Liveblogging Barack Obama Reminiscing About When He Caused 9/11
Service, 9/11, freedom, communities, blah blah blah let's talk about other stuff -- THE CORNER IS AWESOME RIGHT NOW. The consensus on Sarah Palin's ABC interview over there is that their little girl wasn't perfect, but she held her own against that Charlie Gibson and his mean preparatory work. No but really, that's how they're talking about the person who could be elected vice president in 54 days or so. "How many members of Congress, for instance, would have done as well?" someone writes. Well, probably many of them could define the Bush Doctrine, and they're not even running for vice president! Anyway there's some more good stuff but what were we supposed to be doing here? Oh right, liveblogging some boring Obama thing.
8: 56 -- Barack Obama says he could not afford an apartment in New York City anymore. Richard Stengel responds that "the faculty rates are pretty good." Well OK!
8: 57 -- They are asking what 9/11 means to him. He says that when he looks back on it, he should've organized another plane hijack, even if it meant a few later nights at the office.
8: 59 -- He says we should've been bolder after 9/11 about decreasing reliance on foreign oil. A lady in the crowd screams because she has never heard another human being speak in her life.
9: 00 -- The president should've asked more a more inclusive sacrifice from the American people after 9/11. Look buddy, someone's got to write the stupid penis jokes on blogs so don't get all didactic.
9: 02 -- He brings up his national service plan even though Jonah Goldberg has already debunked it as slavery, a clear violation of the 13th Amendment.
9: 04 -- Dudes, check it:
Pretty in Politics [Kathryn Jean Lopez]
Responding to a Corner post yesterday, a reader has a challenge for a Palin-friendly cosmetics company: Come up with a cool custom color — Pitbull Pink? — and donate the proceeds to benefit families who've welcomed children with Down Syndrome into the world.
09/11 01: 10 PM
Super neat plan, K-Lo! Or you could just not exploit all children with Down Syndrome with political propaganda.
9: 08 -- He is bringing up one of his famous "Now Is The Moment" things, about how people hate the government so much that obviously they'll want to get involved more.
9: 09 -- "...I graduated from Columbia..." You want a fucking cookie or something?
9: 10 -- "I had a choice: I could get a high-paying job at a..." Oh, this is that story that you've never not told around a group of humans.
9: 11 -- Barry tries to explain to this creepy Time editor that no, just because government adds a few new service programs doesn't mean that anyone who wants to volunteer in the private sphere will be executed for opposing the state.
**OBSERVE SILENCE FOR 9: 11 -- THREE MINUTES YOU COMMENTERS, THREE MINUTES**
9: 14 -- Ok silence over, 9/11 is saved. God we have made so many terrible 9/11 jokes today. It was so taboo for so long! What happened? Oh right: Rudy Giuliani's campaign. That's not an exaggeration -- he legitimized 9/11 Jokes. That is his legacy.
9: 18 -- "How do you stop the Army from losing so many officers?" Barry's obviously focusing on the new G.I. Bill as an incentive, and that's fine, butcome on. There's a very easy answer here, and while we won't say it explicitly, it involves the concept of "less death all the time."
9: 21 -- He will make us all go to war, old and young alike, with Sarah Palin across the Bering Strait. She will get us lost.
9: 22 -- Bring ROTC back on campus, he says. The Columbia students are Twittering frightened messages back to their mothers in Westchester.
9: 23 -- She asks how can you draw in a broader demographic cross-section to serve in the military short of a draft? And he says some boring shit about making people realize how great service can be, or that we all need to sacrifice. John McCain said more or less the same crap. It's too bad, because it's an extremely important question, and like many other important questions that neither candidate can tackle (usually with stagnant levels of household income and the weakness of economic indicators), it has to do with classism. It's pretty pathetic that something that gaping in our society, and something getting worse every year with no end in sight, is never mentioned in any serious way at all. That says something pretty terrible about this country. Anyway, "jokes."
9: 30 -- We weren't paying attention closely. Something about a friend of his named "Eric," and he and Eric loved each other so much that Barry didn't care what political party he was in! Eric is Barack Obama's America! Service.
9: 32 -- She asks Barry how he liked it when Sarah Palin called him a lazy street organizer in the ghettos. Was it belittling? "Being a community organizer, it be good." Good lord this is terrible. How many ways can two people say that service makes you feel nice inside?
9: 35 -- Uh oh, he says part of his job as president would be to make government "cool" again. Arrogantpresumptuouscelebrity.
9: 38 -- When new people join his campaign, he works 'em like dogs, he says. Doesn't sound very "cool" to me.
9: 40 -- Good point about how 22-year-olds from this country are either (a) leading intense war missions of death in foreign countries or (b) treated more and more like babies with each passing year. Big shout out to Columbia!
9: 42 -- Well that was about as boring as expected. Couldn't they jazz it up a little, throw in a little spice, to honor 9/11? No. But thank you, John McCain and Barack Obama, for telling America how fun service can be. And a special thank you to John McCain for brushing away the possibility that service could be related to economic incentives, or "money" as you call it.
9: 52 -- Ha OK, one more:
ROTC [Kathryn Jean Lopez]
I stood up and cheered Senator McCain for challenging Columbia at Columbia ...
When Obama said it, though, she hid under her couch and played Tetris.
9: 56 -- OK and another thing, these CNN people are talking about Sarah Palin not knowing what the Bush Doctrine was, except they're saying "there are lots of Bush Doctrines," and they said her answer about responding to "imminent threats to our country" was fine! Hmm, isn't it more about pre-emptive regime change before a threat can develop into an "imminent" one, and doesn't her running mate subscribe to this starker version? It's a question! Instead the CNN anchors go "whatever, people in the Midwest and heartland won't care about any details, she stood in there fine enough!" Condescension aside, that may be true butyou are the news and you are supposed to tell people these details.Anyway.
10: 06 -- I am *trying* to end this liveblog but CNN anchors cannot stop saying the worst possible things. David Gergen says he doesn't think she knew about the Bush Doctrine, but -- sit down for this -- "Most people in this country don't know what the Bush Doctrine is," so what's the big deal?
The McCain campaign has convinced our punditry that as long as Sarah Palin -- the vice presidential candidate of the United States -- knows as much about policy as the average mouth-breather in this country, then there's nothing wrong with her.