Well said.

Query: Has anyone checked the clothing factories to see if there has been an increase in orders for brown shirts?

It is precisely because Senator Obama does not explicate his philosophy, but reflects back what his supporters want (“It’s not about me, it’s about you!”), that any attempt to classify him must be holistic and include both his interactions with his base and the subsequent actions of his base.

I am not a blood-in-the-streets believer. Frankly, I don’t feel that Americans sense existential threats one way or the other. At least, not yet anyway. (A protracted recount crisis could be the game changer … ) But, it does seem like we’re stepping out of the dynastic pot into the personality cult fire.

Obama is not a traditional liberal, eg. Johnson, Humphrey, Mondale. Neither is he a post-Watergate liberal, eg. Dukakis, Hart, Wellstone, Kerry. And he certainly isn’t a DLC guy like Clinton or Lieberman. He’s not an overt Democratic Socialist like Kucinich or the congressional black caucus. His closest affinity seems to be with Al Gore, except that he doesn’t seem to have the hedgehog’s attachment to any one goal. (Well, perhaps getting himself elected.)

Senator Obama hits all of the aesthetic notes, but never provides rationales. This appeals very much to those who get *it,* but is not merely unconvincing to those who don’t.

O does indeed play the role of the “cool” one, but his minions decidely do not. They are angry, fierce and pitiless in their self-righteousness. O doesn’t have to be the bad cop. He is the good cop with a million bad cops that will jump at his oh-so-cool nod of the head. And O does nothing to “sublate” anger into cool. Rather, he makes it cool to be angry. He enables anger by giving it a patina of world-saving grace. He enobles anger by making it the means to a holy end (watch as the waters begin to recede).

I do think that [Palin] has – to quote Ed Rollins – “lost her confidence.” And – in the midst of the flailing – she has come across (on a couple instances) as a bit too…bitter.

Well Benj, I dunno, but if you suddenly found that you, your background, your children, your spouse, your religion, your lifestyle, your worldview, your state, your hairstyle and glasses were the subject of a multi-billion dollar 24×7 hate campaign from blogs to news shows to Saturday Night Live, all because you actually wanted to help your country, well maybe you’d be a bit bitter too, now huh?

A couple threads back you allowed that Clubbbers’ campaign-related talk re “blood on the streets” was way over the top. But you seemed to have walked back quite a bit there…Not sure why you worry O may be a Tac-ky Chavez wannabe. You might consider all that from an aesthetic angle since you seem to think that’s a key to O’s appeal. Is O muy macho? Not so much, no? If his It is all about sublating anger into Cool, how do you get to coup d’etat? Unless you’re won over by the perfervid scenarios of Whiskey et al. (I’ll have what he’s having?)

And is the campaign really about It? Might consider that O’s tactic at this point is to keep the focus off persona and on, ah, material conditions/issues. If it’s about personal stories – Mac is in the game. If not…

Re Palin – Went back to check. Wasn’t going for gotchas above. Just noting (as I have each day) the increasing number of folks on the right who are re-thinking their support for Mac’s pick. I’ll allow I wonder if you thought they were bowing down to the crowd or being true to their own capacity to recognize when Palin – or anyone – talks gibberish to a National audience. But – just so we’re all clear – I’m on record here as having said that I thought Palin seemed smart and winning in that spring C-Span interview. I do think that she has – to quote Ed Rollins – “lost her confidence.” And – in the midst of the flailing – she has come across (on a couple instances) as a bit too…bitter.

I agree, though I think she’s been deeply rattled by the MSM and Left. I don’t think she anticipated the level of hate thrown at her and her family, or the pernicious animosity of the MSM and it’s lust to derail her. Even “cute” little Katie Couric was a perfidious viper (as anyone who followed her career would have known she would be).

They got to Palin, and now she’s second- and third-guessing everything she says, which is why that confident, flawless delivery we first saw has turned into hesitating confusion. Mission accomplished again.

Now when do the Republicans sue to have the MSM declared a multi-billion dollar contribution to the Obama campaign?

Also all too true. Look at the supporters of the relatively new green LEEDS program for construction, which provides credits/points for a very oddball combination of some solid engineering design for energy efficiency, elements of the old Smart Planning movement for urban design, and, of course, the usual smattering of “environmentally friendly” designs. It’s literally The Latest Thing.

If housing ever comes back.

You just made me think of a crucial difference between old-time and zen socialists – the oldtimers would only take a job with a big corporation to whistle blow or figure how to put a bomb in the executive washroom, the zensters thrive in the corporate environment and strive to include *social justice* into the company’s mission.