Podcast: Obama And The Politics and Policy Of Voters Who Cling

In our latest Atlantic podcast, Ross Douthat and I discuss the factual basis for Obama's assertions and try to figure out what it all means for November.

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Comments

Another fun thing coming at Obama that the MSM hasn't run yet is the same bloggger published an earlier piece APR 7th about another remark by Obama at a (separate?) San Fran Dem Wealthy Elite fundraiser.

Before that, Fowler had turned in a piece which ran April 7th and caused a ripple, with Obama telling the San Francisco fundraiser crowd that he doesn't need a foreign policy expert as his running mate because he already knows a lot about foreign policy. Huffington, who was about to leave for Tahiti, was concerned about that piece, which had no political impact other than pointing up Obama's cockiness.

This is a guy that still maintains that because he gave an anti-war speech 6 years ago, saying the same basic things other Lefties ideologically opposed to Iraq said - like Susan Sarandon, Teddy Kennedy, Fidel Castro, Vladimir Putin, and Saddam himself - Obama is a foreign policy genius of the highest judgment.
And he says his in-depth knowlege comes from being an expat kid for a while, his undergrad degree in International Relations, and being in contact with Muslim relatives in Indonesia and Kenya.

Clinton may be a liar, McCain may be old, but Obama appears mildy delusional and full of himself.

Posted by Chris Ford | April 15, 2008 6:05 PM

Another fun thing coming at Obama that the MSM hasn't run yet is the same bloggger published an earlier piece APR 7th about another remark by Obama at a (separate?) San Fran Dem Wealthy Elite fundraiser.

Before that, Fowler had turned in a piece which ran April 7th and caused a ripple, with Obama telling the San Francisco fundraiser crowd that he doesn't need a foreign policy expert as his running mate because he already knows a lot about foreign policy. Huffington, who was about to leave for Tahiti, was concerned about that piece, which had no political impact other than pointing up Obama's cockiness.

This is a guy that still maintains that because he gave an anti-war speech 6 years ago, saying the same basic things other Lefties ideologically opposed to Iraq said - like Susan Sarandon, Teddy Kennedy, Fidel Castro, Vladimir Putin, and Saddam himself - Obama is a foreign policy genius of the highest judgment.
And he says his in-depth knowlege comes from being an expat kid for a while, his undergrad degree in International Relations, and being in contact with Muslim relatives in Indonesia and Kenya.

Clinton may be a liar, McCain may be old, but Obama appears mildy delusional and full of himself.

Posted by Chris Ford | April 15, 2008 6:05 PM

Thanks for the great analysis. I wonder why you both dismissed so out of hand, the interpretation that Obama was listing issues people vote on that make them less likely to vote for him. The question after all, was about why he's having a tough time winning blue-collar support. thanks again.

Posted by taricha | April 15, 2008 9:05 PM

First of all, Chris, the foreign policy "experience" has nothing to do with his anti-war speech, and he said as much. Obama wants to change the prism through which we view foreign policy, and so living as an "expat kid"--and traveling extensively as an adult and having a multiethnic family does, in fact, have bearing on how he would look at foreign policy.

Second, Matt...do you do the podcasts with any kind of regularity, or just when the mood strikes you? I love them, you should do them all the time. =)

Posted by kim | April 15, 2008 11:59 PM