Coming Out of the Cold

"It all began in the cold.

"It had been cold all week in Washington. Then early on Thursday afternoon the snow came. The winds blew in icy, stinging gusts and whipped the snow down the frigid streets Washingtonians do not know how to drive in the snow; they slide and skid and spin their wheels in panic. By six o’clock traffic had stopped all over town. People abandoned their cars in snowdrifts and marched grimly into the gale, heads down, newspapers wrapped around necks and stuffed under coats. And still the snow fell and the winds blew."
--Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.; A Thousand Days; 1965; page 11.

Along with comparisons to Abraham Lincoln, President-elect Barack Obama is also being likened to John F. Kennedy. Because Obama has not served a single day in the White House, it is safe to say that this is, in large part, based upon images, rather than substance. I find this particularly interesting, in that none of the members of the Kennedy administration considered those thousand days to be "Camelot" at the time: it was, of course, an image that was initially created by JFK’s widow.

Kennedy was America’s first "television President." Many of the most powerful images of him come from film clips and photographs. Yet Kennedy’s greatest skill was in communicating. Like Obama, he played a greater role in writing his speeches than most US Presidents.

Still, "image" is a part of defining who a President is. In fact, it is part of a trinity that every human being experiences. Exactly "who is Barack Obama?," John McCain asked in the 2008 campaign. Is a person defined by who they think they are? Or who their family and friends think they are? Or are they who their enemies believe they are?

In each of these cases, there is a very real difference between who a person wants to be (and who their family, friends, and enemies want them to be), and their actual being. This is generally magnified by their inhabiting the White House, where they are largely kept in a form of isolation often called a "bubble," away from the influence of the individuals they might otherwise interact with in everyday life. This separation from reality is increased by the image-making process, both positive and negative, that results from the corporate media "reporting" on their presidency.

A new book by Evan Thomas, "A Long Time Coming: The Inspiring, Combative 2008 Campaign and the Historic Election of Barack Obama," provides an interesting examination of the process by which this country "defined" the President-elect. Thomas includes behind-the-scenes information from Newsweek reporters who traveled with the Obama, Clinton, and McCain campaigns.

The author includes information about the democratic primary that is sure to confirm the readers' previously held suspicions. Perhaps more interesting are descriptions of the republicans, including a 1973 psychiatric report on John McCain that noted passive-aggressive traits which pre-dated his military service.(Romney "came off as a phony"; Guiliani as trying to build "a cult of Rudy"; and Thompson as "old and half asleep.")

Thomas seems to admire some things about Barack Obama. Yet he obviously has suspicions, which are summed up on page 13: "…Obama had been influenced by the teachings of Saul Alinsky, a radical with a realist bent who once wrote, ‘Any revolutionary change must be proceeded by a passive, affirmative, non-challenging attitude toward change among the mass of our people’."

Time will tell.

the Saul Alinsky garbage? What a load of horseshit.

An Alinsky influence would be fine by me

Apparently, others don't. But that only provides evidence that others view Obama differently.

And you're right, even though you're on the left side of the spectrum

In this life, in this life, in this life,
In this, oh sweet life:
We're (we're coming in from the cold);
We're coming in (coming in), coming in (coming in),
coming in (coming in), coming in (coming in),
Coming in from the cold.

It's you - it's you - it's you I'm talkin' to -
Well, you (it's you) - you (it's you) - you I'm talking to now.
Why do you look so sad and forsaken?
When one door is closed, don't you know other is open?

Would you let the system make you kill your brotherman?
No, no, no, no, no, no! No, Dread, no!
Would you make the system make you kill your brotherman?
(No, Dread, no!)
Would you make the system get inside your head again?
(No, Dread, no!)
Well, the biggest man you ever did see was - was just a baby.

In this life (in this life),
In this (in this life, oh sweet life):
Coming in from the cold;
We're coming in (coming in), coming in-a (coming in),
coming in (coming in), ooh! (coming in)
Coming in from the cold!

It's life (it's life), it's life (it's life), it's life (it's life):
it's - wa - well! - coming in from the cold!
We're coming in (coming in), coming in (coming in) -
ooh (coming in), hey! (coming in),
Coming in from the cold!

It's you - you - you I'm talking -
Well, yes, you, bilyabong! (it's you);
ew! - you I'm talking to now.
Gi-irl, why do you look so - look so - look so sad -
look so sad and forsaken?
Don't you know: When one door is closed - when one door is closed,
many more is open?

We-e-e-ell, would you let the system get inside your head again?
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, Dread, no!
Would you let the system make you kill your brotherman?
No, Dread, no!
We-e-e-ell, would you make the system get inside your head again?
(No, Dread, no!) No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!
Well, the biggest - biggest man you ever - ever
Did-a see was-a - was-a once a baby.

In this life, in this life, in this life,
In this, oh, sweet life,
We're (coming in from the cold) from the cold!
We're coming in (coming in), coming in (coming in),
coming in (coming in), wo-o! Yea-ea-eah!
Coming in from the cold

We're coming in-a, coming in-a, coming in-a, coming in-a!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yea-ea-ea-eah!
Coming in from the cold
Coming in (coming in), coming in (coming in) -
(coming in) (coming in)
(coming in) from the - from the cold! - /fadeout/

:headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: