Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Obama is Bush

Anyone who reads here knows that I am a Hillary supporter. However, today I watched President Bush's press conference on CSpan and something really hit home. I haven't listened to Bush speak in a very, very long time due to a number of reasons, including the fact that I no longer watch much of MSM news and, I am deeply involved in getting my candidate elected. But today, as I listened to Bush, I once again noted how he gets around questions by saying nothing at all. Oh, he speaks, but nothing is said. Almost all of his answers were not substantial answers, but empty rhetoric lacking specifics. And this time I saw some similarity to Obama.

Bush tries very hard to make a personal connection with his questioners by making jokes and turning on his Southern hospitality. Bush never had the ability to try to inspire us, so he used his Good Ole Texas Boy persona. He's a regular Joe, just like you and me and the guy next door. You have to trust him, right? He clears brush on his ranch. He's every American. Although he was born with the proverbial silver spoon, he is portrayed as the common man.

Obama, on the other hand, uses an elitist, almost ethereal persona. We are the ones we've been waiting for. He is the only One that can fix what is wrong with America. He is the Saviour. Although he wasn't born into riches, as a black man in America, he, too, had a much easier life than that of his contemporaries, which he, too, downplays. He is not the common man. He is the answer to America's prayers.

I've concluded that the consultants for both Obama and Bush manipulate the personalities of their candidates to make up for their lack of experience and substance in different ways. Obama with his cult like "movement" and Bush with his down home fake Texas folksiness. However, they both use their fake personalities in an attempt to attain an elected position that they aren't at all qualified for, hoping no one will notice their lack of qualifications. It's the Cult of the Consultant and look where that got us with 8 years of Bush. Let's face it. If they were qualified they wouldn't need to reinvent themselves.

Bush ran for office promising to unite the country, just like Obama is. Bush ran without any real experience, just like Obama is. Bush said he would surround himself with people who were smart and would advise him of what must be done, just like Obama said he would do in one of the early debates.

This is in stark contrast to Hillary's campaign. We know who Hillary is as we've been watching her for the past 20 years. We've seen what she has done and where she has been. We know her and there is nothing fake or phony about her. But most of all, she is qualified. I can't think of a candidate for President who has been more qualified than she is at this moment in time. Or one that we need so desperately to lead us in the right direction.

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