in the Flight 1549 story, too:
So Obama's purty and all that, but he's not as good as that pilot that landed the plane in the river, who is a much better American. If there is any sense in which this is a rational comparison, it's completely lost on me.
Roy Edroso rounds up more rightblogger reactions.
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