Obama as a "Sojourner"

Just imagine.... (4.00 / 4)

Just imagine if there were no internet and each of us individually had to suffer the dead tree versions of David Brooks alone in our homes through our radios.

If we all had the sneaking suspicion that David Brooks is nothing other than a GOP operative who likes to dress up Republican talking points in cool sophistry and ten dollar words, but none of us knew that others felt that way too.

In a world like that, David Brooks' job is secure.

But in this New Media world, where there are at least seven more articulate and insightful bloggers for every pundit like David Brooks, his type and the influence of his type are on the decline.

Do you think, when he wrote the verbal cotton candy of "he was in the Legislature, not of it," he actually fooled himself into thinking his pointless preposition play actually meant something? He loves the nonsense phrase enough to repeat it.

But who is David Brooks, really?  From what values "ineluctably embedded" does he sit on the perch of the NYT making Karl Rove's agenda palatable for the investor class?

He certainly isn't one of us.  I would say that Brooks is in the NYT, but not of it.

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by: Dean Barker @ Mon Aug 11, 2008 at 20:31:41 PM CDT

Typo. (0.00 / 0)

"through our radios" in the first sentence does not belong there.

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by: Dean Barker @ Tue Aug 12, 2008 at 06:26:53 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

No, accidental insight (4.00 / 1)

David Brooks is also on NPR.

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by: JimC @ Tue Aug 12, 2008 at 09:05:21 AM CDT

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similar thoughts on huffpo (0.00 / 0)

about having to fight back hard. I liked this bit

It's a rotten thing to face, but there's no high road here. If you want to save this country from the misrule of venal operatives, you're going to have to allow moral outrage to be the source of your eloquence. I'm sorry to say it's not enough to be smart and compassionate. You're going to have to get tough to rescue us. So roll up your sleeves, Senator, and hit this guy hard, over and over, with the truth. It's your best and only chance.

Hit em' with the truth Barack.

Hope > Fear



Create a free Blue Hampshire account and join the conversation.

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by: Mike Hoefer @ Mon Aug 11, 2008 at 21:03:46 PM CDT

"It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant." (0.00 / 0)

I've been waiting eight years for somebody to say that.

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Tue Aug 12, 2008 at 19:55:38 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

It's so much easier to find common ground (4.00 / 5)

with the 72-year old son of an admiral who spent years as a POW, divorced his disfigured wife and married a beer heiress, and owns eight houses and a private jet.

None of that gives Johnny Mac a "unique background and temperament," luckily.

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by: elwood @ Tue Aug 12, 2008 at 05:31:54 AM CDT

On the upside -- (0.00 / 0)

to make this election all about Obama.

That may already be the case. Who do you want, the charismatic, well-funded candidate who people want to listen to, or the other guy?

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by: JimC @ Tue Aug 12, 2008 at 09:26:48 AM CDT

Same old game (4.00 / 3)

They made 1988 about Dukakis not Bush and the Reagan years.

They made 2000 about Gore and not Bushlite and the Clinton years.

They made 2004 about Kerry and not the Bushlite years.

Shame on us if we let it happen again...

Democrats solve problems, Republicans sit and say no.

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by: Ray Buckley @ Tue Aug 12, 2008 at 10:04:59 AM CDT

worse than shame Ray (0.00 / 0)

pity the world if we fail

"Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does." Allen Ginsberg

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by: JonnyBBad @ Tue Aug 12, 2008 at 19:31:15 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

McCain's Carpets (4.00 / 2)

Okay, can someone explain to me how a guy who collects rugs is supposed to be salt of the earth joe sixpack?

From a 2005 Architectural Digest:

The house is also a showcase of the senator's enthusiasm for buying exotic carpets. "I'm a terrible shopper, but I buy these rugs when I travel. I was recently in Afghanistan and bought this," he says, pointing out a large, finely made carpet in russet and brown. There are others from Turkey and Georgia, as well as the Native American carpets from his wife's family.

Energy and persistence conquer all things.


Benjamin Franklin


 

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by: Kathy Sullivan @ Tue Aug 12, 2008 at 21:20:06 PM CDT

Hey! Stop picking on John McCain. (4.00 / 1)

He needs those rugs.

Otherwise his $500 Ferragamos might get scuffed.

And besides, eight homes with only wood flooring would be odd.

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by: Dean Barker @ Tue Aug 12, 2008 at 21:24:55 PM CDT

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Harumph (0.00 / 0)

We paid for those carpet buying trips, I bet - Afghanistan, Turkey and Georgia?  Our American dimes, his foreign carpets.  Grrrrr.

Energy and persistence conquer all things.


Benjamin Franklin


 

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by: Kathy Sullivan @ Tue Aug 12, 2008 at 21:42:33 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

They tie the room together n/t (4.00 / 3)

"Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does." Allen Ginsberg

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by: JonnyBBad @ Wed Aug 13, 2008 at 18:28:06 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Literal LOL n/t (0.00 / 0)

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by: JimC @ Wed Aug 13, 2008 at 18:29:19 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

dude (4.00 / 1)

"Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does." Allen Ginsberg

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by: JonnyBBad @ Wed Aug 13, 2008 at 18:34:17 PM CDT

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Well, he's a carpet-bagger. Just hasn't got around to (4.00 / 1)

making the bags yet.

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by: hannah @ Wed Aug 13, 2008 at 09:44:36 AM CDT

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Free association: "Sojourner" ? (4.00 / 5)

Quickly:

I think first of "Sojourner Truth, " a historical black woman about whom I don't know much.

Then, much later, I think that maybe Rick Warren calls his ministry "Sojourners."

Mostly I think, "You don't hear that word often, and I'm not quite sure what it means."

Black, mysterious. Of course Brooks would never use this sort of subtext...

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by: elwood @ Wed Aug 13, 2008 at 07:48:05 AM CDT

I think of "traveler"--someone who's passing (0.00 / 0)

through, as are we all.
Of course, those who yearn for permanence may see such acceptance as a threat.  They're trying to hold back the tide.

Brooks, on the other hand, may be hinting at a link with "fellow traveler."  Sometimes, people who are "going places," don't recognize that other people want to see them stuck.

Just a reminder that the "joint" appearance at Rick Warren's megachurch will be streamed live.
KDOC

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by: hannah @ Wed Aug 13, 2008 at 09:53:37 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

My thoughts exactly. (0.00 / 0)

I've sought a number of definitions to ensure my understanding is precise, and it seems a sojourner is one who moves around a lot and only ever stays in one place temporarily.  As in, someone who doesn't really belong anywhere.

Interestingly, here's what Wikipedia has to say (with plenty of footnotes which skeptics should check before complaining that I'm referencing Wikipedia), emphasis mine:

For his first ten years, "Johnny" McCain (the family nickname he was given)[2] was frequently uprooted as his family, including older sister Sandy and younger brother Joe,[3] followed his father to New London, Connecticut, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and other stations in the Pacific Ocean.[15] Summer vacations were sometimes spent at the family's Teoc plantation,[7] but McCain always felt his heritage was military, not Southern.[5] McCain attended whatever naval base school was available,[15] often to the detriment of his education, as schools were sometimes substandard and their curricula often erratic.[15] After the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, his father was absent for long stretches.[3] His formal education was supplemented by the efforts of his mother, who took advantage of the family's many long-distance travels to expose him to historical and cultural sites.[12][16]

Sounds very similar to the upbringing of a certain other Presidential candidate (particularly that last part), doesn't it?  Except for the fact that one was born in a foreign country, and the other was born in the 50th state.

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Wed Aug 13, 2008 at 12:16:35 PM CDT

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Personality is important. McCain, seems not to have thrived, (0.00 / 0)

if his scholastic achievements are any indication.  His successes are mostly the result of connections and intimidation.

I think what I've found most chilling was his determination that the wife of his friend and classmate, Alasdair Swanson was the perfect wife for a naval officer and so he married her after she divorce her husband and presumed father of her two sons.  Her divorce papers are reported to have charged Swanson with infidelities.  But, back in 1964, when somebody had to be faulted, that may have been a convenient fiction.  McCain married Carol Swanson, nee Shepp, and got what he wanted-- until he wanted something else and married a young blond.

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by: hannah @ Wed Aug 13, 2008 at 13:13:36 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Sojourner Truth (4.00 / 2)

One of my favorite historical figures.

Some biographical info:

Isabella Van Wagenen was born into slavery in Hurley, New York in 1797. She was one of 13 children but she never got to know her brothers and sisters because they were quickly sold a slaves.

Her master, Mr. Dumont arranged for her to marry a slave named Thomas. She had 5 children with him, but her master sold some of them.

She was released following the New York Anti Slavery Law of 1827, however slavery was not abolished nationwide for 35 years. She lived for a time with a Quaker family who gave her the only education she ever received. They also helped her get back one of her children.

She became an outspoken advocate of women's rights as well as blacks' rights. In 1843, she changed her name to Sojourner Truth . Everywhere she spoke she made a lasting impression. She was physically strong and over six feet tall and she had a powerful, booming voice.

She actively supported the Black troops during ther Civil War and helped get the government to give these soldiers land. She continued to travel and preach throughout the northeast and midwest from her home in Battle Creek. Michigan where she died at the age of 84 in 1883.

Her most famous speech:

Delivered 1851
Women's Convention, Akron, Ohio

Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that 'twixt the negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all this here talking about?

That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?

Then they talk about this thing in the head; what's this they call it? [member of audience whispers, "intellect"] That's it, honey. What's that got to do with women's rights or negroes' rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?

Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.

If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back , and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.

Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain't got nothing more to say.

I do think Barack Obama and she have some things in common.  

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by: Jennifer Daler @ Wed Aug 13, 2008 at 15:52:26 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

my exact reaction (0.00 / 0)

Brooks is a slime who looks like the Conservative moderates can feel Liberal about

"Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does." Allen Ginsberg

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by: JonnyBBad @ Wed Aug 13, 2008 at 18:29:32 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

What's Wrong With Celebrities? (4.00 / 1)

Interesting commentary on Yahoo this morning, pointing out the celebrity status of many great leaders in the past.

Perhaps Obama should do an ad pointing out that the Republicans' all time favorite, Ronald Regan, was also a celeb.

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by: Reincarnate @ Thu Aug 14, 2008 at 09:28:17 AM CDT

Everybody boo Nelson Mandela, he's such a CELEBRITY! (0.00 / 0)

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Thu Aug 14, 2008 at 12:02:23 PM CDT

[ Parent ]