Monday, October 06, 2008

From OJ to Obama

The conviction of O.J. Simpson on charges stemming from his cartoonish effort to steal/reclaim sports memorabilia confirms the saying (usually attributed to Karl Marx) that history repeats itself first as tragedy, then as farce. Simpson’s fans---if there be any remaining---may point to the racial composition of the jury (11 whites, one self-described Hispanic, no African Americans) and the fact that coming into the trial, some of the jurors said they disagreed with Simpson’s acquittal for the murders of his ex-wife and Ronald Goldman. But at least based on what I’ve read, this was a fair trial.

The farce this time was not the trial but the crime itself. Whatever might have been left of Simpson’s credibility after his tasteless effort to write a book about how he would have committed the 1995 murders “if” he had done so, was surely shredded by his participation in this outlandish crime.

The bigger story here, of course, is the fact that there is no story. And that, to my mind, says something about how things have changed since 1995. Although the country and the news media are still susceptible to periodic obsessions with nonsense, we live in a more serious age. Hillary Clinton’s efforts during the primary campaign to instill nostalgia for the 1990s failed in part, I think, because people now recognize that decade as not just a period of peace and prosperity, which it was, but as a time of missed opportunities. While Americans obsessed over OJ and Monica, while they bought bigger and bigger gas guzzlers, al Qaeda gained strength and the planet heated up. Yes, the last 8 years made things immeasurably worse, but they were, in important respects, a continuation of trends of the Clinton years.

Which brings us to Barack Obama, whose promised (and admittedly somewhat empty slogan of) “change” is not simply a change from George W. Bush but from a politics of nonsense to a politics of pragmatic substance. I was initially mystified by the McCain campaign’s latest efforts to demonize Obama as a dangerous radical. Rather than emphasize his real connection to Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Sarah Palin made headlines over the weekend by going after Obama’s tenuous connections to erstwhile Weatherman Bill Ayers. This seems almost certain to fail, not only because it’s mostly bogus, but because most people don’t even recall the Weather Underground, except perhaps via the Bob Dylan lyric from Subterranean Homesick Blues.

The McCain/Palin decision to demonize via Ayers rather than Wright may not last; or it may just be a response to the fear that Americans have heard what they’re going to hear about Wright and made their peace with it; but I suspect that part of what is going on is a pivot away from racial politics. Yes, racial politics will give McCain some racist votes in Appalachia, but he’ll lose more throughout the country by people who see it as the transparent distraction that it is. Thirteen years later, Americans are coming to understand that we can’t afford OJ anymore.

Posted by Mike Dorf

9 comments:

Archaeolaw said...

You asked whether there were Simpson's fans, and I responded, "Oh, yeah, we still exist alright!"

But for that split second, I was thinking about The Simpsons, not the Simpson.

I think the Ayers thing is strategic. I think they are begging the Obama campaign to attack her for her secessionist associations. The McCain campaign antics are getting progressively more annoying, like a child poking another waiting to get a rise out of them. I think they think that if anyone attacks Palin they'll be perceived as mean, women-hating, partisan, jerks. I think that the Obama campaign has also been very careful not to do so.

That's my theory anyway.

Gary said...

I do hope that you're right, and people (particularly the undecided) see it for what it is. I'd like to see some well respected people (including the Democratic governors of Ohio and Virginia) make public statements to the effect of "Have you no sense of decency, [sir]? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?" (The original quote, by Joseph Welch, is worth watching: http://www.poetv.com/video.php?vid=38891)

Anonymous said...

免費A片, ut聊天室, AV女優, 美女視訊, 免費成人影片, 成人論壇, 情色交友, 免費AV, 線上a片, 日本美女寫真集, 同志聊天室, 聊天室交友, 成人文章, 成人圖片區, 色情網站, 辣妹視訊, 美女交友, 微風成人區, 色美媚部落格, 色情影片, 成人影片, 成人網站, 免費A片, 上班族聊天室, A片,H漫, 18成人, a漫, av dvd, 一夜情聊天室, 微風成人, 成人圖片, 成人漫畫, 情色網, 日本A片, 免費A片下載, 性愛, 成人交友, 嘟嘟成人網, 嘟嘟成人網, 成人貼圖, 成人電影, 成人, 中部人聊天室, 080中部人聊天室, 成人貼圖, 成人小說, 成人文章, 成人圖片區, 免費成人影片, 成人遊戲, 微風成人, 愛情公寓, 成人電影, A片, 情色, 情色貼圖, 情色文學, 做愛, 成人遊戲, 成人影城, 色情聊天室, 色情小說, 一葉情貼圖片區, 情色小說, 色情, 寄情築園小遊戲, 色情遊戲, 成人網站, 麗的色遊戲, 色情網站, 成人論壇, 情色視訊, 情色電影, aio交友愛情館, 言情小說, 愛情小說, 色情A片, 情色論壇, 自拍, 癡漢, , 俱樂部, 豆豆聊天室, 聊天室, 色情影片, 視訊聊天室, 免費視訊聊天, 免費視訊, 視訊交友90739 情人視訊網影音視訊聊天室 免費視訊聊天室 視訊聊天 視訊交友 美女視訊 視訊美女 視訊 免費視訊 免費視訊聊天 視訊聊天室 辣妹視訊 一夜情 色情a片 aio交友愛情館 情色電影 情色視訊 色情遊戲 色情 情色小說 一葉情貼圖片區 色情小說 色情聊天室 情色交友 成人論壇 成人網站 色情網站 情色論壇 小高聊天室 女同志聊天室 6K聊天室 080苗栗人聊天室 080聊天室 聊天室尋夢園 UT男同志聊天室 男同志聊天室 尋夢園聊天室 UT聊天室 聊天室 豆豆聊天室 A片 成人電影 成人貼圖 嘟嘟成人網 美女交友 本土自拍 成人交友 成人影片http://ssff01.3b8mm.com/

Unknown said...

賃貸の部屋探しならジョイント・ルームピア!賃貸マンション・賃貸アパートなどの賃貸情報が満載。さらにペット可賃貸・デザイナーズマンションなど多数ご紹介をお探しなら

Unknown said...

合宿 免許
不動産
クレジットカード 現金化
toefl
アフィリエイト
幼児教室
個別指導塾
名刺

Unknown said...

SEO対策(けんさくエンジンさいてきか)とは、ある特定の検索エンジンを対象として検索結果でより上位に現れるようにウェブページを書き換えること。またそ の技術。サーチエンジン最適化とも言われる。英語の "Search Engine Optimization" の頭文字を取ってSEOとも言われる。最適化の対象になる検索エンジンは、Googleであることが多い。これは、海外(特にアメリカ)において Googleのシェアが高いことによる。日本ではYahoo!サーチの利用者が多いため、Yahoo!サーチ対策も重視されている。

Anonymous said...

I always heard something from my neighbor that he sometimes goes to the internet bar to play the game which will use him some gw gold,he usually can win a lot of GuildWars Gold,then he let his friends all have some Guild Wars Gold,his friends thank him very much for introducing them the GuildWars money,they usually cheap gw gold together.

Anonymous said...

酒店喝酒,禮服店,酒店小姐,酒店經紀,制服店,便服店,鋼琴酒吧,兼差,酒店兼差,酒店打工,伴唱小姐,暑假打工,酒店上班,日式酒店,舞廳,ktv酒店,酒店,酒店公關,酒店小姐,理容院,日領,龍亨,學生兼差,酒店兼差,酒店上班,酒店打工,禮服酒店,禮服店 ,酒店小姐,酒店兼差,寒暑假打工,酒店小姐,台北酒店,禮服店 ,酒店小姐,酒店經紀,酒店兼差,寒暑假打工,酒店小姐,台北酒店,禮服店 ,酒店小姐,酒店經紀,酒店兼差,寒暑假打工,酒店小姐,台北酒店,禮服店 ,酒店小姐,酒店經紀,酒店兼差,寒暑假打工,酒店小姐,台北酒店,禮服店 ,酒店小姐,酒店經紀,酒店兼差,寒暑假打工,酒店小姐,台北酒店,禮服店 ,酒店小姐,酒店兼差,寒暑假打工,酒店小姐,台北酒店,禮服店 ,酒店小姐,酒店經紀,酒店兼差,寒暑假打工,酒店小姐,台北酒店,禮服店 ,酒店小姐,酒店經紀,酒店兼差,打工,酒店小姐,台北酒店,禮服店 ,酒店小姐,酒店經紀,酒店兼差,寒暑假打工,酒店小姐,台北酒店,禮服店 ,酒店小姐,酒店經紀,酒店兼差,寒暑假打工,酒店小姐,禮服店 ,酒店小姐,酒店經紀,酒店兼差,寒暑假打工,酒店小姐,禮服店 ,酒店小姐,酒店經紀,酒店兼差,寒暑假打工,酒店小姐,禮服店 ,酒店小姐,酒店經紀,酒店兼差,寒暑假打工,酒店小姐,禮服店 ,酒店小姐,酒店經紀,酒店兼差,寒暑假打工,酒店小姐,禮服店 ,酒店小姐,酒店經紀,酒店兼差,寒暑假打工,酒店小姐,經紀 彩色爆米花,經紀人 彩色爆米花,酒店傳播,酒店經紀 彩色爆米花,爆米花,童裝,童裝拍賣,童裝大盤,童裝寄賣,童裝批貨,酒店,酒店,童裝切貨,酒店,GAP童裝,酒店,酒店 ,禮服店 , 酒店小姐,酒店經紀,酒店兼差,寒暑假打工

Anonymous said...

www.eshooes.com .
www.pumafr.com.
www.myshoess.com.
[url=http://www.pumafr.com]puma shoes[/url]
[url=http://www.eshooes.com]chaussures puma[/url]
[url=http://www.myshoess.com]nike air max ltd[/url]