’)
I don’t care if the guy is an Obama supporter (for the moment). He posted some of the most vile attacks on the left after 9/11 from a mainstream pundit and never made a mea culpa for them. Furthermore, he was an “A-list” cheerleader for the Iraq War. The main problem with Andrew Sullivan is that the’s prone to crushes. When a teen or pre-teen has a crush, they lose all objectivity and consider the object of their affection as Christ-like. The problem is that at some point those screaming 12-year olds aren’t going to like Hannah Montana any more. Which is fine for a pre-teen, but it produces this sort of analysis when a political pundit echoes the sentiment.
Since Obama’s hubris in Berlin, he has lost almost every cycle of this campaign, and lost all of them quite badly.
No of course the only people who saw hubris in Berlin are the same whack-jobs who think it’s a major scandal that Sen. Obama took his shirt off to go swimming. That is to say, the same conservative and Republican cranks who are wrong about everything under the sun. Sullivan is pathologically unable to assess a situation objectively. Its fine to have allegiances (I clearly do) but facts are facts. The idea that Sen. Obama is in some kind of melodramatic tailspin is as ludicrous as the media-pushed idea earlier this year that Sen. Clinton’s poor answer on illegal alien driver’s licenses had doomed her campaign. Well, maybe it did … just millions of votes later. Sheesh.
This is truly something I don’t understand about the blogosphere. (And I realize that there really is no central list of talking points.)
But how is it that so many turkeys are called out as turkeys one month, and then four months later are THE GOTO GUY for issue X?
It’s not just Sullied. It’s Ambinder, Joyner, and many many other people.
It really does confuse me, how I am directed to a must read post written by someone I seem to recall was the target of a two minute hate (or two hour hate) a few weeks before.
So I’m with you, just say no thank you to Gluteus Andy.
And how.
One of Brad DeLong’s commenters got his number too:
http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2008/08/reading-the-atl.html
“hubris” is a TNR dog whistle
Well, you’re going to get in trouble when you use words like “every” and “all”, but if you tone down the extremes, Sullivan’s analysis seems pretty right. (And that’s coming from a non-Sullivan fan).
The Berlin speech was INCREDIBLY presumptuous, and while I’m sure it helped clinch Germany’s electoral votes, it looked to the rest of America like someone who thinks they’ve already won. In a way, it was Obama’s “Mission Accomplished” moment.
And ever since then, Obama’s been playing defense. Whether it was the German Hospital story, the tire gauge episode, the “Celebrity” ad, or Corsi’s novel, it’s been others driving the narrative and Obama left to respond.
THAT was the point (I assume) Andrew was trying to make.
Sully is “prone to crushes”, yet you’re never going to listen to him again because he said mean things to you and your friends and didn’t apologize. Okay.
Jerry, we are to eliminate all pundits who were wrong about big things? Okay, let’s start by ruling out all except those who were anti-war and pro-surge.
Oops, we’re left with a null set.
But how is it that so many turkeys are called out as turkeys one month, and then four months later are THE GOTO GUY for issue X?
Because they’re usually changing their viewpoints.
John Cole is now a Kos clone essentially and he’s a star in the left wing of the blogosphere. But it wasn’t long ago that he was being vilified by the very same people that now swoon when he writes.
Totally agree with OW’s analysis of Sullivan. Almost as bad as Christopher Hitchens–I liked that nutjob for going through waterboarding, BUT a self-seeking loony who’s right once a year.
SaveFarris, can’t let your “presumptuous” statement go unchallenged. Obama never once stepped outside his position as US Senator in Berlin, deliberately soft-pedaled our recent disastrous foreign relations past. As to the thousands convened, I say if you’re a mere presidential candidate and have that kind of clout, use it! And he used it for good, so far as words alone can do anything.
I can’t believe the junket, with the speech its key moment (Sarkozy’s reception was seen by far fewer viewers here), hasn’t altered the way EVERYONE perceives Obama now, immediate polls and issues be damned. In the long run it will be a net plus.
I didn’t need any more proof not to read Andrew Sullivan. He had me at ‘liberal fifth-column.’
it looked to the rest of America like someone who thinks they’ve already won
Again, try not to confuse your personal opinion with what actually happened.
In a way, it was Obama’s “Mission Accomplished” moment.
Negro, please.
As to the thousands convened, I say if you’re a mere presidential candidate and have that kind of clout, use it! And he used it for good, so far as words alone can do anything.
Yes, Bozo, but when you’re in a political campaign it’s important to try to take anything good your opponent does and make it a weakness.
it looked to the rest of America like someone who thinks they’ve already won.
You know how you get in trouble with words like “every” and “all,” Farris? Add to that list things like “the rest of America.”
What you’re doing is what baseball catchers refer to as “framing a pitch,” where they’ll quickly move their glove into the strike zone to try and fool the umpire into thinking the ball outside the corner was just inside.
“Wasn’t that speech presumptuous?” you say. “You thought it was presumptuous. I saw presumption, don’t you see presumption?”
Which you wouldn’t have to do, of course, if your batterymate could get the ball where you actually want it to go.
“presumption” would be going on TV and pontificating on the Georgia vrs Russia situation, pronouncing that “all Americans are Georgians,” then sending “envoys” to the Region…now THAT was ballsy, especially when the “real” President had not taken a similar hard line yet.
The Right, hypocrits as they continue to be, are silent on this dissing of the actual President I note.
“…it looked to the rest of America…”
Nothing presumptious about a single American thinking he speaks for “the rest of America”.
>When a teen or pre-teen has a crush, they lose all objectivity and consider the object of their affection as Christ-like.
Given how Obama can seem to do no wrong and McCain can do no right on this blog, I’d say you just described yourself pretty well Oliver.
Oliver:
I won’t argue with your main point in this post. Sully has been making me roll my eyes with his hand-wringing lately, too. And you’re right about how mercurial his mood swings can be.
However, just for the record, I disagree with one small point. You said he never made a mea culpa for his post-9/11 attitude. In fact, he did, and it was one of the most handsome mea culpas I’ve ever heard. If you’ve got some time, the diavlog he did with Bob Wright on Bloggingheads.tv (part 1 | part 2) is well worth watching. In this context, if you’re pressed for time, you might want to start with Part 2, titled, oddly enough, Mea Culpa.
I should have added in my last comment that the diavlog was recorded in December 2006, just to give a little context. Better late than never.