Good stuff...
http://www.alternet.org/stories/48051/
where we find the following: "Obama knows this, and so his entire political persona is an ingeniously crafted human cipher, a man without race, ideology, geographic allegiances, or, indeed, sharp edges of any kind. You can't run against him on the issues because you can't even find him on the ideological spectrum. Obama's "Man for all seasons" act is so perfect in its particulars that just about anyone can find a bit of himself somewhere in the candidate's background, whether in his genes or his upbringing. You can be white, you can be black, you can be Christian, you can be Muslim, you can be from the American heartland or from Africa... you can even, according to his book The Audacity of Hope, worship Norse Gods or bury your relatives according to Hawaiian rituals:"
[WS:] I thought that being polite and open to all constituencies is a rather desirable trait in a politician, no? This is a refreshing contrast to rigid, arrogant, and political tone deaf ideologues like Bush or Rumsfeld.
Sometimes I get an impression that the Counterpunch-style jurnos like Taibbi - and probably a good deal of the countercultural left as well - are all show no substance, for the most part. Policies do not seem to matter for them that much as long as politicians kick ass and make a show out of it. The only difference between this and, say, the Fox crowd is whose ass is being kicked.
The prominence of bombast in American politics is quite striking to outside observers - de Tocqueville already noted it in his treatise of the American democracy. That is probably why politicians who lack that bombast are seen as sissies or flip-flops regardless of the political orientation of the audience.
Wojtek