Obama '08?

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GREENFIELD (voice-over): The senator was in New Hampshire over the weekend, sporting what's getting to be the classic Obama look. Call it business casual, a jacket, a collared shirt, but no tie.

It is a look the senator seems to favor. And why not? It is dressy enough to suggest seriousness of purpose, but without the stuffiness of a tie, much less a suit. There is a comfort level here that reflects one of Obama's strongest political assets, a sense that he is comfortable in his own skin, that he knows who he is.

If you want a striking contrast, check out Senator John Kerry as he campaigned back in 2004. He often appeared without a tie, but clad in a blazer, the kind of casual look you see at country clubs and lawn parties in the Hamptons and other toned (ph) locations.

When President Bush wanted in casual mode, he skipped the jacket entirely. Third-generation Skull and Bones at Yale? Don't be silly. Nobody here but us Texas ranchers.

You can think of Bush's apparel as a kind of homage to Ronald Reagan. He may have spent much of his life in Hollywood, but the brush-cutting ranch hand was the image his followers loved, just as the Kennedy sea ferry look provided a striking contrast with, say, Richard Nixon, who apparently couldn't even set out on a beach walk without that "I wish I had spent more time at the office" look.

But, in the case of Obama, he may be walking around with a sartorial time bomb. Ask yourself, is there any other major public figure who dresses the way he does? Why, yes. It is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who, unlike most of his predecessors, seems to have skipped through enough copies of "GQ" to find the jacket-and-no-tie look agreeable.

And maybe that's not the comparison a possible presidential contender really wants to evoke.

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"For the vast punditocracy who think they created spin and the chattering classes who disdain what they think is a modern phenomenon, Larry Tye provides the un-spun history of the father of it all. A must-read for the aforementioned and wannabe spinmasters."

How must he [Bernays] have felt, then, when he learned in 1933 that Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels was using Crystallizing Public Opinion [written by Bernays, published in 1923] as a basis for his destructive campaign against the Jews of Germany? Bernays heard about it from Karl von Wiegand, foreign correspondent for the Hearst papers, who had visited with Goebbels in Germany and been given a tour of his library. While scholars still debate the extent to which the Nazis used Bernay's works, Goebbels did employ techniques nearly identical to those used by Bernays - skillfully exploiting symbols by making Jews into scapegoats and Hitler into the embodiment of righteousness; manipulating the media by trumpeting Nazi triumphs on the battlefield and hiding their extermination campaigns; and vesting unheard-of power in state propagandists just as Bernays had advised in Crystallizing.

... meanwhile, the Republican slime machine continues to crank along -- and CNN's Jeff Greenfield is in on the fun:

Quote:

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GREENFIELD (voice-over): The senator was in New Hampshire over the weekend, sporting what's getting to be the classic Obama look. Call it business casual, a jacket, a collared shirt, but no tie.

It is a look the senator seems to favor. And why not? It is dressy enough to suggest seriousness of purpose, but without the stuffiness of a tie, much less a suit. There is a comfort level here that reflects one of Obama's strongest political assets, a sense that he is comfortable in his own skin, that he knows who he is.

If you want a striking contrast, check out Senator John Kerry as he campaigned back in 2004. He often appeared without a tie, but clad in a blazer, the kind of casual look you see at country clubs and lawn parties in the Hamptons and other toned (ph) locations.

When President Bush wanted in casual mode, he skipped the jacket entirely. Third-generation Skull and Bones at Yale? Don't be silly. Nobody here but us Texas ranchers.

You can think of Bush's apparel as a kind of homage to Ronald Reagan. He may have spent much of his life in Hollywood, but the brush-cutting ranch hand was the image his followers loved, just as the Kennedy sea ferry look provided a striking contrast with, say, Richard Nixon, who apparently couldn't even set out on a beach walk without that "I wish I had spent more time at the office" look.

But, in the case of Obama, he may be walking around with a sartorial time bomb. Ask yourself, is there any other major public figure who dresses the way he does? Why, yes. It is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who, unlike most of his predecessors, seems to have skipped through enough copies of "GQ" to find the jacket-and-no-tie look agreeable.

And maybe that's not the comparison a possible presidential contender really wants to evoke.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Source

Doncha just love Greenfield's use of "maybe"? It's so versatile. You know, "maybe" Greenfield rapes babies in his free time. Maybe. Or maybe he doesn't. Don't tet me wrong, I'm not saying anything. Am I?

It is a look the senator seems to favor. And why not? It is dressy enough to suggest seriousness of purpose, but without the stuffiness of a tie, much less a suit. There is a comfort level here that reflects one of Obama's strongest political assets, a sense that he is comfortable in his own skin, that he knows who he is.

... meanwhile, the Republican slime machine continues to crank along -- and CNN's Jeff Greenfield is in on the fun:

You guys are hilarious. Greenfield is part of the Republican slime machine? Have you lost your mind, Thomas?

okie wrote:

You guys are hilarious. Greenfield is part of the Republican slime machine? Have you lost your mind, Thomas?

Well, as Blatham convinced me, he's probably just a talking head who mechanically repeats its talking points. Somehow I can't see him connecting, say, Bush or Frist with Saddam Hussein or Osama Bin Ladin in that way. Not even in a joke. But if you can point me to such a soundbite, I'll be happy to learn.

Thomas wrote:

okie wrote:

You guys are hilarious. Greenfield is part of the Republican slime machine? Have you lost your mind, Thomas?

Well, as Blatham convinced me, he's probably just a talking head who mechanically repeats its talking points. Somehow I can't see him connecting, say, Bush or Frist with Saddam Hussein or Osama Bin Ladin in that way. Not even in a joke. But if you can point me to such a soundbite, I'll be happy to learn.

No, he has much more intentionally insulting terminology for them. I don't care if you don't appreciate his attempt at humor. But at least acknowledge that he isn't part of the "Republican slime machine".

Greenfield tries to be wry and clever but he just doesn't quite pull it off. I consider him left of center but the fact is that the corporate media are very careful when it comes to biting the hand that feeds them.