Today marks the debut of Doubletake,a recurring feature here on The Swamp. Each weekday morning, Tribune correspondents James Oliphant and Jim Tankersley will talk about the news of the moment, with the goal of starting a conversation among you, the readers. Check back each morning and leave your comments.
Jim Tankersley: Let's talk Crazy Eights -- all this card-playing in the presidential campaign this week. We got the race card, the Britney card, even the Chosen One card (disciple cards sold separately). What do you make of it all?
Jim Oliphant: What, no introduction?
Tankersley: Fine, you do the introduction. Then answer my question.
Oliphant: Hello, Welcome to the first installment of "Doubletake" the daily digest of the news of the morning, brought to you by Tribune correspondents Jim Oliphant and Jim Tankersley.
Tankersley: I would note that though we share a first name, we have some significant differences. For example, you have a little girl. I have a little boy. You have a law degree from Ohio State. I once lived in Ohio. You have a rumpled mane of graying hair. I sometimes like to go a couple days without shaving.
Oliphant: "rumpled mane of graying hair?" Who am I, Einstein?
Tankersley: Um, you're no Einstein. Young Einstein, maybe
Oliphant: Lennie Einstein. Used to run the deli down the block. Don't get Yahoo Serious on me
Tankersley: Yahoo Serious -- whatever happened to that guy?
Oliphant: I believe he is now Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R)
Tankersley: OK, let's deal -- back to my card question. Specifically, how do you "play the race card" more than a year into a presidential campaign? Like all these voters are just figuring out Obama is black?
Oliphant: Well, the race card has had multiple meanings. We all remember last year, when the question was whether Obama was "black enough."
Oliphant: Now it appears that if he mentions he is black, he is playing the "race card." It brings to mind dusty, old James Mason in the classic "The Verdict" when the question of a black witness comes up at a legal strategy session. "I told you how to handle that. You don't mention it." So apparently, no one is allowed to mention it.
Tankersley: I just don't see why respected national news organizations, some of them commonly known in the business by a three-letter acronym, keep insisting that race was suddenly "injected" into the campaign. Really? Like it wasn't there in the first place? Rule No. 1 of the Race Card - you don't talk about the Race Card.
Oliphant: It's because the media chases the "concept" of race like a dog after a fire truck. It's a four-alarmer.
Tankersley: I also think the real issue here isn't race. It's tactics. McCain seems to have taken not only a (well-documented) hyper-aggressive tone this week. He's also taken a hyper-defensive one.
Oliphant: Yes, as we have talked about. It's all about Obama. It's like that joke: Enough about me. Let's talk about you. What do you think of me?
Tankersley: Well, both of them seem content at this point to make the campaign all about Obama.
Oliphant: What do you think of this ad?
Tankersley: I prefer "One" by U2, specifically the version of the video where all the buffalo run off a cliff, or something like that. I mean, this ad, it's either absolutely brilliant or absolute proof that high school kids are running the McCain ad shop, right?
Oliphant: It's definitely high-risk, high-reward stuff. First of all, you are basing your approach on sarcasm, which is a delicate dance to begin with, right?
Tankersley: Right. Not everyone gets sarcasm. (though, for the sake of this feature, let's hope our readers do.)
Oliphant: See: New Yorker cover
The New Yorker Obama cover proved sarcasm can be risky business in politics.
Tankersley: The tagline slays me -- he may be The One, but is he ready to lead? Do you think the blogs said that about Moses or Jesus (or Charlton Heston)?
Oliphant: Charlton Heston was born to lead. He wouldn't play second banana to anyone. (I know there is a "Planet of the Apes" gag in there somewhere.)
Tankersley: He also would not have liked the idea of an Obama presidential seal appearing out of his parted Red Sea.
Oliphant: Well, does John McCain need to be employing this strategy now? It's still early.
Tankersley: I'll say this for it -- we (and We, The Media) all talked about him this week, didn't we?
Oliphant: And the numbers appear to be breaking his way a bit. Is it because of stuff like this?
Tankersley: Too early to tell, I think. Polls in August mean little to nothing, right? Remember that Dukakis landslide?
Oliphant: Remember it? Buddy, those were high times. I was 22 - didn't have a care in the world!
Oliphant: Speaking of which, I have to take an aside -- headline on CNN Headline News right now: "Man who had .491 blood alcohol content questions accuracy of test." I should hope so!
Tankersley: Indeed. That seems like a good stopping point for today. Cue the stampeding buffalo.
Oliphant: And....SCENE
SPECIAL BONUS FOOTAGE: Here's U2's "One." Compare and contrast.
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Comments
Oliphant: Yes, as we have talked about. It's all about Obama. It's like that joke: Enough about me. Let's talk about you. What do you think of me?
Fighter pilot joke: "Enough about me, now let's talk about my plane."
Posted by: Zook | August 4, 2008 9:06 AM
Well, you guys are nibbling around the edges like the rest of the talking mouths. The real story is how the media helps McCain in his uber reductio ad absurdum tactic, which works among people who are used to being spoonfed garbage. It may be working in the short run, because that's all the media mouths are talking about and when the media talks sponges suck it all up unquestioningly. For example, every other word out of Pat Buchanan's mouth is "who is this guy, we don't know who he is, we don't know what he believes in." Notwithstanding the fact that Obama has been advancing his positions in speeches, interviews, articles and books, and has had a complete outline of his proposals on his website for more than a year. So, Buchanan helps spread the doubt that some people are expressing. In fact what we don't know about McCain, or is not spoken about, is probably just as much. For example, his religious view, which he refuses to talk about. Is he a closet Hindu? Does he practice Santaria? Is he Jewish in disguise, which is why Joe Lieberman would die for him.
At the same time Obama has had his religious life analyzed and scrutinized, and his private prayers publicized. Yet, despite that, 10 percent of the population believes he is Muslim. Why? because we don't know him, according to the talking mouths.
The two blonde blue eyed bombshells haven't been in the limelight for months and it takes John McCain's people to remind us that they exist and have obviously been successful in turning an upbeat, feel good trip by Obama into a farce. Again reduction to an absurdity. It worked.
You folks can do the public a great service by educating them on the tools and techniques that employed in fallacious argumentation.
Posted by: GEEP | August 4, 2008 9:12 AM
Not bad for two Chi guys. At least you dont seem to be in the Obama herd as is Mark Silva who was run out of Orlando
Posted by: dan | August 4, 2008 10:06 AM
Speaking of cards...did anyone catch the CNN round table with the pundits talking politics with actual cards and poker chips? The moderator sat on one side like a dealer while the others faced him. I was so surprised at the set that I could not follow what they were saying. What is up with that?
Posted by: lochnessmonster | August 4, 2008 10:39 AM
What, STILL no mention of John Edwards's latest scandal, which has been all over the internet and all over British newspapers? How long do you guys think you can keep this story hidden from Swamp readers?
Posted by: bruce | August 4, 2008 10:44 AM
Oh, Bruce, who the blankety blank CARES what a rich guy does with his you know what?
GROW UP!
Obviously, he realized that we're a nation of BABIES and he couldn't stayin the race--even though he gave both Hillary and Barack courage to adopt his winning platform.
Posted by: Golden "Hussein" Oldie telling Bruce the repugs won't get to steal this election | August 4, 2008 10:55 AM
Bruce, your mentioning it in your comments does wonders to the Edward's story. Keep up the good blubbering.
Posted by: GEEP | August 4, 2008 11:02 AM
Mccain's attacks the last couple of weeks were to inject questions about Obama's character. They caught a whiff of a potential opening and threw the race card out there just to get some headlines. It's like starting a fire with a match and dry grass. Unless you have a field of dry grass it won't start a camp fire. It shines brighly for a minute and then burns out. Everyone knows he's black. You don't have many people who haven't made a decision on whether or not that matters.
The McCain camps attack ads seemed frivolous and a tad desperate. They don't have an attack ad like the swift boat or Willie Horton. It was a lot of blustering, but no real meat. People will quickly forget these and it was a waste of good money on McCain's part.
The thing about Obama that the Republican's don't get is that he draws these crowds out of a combination of hir aratory skills, but more importantly, a chance of all the disenfranchised people who feel left back by the Republicans after 7 years of war and an economic slide. You can call it a recession or slump whatever, but people are feeling it now.
I thing the Republicans need to be careful with the offshore drilling thing. Once it becomes their mantra people will begin to pay attention to the detials and realize that the drilling won't have an effect for years and maybe begin to backlash a little bit. People need relief now, but how do you get it? Conservation is the most immediate, but it's hard to tell that to people driving 5-10 year old cars that need to drive to work.
Posted by: Todd M | August 4, 2008 11:07 AM
I normally don't respond to people who voluntarily name themselves "Hussein", figuring they need a doctor's care more than a response by me. But I have to ask: "Hussen", do you READ the Swamp? Edwards has been prominently mentioned in the Swamp as a possible Obama running mate. (To note just a few Swamp articles on Edwards as VP, see June 26, June 15, May 27 and May 22)
And yes, in the real world, conduct by a VP candidate that includes cheating on his cancer-stricken wife, funneling $114,000 in campaign money plus $15,000 a month payoffs to his mistress--that's news. Or at least it would be news to Messrs. Tankersley and Oliphant if a Republican was so accused. See, for example, the 30+ articles Swamp on the obscure Republican Larry Craig, who wasn't accused of anything near as bad.
Posted by: Bruce | August 4, 2008 11:40 AM
"Oliphant: Well, does John McCain need to be employing this strategy now? It's still early.
Tankersley: I'll say this for it -- we (and We, The Media) all talked about him this week, didn't we?"
So this last week "you" all talked about McCain?
Tribune reality: A search of the Tribune's own archives for the last week (July 27 to present) shows 23 articles with the word "Obama" in the headline, versus only 11 with "McCain."
2 to 1 Obama over McCain. And that's in what "you" say is a good week for McCain.
Posted by: Bruce | August 4, 2008 12:57 PM
I don't like to spend a lot of time on one trick ponies.
But I have to ask you Bruce, why do you read & rail on The Swamp if you don't like it?
Posted by: Zook | August 4, 2008 1:38 PM
Zook,
Because he's paid to do it. No other answer makes sense, other than masochism.
Posted by: Bubba | August 4, 2008 11:16 PM
Hey!
Incorrect Baseball P.C. McCain has on a Cubbies uniform. Obama has on Pirates threads. McCain should be wearing D-Backs red. Obama should be in a non-descript Bat Boy uniform. This guy is neophyte. He DOES NOT have a handle on anything. Freddie NOT Ready.
Posted by: Django S. - Houston Tx | August 4, 2008 11:40 PM
While you guys were mimicking "Wayne's World", Carlene Balderrama shot herself 90 minutes before her house was to be auctioned off so her husband and kids could have the insurance money and a place to live.
This election actually means something to some of us.
Posted by: David K. | August 4, 2008 11:55 PM