Myanmar, Hillary’s Tantrum, and Impotence on the Airwaves
1. Our national reaction to the tragedy in Myanmar has been subdued, not so much because we’ve been inured by Katrina and the Tsunami, but because their own government has has been stubbornly reluctant to accept our help, and since we’re in what feels like an economic pickle ourselves, we’re throwing up our collective hands at their irrational intransigence. We know in our heart of hearts that our predicament is a luxurious one next to what the people of Myanmar are facing, but right now it’s hard to muster the energy to force help on a regime that stands between that help and those who desperately need it. Perhaps we need to redouble our resolve.
Also, there’s no doubting that a President Obama would be figuring out ways to get aid in there, which would have the positive unintended consequence of repairing some of the massive damage done to America’s reputation by the Bush brutes. And Obama’d be paying for relief biscuits with money that’s now going for bullets in a war that advances the cause of absolutely nothing that an overwhelming majority of Americans stand for.
2. Two links concerning Hillary’s strategy and behavior need to be brought to the fore. One describes Carl Bernstein’s take on the approach Clinton’s camp is taking, the other on the priceless aid she’s giving the GOP. Increasingly Hillary appears to be throwing a personal tantrum that may have world wide consequences, like a super-brat in a comic book. Her grit has turned into grime. The weaknesses Obama has with certain demographic groups may be real right now, and Hillary should have gracefully bowed out after NC/IN and immediately helped him to connect with those groups, rather than bringing in a construction crew to widen the gap.
Additionally, one of the items reportedly being bandied about to facilitate Hillary’s dropping out is covering her $20M or so in campaign debt, possibly out of Obama funds. If she gets bailed out of her tantrum it may turn out to come back and haunt, as any parent or economist will tell you that rewarding bad behavior elicits more bad behavior.
3. Forgive me, forgive me, forgive me, but I enjoy listening to right wing talk radio. As previously noted in an earlier piece about Limbaugh, they’ve got the art form down. I heard Billy Cunningham, the shallow but ultra-glib ultra-right talker on his nationally syndicated show last night as he devoted an entire segment to Obama’s careless but harmless “57 state” miscue, and by the time Billy was done I was both entertained by his audacity and furious that 95% of his audience were sitting by their radios nodding their heads up and down. Cunningham was doing the equivalent of taking a typo in Einstein’s paper on relativity and discounting the entire theory because of it.
The left has no one who approaches Rush, Sean, Billy, Laura, Ann, et al in terms of understanding the medium except for Randi Rhodes, who’s heard in far fewer markets than any of the above. The right’s got talented and trained pit bulls, the left’s got polite poodles.
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What a great set of comparisons.
Earth’s population needs a wake up call, not status quo. Politicians have distinguished themselves into two categories, address the issue (Obama), or maintain status quo (Clinton & McCain). The earth laughs at this novelty and continues to warn us of things to come. Who listens?