Jay Cost: Obama's Emptily Cynical Speech Was Just About Propping Up His Support on the Left

Damn fine analysis.

I won't quote his analysis of why that was necessary (click for that), but you'll probably enjoy him noting the precise way in which our Naked Emperor is unclothed.

Not only was Obama’s speech on Wednesday political, it was completely rote, by-the-book Obama politics. He couldn’t even bring out an interesting twist to his stock partisan speech. Here’s how it always goes, with Wednesday being no exception:

I. Introduction of some grand narrative of American history.

II. Introduction of the policy problem, making clear that Obama had nothing to do with it.

III. Argument that the proposal of Obama’s opponents is inconsistent with that grand narrative.

IV. Argument that Obama’s proposal is consistent with that grand narrative.

V. Conclusion that Obama’s proposal is the only “American” solution to the policy problem.

As I've always said, it's a false choice to ask if Obama is stupid, or if he is evil; such a question is a distraction from the deeper American value of (dramatic whisper) knowing in our bones that he's both.

posted by Ace at 06:31 PM

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