June 23, 2009

[RELOCATED] It's hard to get myself psyched to do full-blown post over here.

It feels so tentative and unreal.

Oh, okay, how about: "As His Agenda Collapses On Capitol Hill, Obama Hopes For Press Conference Hail Mary Today."

Hmmm. Maybe I'll actually watch the press conference today. I got back to Madison Sunday night, but in the weeks before that, living in Ohio, I had no TV. But the truth is, I almost never watch news on TV anymore. I made a point of watching the debates back in the '08 campaign, but I'd gotten tired of the news analysis shows and the Sunday talk things. It's funny, because Obama is a big visual phenomenon — he's the first black President, of course, but it's not just that. He exploits visuals in new ways. Why haven't I been following that?

Well, I've been very distracted, but I'm on my own this week, and maybe I should do things a little differently. Ooh! Watching TV! How edgy!

Ah! The truth is, I'm suffering from double withdrawal. I don't have my blog and I don't have my Meade.

UPDATE: Now I have my blog. Still waiting for my Meade.

3 comments:

Ann Althouse said...

Comments from over at Althouse2:

14 COMMENTS:

Robin said...
It's a win/win for those who oppose the healthcare takeover: Either he uses the teleprompter and is an object of scorn, or he doesn't and inadvertently says something that's true.

JUNE 23, 2009 9:32:00 AM CDT
Salamandyr said...
Hi Althouse,

Chin up, the buggers can't keep you down for long.

JUNE 23, 2009 9:39:00 AM CDT
Salamandyr said...
So apparently the President is still smoking.

good for him. The best thing for America would be for him to forthrightly declare "I'm a smoker. I'm a grown man who has the right to choose what vices I will indulge in and when, and it's not anyone else's business how I do so." And then move to undo the results of all those attacks on the great American vice that his compatriots of waged.

JUNE 23, 2009 9:45:00 AM CDT
rocketeer67 said...
Ah! The truth is, I'm suffering from double withdrawal. I don't have my blog and I don't have my Meade.

That's genuinely sweet. It made me smile for you, and miss my wife even though we're just at work and will see each other tonight.

JUNE 23, 2009 9:55:00 AM CDT
Randy said...
Here's hoping Blogger figures it out soon. Otherwise, when Meade does see you again, he may find you in a fetal position on the couch, staring at the TV, remote in hand, singing this Peggy Lee classic.

JUNE 23, 2009 9:55:00 AM CDT
Fred4Pres said...
Check out this gem, the White House now claims that Obama's Cairo speech prompted the protests in Iran!

Now how will Sullivan (self appointed White House apologist) justify Obama's silence on Iran, when the White House is claiming they inspired the whole dissent process in Iran?

Somehow love will find a way.

Andrew Sullivan is to Barack Obama as Kathryn Jean Lopez is to Mitt Romney. The only difference is K-Lo is less fauning and less of a 12
year old girl with a crush.

JUNE 23, 2009 10:19:00 AM CDT
Randy said...
Fred: Obama has not been silent. He's just not said what you wanted him to say at the decibel level you preferred and the exact time you wanted him to say it.

JUNE 23, 2009 10:23:00 AM CDT
Thief said...
The next best thing...

Ann Althouse said...

MORE:

JUNE 23, 2009 10:34:00 AM CDT
Balfegor said...
Fred: Obama has not been silent. He's just not said what you wanted him to say at the decibel level you preferred and the exact time you wanted him to say it.

Precisely. He has missed his moment to show leadership by hemming and hawing a little too tentatively, a little too long.

His Cairo speech even set up the perfect segue to a clear and unambiguous expression of American values:

So no matter where it takes hold, government of the people and by the people sets a single standard for all who would hold power: You must maintain your power through consent, not coercion; you must respect the rights of minorities, and participate with a spirit of tolerance and compromise; you must place the interests of your people and the legitimate workings of the political process above your party. Without these ingredients, elections alone do not make true democracy.

Sadly, as so often seems to be the case, Obama's highfalutin rhetoric was swiftly overtaken by events. One is reminded of his pompous pronouncements, in his "race" speech, that he could no more disown his 20-yr pastor, Wright, than his own grandmother (he disowned Wright the next month), and that he could no more renounce his Church than he could renounce the Black community (amid mounting criticism, he left his Church two months later). Lovely words, I'm sure, but they never seem to lead anywhere.

JUNE 23, 2009 11:10:00 AM CDT
bagoh20 said...
Thank Allah you're back. I was ready to cash in my "72 strippers" coupon. And take Titus with me.

JUNE 23, 2009 11:59:00 AM CDT
JAL said...
So last night (or really, early this morning) I wrote out a comment for Neda ... and got nada.

So I stashed it thinking it was a matter of Blogger maintenance or something, But while Blogger is muddling, time and the world have moved on.

But there will be other thoughts and comments.

Glad Reynolds clued us on where and why you were "hiding."

JUNE 23, 2009 12:26:00 PM CDT
JAL said...
I'm surprised to see Maxine isn't here harping on "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" to punish you more, Prof.

JUNE 23, 2009 12:30:00 PM CDT
Penny said...
"Absence does make the heart grow fonder", unless "when you're not with the one you love, you love the one you're with."

JUNE 23, 2009 12:52:00 PM CDT
halojones-fan said...
No Meade?

Have some wine instead!

(bah-dump BOOMP! thankyafolks, I'll be here all week, tipyerserverstrytheveal!)

JUNE 23, 2009 1:48:00 PM CDT

former law student said...

Althouse should have her meed (meade).