Ringmaster

What a great interview.

Any chance of doing an in-depth podcast on the subject of ACORN and how the #1 progressive community-organizing group in the country was exterminated on the watch of Obama the Chump?

[Excellent suggestion. I'll add it to my list. Also, see today's essay on ACORN by Joe Conason. g.]

Agreed. An excellent interview which I listened through twice.

The questions on the candidate's background always seem to be asked too late. The information in the interview about the vaunted organizational work and BIC association helps to put things in a better perspective.

But, as noted, the real problem was and is the so-called "creative class" who voted for what I have come to think of as Bill Cosby's media son.

And what I thought of through the whole Obama publicity drive (none of which I followed on television) was what the black author Ishmael Reed would have to say about the candidacy and presidency of Barack Obama. Reed might have mentioned a character in one of his novels: The Talking Android which was a tool of the establishment used to communicate with minorities. This is just in my memory but it is worth recalling that writers like Reed saw this coming.

Having been convinced of the corporate capture and pr packaging of our modern political process, I was very cynical throughout the Obama campaign, but there was a small part of me that held out hope that maybe he was the real deal. On election night the timing of Obama's speech right at midnight and something about the feel and production of the whole thing screamed "FAKE". Listening to this podcast today made me wonder about another young politician who seems like a myth in the making: Cory Booker. I hope he is the real deal and not just developing his packaging. I think he is definitely one to keep an eye on as he appears to have a similar qualifications as Obama.

Just before the election, I read several articles by Chicago writers (I don't recall if any were by Street) that spoke of Obama's style. These articles were pretty neutral, speaking only to how Obama went about rising so fast. (1) Identify the populist arguments against those in power at the next level of office. (2) Make eloquent populist speeches until those in power at that level had to let him in. (3) Once in, convert the insiders' view to a populist form, thus consolidating power and gaining acceptance/loyalty from these insiders. (4) Repeat for each successive level.

A perfect formula, I thought, for the rise of a charismatic, but it left one question unanswered. Once the Presidency was achieved (i.e., there was no next level), what would come next? Would the Perfect Candidate transit to Perfect Leader, or would he become stuck on #3 without a new #1, effectively rudderless without the focus of a further and higher peak? It is one thing after all to achieve power; another entirely, wielding it.

Now we have our answer to that question. He has surrounded himself with insiders to consolidate power and gain loyalty, but he has nowhere to go.

Which gets to your question: Is there anything to be done about this? The man needs another campaign, and there's only one possibility for this: We have to make him start running for his second term. And that means threaten him HARD with not having one. Of having the left walk out. He won't move left unless we convince him that this will happen if he doesn't.

[The BBC, reporting yesterday on Mr. Obama's speech at the UN, asked the question: 'if he can't unify American politics what reason is there to think he'll unify international politics?' Clearly, his rhetoric is getting past its due date. g.]

Hi George!

I believe that during the interview (which I listened to while cycling to work a couple of weeks ago) you asked rhetorically "Is there ANYTHING positive that he's done?" At the time I couldn't think of anything: the continuation of the wars unabated, the hideous bailout of failed Wall Street institutions, the failure to repudiate the wiretaps of the Bush administration, the larger military budget, and on and on. Since then, I have thought of one small sliver of positive news: the FCC is poised (maybe) to adopt an open internet in its rulemaking. It is, however, under attack from the usual corporate suspects, and may amount to nothing more than a head-fake.

If EP listeners value the fact that we only know about a great deal of malfeasance through the tireless efforts of people like our host, consider writing to the FCC commissioners and/or contributing to savetheinternet dot com. Net Neutrality is a basic free speech issue.