Lazy??

I am writing this to highlight a new angle being foisted on us by the Right. Let's stop it now.

So Barack Obama is "intellectualy lazy' according ot an unnamed White House source quoted in an article in which Bush says Clinton will win the nomination and then be beaten by the Repub nominee.

From the National Examiner:

"It's sort of like, 'that's all I need to get by,' which bespeaks sort of a condescending attitude towards the voters," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "And a laziness, an intellectual laziness."

He cited an example from Obama's memoir, The Audacity of Hope, in which the senator complains that many "government programs don't work as advertised." Five days after the book was published last fall, Obama was asked to name some of those government programs by Tim Russert on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Classic rumor starting by the rightwing. Obama doesn't have the right reply in every circumstance and now he's not just lazy but condescending.

We need to stop this characterization in its tracks.

Why give this person anonymity?

Doesn't Bush spell it out in the first graph - to paraphrase: "We want Clinton to be nominated so we can go after her like we did before. It'll be too easy."

I am not convinced that Clinton doesn't carry too much baggage. Obama and Edwards are both great alternatives. The rightwing noise machine shouldn't dictate what Democrats think and do.

Obama has intellectual credentials and activist credentials that few other campaigners can equal. I would argue it's his intellectual honesty and clarity that attract people to him.

Let's kill the Rightwing framing now.

•  Funny how when Dems make anonymous comments

  we get labeled as "smear merchants" and crap like than.

  by newfie53523 on Mon Sep 24, 2007 at 09:06:58 AM PDT

  •  Intellectually Lazy? Meet Fred Thompson.

    Fred? Meet Intellectually Lazy.

    by Melody Townsel on Mon Sep 24, 2007 at 09:11:04 AM PDT

    •  That's why Fred's the great gop hope

      He doesn't cause the base undue brain stimulation. They can continue to wallow in their biases and misconceptions, and remain safe from change.

      by bleeding blue on Mon Sep 24, 2007 at 09:15:37 AM PDT

•  "Intellectual laziness" is still 100% better than

  "brain dead".

  by irate on Mon Sep 24, 2007 at 09:11:09 AM PDT

  •  But...

    ...look at how far being brain dead has taken Bush.  

    by boran2 on Mon Sep 24, 2007 at 09:16:07 AM PDT

•  pretty racist framing

  if you ask me. Blacks and Mexicans have always been portrayed as "lazy" because the overseers don't like to see us resting.

  by TexMex on Mon Sep 24, 2007 at 09:16:19 AM PDT

  •  That was my reaction when I heard it

    This strikes me as not-so-thinly-veiled racism.

    by Skulnick on Mon Sep 24, 2007 at 09:21:20 AM PDT

    •  I agree

      This did cross my mind.

      by zozie on Mon Sep 24, 2007 at 09:41:51 AM PDT

      •  And the thing is, that it wouldn't normally

        if not for the fact that the Republican party has such a history of race-baiting.

        by Skulnick on Mon Sep 24, 2007 at 09:42:38 AM PDT

•  Well...

  I must admit, nobody is lazier than I.

  "Work is the curse of the drinking classes."— Oscar Wilde

  by ek hornbeck on Mon Sep 24, 2007 at 09:17:12 AM PDT

•  Barack Obama...

  ...has more intellect in his pinkie than 95% of Republicans do, combined.

  by metal prophet on Mon Sep 24, 2007 at 09:23:07 AM PDT

•  Lazy

  Lazy is the word that best describes most media.  The rest are just liars.

  by melvynny on Mon Sep 24, 2007 at 09:27:10 AM PDT

  •  Hey, it's hard work

    transcribing all those whitehouse press releases!

    by bleeding blue on Mon Sep 24, 2007 at 09:32:52 AM PDT

•  Katrina anyone?

  In terms of government programs that don't work - didn't Katrina show us this in neon lights? I imagine Obama was just caught speechless by Russert.

  The fact is the Repubs live and eat on making government ineffective.

  by zozie on Mon Sep 24, 2007 at 09:45:33 AM PDT