From the Department of Marker Placement
A month ago, as John McCain was starting his perverse “celebrity” line of attack against Barack Obama, I wrote:
I think the frontal assault on the crowds turning out to see Obama will really backfire. As I’m sure Barack himself will point out soon, they’re showing up because times are so difficult, and they so desperately want a change for the better — and a candidate who will rise above divisive campaign tactics and tired policy approaches to really solve their problems.
John McCain wants to argue that this is a bad thing? That people shouldn’t hope, that they should be ashamed of wanting something better? Um, yeah, good luck with that approach.
With Obama due to give a nationally televised speech in front of 75,000 people tonight, I think it’s a likely moment for him to trot out this line of argument.
Update: And… he didn’t! Guess you can file this with my VP prediction… more thoughts on the speech tomorrow.
August 28th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Brainwashing For Dummies:
Hope reflects a desire for change. If you can keep the proletariat cognitively occupied with divisive tactics ( ie. hate; xenophobia; the “enemy”; a siege mentality; the impracticality of universal health care; and celebratory patriotism ) you can “treat” hope by preventing a focus on the root causes of problems ( their corrupt political representatives; transfer of money from those with relatively little to corporations; the military-industrial-CONGRESSIONAL complex;
an economy based on fossil fuels, etc ) thus facilitating the hegemony of the elites over the proletariat. Most presidential contests are campaigns by Democrats and Republicans over nothing for this reason. Watch the debates if there are any.
To answer your question:- Yes, I am a Marxist