This crap is on the Rec List? "I met Obama Tonight, and he is no John Kerry"

[beachmom]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8/18/02517/3345/961/569570

I don't think I would find this guy enjoyable company. This is actually hilarious:

I had met Kerry in March 2004 and spoken to him for at least 3 minutes, including a mention that his speech needed work. (To be really truthful, it was lousy, but there is a limit to how much truth to power I could nerve myself to say.) I met him again 3 months later, and while I did not remind him of our previous encounter, it was clear he had forgotten. Obama doesn't quite have Clinton's phenomenal memory for people, but he is pretty good.

Next time he meets Kerry, he should help the Senator out by refreshing his memory:

"Hi, Senator, we met before in 2004. I am that arrogant a**hole who told you your speech sucked, and damn, IT NEEDED WORK. Basically, I think you suck, and in general, wish you would retire. So .... how are you?"

And it made the Rec List!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MBS]

1. boy, discouraging.

but there were a few defenders in there besides you . I counted at least 3 o4 4, and they were pretty thoughtful. But still.

[karynnj]

8. Actually less discouraging now

There are more defenders at the end and in the earlier parts most people ignored the Kerry bashing and were commenting on Obama, the peace corps or related things ignoring the juvenile Kerry bashing. Later, when a few people - including some I never saw before called him on it - he put in a whining update trying to explain why he was right.

[Democrafty]

2. Oh, lord.

This comment, though, is the perfect rebuttal: http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2008/8/18/02517/3345/254#c254

" Well (2+ / 0-)

Recommended by:
NYFM, swaminathan

a little showmanship is an important job skill for a President.

But it doesn't make a good President. Or a good man. George W. Bush should have taught us that.

Sometimes, Democrats disgust me. We're all too ready to join (after the fact of course) in pissing on the good name of good me. We pick up the Republican's phony stories and make them our own, as if by aping the winners we will magically ensure that next time things will be different. We did it to Al Gore in 2004, and plenty of Democrats joined in spreading the Al Gore as unhinged meme. All forgotten now, of course.

Maybe, just maybe we should lay off kicking our guys, guys we nominated because they were worthy men, and start kicking the other party's candidate.

I've lost my faith in nihilism

by grumpynerd on Mon Aug 18, 2008 at 06:26:27 AM PDT"

[sandnsea]

3. Signed in just to recommend that n/t

[sandnsea]

4. That is the kind of posts that leaves me hopeless

What is there to say to this kind of stupidity.

[karynnj]

5. I saw it last night - but thought it would get no traction as it was beyond stupid

He misses that he met Obama at an extraordinary event - and he thinks Obama recognized him, but he told Obama that he met him in Africa. Then he equates being one of likely 100000 plus people Kerry met after fund raisers or functions. It is true that some people have unusual ability to remember faces and names. That this idiot thought he would shows a level of narcissism that it pretty remarkable.

The other thing is that as he says it was after a vacation in March, it was after Kerry clinched the nomination. His speaking abilities were more than adequate to win CA, where this guy lives by double digits. He might very well have been trying out new ways of saying things preparing for the general election. I can't believe the chutzpah required to tell the new nominee that "his speech needs work". From the way he recounts it, Kerry's response was likely politer than he deserved.

I don't get the need to bash Kerry to praise Obama. Obama's biggest strength is his speeches - he is far less good at debates and in responding to questions. Still there are lines of Kerry speeches that are still recognizable. He is a very good speaker in his own right.

[beachmom]

6. Mr. Thin Skin has an update (equally infuriating)

UPDATED to respond to some comments:

About the comparison to Kerry: I wasn't trying to dis Kerry as a person or politician, and I think he's a great senator. But he was, frankly, lousy as a presidential campaigner. My point was not so much that he didn't remember me, but that a politician at that level should be able to seem to do so; it's a way of connecting. More than that, he seemed, even the second time, in August, not sure of himself or what he was doing. Obama seems completely in command of himself.

And Obama, by the way, did not come across last night as overly intellectual, the way Kerry often did, even though he was speaking to a San Francisco crowd (Berkeley across the bay, Stanford down the road, more Nobel laureates per square mile than probably any place outside Boston). He was down to earth, and connecting.

I make the comparison in particular because a number of diaries and comments here have worried themselves sick over whether Obama is like Kerry and making Kerry's mistakes. He is not.

And yes, there was a bit of ego tripping here. How many times has a candidate for president put his hands on your shoulders? In fact, I've never heard of it happening before ....

WHATEVER.

[karynnj]

7. He really is thin skinned

he responded to one of my posts. His comment actually shows why we get politicians who deceive us. What I think is important is that Kerry does listen intensely and answer the real question people ask. He shows respect for everyone in the way he does that. Obama actually seems closer to Kerry in that than to Clinton and Edwards, who both are "on" when people are around them.