Sunday Morning
It's quarter to eleven in the morning local time. I am listening to the MPR classical station and getting ready to take a shower.
I was thinking last night about the Bruce Springsteen concert before the Inauguration of the current president, when Springsteen and Pete Seegar sang together -- Seegar being, of course, the guy who has held true to his left politics through a long life, and who was red-hunted in the 1950s.
Anyway, I started to wonder if Obama was like Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times. There's a point where Charlie is walking down the street and a warning flag falls off a truck with a long load. Charlie picks up the flag and runs after the truck, waving the flag to get the driver's attention. This huge political demonstration comes up behind him with banners and signs -- and Charlie is the guy in front waving the red flag. Of course he is arrested.
Obama said the right things when he was campaigning, and he certainly looked good. But he has shown no sign of understanding why people supported him. So I wonder if this huge progressive movement came up behind him out of nowhere, and he was the guy in front, but it wasn't really his movement. It's pretty clear that he's losing parts of it, maybe most of it. It's possible he thought that the movement was loyal to him, and he could hold it no matter what he did.
Huey Long knew why people supported him and what he had to say to remain a leader. Most of the time, FDR also knew. Patrick just said, Eleanor kept reminding FDR.
This leads to an image of FDR in a wheelchair in front of the giant demonstration, with Eleanor pushing him and running like hell to stay ahead.
Obama has turned right at a crossing and lost the demonstration.
I was thinking last night about the Bruce Springsteen concert before the Inauguration of the current president, when Springsteen and Pete Seegar sang together -- Seegar being, of course, the guy who has held true to his left politics through a long life, and who was red-hunted in the 1950s.
Anyway, I started to wonder if Obama was like Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times. There's a point where Charlie is walking down the street and a warning flag falls off a truck with a long load. Charlie picks up the flag and runs after the truck, waving the flag to get the driver's attention. This huge political demonstration comes up behind him with banners and signs -- and Charlie is the guy in front waving the red flag. Of course he is arrested.
Obama said the right things when he was campaigning, and he certainly looked good. But he has shown no sign of understanding why people supported him. So I wonder if this huge progressive movement came up behind him out of nowhere, and he was the guy in front, but it wasn't really his movement. It's pretty clear that he's losing parts of it, maybe most of it. It's possible he thought that the movement was loyal to him, and he could hold it no matter what he did.
Huey Long knew why people supported him and what he had to say to remain a leader. Most of the time, FDR also knew. Patrick just said, Eleanor kept reminding FDR.
This leads to an image of FDR in a wheelchair in front of the giant demonstration, with Eleanor pushing him and running like hell to stay ahead.
Obama has turned right at a crossing and lost the demonstration.
posted by Eleanor at 8:42 AM
1 Comments:
Wonderful image! The Right's caniptions about Obama's "socialism" wouldn't bother me if there were a shred of truth to them; but there simply is nothing remotely socialist--indeed, only faintly liberal--in the current administration's response to the economic catastrophes of the last decade.
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