The Obama "Infomercial": A knockout, virtuoso performance

By Pablo Fanque, All This Is That National Affairs Editor
Illustrations: Jack Brummet



Barack Obama's televised "infomercial" was politically brilliant--a virtuoso performance that made it's case intellectually, as well as working the retail politics angle. You'd have to be a hard-hearted American to have not been touched by the message. To view this masterful talk and not be emotionally affected, in place of your beating heart would be a lump of bituminous coal.

Despite the never ending mud-slinging from the other side, all the name-calling, accusing him of "not being one of us," and the bitter invective being hurled from the desperate Republicans, Obama rose above it all and connected with the American people. No one needs to be scared of Obama. This was not the talk of a Molotov-cocktail flinging Bolshevik; this was a fellow American who mostly ignored party politics because he was talking along the heartline. Obama was talking to you. He almost completely ignored partisan politics and John McCain and Sarah Palin. He was there to close the deal with the voters.



I have been highly critical of Obama's cool in the past, and his inability to show emotion. He made up for all that tonight, with six days left in the campaign. His performance reminded me of Bobby Kennedy, who also knew how to connect with the people, and who also knew how to put politics aside. Tonight we saw the real maverick in the race. After this showing ( a speech?, a talk?, a message?, a multimedia assemblage?), if I was John McCain, I'd just concede the race tomorrow.
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Contra: Presidents I have voted against

I have had the distinct pleasure of voting against a large number of Republican Presidential candidates over these last years. I am leaving off the names of those I did vote for. . .they were all Democrats, and frequently I had to hold my nose as I pulled the lever, and later filled in the bubble or poked out the chad on the punchcard.

In retrospect, I was right. Even the weakest candidates we Democrats mounted would have made a better President than the hacks, lapdogs of big business, wardheelers, and feebs we ended up electing. Here's the list of who I have voted against since I reached the age of majority.



When I was 19, I got to vote against Richard M. Nixon (a man I would later come to greatly admire, but would never have voted for in any office higher than dog-catcher). I got to vote in this election because 18, 19, and 20 year olds were granted suffrage by the 26th Amendment to The Constitution, which passed in July 1971.



When I was 23, I had the distinct pleasure of voting against Dick Nixon's successor, Gerald R. Ford, a man I also liked, but couldn't stomach as President. He was a good guy and a weak President. He was President a little over two years.




At 27, I was able to vote against Ronald Reagan for the first time. When I was 31, I got to vote against him one more time.

At 35 years of age, I got to vote against Ronald Reagan's successor George H.W. Bush.

When I hit 39, I was lucky enough to vote against President George H. W. Bush again.



At the ripe old age of 43, I most enjoyed casting my ballot against Senator Bob Dole.

When I was 47 years old, I happily cast my ballot against George W. Bush.

When I turned 51 years old, I was able to vote against W. one more time.



And now, in one week, as I enter the voting booth for the very last time (Washington State will be shifting to mail-in ballots in the near future), at 55 years of age, I will most happily cast my vote against Senator John McCain, a man I sometimes admired a few years ago.

Is this a great country...or what?
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POTUS 27: Pres. William Howard Taft - Who Preferred To Be Remembered As Chief Justice

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President William Howard Taft was a judge, Governor of The Philippines, and later The Secretary of War. POTUS 26, Teddy Roosevelt, hand-picked him as successor. President Taft had a fairly uneventful Presidency and lost the re-election to Woodrow Wilson (POTUS 28), which was probably a good thing all around. Wilson was an OK President, and Taft was a good Supreme Court judge.

After leaving the White House, Taft taught law school for years and was eventually tapped to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. President Taft said in later years that he much preferred the bench to the Oval Office.
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POTUS 26 - President Theodore Roosevelt, the 20th century face on Mount Rushmore

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President Teddy Roosevelt coined the phrase "my hat is in the ring" and ran for President as a Progressive (aka The Bull Moose Party). I believe he is the last third party President (at least until we come back to our senses).

Theodore Roosevelt is remembered as POTUS 26, but this cat also held dozens of other fascinating jobs and posts: New York State Assemblyman, Governor of New York, Vice President, President, deputy sheriff in the Dakota Territory, Police Commissioner of New York City, U.S. Civil Service Commissioner, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and Colonel of the Rough Riders.

At 42, he became President. He was a conservation President (and an outdoorsman and hunter), and during his White House years from 1901-1909, he designated 150 National Forests, 51 Federal Bird Reservations, 5 National Parks, 18 National Monuments, the first 4 National Game Preserves, and 21 Reclamation Projects. He provided federal protection for almost 230 million acres. That's a lot of real estate. Thank you Mr. President!

President Roosevelt "busted" trusts and helped control large, thieving corporations, began the Panama Canal project, and negotiated an end to the Russo-Japanese War for which he won the Nobel Peace Prize.

He talked about a "Square Deal" for all Americans, enabling millions to earn a living wage, and built up the Navy as our Big Stick ("speak softly, but carry a...").

"Of all the public men that I have known, on both sides of the Atlantic (and there are few that I have not known in the past thirty years), he stands out the greatest, and as the most potent influence for good upon the life of his generation." Viscount Lee of Fareham, English statesman.

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POTUS 25 - President William McKinley, the third assassinated President

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William McKinley is often been considered a lame President; a marionette controlled by cronies who was pressured into war with Spain by a hysterical press. Historians now lean toward seeing him as a decisive President who launched America on the road to world power through his use of tarriffs, his policy toward trade with China, his war against Spain over Cuba, and by annexing real estate we picked up in our adventures.

He was a populist president, usually taking the side of The People over the side of "private interests," e.g., Big Business.

In the 100-day war against Cuba, the United States destroyed the Spanish fleet outside Cuba, seized Manila in the Philippines, and occupied Puerto Rico. He also picked up Guam for his troubles, a couple of nice chunks of real estate for his troubles.

After re-election, his second term in office began well, but came to a tragic end in September 1901. He was standing in a receiving line at the Buffalo Pan-American Exposition when a deranged anarchist shot him twice. He died eight days later and was succeeded by his VPOTUS, Teddy Roosevelt.
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POTUS 23 - Benjamin Harrison, the last bearded President

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President Benjamin Harrison was a one term Republican. I love that phrase! One term Republican Presidents are my favorite species of Presidents...next to two term Democratic Presidents.

Harrison was 5' 6" tall, and the Democrats called him "Little Ben." President Harrison narrowly won the Presidency; he lost the popular vote and won the electoral college (like Pres. George W. Bush).

Following the death of his wife during his term in office, Harrison seemed to flounder. His party was severely beaten in the mid-term congressional elections. After losing touch with his core supporters, he just didn't have the gas to win the election. Although he was renominated by the Republicans, their luke-warm support cost him the election. He was trounced by Grover Cleveland (POTUS 22 and POTUS 24). He is mainly remembered today as an early proponent of free trade around the world.
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Music that matters: Neil Young

My favorite albums by Neil Young. I am, in particular, a fan of Crazy Horse, so you may not find so much of the gentler, tuneful, sylvan, or more mellow Neil here:

Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (w/ Crazy Horse)
After the Goldrush
Harvest
Time Fades Away
On the Beach
Tonight's the Night
Rust Never Sleeps (with Crazy Horse)
Live Rust (with Crazy Horse)
Ragged Glory (with Crazy Horse)
Arc Weld (with Crazy Horse)
Harvest Moon
Sleeps With Angels (with Crazy Horse)
Year of the Horse (with Crazy Horse)
Greendale (with Crazy Horse)
Living With War
Live At Massey Hall 1971
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Must see video: Mashup of Downfall with the McCain-Palin campaign

The New York Times had a great article on Sunday about people using footage from the German film Downfall to create all sorts of mashups and confabulations. . .

This YouTube video mashes up the doomed McPalin team with our long-vanquished enemy, Der Fuhrer. The writing is strong, and funny. . .


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Good news/bad news: Feds break up Obama assassination plot

From Chris Matthew's Daily Hardball Briefing (which arrived a minute ago):

Breaking News - In the last hour we learned that federal agents have broken up a plot they say to assassinate Barack Obama and then go on a murder spree and kill about 100 African-Americans. We'll talk to NBC News Justice Department correspondent Pete Williams, who is covering that story tonight.

I haven't seen any other articles or posts on this yet, but The Hardball Briefing can be trusted.

Sad news, but good news that the plot is broken...
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POTUS 22 and 24: President Grover Cleveland, the man who was President twice

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The New York Times obituary of Grover Cleveland on 6-25-1908 is full of praise from all quarters and in 1908, many people placed Cleveland at the very top of Presidents, right up there with the men on Rushmore (which, of course, didn't exist yet).

From his stint as mayor of Buffalo, to his time as Governor of New York, he was considered a hard working and honest man known for his sense of duty. He took on Tammany Hall when it was risky to do so, and despite the machine having backed him for Governor. He was one of the good guys.

President Cleveland had a sex-scandal or two to live down: he was accused of fathering a son out of wedlock--a charge that he admitted might be true (!), because of his affair with Maria Halpin in 1874. By 'fessing up, Cleveland pulled off what we might think of as a "Bill Clinton" and won the election by a slim margin.

After two years as a bachelor President, Cleveland announced his marriage to his twenty-one-year-old ward (I thought only Batman had a ward!), Frances Folsom, the daughter of his former law partner. The press had a field day satirizing the relationship between the old goat and the recent college graduate, who soon became the most popular first lady since Dolley Madison.

Cleveland would lose his re-election bid, and is the first and last president to bounce back from a loss to retake the White House.

Historians consider him a President who strengthened the executive branch, but made no dramatic accomplishments, and had no real vision for the future. He is most remebered as being a bridge to the modern strong presidency as it would be practiced by Teddy Roosevelt and those to follow.
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John McCain: Blowin' In The Wind

Senator John McCain, whose campaign has become riddled with finger-pointing and back-biting, devastating leaks, increasingly glum news from the pollsters, and rifts with Sarah Palin, said he "trusted his senses," which told him the opinion polls were wrong.

Yesterday on NBC's Meet The Press McCain said: “Those polls have consistently shown me much farther behind than we actually are.”




“We’re doing fine. We have closed [the gap] in the last week. We continue to close this next week. You’re going to be up very, very late on election night.”

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FameStar biopic: The rise and fall of Jack Brummet

My famestar biopic. This is pretty interesting. It makes you realize we can all be Zeligs one day. You'll have to click here to see the video. It doesn't work quite right on blogspot (playing when the page loads, etc).
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Alien Lore No. 143 - The UFO we couldn't shoot down

Thanks to Jeff Clinton for this tip...for a rationalist, he sure comes up with a lot of these!

Every since Great Britain opened up their UFO files to the public, researchers have been mining some fascinating nuggets from the vaults. This story tells about a joint American-British attempt to shoot down a UFO. Most of this comes from an account that was published by Britain's National Archives last week. A few details come from an Associated Press story by Raphael G. Satter.

In the 1950's, an American fighter pilot was ordered to attack a UFO moving erratically over the North Sea with rockets. As he was about to launch his rockets, the UFO sped up mightily. . .and disappeared.

The story appeared in England's Daily Star newspaper but has never been confirmed or denied by the military authorities. An account of this was included among many released in the first 1,500 pages of UFO archives published in the internet.

The American pilot said he and another pilot were scrambled in May, 1957 to intercept a "bogey" seen on radar at the Manston Air Force Station Manston, 75 miles from London.

"This was a flying object with very unusual flight patterns," the pilot said, according to a typed manuscript of his account mailed to Britain's Ministry of Defense by a UFO enthusiast in 1988. "In the initial briefing it was suggested to us that the bogey actually was frequently motionless."

The pilot was given an order to fire a volley of 24 rockets at the UFO. "To be quite candid I almost s**t my pants!" the pilot said, saying he asked for confirmation—which he received.

Long retired U.S. flier Milton Torres told Britain's Sky News last week that he was the pilot and has spent the last 51 years trying to figure out exactly what happened. Torres never saw the UFO with his naked eye, but watched as it appeared on his jet's radar and sped off before he had chance to fire. "All of a sudden as it was coming in, it decided to take off and leave me behind ... The next thing I know it was gone," Torres told Sky News. "It was some kind of space alien craft. It was so fast, it was so incredible..."

As he locked on the UFO to prepare for combat, the object began to move wildly (sensing the lock-on?) before fading off his radar. The mission was scrubbed.

"I had not the foggiest idea what had actually occurred, nor would anyone explain anything to me," the pilot said. He said he was led to a man in civilian clothes, who "advised me that this would be considered highly classified and that I should not discuss it with anybody not even my commander."

Britain's military said it had no record of the incident. Neither did the U.S. military (what a surprise). According to the Associated Press story, "David Clarke, a UFO expert who has worked with the National Archives on the document release, said it was one of the most intriguing stories he had culled from the batch of files released Monday."
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POTUS 21 - President Chester Alan Arthur, Pres. Chester Alan Arthur - Accidental, Partial One-Term President, Owner Of Some Impressive Muttonchops

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Chester Alan Arthur was catapulted into the Vice-Presidency and Presidency on the basis of a pretty thin resume. Arthur had been Collector of Customs for the Port of New York, an important and powerful position. He was appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant but was fired by Grant's successor, Rutherford B. Hayes, under (probably false) suspicions of bribery and corruption.

Arthur is remembered as one of the most society-conscious presidents, earning the nickname "the Gentleman Boss" for his dandy dress and courtly manner.

Chester Alan Arthur was elected Vice President of the United States on the Republican ticket with President James Garfield. His term as VPOTUS only lasted a few months.

Following President Garfield's assassination, he became President of the United States on September 20, 1881. He was often seen in the company of the socially prominent in Washington, New York, and Newport.

To the outrage of stalwart Republicans, the onetime Collector of the Port of New York and dispenser of political patronage became, as President, a champion of civil service reform. Public pressure, heightened by the assassination of Garfield, forced an unwieldy Congress to heed the President. He lost the few friends he ever had in the party, and was not nominated for his own full term in office, which he likely would not have completed. Early in his Presidency, he had contracted Bright's Disease, a fatal kidney disease, from which he died in 1886.
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Painting: self-portrait No. 26

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