Obama may very well be the Napster of politics in America… certainly the music industry is corrupt and deserved a kick in the balls, so we all rushed for a change of the business model: “F big business, we’ll share our music and get it for free!” Sharing. What a sweet word. Slightly more kindergarten-friendly than the good ol’ “Five Finger Discount.” Ahh, but the law of unintended consequences… low record sales has forced our stars to instead sell tabloids, and aren’t we all better off for it?
I don’t know what the unintended consequences are with Obama. He’s a shot in the dark (ooohhh, was that racist? Is there racist subtext there? Did I really mean “your kids are gonna get shot by a darkie?” Party foul!). I’m at the point where I don’t give a fuck. The media loves him as much as they loved GW, everybody wants him over to their barbecue just like they wanted GW & they’re all Voting While Intoxicated, and we have no idea how he’ll govern but we’re in the mood for a change just like we were back in 2000. To be honest, I think GW is as bummed as we are that he got elected. That dude can’t wait to see the White House in his rearview. If Barry wants this shit job so bad, let him have it. The press and the people will turn on him at some point, and only then will we know what he’s made of.
Regardless of all that, his campaign has fundamentally changed the economics of politics. This is the first Social-Networking-Financed political campaign. The Presidency is just the latest in a string of jobs for which Tila Tequila is now the most qualified candidate. If we recall Schwarzenegger now, maybe Mary Carey would win this time. And fuck it, man, maybe she’d govern better. Who am I to judge, right?
The meticulously marketed Obama Brand is a contribution aggregator that is driving up the cost of running for president well beyond that of even the monied interests that campaign finance reform sought to curtail. Obama’s recently outspent Clinton as much as 5:1 and his campaign’s current bank account is stacked 10:1 against her–and she’s loaded! This makes him a better politician/fundraiser, but for him to claim that this somehow vindicates him as a better candidate is a weirdly free-market capitalist approach for such a progressive liberal candidate (although it doesn’t take much looking behind the curtain to see that Mr. CFR is not quite Kropotkin). The demographics of buying elections has moved from the top 6% to the top 19%, which I suppose is “progressive.” For the greenoisie, Barack Obama is “Change You Can Charge.” At the end of the day, I suppose we’re now borrowing money from China to elect the American President.
Every day I see the hybrids drive by with “Yes We Can” written in soap on the rear window. To this I say: yes, you can–who’s stoppin’ ya? If the campaign is not just about Obama’s cult of personality but actually about substantive change, then who exactly is stopping these people? Grassroots Change has never started with the presidency, otherwise it would be called Executive Order. Why does Obama have to become President in order for him to do more than pontificate in books and on stage? He doesn’t need to be President in order to start the change movement of which he speaks. Talk is cheap, but for some reason when Barry does the talking it’s suddenly really really expensive. So I ask you this…
Of the $200 million dollars Obama has officially raised and spent so far on this election (not to mention all the other oodles of money spent on his behalf), could all that cash have instead financed some sort of actual Change Initiatives with a bit of ROI? But why would Obama do that when he can spend it on his own career ambitions?–after all, his history of charitable donations from his own household’s mega-income has been pitifully small (and directed overwhelmingly to change-agent Jeremiah Wright). Obama made fun of businessman Romney for spending his campaign money with little ROI… the joke works because Romney spent his own money. None of them seem to care about ROI on OPM.
Whoever wins this next election, (s)he will be the first Billion Dollar President. With that kind of pay-to-play ideology getting them there, I wonder how fiscally conservative this next President will be with our debt once in office. I have two words for you: BUY GOLD.
