“The Obama You Don’t Know” is the Obama most people don’t care to read about
The Washington Examiner has a multi-part series of short articles called “The Obama You Don’t Know,” debunking some of the myths of Obama’s “narrative.” It punctures such tales as the one about how poor Obama’s family was when he was growing up, and his stellar reputation as a law professor, as well adding whole bunch of unpleasant details about the Chicago political machinations of his earlier days.
You can send a link to people you know who voted for Obama last time but have become dissatisfied with his record in the last four years, especially those who might live in swing states. Perhaps they’ll read it, and perhaps they’ll even care what’s in it.
I have my doubts. I freely admit I could be wrong (and I hope I’m wrong), but I think the reaction to this information of most people who supported Obama in 2008 will be either to say it’s all right-wing lies, or to say he’s changed, or to give a big shrug and say who cares. My gut feeling is that if a person was able to resist all the information that was out there already in November of 2008—Bill Ayers, Reverend Wright, Alinsky, and the rest—this stuff is certainly not likely to sway that person now, at a much later date.
A greater challenge would be to get them to learn about the Romney they don’t know. The irony is that every misstep Romney has ever made in his life (and some he hasn’t, but that have been manufactured) has been quite well-aired by the MSM, and few of his many many pluses have seen the light of day. It’s exactly the opposite of what’s happened to Obama. The press on the right has been trying to reverse the trend (and of course the Washington Examiner is part of that press on the right), but it just doesn’t reach that many people. If you want to try to do so yourself, I suggest sending people a link to the videos on the right sidebar of this page, which have the advantage of being from a very liberal rag, the Boston Globe. Or even lend or give them this book, written by two Globe reporters.
Time’s a wasting.
There’s another problem, too, one well-stated by Robert Stacy McCain:
Obama seems presidential, and vast numbers of Americans have lost the ability to distinguish between seeming and being.
That’s certainly part of it. Another part (which I believe was one of the things Romney was trying to get at in his 47% remarks) is that “vast numbers of Americans” have become dependent on the welfare state, and/or see nothing wrong with the country becoming more like Europe. The Fabians and Gramscians have been very, very busy all these years, and their work has borne fruit.
Excellent resources. There’s also the AT article today. Maybe a critical mass is forming for the exposure of Barak Hussein Obama II.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/09/frank_marshall_davis_jr.html
Excerpt:
The truth will eventually come out, perhaps in 2013, but maybe not for many more years. When it does, historians will ask why the media was complicit in deceiving the American public about the career of the man who was called Barack Hussein Obama II.
The Wan’s voter base is the unread and the innumerate.
A ‘Rap’ hit’ might get through.
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We’re living through a perfect storm of bad policy.
If the MSM can cover it up — then Goebbles has been reanimated.
For liberals the lack of curiosity is a matter of don’t tell me what I don’t want to know. All that matters is control of the Oval Office. Many within the MSM know the pertinent facts of BHO’s past. They have no intention of letting their viewers and readers discover the ‘real’ Obama. Hence a dog on a car roof is of more import than a floundering economy.
If my wife is an example, then it’s a waste of breath. In her case at least, Obama is protected by her low opinion of all politicians. “They’re all lowlife, but at least Obama isn’t icky like those horrible Republicans.” I love my wife dearly, but that’s the level of political awareness, and I suspect there are millions like her. (sigh)
They’re called “low information” voters and they are legion.
My parents are working class, Irish Catholic, lifelong Dems. They are long retired and have a lot of time to watch TV. But they watch what they’ve always watched..the big three networks and now Chris Matthews on MSNBC. My Dad is a voracious reader and has always read Time, Newsweek, the NYT, etc. They consider themselves to be well-informed but wouldn’t dream of turning Fox on once in a while. They have no idea how much the tide has turned in terms of the so-called impartiality of the MSM.
I do think that the MSM bears quite a bit of responsibility for the fix we’re in.
It’s frustrating, but
We will have this recompense if Obama is re-elected; by 2016 there will be far fewer who can pretend that he is nothing exceptional among crooked politicians or that the MSM can be trusted. Pain is still the best teacher.
A question: what can we expect if Obama is re-elected. Some things are clear, massive inflation, no significant improvement in employment, more terrorism against US entities in the Middle East, indifference and contempt for the US. Maybe an Iranian bomb and the demise of US supported states in the Middle East, continual wars against Israel from Lebanon and cross border terrorism in the south, massive illegal immigration without any attempt at enforcement, no further oil drilling in the gulf, further damage to the coal industry. Can anyone suggest anything else?
MSM. Hmmm. It seems as though this acronym has come to represent the omniscient fear of the Right. Can’t quite think of who to blame? No fear, there’s always the MSM. “Generallity is the enemy of discourse.” I said that.
It’s hard to believe that Obama could be re-elected after what amounts, with little reprieve, to a disastrous term in office. He’s really got to the worst president in my lifetime. And, I am no longer young. The latest Libya/Egypt debacle has got to hit home, and yet… Also, the recent downgrade to our credit rating by Moody’s, which I notice, was pretty much not talked about, and then there’s Iran and nukes and not meeting with Netanyahu. On and on it goes… I have never been one to entertain conspiracy theories, even in my days on the far left (even though the far left is one big conspiracy theory) but I can’t help but wonder whose side is this man on? Is he incompetent, or leading us into ruin quite on purpose? I don’t honestly know and really it doesn’t matter since what matters is the man is a horrible president and — we are on the downside of our strength and vitality as a nation. I need to get back to my blog! And, I will, since I agree with you Neo that time is wasting. We do need to project more clearly just WHY Mitt Romney is the right man for this job, and I do believe he is. I don’t know if he will be a great President, but I think he could be at least, a very good President. And, that is what we need. Thank you for these resources. The media (except Fox) seems to be working overtime to make Romney out to be nearly evil, and to be ignoring the carnage that Obama is visiting on this country.
I also agree that the left has been working for a long time to get people to believe that government does owe them a living, and that government can create prosperity. So, we are up against that. I do have hope however, that Obama can and will lose, but it will be close probably and it shouldn’t be.
I do think it is hard for people to let go of their “Obama” dream. I also know people, who are otherwise intelligent who think of Obama as being like Gandhi. This, after the Libya incident. How that works, I have no idea. Let’s hope they are in the minority.
Bob from Virginia asks, “Can anyone suggest anything else?”
He will get serious about fighting “climate change.” Which means much higher energy prices, much higher unemployment, a crashed stock market, and massive deflation. I would much prefer inflation because at least you can protect yourself from inflation. (Gold, land, houses, and other real assets.) In deflation everyone loses and there is no where to hide. Even cash is no safe haven when the government’s credit is busted.
This election really is a turning point.
Obama seems presidential, and vast numbers of Americans have lost the ability to distinguish between seeming and being.
The difference between seeming and being is:
surface vs substance
the seeming is “cargo cult”, and being is functional
and i mean cargo cult in this sense
“cargo cult science” to describe science that had some of the trappings of real science (such as publication in scientific journals) but lacked a basis in honest experimentation.
“Seems like real science”, it has the trappings..
Seems presidential, sans bows, it has the trappings…
Is Marxism itself cargo cult? seems like a real thing, but is it? wouldn’t a real thing work? wouldn’t premises derived from a real thing lead to outcomes that validate it? (and not outcomes that have to be hidden, and supported by cargo cult science? and cargo cult debate? seems like science, we treat its answers as such, but its methods are poor… seems like debate, but the facts are not facts, so it seems like a debate, but a real debate doesn’t consist of firing blanks.
Sound familiar?
mimicking… seeming… pretending… poseurs… actors… kabuki theater…
another term for it is “Magical Thinking”
Edward Burnett Tylor coined the term “associative thinking”, characterizing it as pre-logical, in which the “magician’s folly” is in mistaking an ideal connection with a real one.
keneysian economics is a form of magical thinking
so is socialism… and so are the people that practice it.
the votors who voted, looked for the surface image, and never wanted to see farther. they had cargo cult mentality, their critical ability to decide the merit was negated, yet they believed they were making a merit choice.
but merit is not allowed anymore today, is it? we are not allowed to use regular thinking and assessments based on merit or else the results might get us run over by the pc police if it don’t match their ideas of what the answers should be. even worse. some of these things are law, and so you can lose more.
once the general population was forced to make illogical conclusions and accept them as logical, they had to switch modes of thinking. turn off a more modern model, and turn on a more primitive model that can accept such contradictions. magical thinking is wonderful for that. consciousness raising is the art of teaching magical thinking along the line of ideology.
right now, the news and such are making a stink because an old man hung a chair in a tree. why? he says what else will i hang it from. everyone is commenting and there is a large swath that is saying its symbolic of lynching, and the chair is Obama, etc..
basically people cant draw their own connections, so they shop and pick the ones provided them once someone says something. the whole left disseminates these stories through mags, news, schools, literature… and their producers faithfully stick to the script which reinforces the illusion of the reality those points are trying to create (so that the people react as if that reality is real and make choices from there. and of course, the choices in that reality favor who? so when they use that to pull a lever in reality, who wins?)
take for instance the lefts idea that you can discuss everything and it will be fine? that you can give a speech and it changes the world. that you be a bit friendlier to bullies and they dont ream and rape your ambassador before he dies…
and to who would halo images with messages appeal to? people of substance or magical thinking cargo cult types believing the surface and not wanting to look deeper (and use merit).
could that be why schools no longer teach principals, but get you to memorize facts? because principals prevent the kind of magical thinking that we use in the absence of knowing them.
so stressing prepped masses tends to heighten their magical beliefs. (like making guns illegal will stop gun crime).
this is how they examine policies presented to them…
Substantive difference
One theory of substantive difference is that of the open versus closed society. Horton describes this as one of the key dissimilarities between traditional thought and Western science. He suggests that the scientific worldview is distinguished from a magical one by the scientific method and by skepticism, requiring the falsifiability of any scientific hypothesis. He notes that for native peoples “there is no developed awareness of alternatives to the established body of theoretical texts.”
He notes that all further differences between traditional and Western thought can be understood as a result of this factor, for example, the fact that African thought both lacks impersonal theory, or objectivity, and clings to the past as opposed to looking towards the future. Because there are no alternatives in magically-thought based societies, a theory does not need to be objectively judged to be valid, and each moment that passes draws them further away from a once undiluted relationship with the spiritual and natural world.
and related to all this..
Self-deception: a process of denying or rationalizing away the relevance, significance, or importance of opposing evidence and logical argument. Self-deception involves convincing oneself of a truth (or lack of truth) so that one does not reveal any self-knowledge of the deception.
Wishful thinking: is the formation of beliefs and making decisions according to what might be pleasing to imagine instead of by appealing to evidence, rationality, or reality. Studies have consistently shown that holding all else equal, subjects will predict positive outcomes to be more likely than negative outcomes
two others on the list are confirmation bias, and omnipotence… (aint that last one scary?)
I was pleasantly surprised watching CNN just a few minutes ago as the female reporter rather passionately eviscerated the Obama administration on their claim that the attack on our Libyan embassy was not preplanned. The CNN reporter and some correspondents made it clear that the U.S. was warned by the Libyan government that they could not protect our embassy and that it should be closed down. The CNN news reporter then explained how Susan Rice had been blatantly dishonest in describing the attacks as unplanned. But the best was yet to come! The reporter then explicitly held President Obama directly responsible for the Libyan tragedy by noting that both Susan Rice and her boss Hilary Clinton had to be taking their instructions directly from Obama. Maybe CNN has just given up trying to protect this utterly incompetent president? Wow!
What else can BHO do during a second term? He will through an EO create a “civilian national security force just as powerful and just as strong and just as well funded as the military”. He will through an EO clamp down on the internet and the airwaves. He will through an EO attack his opponents via the NDAA. This is not a tin foil hat loony tunes conspiracy; its real. This is a reflection of the power BHO lusts to wield. Given an opportunity, he will go for it. All that will be able to block this agenda is a republican controlled House and Senate. If they can’t control him we on Main Street, on the farms and ranches, in the north woods, in the rugged mountains, and in the hills and hollers of the south will give it a good shot. (Pun intended.) Given a 2nd term he will attempt this and more. SO I have no doubt that BHO will create a crisis and never let it go to waste.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2r1JSR8EC8
Title for the next obama bio…”Seeming there”.
This is a good piece, Neo. It points to the kind of reporting that the media SHOULD have made prior to 2008.