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The Forum > Article Comments > The moral and symbolic power of the president > Comments

The moral and symbolic power of the president : Comments

By Helen Pringle, published 21/11/2008

It is not only his policies that will need to be taken into account: but what does he allow people to be by who he is?

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Speaking of the symbolic power of the President why not check out the sick psycho-path at this site:

http://heyitsjustablogman.blogspot.com

Found on the Mercator which features posts on this forum and is an outfit that is apparently admired by Sells too!
Posted by Ho Hum, Friday, 21 November 2008 4:29:10 PM
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I am an American living in Australia who remembers the 1930s in the United States when Congress couldn't even pass an anti-lynching bill. I voted for Obama by absentee ballot in both the primary and general election. It is terrific that the US has elected him president. He did not run as a black man but addressed the needs of all Americans.

He called the Iraq venture a 'stupid war' when Hillary Clinton and others were giving President Bush the authority to wage such a war. He has had contact with American underclass through his experience as a community organiser. That choice indicates to me a sympathy with the downtrodden. He has the intellect to become editor of the Harvard Law Review. His choice of words indicate a mind behind those words. However, he is not only intelligent he is a good organiser. The US has had some very intelligent presidents who were unable to delegate authority or correctly prioritise goals. Two very intelligent men who were failures in that were Carter and Hoover. In his campaign and fund raising efforts Obama has shown great organisational talents. Under pressure he has never made any great misstep.

I hope he will support the International Criminal Court, heed the wishes of other nations and support other instruments of international cooperation, reverse the anti-environmental policies of the current president, curb the excesses of capitalism, reduce the gap between rich and poor, provide universal health care, improve the educational system and be an inspirational figure as both Franklin Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln were.

I am prepared to be disappointed.
Posted by david f, Friday, 21 November 2008 4:32:25 PM
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Plus remember that most, if not all of the writers that feature on American Thinker, and the multiple blogs that link into the AT, all in one way or another link into the Mercator site.

Most of them also like to talk about the primacy of reason too---at least when it suits them.

Plus they would have all loudly cheered when the pope made his "controversial" Regensburg address in support of reason a couple of years ago.

As would have most, if not all of the people, who write essays etc on the Mercator blog.

So what you might ask?

Well in my opinion, the blog that I pointed to in my first post, reveals the hell-deep psychotic shadow that is just behind the "smiling" face of right-wing politics in the USA---as distinct from sane balanced conservatism.

A collective psychosis that was signalled to the world at large by the "success" of that vile and horrific pornographic snuff-splatter film The Passion.
Posted by Ho Hum, Friday, 21 November 2008 6:49:01 PM
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"There is actually little evidence to suggest that even Obama’s most enthusiastic supporters in the US think that he has the ability to pay their gas or mortgage costs, raise the dead and heal the sick, or walk far above the water."

Is this writer insane? What has Jesus's life and fallacies re his powers got to do with Mr Obama? Obama is a politician, what do you really expect of him? I must add that even the wildest tales re Jesus ony claimed he walked ON water, not far above it.

He's black. So what? His party is still mainly white and again, so what? I didn't detect any claims of supernatural powers anywhere, either from Obama or the media.

So you have to conclude this writer is just insane. Where's my butterfly net?
Posted by pegasus, Saturday, 22 November 2008 4:06:43 AM
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Dear Pegasus,

The words with which you take issue are not mine, but those of Geoffrey Garrett, who wrote: “Given the sky high expectations on Obama, no mortal, no matter how far above the water he walks, could meet all those expectations”. I am also well aware that the story of Jesus going to Capernaum tells of him walking on the sea, not above it.

I am not sure how it is possible to mis-read my paragraph to suggest that I think that Obama is the Messiah. For the record, I think that he is a politician. And my point was that most Obama voters/supporters also think that – with the exception it seems of one woman who became a youtube sensation with her claim that an Obama victory meant that she would no longer have to worry about putting gas in her car or paying the mortgage.

Thank you for sharing your views about mental illness with me,

Helen Pringle
Posted by isabelberners, Saturday, 22 November 2008 9:55:56 AM
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The article was a very well thought out way of admitting that the US presidency is puppetry.

How every now and again, its nice to be like an audience of children, where we can escape into emotion, ego and romanticism. This is not thinking. This is about as un-thoughful as it gets. Unless by 'thought' you mean illogical and irrational thought. The type of thinking thats inconsistent with reality. The type of thinking that changes nothing.

The most glaring thing about the recent presidential race, was just how apt people are to go for a silver-tongued snake, who speaks words dipped in sacharine sweet subterfuge. How its all about identity politics. All appeal to emotion and ego and veiled self-interest. How feeling the words is much more important to thinking about the substance of those words. No wounder Obama won, that sort of silver tongued oratory is his specialty.

The thing lve noticed about the right is that their spin is very easy to see thru, as its light on emotion. Whereas the leftist spin is very deceptive and manipulative, coated as it is in layers of emotion and sentiment. And they are extremely adept at dipping it in just enough logic, truth and reason to get the gross lies to fly. Their sanctimonious self-deciet gets rather tedious (l used to be a lefty) after a while and eventually, inevitably, people see thru it, zone it out and everythig keeps changing in the same sort of way it ever did.
Posted by trade215, Saturday, 22 November 2008 11:38:09 AM
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