...Before we start getting too worried...
Make no mistake, Barack Obama is one cool customer. Now, after the last debate, it seems all but certain that the Iceman cometh to the White House.
Ladies and gentlemen, I think we have a nickname for our Presidential candidate! I think Ruben Navarrete has touched on something here.
I know I'm ALL in favor of this:
Obviously, it takes a lot to get under Obama's skin. McCain sure tried. Maybe this [Obama] is the guy we want negotiating with world leaders.
And Republicans want Sarah Palin instead? These people has taken leave of their senses and, frankly, their patriotism. Many Repubs in the socalled "Pro-America" areas of the country have no idea what this country stands for, and no idea what the founding documents of this nation mean. In fact, scratch that. Many Repubs, period.
And:
But, over the next hour, Obama regained his stride and eventually dominated the exchange. And, in the end, with his [McCain's]sarcastic crack about school vouchers -- "Because there's not enough vouchers; therefore, we shouldn't do it, even though it's working. I got it." -- McCain was profoundly unlikable.
Of course, this is CNN we're talking about, so Navarrete has to try to "balance" the scales with sops to the right wing (Warning: switch on your bullshit detectors):
A friend and fellow journalist told me Obama's Chicago posse was important because it formed "the political womb where the fetal Obama grew into a politician. ... That tells us who he is and what either he believes himself or is at least willing to tolerate as president."
Frankly, that argument makes a lot more sense than what many of the Obama haters are saying about how these "Friends of Barack" prove he is a couple of flag pins short of being a full-blooded American. That's nonsense.
For instance, with William Ayers -- the unrepentant domestic terrorist who Obama first claimed was just a guy who lived in his neighborhood but with whom we now know the Illinois senator had a more substantial relationship -- the issue isn't Obama's patriotism but his truthfulness.
I think that issue is important only because the Republicans try to keep bringing it up in the face of all the evidence that no one cares. It has nothing to do with reality. Frankly, if Ayers is that bad, why is he so well-established in Chicago's firmament? Is Chicago a city of bomb-throwing terrorist radicals?
McCain is still fighting the Vietnam war. That's why he doesn't shut up about Ayers. He remains fixated on people whom he sees as his direct enemies. I think he conflates Obama in that category as well.
We all know what happened 40 years ago. Get. Over. It.
But The Iceman Cometh. At precisely the right time. I am so immeasurably proud of him. We have our man.
A final image, an immortal one, cribbed from the protean Al Rodgers, of a man standing up to the bully:
And, if you're of a mind to do so, drop tips in this jar.