11/10/2008
Read it and... think
Bob Somerby of The Daily Howler goes off on the current state of political punditry and BS, as revealed by coverage of McCain:
... we actually weren't surprised to see Obama elected. Nor are we "proud" when voters do sensible things; as in the days when we taught fifth-graders, we expect sensible conduct. Beyond that, our thumb comes down on the part of the scale which says that Barack Obama should get to be Barack Obama, without having the mountain of race hoisted up on his back. It has been a very long time since any white person had to bear the burden of his ethnicity, which was never as big a mountain as race; we're tired of seeing white folk insist on making Obama be the black guy. Rather than get all excited and proud about "our first African-American president," we'd like to see people put their focus on having our first recent successful president.
...
Should we be "proud of our country" for electing Obama? In most ways, he was the clearly superior candidate; why exactly should we be "proud" when voters make such a choice? Frankly, we think our standards have been dumbed way down when we clap ourselves on the back for such conduct.
Beyond that, we think we might to revisit the context in which this decision occurred.
Should we be proud of Tuesday's outcome? In many ways, McCain was an utterly gruesome candidate. Are we supposed to be "proud" of the country whose groaning, store-bought, brain-dead elites worked so long, so hard, so dumbly to hide that matter from you? The same pundits who tell you about their surprise told you, for many years, that McCain was the world's greatest known living human, although he plainly was not. How could anyone be "proud" of a country whose structures have conspired, for such a long time, to support these grisly elites in such gruesome, gong-show behavior? Guess what? Your political culture is a screaming disgrace. But so what? Even your smartest, most superlative columnist is saying that you should be proud of the country whose elites refuse to stop behaving that way. Whose elites agree not to tattle.
Guess what, kids? McCain was a horrible candidate nine years ago-but your "elites" (pause for laugh) told you different. Sometimes they did so because of their dumbness; sometimes they did so through bleating obedience to their group's pre-approved standard scripts. But sensible people should be ashamed that this charade got anywhere near this place. McCain was ahead in many polls in mid-September, when the financial world collapsed.