The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

« A Good Question | Main | Urgent And Clear »

Obama, Obama

29 Feb 2008 03:28 pm

A generation reclaims its country.

A reader channels my own mixed feelings:

Those videos make me, an ardent Obama supporter, much LESS inclined to like him or his campaign. I am past needing cheesy songs and celebrities to confirm my political beliefs or philosophy. I don't think I'm the only one that finds them mildly offensive. "Oh Jessica Alba is a Barack supporter? The Fantastic Four was so good. I'm definitely going to vote for him."

I think it tarnishes his image as a uniter since it once again seems to be a statement about privilege, about power, access and fame.

I liken it in my head to the Radiohead phenomena. Part of what made their gambit so brilliant was that for once every fan regardless of affiliation (famous celebrity, promoter, reporter, record label guy) was treated the same way and on equal footing: as a fan. Nobody was a 'bigger' fan than anybody else. It was a direct connection with the artist and I didn't feel excluded or penciled into a caste system for not having the right credentials. It felt so refreshing.

That's the same way I think about the Obama campaign. We are the ones we've been waiting for. The community.

Besides being awful music, these videos sully that notion and seek to separate the tiers of Obama supporters into the masses and the beautiful celebrities. They strike exactly the wrong note for me. And it's annoying. They feel, in fact, Clinton-esque in their self-satisfied, pseudo-hip cloying preening.

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

TrackBack URL for this entry:

http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/2224950/26654636

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference 'Obama, Obama'

So Beautiful People Vote Too- Don't Hate
Excerpt: Andrew Sullivan and a reader are a bit turned off by the Hollywood and Music stars making videos and public appearances in support of Senator Barack Obama. I have not seen will.i.am's latest video past the first 30 seconds because
Weblog: Vibrant Life
Tracked: Mar 2, 2008 10:44:13 PM

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The HIV Travel Ban Is Repealed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