The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

« Marc Emails | Main | Obama Breaks Out In Iowa »

Why I'm Wrong About Obama

31 Dec 2007 09:38 pm

Reza Aslan vents:

As someone who once was that young Muslim boy everyone seems to be imagining (albeit in Iran rather than Egypt), I'll let you in on a secret: He could not care less who the president of the United States is. He is totally unconcerned with whatever barriers a black (or female, for that matter) president would be breaking. He couldn't name three U.S. presidents if he tried. He cares only about one thing: what the United States will do.

I should point out that I did not argue that Obama's face was sufficient for re-tooling America's image in the Middle East. I said it was a huge advantage worth pondering in this election. I still think it is. There's also a swipe that supporting Obama somehow absolves those of us who placed our trust in Bush at the beginning of this conflict. I don't believe that. The fact that I admired a president who bungled a war, added $32 trillion to the next generation's debt and made America a torturing nation is a matter of record - and some shame. This is not about me or anyone else in the pundit class. It is simply about what's best for the US and the world. If Aslan has a candidate more suited to that task, he could always name him or her.

Permalink :: Trackback (1) :: Sphere It!

TrackBack URL for this entry:

http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/2224950/24668376

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference 'Why I'm Wrong About Obama'

On Our Endorsement of Geraldine Ferraro for President of the UnitedStates
Excerpt: With the official debut of the presidential primaries this week in Iowa, we would like to offer after careful consideration of each candidate and his or her respective platform our endorsement of the one we think would best be suited to...
Weblog: The Gay Recluse
Tracked: Jan 1, 2008 10:44:34 AM

Patrick Appel

Pardoning War Criminals
America doesn't pardon war criminals. It prosecutes and, in the past, has even executed them for the same techniques that Bush and Rumsfeld and Cheney endorsed.
The HIV Travel Ban Is Repealed
I've lived with this awful sense of insecurity, of fear of leaving the country, of visiting my family, of the lingering sense that my virus rendered me potentially deportable, that any roots I put down might be dug up suddenly one day - for fifteen years. The lifting of this threat - the sense that I now have a home I know will be secure for me and my husband - is indescribable.
Obama On Foreign Policy
What's interesting to me is how the speech is about much more than Iraq. It's about focusing on Pakistan, on energy independence, and on Iran. It's a speech that might have been given by the first president Bush.
Judge Judy Republicans
The problem with the working poor, as GNP has it, is not that they're capable of finding shopping bargains and living within their means. It's that they're sinking in a welter of family dysfunction and economic distress - and end up like the plaintiffs on Judge Judy.
Staying
Occupations are like government programs. Once instituted, it seems they can never be abolished.

The Conservative Soul: How We Lost It, How to Get It Back
Buy The Book (Amazon) Buy The Book (Barnes and Noble) The CSPAN Brian Lamb Interview

Essays	Archive
Why Not Seeing is Believing Green Conservatism The End of Gay Culture Debate with Sam Harris Goodbye to All That	Jul 13 - Jul 19 (219) Jul 06 - Jul 12 (278) Jun 29 - Jul 05 (253) Jun 22 - Jun 28 (320) Jun 15 - Jun 21 (264) Jun 08 - Jun 14 (285) Complete Archive