Skip to main content

re: your feb 11 article about Obama fans being anti-Clinton

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/11/opinion/11krugman.html

Hate Springs Eternal

'The bitterness of the fight for the Democratic nomination is, on the face of it, bizarre. Both candidates are smart and appealing. Why, then, is there so much venom out there?'
-
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: February 11, 2008
-
... Both have progressive agendas (although I believe that Hillary Clinton is more serious about achieving universal health care, and that Barack Obama has staked out positions that will undermine his own efforts). Both have broad support among the party’s grass roots and are favorably viewed by Democratic voters.
Supporters of each candidate should have no trouble rallying behind the other if he or she gets the nod.
...most of the venom I see is coming from supporters of Mr. Obama, who want their hero or nobody. I’m not the first to point out that the Obama campaign seems dangerously close to becoming a cult of personality. We’ve already had that from the Bush administration — remember Operation Flight Suit? We really don’t want to go there again.
...pundits and some news organizations treat any action or statement by the Clintons, no matter how innocuous, as proof of evil intent...
-

to: Paul Krugman
re: your feb 11 article about Obama fans being anti-Clinton
-
Some interesting points, I agree that Clinton words are inappropriately (mis)read as evil. but i must disagree with your conclusion, where you plea for Clinton and Obama supporters to pledge support for whichever one wins. the thing is, i am not a member of the democratic party, i feel no investment in the party nominee.
-
i support Obama for reasons specific to his agenda. for the first time in my life, i've donated money and time to a candidate (i admit, i'm worried about feeling so connected to a politician, since they are by definition liars, but damn the torpedoes).
-
i do not hate the Clintons, i do not think they're evil. but at the same time, i do not support Hillary Clinton. i respect her, but do not find her "appealing." she has plans, yes. i simply am not impressed by bureaucratic skill or traditional political speeches. i cannot say who i will vote for if it becomes Clinton-McCain.
-
i understand that many Clinton supporters are devoted to the Democratic party. good for them.
-
i hope you understand that many Obama supporters are not necessarily members of your party (especially since the die-hard democrats signed up for Clinton so early). Obama voters are democrats, or socialists, or republicans, or independents - who don't care for the party divisions at all.
-
thanks for your time -

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Refugees in Europe deserve help, but refugees in U.S. deserve to "be sent back"?

--> September 4, 2015 Hillary Clinton on the refugee crisis in Southern Europe:   “Well the pictures, well the stories, we’ve been watching this terrible assault on the Syrian people now for years, are just heartbreaking. I think the entire world has to come together, it should not be just one or two countries, or not just Europe and the United States. We should do our part, as should the Europeans, but this is a broader, global crisis.   We now have um, more refugees than we’ve had, in many years, I think since the second world war. And as we’ve seen tragically, people are literally dying to escape the conflict in Syria. Uh, I think that the, the larger Middle East, I think Asia, I think everybody should step up and say we have to help these people. And I would hope that, under the aegis of the United Nations led by the Security Council, and certainly by the United States which has been such a generous nation in the past, we would begin to try to...
10 comments
Read more

translation of the Manu Chao song "Me Llaman Calle"

this is about my translation of the Manu Chao song "Me Llaman Calle." [ video below ] i'm reasonably close to a literal translation, with changes to fit the rhythm and number of syllables per line. "baldosa" is like ladrilla (a brick to build a house) except flat like a tile. based on context, i translate it as "cobblestones." Chao also uses "maquinita," literally "little machine," but this implies a small device in english (a machine that does something, but does not move itself - such as a laminating machine, a blood-glucose meter, or an ATM) - so i use "little engine" instead, to imply movement. the one line i'm not happy with is the translation of "no me rebajo"; if i wasn't worried about rhythm, i would translate it as "it doesn't dig ruts into me." the tricky part is that this word, rut, is almost never used as a present-tense transitive verb in english. we generally use it as a noun (...
3 comments
Read more

be the movies

i guess it's because i've been watching too many movies about relationships. or that most movies are specifically about relationships ,and i've just been watching too many movies. whatever: recently the screen seems to invade my imagination. too often. i thought maybe i was a character from Closer . only in a few scenes, not the whole thing. "there's always a moment." in my film class this quarter, we read shit about the overwhelming sense of realness in film. how and why it can surpass literature, visual art, stage, and tv. nothing can manipulate as effectively. it controls time and perception (you cannot go back and re-read a page at a movie theater - but i'm re-reading a book stanza now). And yet, love knows it is a greater grief To bear love's wrong, than hate's known injury other forms often suggest to us that "we are there," in a moment. but the experience of directed gaze at a photo or painting, this is limited to 1 sense, and we ...
Post a Comment
Read more