If "unity", "change" for the sake of it, 90's bashing, and experience not counting sound familiar...

...that's because it is familiar. One candidate ran on "unity" and "change". He would end partisanship in Washington, the "polarizing" battles created by Clinton-Gore. Yes, the 90's were a great time for America but it was time for change for the sake of change. Don't ask why. He was a guy you would love to have a beer with and that is what matters. He had no foreign policy, but experience may matter for managing McDonald's but it doesn't matter for the most powerful job in the world. "Change" was more important than experience. Besides, we were told, he would have experienced advisers around him to make up for his inexperience. All we had to do was hope. And change.

Disclaimer: Obviously this clown and Obama couldn't be more different in their values, policies, and goals but we just fell for the same basic script enough folks fell for in 2000 to allow the selection. Axlerod didn't invent anything new. He merely refined the 2000 Rove script and took it to the next level, melding it with the Trippi and Dean emphasis on the grassroots. It is a shame issues, records are of so little importance in the face of such powerful marketing.

I'll get flamed for this but I already noted Obama and Bush couldn't be more different. That doesn't change the fact of the eerie similarity in their "new" messages. To spare you having to read all of it I excerpted the relevant parts.

-snip-

My father was the last president of a great generation, a generation of Americans who stormed beaches, liberated concentration camps and delivered us from evil. Some never came home. Those who did put their medals in drawers, went to work and built on a heroic scale highways and universities, suburbs and factories, great cities and grand alliances, the strong foundations of an American century.

Now the question comes to the sons and daughters of this achievement, what is asked of us? This is a remarkable moment in the life of our nation. Never has the promise of prosperity been so vivid.

Oooh! Generational "change!"

-snip-

And we will extend the promise of prosperity to every forgotten corner of this country: to every man and woman, a chance to succeed; to every child, a chance to learn; and to every family, a chance to live with dignity and hope.

Hope! Along with change!

-snip-

Our current president embodied the potential of a generation -- so many talents, so much charm, such great skill. But in the end, to what end? So much promise to no great purpose.

Sound familiar?

-snip-

Tonight in this hall, we resolve to be the party of -- not of repose but of reform. We will write not footnotes but chapters in the American story.

That is one promise he kept. :eyes:

-snip-

Now is the time -- now is the time for Republicans and Democrats to end the politics of fear and save Social Security together.

The politics of hope, change, and unity!

-snip-

A generation shaped by Vietnam must remember the lessons of Vietnam: When America uses force in the world, the cause must be just, the goal must be clear, and the victory must be overwhelming.

Oh the irony! :puke:

-snip-

A time of prosperity is a test of vision, and our nation today needs vision.

That's a fact. That's a fact. Or as my opponent might call it, a risky truth scheme.

Every one of the proposals I've talked about tonight he's called a risky scheme over and over again. It is the sum of his message, the politics of the roadblock, the philosophy of the stop sign.

If my opponent had been at the moon launch, it would have been a risky rocket scheme.

If he had been there when Edison was testing the light bulb, it would have been a risky anti-candle scheme.

And if he had been there when the Internet was invented...

He now leads -- he now leads the party of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, but the only thing he has to offer is fear itself.

That outlook is typical of many in Washington, always seeing the tunnel at the end of the light.

Sound familiar? My opponent is against hope!

-snip-

That background may lack the polish of Washington. Then again, I don't have a lot of things that come with Washington. I don't have enemies to fight. I have no stake in the bitter arguments of the last few years. I want to change the tone of Washington to one of civility and respect.

Sound fucking familiar?

-snip-

I don't deserve all the credit, and I don't attempt to take it. I work with Republicans and Democrats to get things done.

A bittersweet part of tonight is that someone is missing, the late lieutenant government of Texas, Bob Bullock.

Bob was a Democrat, a crusty veteran of Texas politics, and my great friend. We worked side by side, he endorsed my re-election, and I know he is with me in spirit in saying to those who would malign our state for political gain: Don't mess with Texas.*

Unity and bipartisanship. Change you can believe in!

-snip-

Behind every goal I've talked about tonight is a great hope for our country. A hundred years from now this must not be remembered as an age rich in possession and poor in ideals.

I am the hope candidate. My opponent is anti-hope and doesn't want to reach for the stars!

-snip-

For me, gaining this office is not the ambition of a lifetime, but it is the opportunity of a lifetime, and I will make the most of it.

A thinly veiled slap at his opponent's ambition while feigning no ambition of his own, despite running for the biggest job in the world. Some politicians who since their college days have wanted to be president play the feigning no ambition game too.

-snip-

I believe great decision are made with care, made with conviction, not made with polls.

I do not need to take your pulse before I know my own mind.

I do not reinvent myself at every turn. I am not running in borrowed clothes.

When I act, you will know my reasons. And when I speak, you will know my heart.

Where we have heard that lately?

-snip-

I believe true leadership is a process of addition, not an act of division.

I will not attack a part of this country because I want to lead the whole of it.

Unity again, implicitly contrasted with the "polarizing" Clinton-Gore era

-snip-

Their attacks will be relentless, but they will be answered. We are facing something familiar, but they're facing something new.

We are now the party of ideas and innovation, the party of idealism and inclusion, the party of a simple and powerful hope.

My fellow citizens, we can begin again.

After all of the shouting and all of the scandal, after all the bitterness and broken faith, we can begin again.

I am the candidate of change, hope, and by electing me we can turn the page on the bad past!

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2000/conventions/republican/transcripts/bush.html

...that candidate was a freaking moron with an IQ of 12.


Barack Obama is a freaking genius, and the next POTUS.

What does intelligence have to do with it? Bush 41 is intelligent and he sucked. Bill Clinton is intelligent and according to DU the Clinton part of Clinton-Gore sucked.

I won't be part of it if he is the nominee, I'll write Hillary's name in.