Maureen Dowd hits the Obama/Palin nail on the head

[Cyrano]

The fringe nuts love Palin.

And many of us are becoming disillusioned with Obama.

Maureen Dowd has a pretty good explanation of this in her column in today's NY Times. Maybe she's got her groove back.

Barack Obama, who once had his own electric book tour testing the waters for a campaign, could learn a thing or three from Palin. On Friday, for the first time, his Gallup poll approval rating dropped below 50 percent, and he’s losing the independents who helped get him elected.

He’s a highly intelligent man with a highly functioning West Wing, and he’s likable, but he’s not connecting on the gut level that could help him succeed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/opinion/22dowd.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&ref=opinion&adxnnlx=1258905952-VQrvlWynfcu23Vtn/PkE6w

Her best line is about Palin's "... Yoda-like syntax."

[JohnnyLib2]

1. The column should wake up DU today!

Seems to me that Ol' Maureen does a good job of explaining how Palin appeals to whom she appeals. My motto now is

Palin--must--not--be--underestimated.

K & R

[lapfog_1]

2. Yoda like syntax?

First off, Palin would like a sin tax, so she's in favor of Yoda Like Syntax.

Second, Sense Yoda makes, Palin there is no try.

[bigtree]

3. so Dowd is impressed with Palin's mindless pandering to the neanderthals and birthers

inspiring

[Cyrano]

4. Did you bother to read her article?

She's merely pointing out why Palin's style works and Obama's is starting to fail.

[bigtree]

5. works?

to what end? Pfft.

[JohnnyLib2]

6. See post #1

[bigtree]

10. so she becomes the defacto leader of the less than 30% of Americans

. . . who say they don't support the president. :shrug:

[Cyrano]

7. Ummmm,

I don't know why I'm wasting key strokes on you.

Palin attracts the most impressionable and ignorant people in America. And whether you like it or not, her imbecilic utterances and style works for them.

[bigtree]

11. good for her

good for you?

[lib2DaBone]

29. Palin attracts what I call the "Brittany Spears Brigade"...

..those Hanna Montana hopefuls who resonate with the Glenn Beck Teabaggers.

Only the Palin groupies don't have the intellectual capacity of the Teabaggers.

(yes..I'm being sarcastic again..sorry) ;)

[aikoaiko]

8. I'm pretty confident we'll be ok in 2012 even if it is a closer race.

If job losses keep decelerating and possibly even increase, we'll be ok. He kick into campaign mode.

[LWolf]

32. We aren't okay now.

What will happen in 2012 to change that?

[aikoaiko]

34. If there were an election today, I'm sure that Obama would be re-elected and we'd retain both houses

By 2010, I'm sure Obama will figure out a way to campaign as a sitting President as opposed to what he did as a challenger in 2008.

[LWolf]

35. Which is beside the point.

We aren't okay.

We aren't okay under an Obama administration.

We wouldn't be okay under a Republican administration.

We aren't okay, and 2012 isn't going to change that.

[aikoaiko]

39. I think we're doing better than under a McCain regime or any other Republican presidency.

And I'm confident that will still be so in 2012.

I'm ok with the Obama presidency this first year given what he had to work with.

[LWolf]

43. If he were headed a direction I want to go,

I'd be okay, too. I'd give him time and support to get the job done.

He's not. I don't think he's headed the direction the nation needs to go.

That's not okay.

We're not okay.

[treestar]

9. Palin is not remotely in the same league as Obama

She has 1/1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000th of the brains he has, if that.

[Cyrano]

12. We're not talking about Obama's intelligence

The issue is the extreme stupidity of so many Americans

[impik]

15. So this should mean that Obama needs

to dumb himself down? Why? Because he actually think about issues instead of knee-jerking stupid and incomplete sentences? And it's ridiculous to say that he doesn't connect with people.

[Cyrano]

17. Don't put words in my mouth. And try reading Dowd's column

[jonnyblitz]

19. I can't believe you have to explain this. People here are so

dense I imagine they think Maureen Dowd or you are even supporting Palin though all you are do is admitting that many Americans are IGNORANT enough to vote for her over Obama. DUers assume everybody is as smart as they are.

[treestar]

47. Well, that's true

But even in the U.S., it is 28%. Even those who voted for her running mate in 2008 by now have to realize that she's too stupid to be governor, let alone President.

[Old Codger]

13. For sure

From what I have seen so far from Obama, and do not take this as a slam, it is not intended as such. Obama, and I think he is great, appears to play it too cozy with the apparent hands off approach. If , and I do mean if the things that we have been told are true he truly wanted what he professed in (at least what I understood) why no fight for single payer? Why not be campaigning for this stuff? Why are he and the rest of them allowing this so-called "health care reform" to be in fact an "insurance reform" really, if, and it is a big if, what I have heard and read it is mandatory with fines and possibly jail time if you don't or cannot buy it, it is beyond the pale in being unconstitutional, back to the dark ages and debtors prisons. The entire process has been hi-jacked by the insurance industry. I am borderline anymore on whether I believe it is good to accept anything as being better than nothing...
Now maybe they will actually do something to improve what they have during the debates but from experience lately they will spend the entire debate kissing rethug behinds and bending over backward to appease the opposition in a misguided attempt to pass something.

Obama would do wonders for his approval ratings by being out in front on this whole thing...

[impik]

14. So now the Left wants Obama to be like Palin?

Can this circus become more pathetic?

[Cyrano]

18. Where did anyone say "... the Left wants Obama to be like Palin?"

No one said that, or even came close to saying it.

And why don't you try reading Maureen Dowd's column so you know what you're talking about?

[timtom]

26. God! The obtuseness of some of these people.

I love it when someone attempts to "debate" that which they have not studied or read.

[laughingliberal]

16. We just keep denying we have a messaging problem

Since long before Barack Obama became the head of our party, we have had a problem getting our message to the voters. Part of that is the takeover of the media by the corporate world over the past couple of decades. But that is not the whole story. We sit back, smug in the knowledge we have the facts on our side, and wonder how stupid people have to be to keep following their idiot leaders. We have ignored the tactics they used to get their message out because (Yoda like) better than that, we are. Well, we need to learn how to connect on an emotional level with the American voter. Most of them are not political junkies and policy wonks. With the fact on our side we should easily control the message but we have ignored the need to package it for the average American. With apologies to Yoda: If smug in our superiority we remain, lose we will.

[Cyrano]

21. I couldn't agree more.

Right are you. For wisdom, Yoda dictionary there should be.

[trumad]

20. Except to her fringe nutbags...

palin is extremely unpopular.

[Cyrano]

22. I can't disagree with you. But you've got to admit, she knows how to

sell a sack full of nothing.

[tosh]

41. I think there is another element.

Example: In a conversation I had soon after the conventions last year, a physical therapist I know told me that a) she grew up in a republican family, b) had always voted republican but did not really identify, c) liked Hillary, d) decided to become more "informed" for the '08 elections by watching the convention speeches, and thus d) was really impressed with Palin. I asked her later and she told me that she voted for McCain.

This woman is not ignorant and she is not a nutbag but she is, wilfully or not, uninformed. She is just not that interested. She doesn't watch the news, prefers American Idol. She is disconnected from politics but still wants to be a "responsible citizen" and vote.

I know many others like this woman, at least in this way similar. I think there are many of these in those lines to have Palin sign their books. Just look at the videos that were posted yesterday of those "interviews".

These people are just not engaged.

How can the be enticed to engage?

[tabbycat31]

23. K&R

[orwell]

24. It's not the rhetoric...

...it's the unemployment numbers.

All of this is predictable. As unemployment falls, Obama and the Dems job approval will rise.

This would have happened to anyone who won office this time around. It's amazing to me that his numbers are so high. He is presiding over the greatest global economic meltdown since the great depression. It is going to take a long time to work through this no matter what the Dems do.

Why is this so hard to understand?

[Imajika]

25. People like simple...

They don't want to think problems are so complex they can barely be solved. They sure as hell don't want to be told that.

People tend to want a leader to who speaks very clearly and in simple terms so they can understand it. The more frightened they are, the less they want to hear about nuance.

Palin will run much like many Republicans have before here. Black and white, good and evil, etc. She will run for President in 2012 as the common sense hockey Mom, and try to paint President Obama and his administration as a bunch of ivory tower elitist eggheads. Count on it.

Obama is not in campaign mode right now though, and if the economy turns around to a reasonable extent he will beat her - possibly pretty easily. If the economy sucks and we are still looking at 10%+ unemployment, she could indeed be a formidable foe and could in fact win.

People thought Reagan was a simplistic crackpop too, yet he won - twice. Do not underestimate Palin's appeal. It is strong, and she should not be dismissed.

[JohnnyLib2]

27. For sure.

Reagan happened. GWB happened. "She should not be dismissed," nor should those to whom she appeals.

[jpak]

28. Yes - Obama needs to do interviews sitting on grizzly bear taxidermy

with turkey slaughter in the background

and wink a lot

then quit

yup!

:thumbsdown:

:puke:

[Marr]

30. I think she makes some very good points there.

Especially the part about Obama struggling to "transcend identity politics" while Palin wallows in it. But I think there's a reason Obama takes that tack. He's a corporate Democrat. In Corporate America, left wing identity politics is called "class warfare", and is one of the biggest taboos. If Obama had a flair for it, he never would've risen as far as the Senate, let alone the presidency.

Hopefully he'll wake up to the fact that voters will not be there for him next time around if he continues with this outmoded approach.

[leftstreet]

31. [phone]

Well said

[hfojvt]

44. class issues are not identity politics

you are confusing two different things. Identity politics is about race, about sex, about sexual orientation, about religion. Class, in theory should unite us. If you are working for minimum wage or less than 150% of minimum wage and have lousy benefits and lpusy job security then you have something, many somethings in common with others in the same boat, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, religion, or race. But Democrats, post Jackson and post Clinton, mostly do not try to tap into the things that unite us.

[Marr]

45. They are the same things, with two different labels.

It's considered acceptable for right-wingers to sow divisions along racial lines, religious lines, etc. That tactic is labeled "identity politics" when employed by the right. The left wing equivalent is class division, and it isn't all about hugging your equally poor neighbor-- it's about pointing out all the reasons you ought to be angry with the thieving bastard in the power tie.

They're the same things. One is legitimate, in my opinion, and one isn't-- but the legitimate one is taboo in our corporate media, for obvious reasons.

[DU GrovelBot]

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[northernlights]

36. She nurtures her grass roots while he neglects his

and yes, he's entirely too cozy with wall stree and yes he should smack those generals upside the head, or replace them.

Beyond that, Dowd misses the mark.

And there is no comparison, none, between the Queen of Wasilla and Yoda. Straighten out the syntax, and the Queen continues all nonsense, while the Yoda remains common horse sense.

[Cyrano]

37. I think Dowd was only talking about Yoda's twisted syntax, not the content

Palin is almost as bad as George W. at expressing a coherent thought.

Nonetheless, Dowd was referring to her demolition of the English language. IMO, she in no way believes that Palin is anything more than a malicious Forrest Gump.

[BeyondGeography]

38. I take this as Obama is due for a turnaround in the polls

because every time Mo Dud goes on an O'Bambi riff, he proves her wrong.

Mo Dud is a riffer who lives in a perspective-free zone. Try not to be fooled.

[emulatorloo]

40. DOWD 1999: ""Al Gore is so feminized and diversified and ecologically correct that he's practically

lactating."

So I don't put much stock in Dowd's BuLLSHIT>

The Context:

==============

http://airingofthegrievances.blogspot.com/2008/02/maureen-dowd-is-and-was-high-school.html

Liberties; Freudian Face-Off
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: Wednesday, June 16, 1999

Al Gore is the Tin Man: immobile, rusting, decent, badly in need of that oil can.

George W. Bush is the Scarecrow: charming, limber, cocky, fidgety, seeking to stuff his head with a few more weighty thoughts. (Dan Quayle and Gary Bauer are, of course, the Flying Monkeys.)

Al Gore is so feminized and diversified and ecologically correct, he's practically lactating.

George Bush is all swagger, with macho campaign accessories of custom-made ostrich-leather black cowboy boots with ''G.W.B.'' emblazoned and a huge belt buckle with ''Gov. George W. Bush,'' as well as baseball statistics, pork and beans and a Betty Crocker wife.

Now comes the ''I am worthy, Daddy'' Freudian face-off of dauphins named after famous fathers and shaped by strong mothers.

Al is the Good Son, the early-achieving scion from Harvard and Tennessee who always thought he would be President. (So did his parents.) George is the Prodigal Son, the late-blooming scion from Yale and Texas who never thought he would be President. (Neither did his parents.)

As the robotic, plodding Mr. Gore tries to loosen up, the loose, quicksilver Mr. Bush tries to stay robotically on message.

<SNIP>

The Good Son, who was applying himself while his rival was finding himself, is not green. But he is beige, and so puckered in his pronouncements that his Hollywood pals want to coach him on how to talk to people.

One knows his subjects cold but can't heat up an audience. The other promises the global vision thing as soon as he gets his geography down.

It's going to be an interesting year, Toto.

=========================


Treat yourself to this Dowd Retrospective if you get the chance:

Will Somebody Please STOP Maureen Dowd
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/5/24/82736/3016

[K8-EEE]

42. If Americans are too fucking stupid to deal with reality then fuck it

Really there is no way to "connect on a gut level" which is feel-good shit about the reality of what BushCo left us.

Americans don't want to sacrifice ANYTHING to get us out of this hole. I'm MUCH more disillusioned with the American public (including the Palin "connecting" -- she's clearly an idiot!) than with Obama. God help him. They left the house on fire and scream about him using too much water putting it out.

[Johonny]

46. It's the media hacks like her that prevent

Obama from connecting on the gut level. Every time Obama's do normal Joe gut things like play basketball games, have people over for drinks, take their kids to school, talk about current events, the media turns it into a conspiracy filled politically correct attack on modern American. No wonder he has a hard time connecting.