Obama Power: This Has Got To STOP!

[Mac128]

In case you missed it, due to the publication of some off-the-record comments, one of Obama's aides has resigned.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/07/obama-aide-apologizes-for-calling-clinton-a-monster/index.html?ex=1362546000&en=1937ced2862601d6&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

THIS HAS GOT TO STOP!

While I don't know the details or how qualified Samantha Power was or would be as a potential Secretary of State, or even if this is the real reason she resigned. But what I do know is this:

This country is paying the price for demanding our elected officials live up to an ideal model of the perfect statesman.

We have evolved into a government run by those who have mostly succeeded by keeping their own thoughts and opinions mostly to themselves. To expect, or even believe our politicians are some kind of superhero, embodying only the best qualities of the human race, is naive at best. Even Superman had ethical dilemmas and unintentional slips in his facade of perfection. In fact, I wouldn't want anyone who claimed otherwise making decision on my behalf. It's absolutely frightening to think no one would ever get so upset they might say something they didn't mean. But since the vast majority of this country seems to think to the contrary, the most successful of our elected officials have become pandering do-gooders, trained and bred to conceal the least controversial thought, whose true motivations are often undisclosed. In fact the most mediocre of politicians often do trump those better suited to the job if they are not capable of screening every word that comes out of their mouths.

No wonder the best and brightest this nation has to offer are fleeing from politics and we have to raise the salaries of elected officials, evoking greed over service as the primary motive to attract them.

While it is easy to blame the press for this, the problem remains unarguably a personal one. The press should report everything it hears. PERIOD. We as a society should be more responsible in analyzing what we read and hear and deny the media the opportunity to turn something trivial into hype that we devour by the tablespoonful.

People can and do make mistakes. To suggest otherwise of our politicians invites corruption and subterfuge. It is up to us then to realize we are infallible and accept that sometimes someone may blow off a little steam and in doing so, in the appropriate environment, may only help that person make a more even-tempered decision.

[BOSSHOG]

1. Why was the comment off the record?

Power said it was off the record after she said it. And she didn't have to resign.

[Dogmudgeon]

2. " ... an ideal model of the perfect statesman ... "

This is exactly what Obama's "narrative" is based on -- that he has transcended mere politics, and is the Transformative candidate. Hoist with his own petard, so to speak.

It is up to him to disentangle himself from this image. But if he does that, he risks losing support. He is what communication theorists call "powerful-vulnerable".

--p!

[lisa58]

3. I'm there