NYT: "Obama’s people are so taken with their messiah that soon they’ll be arranging mass weddings"

[bidenista]

Someone else has noticed the divide in Hillary and Obama's voter demographics, and their supporters' divergent approaches:

Questions for Dr. Retail
By DAVID BROOKS
Published: February 8, 2008

Hillary Clinton is a classic commodity provider. She caters to the less-educated, less-pretentious consumer. As Ron Brownstein of The National Journal pointed out on Wednesday, she won the non-college-educated voters by 22 points in California, 32 points in Massachusetts and 54 points in Arkansas. She offers voters no frills, just commodities: tax credits, federal subsidies and scholarships. She’s got good programs at good prices.

Barack Obama is an experience provider. He attracts the educated consumer. In the last Pew Research national survey, he led among people with college degrees by 22 points. Educated people get all emotional when they shop and vote. They want an uplifting experience so they can persuade themselves that they’re not engaging in a grubby self-interested transaction. They fall for all that zero-carbon footprint, locally grown, community-enhancing Third Place hype. They want cultural signifiers that enrich their lives with meaning. Obama offers to defeat cynicism with hope. Apparently he’s going to turn politics into a form of sharing. Have you noticed that he’s actually carried into his rallies by a flock of cherubs while the heavens open up with the Hallelujah Chorus? I wonder how he does that....

Did you hear the message of Clinton’s speech Tuesday night? It’s a rotten world out there. Regular folks are getting the shaft. They need someone who’ll fight tougher, work harder and put loyalty over independence.

Then did you see the Hopemeister’s speech? His schtick makes sense if you’ve got a basic level of security in your life, if you’re looking up, not down. Meanwhile, Obama’s people are so taken with their messiah that soon they’ll be selling flowers at airports and arranging mass weddings. There’s a “Yes We Can” video floating around YouTube in which a bunch of celebrities like Scarlett Johansson and the guy from the Black Eyed Peas are singing the words to an Obama speech in escalating states of righteousness and ecstasy. If that video doesn’t creep out normal working-class voters, then nothing will....

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/08/opinion/08brooks.html?ex=1360126800&en=6440a44ffc543ad1&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

[tabatha]

1. Davis Brooks is a right-wing shill.

Anything to boost republicans chances.

[Kittycat]

3. Agreed. I and I wonder what the reader demographics are for the NYT?

[sidwill]

2. David Brooks?

You are posting a David Brooks article on DEmocratic Underground?

This guy:





Gedafugoudahere troll.

[bidenista]

12. three things

1. David Brooks is, politically, a mess. He's liberal on some things, conservative on others. I don't much like the guy, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

2. The New York Times published this. It is noteworthy, if only because it'll have a wide sphere of influence.

3. I am not a "troll", and accusing me of being one is contrary to DU rules.

[sidwill]

23. Invoking David Brooks on DU is like a Jew wearing

an SS helmet to a synogogue bake sale.

[bidenista]

25. that is an idiotic, flamebait analogy...

...with all due respect.

[Name removed]

29. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[jackson_dem]

38. That;s the Obamite MO

They call anyone who defies St. Obama a troll.

[sidwill]

41. Nah, just the ones who use warmongering neo-cons to make their argument.

If this doesn't make the point let me know, I'll break out the handpuppets to explain why David "I loves me some war and some Bush" Brooks is a poor choice to link on DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND!

[bidenista]

47. i.e. you can't respond to the data presented, so you attack the messenger

How tiresome.

[sidwill]

55. Which one, you or Brooks?

Also do you think Brooks would hide his profile too?

[bidenista]

58. ...

obtuse |əbˈt(y)oōs; äb-|
adjective
1 annoyingly insensitive or slow to understand : he wondered if the doctor was being deliberately obtuse. See note at stupid.
• difficult to understand : some of the lyrics are a bit obtuse.
2 (of an angle) more than 90° and less than 180°.
• not sharp-pointed or sharp-edged; blunt.

DERIVATIVES
obtusely adverb
obtuseness noun
obtusity |-sitē| noun

ORIGIN late Middle English (in the sense {blunt}): from Latin obtusus, past participle of obtundere ‘beat against’ (see obtund).

[sidwill]

60. Congrats.

You called me a name and you didn't have to link your post to a right winger's homework.

Good job.

[chascarrillo]

82. Troll.

[sidwill]

16. Thats what you get when you are a three week 50 post a day shill

who trolls on DU.

[bidenista]

22. shill! troll! shill! troll!

I hope you're not this tedious in real life, or you must have a miserable time.

[Kittycat]

31. Well that explains the hidden profile and rabbid behavior.

[Yael]

36. Indeed

[bidenista]

46. it's "rabid". rabbids are whad elmer fudd chases. nt

[Kittycat]

48. Are you SERIES?

buh-bye.

[rodeodance]

4. i head Obama's speech and I APPROVE OF THIS MESSAGE (op)

[lisa58]

9. is that slip freudian?

[REDFISHBLUEFISH]

10. So did Billionares like oprah!

[Politicub]

19. And this is why Clinton and Obama need to run together

Tastes great - less filling.

[HeraldSquare212]

5. That was a Clinton point a while back - Obama supporters don't feel they need a President to fight

for them. How ridiculous - the multimillioniare is the voice of the poor and downtrodden, and her white husband was the first black president.

[jillan]

24. That didn't stop lower to middle class people supporting John Edwards, did it?

[jackson_dem]

52. Obama is also a multimillionaire, although the prep/Ivy League veteran has a "log cabin" myth going

[NYCGirl]

61. No, not "multi"

[jackson_dem]

63. The Obama's income last year was $3 million

[NYCGirl]

71. Their income went down in their last return

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-070416obama-tax,0,445005.story

[jackson_dem]

76. They're making "only" $1 million a year

Sorry they made $1.6 million, not 3 the year before. Obama has a nice "log cabin" myth even though he is a millionaire who went to prep school then Columbia and Harvard.

[NYCGirl]

77. As compared to the very much richer other candidates?

Too bad Kucinich dropped out; he could've run as the "poor candidate".

[jackson_dem]

80. The common man makes $35,000 a year

Kucinich? He also makes five times more than the common man.

[NYCGirl]

83. The "common man" usually doesn't run for President. A sad fact, but true. NT

[jackson_dem]

90. Yup and some candidates who are rich like to make folks believe they are common folk

Going back to Andrew Jackson. Jackson at least ran on substance. William Henry Harrison is the first good parallel to Obama's campaign.

[druidity33]

73. but i don't think

they are adding Bill's Net Worth in with Hillary's, so that would be an unfair comparison.

:shrug:

[jackson_dem]

79. Obama is portrayed as an average guy

Which isn't surprising since Obama's campaign has many parallels to William Henry Harrison's... In reality he is a millionaire living in a tony neighborhood of Chicago who went to prep school and then Columbia and Harvard. They are all rich. It is bull that Obama is portrayed as being an exception.

[NYCGirl]

84. He attended school on scholarships, just like many "average" guys. NT

[jackson_dem]

91. And those average guys become rich guys after prep school, Columbia, and Harvard

:)

[NYCGirl]

92. At least Obama passed up the more lucrative law practices and worked as

a community organizer at $10,000 a year. His "wealth" (which wouldn't even buy him a studio apartment in NYC) was very current.

[jackson_dem]

94. That showed real character

But the fact is he is now a wealthy man (look at what he and his wife did after he was done with community work), as one would expect from someone who followed the elite prep-to-Ivy college-to-Ivy graduate school track. Harrison and many others since him have shown how much mileage someone can get from the "log cabin" myth. Obama is just the latest in that long line that started in 1840.

Bill Clinton also could have went the gilded corporate law route. He didn't. Will you give Bill credit for opting for public service and turning down the money he could have made coming out of Yale Law?

[druidity33]

93. huh?

what does that have to do with what i said? Also, i gotta say 1.3 million ain't what it used to be...

course, it ain't "average". But how many "average" people do you know that run for Pres?

good night

:)

[blogslut]

Soft Construction With Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War)

[Politicub]

6. Good article - the class divide is real

"Observe the marketplace. The next states on the primary calendar have tons of college-educated Obamaphile voters. Maryland is 5th among the 50 states, Virginia is 6th. But later on, we get the Hillary-friendly states. Ohio is 40th in college education. Pennsylvania is 32nd.

But it’ll still be tied after all that. The superdelegates will pick the nominee — the party honchos, the deal-makers, the donors, the machine. Swinging those people takes a level of cynicism even Dr. Retail can’t pretend to understand. That’s Tammany Hall. That’s the court at Versailles under Louis XIV. "

[peacebird]

7. So neocon David Brooks prefers Hillary to Obama. No surprise there.

[Stephanie]

21. No surprise at all.

Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran.

[amborin]

27. how many Obama supporters care about universal health care?

i really do wonder....

we support Hillary and we've both got top flight coverage at a major center of excellence

but I worry about those who don't....and I worry about the costs, in dollars, time, and resources, when those that don't have health insurance wind up in the ER for their primary care needs....

and, how many vital US economic sectors are going under because they can't afford the huge legacy costs that other nations' corporations don't have to pay???

some of Obama's supporters strike me as smug, oh-so-cool, types....

others of them strike me as unread, uninformed, american idolists

i'll support Obama if he gets the nomination, any dem is better than any rethug

but I doubt Obama can win the GE against McCain, and I hope that, if Obama does win, we're not all in for a terrible disappointment.....

[peacebird]

34. Hillary doesn't have a Health CARE plan, she has a health INSURANCE plan. Big difference.

Rather than universal care (a single payer system) Hillary is offering a shill to insurance companies.

Which is why she won't say what the minimum COVERAGE will be, only that everyone MUST BUY INSURANCE or perhaps get their wages garnished as a penalty. What COVERAGE will people get on that minimum plan? All she says is "the market will decide"....

[BlackVelvet04]

53. And Obama has a health INSURANCE plan....your point is what? n/t

[readmoreoften]

62. The neo-cons are split. Obama's got Kristol and Kagan on his team.

It's good to know that both candidates have a little serving of neo-con support on their plate.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/27/AR2007042702027.html

[rodeodance]

69. I have heard Brooks on lehrer news hr a lot and he is NO clinton supporter.

[amborin]

8. first time I've ever agreed with David Brooks

and let's not forget....he initially liked Obama....

must say he beat me to it, was going to say this is the new Messiah candidate

scary

[Yael]

40. This is your first foray into politics, I take it? Oh and welcome to DU...

[rodeodance]

89. i know what you mean.

[Botany]

11. Tell us about "normal working class voters," Brooks.

"If that video doesn’t creep out normal working-class voters, ... "

From Wiki

David Brooks (b. August 11, 1961) is a columnist for The New York Times.

David Brooks was born in to a Jewish family in Toronto and grew up in New York City in Stuyvesant Town. He graduated from the University of Chicago in 1983 with a degree in history. Brooks served as a reporter and later op-ed editor for The Wall Street Journal, a senior editor at The Weekly Standard from its inception, a contributing editor at Newsweek and The Atlantic Monthly, and a commentator on NPR and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

He has written a book of cultural commentary titled Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There. Brooks also writes articles and makes television appearances as a commentator on various trends in pop culture, such as internet dating. He has been largely responsible for coining the terms bobo, red state and blue state. His newest book is entitled On Paradise Drive : How We Live Now (And Always Have) in the Future Tense.

Before the Iraq War, Brooks had argued forcefully on moral grounds for American military intervention, echoing the belief of neoconservative commentators and political figures that American and British forces would be welcomed as liberators. However, some of his opinion pieces in the spring of 2004 suggested that he had tempered somewhat his earlier optimism about the war. In 2007, he argued that withdrawing from Iraq would result in 10,000 Iraqi deaths a month, but later admitted on Meet the Press that he had "just picked that 10,000 out of the air."

David Brooks was a visiting professor of public policy at Duke University's Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy, and he taught an undergraduate seminar there in the fall of 2006.

[AZBlue]

13. GOP'r prefers HRC? Wow...what a shock!

I can't believe anything he wrote has been posted on DU.

[Auntie Bush]

26. Who's getting the rethug vote? Obama can...he's their man!

[amborin]

32. yes, he is their man

for now, anyway, just wait.....

if he gets the nomination, he's mince meat

[AZBlue]

35. What a ridiculous thing to say.

I'm sure you wouldn't mind if HRC got any votes across party lines, would you? It's ridiculous because it shows petty bitterness and jealousy.

I'm sure no one here wants to end party divisiveness and have politicians who actually work together to better this country and the lives of its citizens instead of solely working to bring each other down. It's ridiculous because it's absurd.

I'm sure we want a candidate who can't appeal to Independents and Republicans ensuring that we lose in November. It's ridiculous because it's stupid.

[Auntie Bush]

67. I like for our candidates to appeal to Independents but to get Rethug votes

you have to compromise away our issues. He will be beholden to them just like the Rethugs are beholden to the Christian Coalition. They helped him get their man in office...not it's pay up time. It scares the hell out of me not knowing what Obama will concede in order to get their votes. How and what will he get Rethugs to to cooperate? :scared:

[AZBlue]

72. Ya know, not every single American who is a registered Republican is evil.

It's that kind of thinking that got us where we are.

[Berry Cool]

14. What the OP fails to point out

is that this was meant as a feeble attempt at "humor" by Mr. Brooks, in the form of a mock "interview" between a reporter and an economist...

I suggest he not quit his day job.

[Guaranteed]

15. See, now THAT is offensive, folks. nt

[yellowcanine]

17. David Brooks can be really ignorant sometimes. This is one.

Can you say "cheap shot"?

[Stephanie]

18. David "Teeny Little Girly Hands" Brooks?

David "neocon shill" Brooks, sent forth by William Kristol to sell the Iraq invasion to consumers of the NYT, PBS and NPR? David "PNAC has a staff of five and issues memos on foreign policy!" Brooks? That David Brooks? Right.

[rodeodance]

20. as an aside anyone catching PBS----he is talking some of obama's video=did not help

bring out CA youth

[calteacherguy]

28. Filthy garbage. Get it out of here! nt

[izzybeans]

30. David brooks educating the masses on class divisions. That's rich.

[sidwill]

33. I feel dirty just reading that byline

I need a shower.........ick.

[AX10]

37. He makes good points.

You don't have to like him, but a broken clock is right twice a day.

[VarnettaTuckpocket]

42. Yep, broken clock, that's what the Obamites would be arguing if he was with them n.t

[calmblueocean]

56. You think that poor people are too dumb to have a sense of civic pride?

Because that's what Dr. Retail is selling.

That all the poor, dumbass Dem voters don't see and don't care about how our country has fallen apart under Bush, and all they can raise their high-school dropout heads to care about is more government programs.

And you can't miss Brooks' classic sliming of upper class Dems as limousine liberals out of touch with reality.

For what it's worth, poor people have good taste, too. They like well made quality things, too, they just can't afford them.

[Medusa]

39. Look, the right-wing is actively campaigning for Hillary

and they'll do anything to torpedo Obama's chances including smears and hit jobs like this one. They know that Hillary as Dem nominee is their best chance to win the presidency---and they're right.

[bidenista]

43. i always forget this...

Positive MSM coverage of Obama = "Obama is a great candidate, and even the journalists see it."
Negative MSM coverage of Obama = "Obama is a great candidate, and the journalists want him out."

[sidwill]

44. Did David Brooks draw that cartoon?

Or did you get it from the Limbaugh Letter?

I swear dude you make it sooo easy.

[bidenista]

49. if this is your comic routine, i think it needs a bit of work

I'd hate to imagine you bombing before an audience.

Oh, too late.

[sidwill]

51. Said the man who posted a David Brooks article on DU

Hilarious.

[AX10]

45. True.

[calmblueocean]

50. Exactly right.

They've been looking for a line of attack against Obama that gets Hillary back in the race, and this is the one. It kills two birds with one stone. Expect to see a lot more of this.

[readmoreoften]

64. They're for Hillary except for when they're for Obama.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/27/AR2007042702027.html

[GOPBasher]

54. I'm an Obama supporter, but that was certainly funny. n/t

[Straight Shooter]

57. I think all of the media are messing with our heads right now.

But the "mass weddings" comment is funny, especially for those of us who remember Rev. Moon's mass wedding ceremony.

For a moment, I had an image of thousands of people lined up in the Church of O, and instead of saying, "I do," they all hollered in unison, "Yes we can!"

http://www.cnn.com/US/9711/28/rev.moon.event/

"More than 3.6 million other couples in 55 countries will take part in the ceremony through satellite hookups. Singer Whitney Houston was scheduled to sing, for a reported $1 million paycheck, and Minister Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, spoke on the occasion.

"Because he's been vilified and demonized in the press, as I have, it doesn't mean that I should stay away from a man who is doing so much good for so many people," Farrakhan said.

The controversial Moon, whose critics liken the Unification Church to a cult, served a federal prison term in the United States for tax evasion."

[Berry Cool]

59. Interesting smilie.

You think hope and pragmatism are two mutually exclusive concepts? I hope not.

[Straight Shooter]

66. Well, hope and pragmatism as a team are better than hope and change.

My smilie is a play on words. Hope may be inspiring, but it tends to still be waiting while pragmatism is rolling up its sleeves and getting the job done.

[Berry Cool]

96. I never assume that just because someone speaks of hope and change

that he or she is incapable of also being pragmatic and rolling up his or her sleeves. Especially not when said person addresses the need to do exactly that, and even is brave enough to say things like "We will make mistakes." Being willing to acknowledge the potential for mistakes as well as successes is usually a good sign of pragmatism, I've found.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

65. Cool! Will there be a registry?

I need a martini shaker and some new wine glasses. :)

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

68. bidenista, this is over the line. No RW sources!!!

[rodeodance]

70. I have seen lots of RW sources her on DU last weeks. --and nOT from OP

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

74. Yes, and I'd like to keep the RW trash restricted to that side

[rodeodance]

87. you bet

[milkyway]

75. Yes, let's take an opinion piece from neocon shill David Brooks. One of the same people

who brought you the Iraq War.

Brooks is laying the groundwork now for the general campaign. The standard rightwing ploy in every fucking election: ridicule, ridicule, ridicule. Ridicule the candidate and ridicule his supporters. Make it seem like there must be something wrong with you if you're an Obama supporter. And heaven forbid you might actually become politically active. Oh no, what will the neighbors say! He actually cares about an election so much, he's donating money and even attending meetings! Burn them at the stake!

Thanks for posting this garbage at what used to be called Democratic Underground.

[NYCGirl]

78. You're correct. Brooks would like to make sure the Democrats stay home in

November.

[Straight Shooter]

86. "Brooks is laying the groundwork now for the general campaign."

Praemonitus Praemunitus. "To be forewarned is to be forearmed." From the Protocols of Zion.

[Dogmudgeon]

81. You should have taken this from The Washington Times

It's the Obama camp's favorite RW newspaper.

--p!

[angie_love]

85. Do you just look up anti-Obama articles ALL day and post them?

[Danger Mouse]

88. RW garbage.

Is this the best you can do?

[flordehinojos]

95. "He attracts the educated consumer."

..."I went to one who had the reputation of wisdon--his name i need not mention; he was a politician whom i selected for examination--and the result was as folows: when i began talking with him, i could not help thinking that he was not really wise, although he was thought wise by many, and still wiser by himself ... and thereupon i tried to explain to him that he thought himself wise, but was not really wise; and the consequence was that he hated me ... so i left him saying to myself, as i went away: well, although i do not suppose that either of us knows anything really beautiful and good, i am better off than he is--for he knows nothing and thinks that he knows; i neither know nor think that i know..."

seventy year old Socrates speaking in the court during his trial in Athens in 399 B.C.

[PATRICK]

97. Ah, Mr. Brooks

Now there is is a well meaning unbiased critic who is accidentally right upon occasion but effectively Right Wing all the time.

This is an intentional pose, this well-meaning analysis. It seeks to "dull-down" the election and cripple both candidates at the same time. One thing that seemed to me- as an enthused youngster at the time- to hurt the JFK campaign was when he was pompously put on the defensive over his religion and youth. His fall run was an attempt to portray gravitas and distance, and in my unstudied connection to the race, the excitement and youthfulness and hope of the race began to be lost. It turned into a razor thin race with Kennedy out hawking Nixon on the missile gap, a 'triangulation' tactic that had Eisenhower howling from the sidelines. It was the Cold War, serious times.

Our times are ironically more serious and infinitely more silly. Sacrificing "emotional" leadership for all the gravitas of a shopping bag hobo when Bush instigated foreign policy and economic crisis(NONE of it necessary) blockades unavoidable climate catastrophe and population pressures(to name just two) is something only the GOP really needs to resurrect. All of our dangers, most unmentioned or with dismaying indirectness during the campaign, are internal. The enemy within is ironically personified in a typical mouthpiece of destruction, namely Mr. Brooks. Corporatist media. Outlaw corporate recidivism devouring capitalism like Marx eating his personal copy of "Das Kapital". Royal corporate political dynasty going to any lengths to lower everything that might give the illusion of them remaining on top of the dung heap. The sickest, most compromised group of self-destructive, ill-focused, people advocates, that make collaborationists and agents of the RW look honest or intelligent by comparison- and less harmful overall. A nation blinded and muted by TV and gutted newspapers and radio so useless that the only thing that passes for radio Free America is the BBC and Air America who are ill suited for the simple hunger for information bearing some semblance to critical truth. Unlike the Soviet Bloc,
the thing keeping people from seeking the forbidden fruit of knowledge is a forest of choice and unrecognizable lies and distractions. Pravda never offered Western Entertainment. Radio Slave America offers nothing but in a flag colored drape of misdirected hate.

The GOP Ministry of fear and propaganda wants Hillary, wants her dull, divisive and defeated and failing that wants to sucker the "new JFK" into unnecessarily surrendering his appeal across party lines and entering the sucker game that will lead to the Straits of Hormuz instead of the Bay of Bigs and Hoover 1929 instead of FDR recovery. In essence, either let the GOP win or they will gleefully take it all down and themselves off to their offshore bank accounts.

Don't listen to them. These are messengers well worth spurning WHATEVER they say, not because of the content(they have nothing to offer we don't already know) but because of their clear intent. Well worth spurning is ANY DUer, old or new, who is eager to use the Word of Rove to advance their candidate's argument. A few tombstones on anyone quoting the mass media carelessly might do wonders even if it won't eliminate the nonsense.

Politically both candidates are right to do and present as they are. The issue, the temptation, of backroom deals to settle a close election may be resolved by apparent Obama victories coming up. From ALL the politicos I have ever known, if the Clintons were to go totally inert on picking up superdelegates, they would deserve a unique medal- and it certainly would mean an end to their present ambition. It is as unlikely that they would be rewarded in any way for such a passive sacrifice as for Edwards(or Gore) to become the nominee. Obama is becoming successful toward a landslide through sincerity, which is unfortunate for personal policy- perhaps- but a boon for progressivism and the nation.

We are ALL, without an exception fundamentally stupid in various ways that a critical election must bring out if we are ever to emerge at least from the general stupor. We should strive to know ourselves ruefully and know the very public, conniving stupidity of untrustworthy gatekeepers of discussion like Mr. Brooks.