Oliver Willis

Like Kryptonite To Stupid

American Stories, American Solutions

October 29th, 2008 Barack Obama 16 Comments

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Sen. Obama’s really good primetime commercial is now online:

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16 Responses to “American Stories, American Solutions”

1. anotherbozo says:

   October 29, 2008 at 8:15 pm

   In spite of some pundits’ opinions, Obama’s set didn’t look anything like the Oval Office. Much warmer, less elevated environment–I liked the knotty pine. It was pitch-perfect–all of it, including Obama doing his own narration, including Obama’s family story back-to-back with other families’.
2. Vanessa says:

   October 29, 2008 at 8:35 pm

   I’ve never had so many shivers and tears in 27 minutes. God Bless America.

   - an Agnostic born in Canada
3. Vanessa says:

   October 29, 2008 at 8:36 pm

   Well, I’ve had more tears, but not so many shivers.
4. pete says:

   October 29, 2008 at 8:45 pm

   Good stuff and I don’t think there was one mention of McCain. Could he do the same for 27 mins?
5. Quaker in a Basement says:

   October 29, 2008 at 10:07 pm

   That was really very good. I especially liked the “regular American” stories. They provided an effective way to frame Obama’s proposals.

   Once again, I am so looking forward to listening to this man for the next 8 years.
6. fafaroo says:

   October 29, 2008 at 10:14 pm

   “Once again, I am so looking forward to listening to this man for the next 8 years.”

   I had that feeling, too. Even more than that, I’m looking forward to how he listens to us and the way he processes events and the world. he’s just so freaking steady and calm. You know?

   Jesus I hope he wins.
7. jr says:

   October 30, 2008 at 12:04 am

   McCain’s special is American Stories, Hooverian Solutions
8. william says:

   October 30, 2008 at 6:51 am

   “I am my brother’s keeper.”

   Funny…maybe we should ask Obama’s half brother, who lives in a Kenyan shanty, or his auntie Zeituni how that’s working out.
9. Nimrod Gently says:

   October 30, 2008 at 8:14 am

   You mean George? He’s doing okay, considering, actually. In fact he’s studying to become a mechanic, as part of a concerted effort to pull himself up by his bootstraps and that, so you should love him. Also, he won’t have anything against his brother: “knows that his half-brother will be the next president…. I was brought up well. I live well even now. The magazines, they have exaggerated everything… I think I kind of like it here. There are some challenges, but maybe it is just like where you come from, there are the same challenges.”
10. Nimrod Gently says:

    October 30, 2008 at 8:27 am

    What happened to Bill Richardson’s face?
11. PG says:

    October 30, 2008 at 9:14 am

    As someone with family in a developing country, I’ve found it amusing to watch william and other people who don’t evince much knowledge of the world outside the U.S., Canada and Western Europe talk about Obama’s relationship with his family in Kenya. As is true for many of us with a recent immigrant parent, he is close to some parts of his family and not close with others. I have first cousins on my mother’s side who were raised to call me “big sibling,” and I have covered their college housing deposits and helped with their weddings; I have first cousin’s on my father’s side whom I don’t know at all. I don’t think that having different levels of closeness with different members of the family is a sign that one has failed to be one’s brother’s keeper.

    That phrase from the Biblical story of Cain and Abel is about Cain’s defensiveness when God asks him, “Where is your brother?” and Cain replies, “I don’t know, am I my brother’s keeper?” His reply is significant not because God expects him to paternalistically take care of Abel, who has his own needs and preferences, but because Cain refuses the moral responsibility of acknowledging his brother’s very existence.

    It is the same sort of moral irresponsibility that one sees with the “flypaper theory” of Iraq, in which the creation and growth of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia is declared a good thing, because “if they’re busy attacking over there, they won’t attack us here.” In this theory, the lives of innocent Iraqis lost in the battle is irrelevant; hey, we’re not their keeper.
12. midderpidge says:

    October 30, 2008 at 10:25 am

    As someone noted somewhere else in comments

    Obama went a half hour and never once mentioned McCain, the reverse could never be true.
13. william says:

    October 30, 2008 at 10:28 am

    “he is close to some parts of his family and not close with others”

    Some parts of his extended family he just tells them to STFU until after the election:

    “Speaking outside her home in Flaherty Way, South Boston, on Tuesday, Ms Onyango, 56, confirmed she was the “Auntie Zeituni” in Mr Obama’s memoir. She declined to answer most other questions about her relationship with the presidential contender until after the November 4 election. “I can’t talk about it, I just pray for him, that’s all,” she said, adding: “After the 4th, I can talk to anyone.”
14. mambochicken23 says:

    October 30, 2008 at 10:42 am

    What’s it like to have that horrible, bitter taste in your mouth all the time, william?
15. Sean D. Martin says:

    October 30, 2008 at 11:12 am

    She declined to answer most other questions about her relationship with the presidential contender until after the November 4 election. “I can’t talk about it, I just pray for him, that’s all,” she said, adding: “After the 4th, I can talk to anyone.”

    And where in that do you get she was told “to shut the fuck up”? She never says that.

    What she does say is that she prays for him. That could be interpreted to mean she’s concerned for his well being and wishes him well. Hardly the reaction you might expect toward someone who’d told her to “shut the fuck up”.

    What she does say is that she’s not talking about it until after the election. It could be that she doesn’t think it necessary or appropriate to add any more irrelevant issues to the public discussion.

    Of course, I’m looking at what she actually did say and acknowledging I’m guessing at what it could mean. william, of course, claims she said what she didn’t and presents his interpretation as fact.

    What’s the difference between the left and the right again?
16. Bruce Henry says:

    October 30, 2008 at 3:31 pm

    The straw William grasps at exceeds his reach.