what are barack obama's flaws?

Mark S, it's a total truism that if a person gets fired from a job, it's usually for something the employer vocally deemed an asset when hiring. 'We like your individuality' becomes 'you're too individual'.

Dreams From My Father is not just 'even better', it's absolutely fucking stupendous:

"My mother laughed once more, and once again I saw her as the child she had been. Except this time I saw something else: in her smiling, slightly puzzled face, I saw what all children must see at some point if they are to grow up - their parents' lives revealed to them as separate and apart, reaching out beyond the point of their union or the birth of a child, lives unfurling back to grandparents, great-grandparents, an infinite number of chance meetings, misunderstandings, projected hopes, limited circumstances. My mother was that girl with the movie of beautiful black people in her head, flattered by my father's attention, confused and alone, trying to break out of the grip of her own parents' lives. The innocence she carried that day, waiting for my father, had been tinged with misconceptions, her own needs. But it was a guileless need, one without self-consciousness, and perhaps that's how any love begins, impulses and cloudy images that allow us to break across our solitude, and then, if we're lucky, are finally transformed into something firmer. What I heard from my mother that day, speaking about my father, was something I suspect most Americans will never hear from the lips of those of another race, and so cannot be expected to believe might exist between black and white: the love of someone who knows your life in the round, a love that will survive disappointment. She saw my father as everyone hopes at least one other person might see him, she had tried to help the child who never knew him see him in the same way. And it was the look on her face that day that I would remember when a few months later I called to tell her that my father had died and heard her cry out over the distance."

usually a total truism <--- this the level of certainty we are aiming at

i <3 obama but theres some soft bigotry of lowered expectations shit going on with his writing 4real - its ok but not ABSOLUTELY FUCKING STUPENDOUS

though im reasonably sure its "pretty good for a politician" expectations not "pretty good for a black dude"

It's excellent for a pol, and let's note that through Woodrow Wilson most presidential candidates wrote at this level.

"very good for a politician" more like....

"pretty good" for a literary memoir I guess

xpost

better than JFK's war-hero memoirs that that guy ghostwrote YES
better than ulysses s. grant memoirs NO WAY d00d
better than six crises <--- u&k

(disclaimer : ok i have read none of these tho the kennedy book was read out as excerpts in school assemby for abt 12 million millennia when i was like 9)

This sounds like a great poll - RATE PRESIDENTS AS WRITERS.

(the Grant memoirs are excellent, but I get bored when he describes battles, troop formations, etc)

admittedly jfk memoir = like "acka-acka! neeeow! crash! splash! we are on a raft w.sharks circling oh noes!" but even so GET THE FUCK ON WITH IT MR PRESIDENT

haha jfk's favourite books
1: the rouge et le noir
2: from russia with love

I CALL BULLSHIT ON THIS LIST ALREADY

amazingly i have never read six crises, though i did slog thru lbj's incredibly boring THE VANTAGE POINT

haha in Caro's biography he notes how LBJ, recovering after his 1955 heart attack, ordered Lady Bird to leave books and journals strewn all over the Texas ranch to give journalists the impression that he read and "thought deeply."

and mcgovern's autobio which is folksy & charming

probly should get around to the grant book one of these days

morbs, fyi, 'stalwart' is an adjective. you're probably referring to O's statement that Israel is a 'stalwart ally' of the US, but maybe you intended to refer to his statement that Israel's security is 'sacrosanct'.

box 13!

caro's biography = is lbj actually president yet (as per the published volumes)? is caro still even alive?

xpost Ethan, I'm really glad you clarified that, but if you haven't read DWMF, you really aren't in a place to say whether it's WHOA INCREDIBLE or not. I stand by my opinion.

Mark, Master of the Senate ends with LBJ as veep, chastened and chomping at the bit.

ethan, fyi, the praise for Obama's (first) book, at least outside of ilx, is for the self-knowledge it exhibits more than the writing (tho people think that's pretty good too)

though im reasonably sure its "pretty good for a politician" expectations not "pretty good for a black dude"

you think?

All of you that are dissing Dave and his band, obviously haven't given him a chance. Actually try to listen to them then you may discover that they aren't bad. Dont judge them without knowing what they are all about. They are making millions and usually boring music doesn't do that. The reason for that is because they are great musicians. I love all kinds of music so dont even try judging the fans either. You dont know them or me you have no right to say stuff about us. Sure some of you may be offended about his one line "hike up your skirt a little more and show the world to me" come on its not nearly as bad as half the rap that is played twice or sometimes 3 times as much as what Dave gets played on the radio.

-- Kara, Friday, June 6, 2003 11:51 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark Link

caro is the brigadier pudding of actual real reality

"not nearly as bad as half the rap that is played twice" <-- you do the math!

What I heard from my mother that day, speaking about my father, was something I suspect most Americans will never hear from the lips of those of another race, and so cannot be expected to believe might exist between black and white

you don't need to have read the whole book to know that this could have used some tightening

The Caro Biography of LBJ does seem a bit liek a Hawkwind boxset with every outtake, bootleg and demo thrown in published in the form of a partwork.

"More of his penis went turgid" <-- tightening

The idea of LBJ ripped on acid and wailing at the top of his lungs...is more Texan than I realized.

when people praise the language in Obama's (first) book, they may be referring more to the interweaving of narrative and themes and ability to evoke thoughts and feelings than the tautness of the sentences

LEAVE MAH PECKER OUT OF THIS

http://www.archives.gov/press/press-kits/picturing-the-century-photos/images/lbj-and-richard-russell.jpg

tautness is all politics: gettysburg address = 243 words long <--- this is the mark we are huntin

"Unintentionally Homoerotic Oval Office Imagery"

haha "tautness is all IN politics"

(it is apparently possible to be too compressed!)

"Unintentionally" <--- OO I SO DON'T THINK

Yeah oh LBJ big proponent of 'accidentally' showing cock to underline alphadawg status, amirite?

yes "the vantage point" = lbj givin orders while takin shit w.door open

also: "better inside the tent pissing out than outside pissing in"

also also:
LBJ: "say he had carnal knowledge of his hog herd"
minion: "wah boss we can't call him 1 x pigfucker"*
LBJ: "i wanna hear him deny it"

(*root of neverstarted lester bangs project-title "a history of pig-fucking" and hence proto-noize alt-rock strand pigfuck)

lbj wz punk

The Audacity of Pig Fucking

APFestival

yea ohb's flaw will turn out to be that this is NOT the secret title

flaw 2: his pastor was not samuel delany :(

Teh visions that inspires, Mark.

"I'd like to read from Neveryona, chapter 2..."

hogg is what put him in mind :/

is there like a secret cult of lbj I didn't know about

I'd say you stumbled into it. Now show us your pecker.

or yr surgery scar.

someone plz show gobbknob how to recognize adjectives.

Hmm, here I was thinking the 'surgery scar' was a placeholder for Lyndon Baines' Jewels.

http://jeff.pasleybrothers.com/images/LBJ_scar.jpg

you say subtext i say domtext

you say subtext i say domtext

YOU ARE A GOLDEN GOD

lincoln = greatest american writer (gore vidal once said this, and i kinda sorta believe it).

i read one of nixon's books years and years ago and all i remember is the incredibly hilarious chapter where he tries to explain watergate and there's like 5,000 paragraphs in a row that all begin like "the most foolish misunderstanding about watergate was...", "the most ridiculous assertion about watergate was...", "the most ironic charge about watergate was..."

hey, i was there, maaaan

In the Arena's got a photo of Nixon writing a speech, arm of his glasses in his mouth. The caption: "Even writing one line takes hours of concentrated thought."

in the arena! i think that was it.