It’s amazing but true: if you’re a politician in this country, attacking obscure rappers and deadbeat fathers is seen as a symbol of political courage.
This isn’t an endorsement of deadbeat fathers, by the way; I’ll leave those sorts of shenanigans to Dr. Mrs. Ole Perfesser. I just find it funny that attacking groups of people who basically wield zero political or economic clout is as politically profitable as it is.
While saying not particularly controversial things to groups of people that aging Washington pundits are afraid of certainly does carry a political benefit, and Obama has shown himself to be adept at this particular task, it’s hardly courageous.
Something that might show a little more courage* , at least in my eyes, would involve the Democratic Party’s brand new leader walking Steny Hoyer into the corner and explaining to him all the reasons that caving on Fisa and telecom immunity would be such a bad thing, for both the country and for Steny. I understand politicians occasionally respond well to encouragement. Go forth and encourage.
*Not much courage, mind you. The Democratic leadership has the spine of a dead, devoured, digested and defecated garden slug.
Could it possibly be that it was an apt time and place to bring the subject up…you know “fathers day” in a “black church” as opposed to a lack of courage…what would you suggest for the event, a critique on NASA funding?
Oh, Jesus fucking Christ already. His statement was perfectly apt and it was perfectly appropriate. There is nothing here to suggest that anybody believes anything to the contrary. The “courage” commentary is about the base stupidity of political pundit conventional wisdom. Did you read the article Brad was harping on? Didn’t the phenomenon strike you as just wee fucking trite? Jesus.
You know what would be really courageous?
Coming out for gay marriage, immediately and nationally.
Only Al Gore among national Democrats has done so, and one could argue that he only did so after he knew he wasn’t going to run again. Hillary Clinton didn’t, and neither did Barack Obama, who went so far as to refuse to get his picture taken with Gavin Newsom.
I’m so tired of presidential candidates who think they’re running for preacher- or babysitter-in-chief. Just fix the infrastructure already, and quit wasting our money on immoral wars, okay?
Courage would be a Chicago politician, or politically-minded pastor for that matter, speaking “truth” to Daley power while in Chicago.
It really would matter to a lot of ordinary folks.