Invisible Heart, by Russ Roberts of GMU. Here’s a taste:

Suppose you see an ad for anchovy ice cream. The ad promises “It’s delicious!” Convinced? Probably not. You take that word “delicious” with a grain of salt. Actually more than a grain. More like a pound. You realize that the seller of the ice cream is self-interested and just trying to make a sale.

I treat the rhetoric of politicians like ads for anchovy ice cream. Call me a cynic, but I assume they’re trying to make a sale.

So when Obama says on his web site that he’s tired of “divisive ideological politics,” I wonder: what other kind of politics is there? Promising politics without “divisive ideology” is like selling a sure fire way to be a millionaire , working from home using the Internet. Most of us know it’s too good to be true. But Obama is selling like hotcakes even though his promise is just as unrealistic.

We have such a yearning for a candidate with principles and ideals. We like to think our candidate is the good one, it’s the other guy’s favorite who’s the evil opportunist. But they always break our hearts, don’t they? Too many of us, I fear, are living in a fantasy world.

Read National Review articles on Obamasama and hateful wife. Eyeopeners. The presidential races is just that, all about race. Obama will win only because he is a black man. He has little experience and limited knowledge, plus questionable supporters. But he is black and in America that is enough.

A few points lost in the debate:

1) “divisive ideological politics,” I wonder: what other kind of politics is there?—that statement from Roberts is just so wrong it beggars description.

Prior to George Bush, certainly not at the time of Reagan, politics was fairly civil and cordial. It still is in some quarters.

Bi-partisan politics for the good of the whole and for the good of the country, comprimise and non-ideological pragmatic politics is on a wane. If you think it never existed, talk to your elders. Please.

2) If Obama is for “change”, I think few of us are naive enough to believe he can deliver on something that revolutionary, but ALL of us can and should embrace the notion that some change is possible, refreshing, needed, the right way to go.

Unless we think the previous eight years were just peachy, in which case, change would NOT be the right way to go.

By the way, the latest McCain talking points mention some variant of the word change. (if you can’t beat ‘em…)

Change is never bad. It just hurts when those gosh darned libs use the word.

3) Why would anyone assume that this George Mason man (GMU is little more than a rightwing thinktank these days)is not a salesman himself ?

I mean, if you take him literally at his word, that we should be cynical, and that people are trying to sell us anchovy ice cream, why oh why is this man not doing the same to us right now ?

I think he is. By undermining smearing and slandering Obama’s message of change you chip away at him and his base.

If you think real hard, no one ever does, it becomes apparent that what we have here is “dueling snakeoil” (sound of banjos playing in unison). The minute someone, anyone, mentions Iraq or healthcare or the economy, or any other IMPORTANT issue, we might have a different scenario. Don’t hold your breath.

Anybody that bob disagrees with is ranting. He has a list of words and phrases that he likes to try and work into every post like “christian confederate, McCarthy, Nazi…“ the usual stuff.

I’d say on Kennedy..yes. Ted kennedy is a left wing elitist, and a coward…and a drunken society brat. There’s nothing in Webbs history that would lead me to believe…oh wait…didn’t Webb vote for abolishing the secret ballot in union elections? I guess in some circles having a goon look over your shoulder while you vote (correctly, or else) is considered way cool progressive democracy.

Not that any of these guys are relevant to my point. Obamas associations PRIOR to his run for president are the true indicator of character and philosophy. As far as I know, McCain never funneled money to the church of Fred ‘God Hates Fags’ Phelps”. He didn’t attend the Christian Identity Church for 20 years (swastika???golly…I thunked it was a swirly cross!)and I don’t think he ever attended a fund raiser or had dinner with the McVeighs.

He did get endorsed by some marginal televangalists but, thats really no different than Obama getting endorsed by the New Black Panther Party, Hamas or the World Workers Party.

Mr. Powell
I have long suspected that posters sometimes do not actually read the posts that they respond to. It seems to be agreed that ALL politicians, viewed from an adult point of view are as the author states looking to “make a sale.“ Mr. Powell you are simply parroting his basic premise by claiming that you “always know that you are voting for the lesser of two evils. You made that point moot.And on that same track, Mr. Rove did indeed spin Mr. Bush, and very well too. The media are all guilty of their biases. The point is that we all know that and have to choose our poison accordingly. It seems that Fox would not be your choice. I apologize if I appeared to “rant.“ That certainly was not my intention. I am not even sure I know what the term means. It conjures up pictures of very angry individuals not quite in control of their faculties. “To utter in a bombastic declamatory fashion.“ That sounds positively alarming. And I thought all I was doing was offering an opinion!

Speak for your selves. I am always aware that I am voting for the lesser of two evils. This is a two party system, one party more than a one party system.

  And in the tradition of Ann Coulter and Joe McCarthy : “All of his friends are extremist hate mongers and totalatarian leftists ... “ . Actually if you interject the word rightists, you could get a left wing R. Smith.
  So, all of Obamas friends are totalatarians ... Does that include Ted Kennedy, Jim Webb and a host of other mainline liberals who have endorsed him ?
Cutesy cheap shot.
  “... a fantasy world intentionally constructed by a maliginant and dishonest media “. Is that Fox News or Air America who is dishobest or both ?  Oh, that s right, Fox is fai and balanced.
  Then the next rant by Greta about how Axelrod is spinning Obama. Sounds like the Democrats demonizing Karl Rove.
  That is what is frustrating about American politics. Two parties like two big ends. Just change the names and its the same old charges and counter charges.
  As to the third parties, most of them are even crazier than the Dems and repo men.

I think that the biggest problem is the historical naivete of the American voting public. The historical insistence that our politicians always wear the white hats and like Caesar’s wife be “above suspicion.“ There is no excuse in this day and age of instant information to blindly follow a partisan path to the voting booth. The new young voters who think that Mr. Obama hung the moon can be forgiven. The vision of “change” is appealing to the young and inexperienced who will have to live through a few more administrations to see that there is rarely any such thing.
But the mature voter has no such excuse. Information is power and it is all there for the gathering. Of course Mr. McCain is a seasoned politician and has plenty of warts to show for his years in the “business.“ Mrs. Clinton practically ran her campaign on the “imperfect just like you” platform. But per usual the public has seized on the implausible, unbelivable, empty suit Mr. Obama because he is being packaged and promoted as the ultimate pawn in a chess game in which the American voter refuses to learn the rules. I encourage all our good citizens to do your homework. Intelligent citizens armed with the same information are wont to come to different conclusions. And that is the way it should be. See Mr. Hinkle’s signature quote.

Promising politics without ideology is like promising energy independence while refusing to use our own enery resources.

Obama is quite a BS artist though, I’ll give him that much. Even though theres absolutely nothing in his history that would lead a rational person to believe he’s interested in playing with others, people still blindly idolize him. All of his friends and associates are extremist hate mongers and totalitarian leftists, the worst sort of filth our society has to offer yet, dull eyed sycophants ignore the obvious the same way little old ladies ignored their favorite tv preachers mansion when they wrote those weekly checks.

I think a large part of it is that the media who intentionally set out to distroy Bush are now pumping Obama up using the same unethical and corrupt misinformation tactics that have come to define modern mass media.

So the writer is right. Too many do live in a fantasy world…a fantasy world intentionally constructed by a dishonest and malignant media.

Mr. Roberts, thank you. I could not agree with you more. I state up front that I am not a cynic,just a pragmatist of a certain age who has seen many politicians and administrations come and go and still manages to admire and respect our splendid country. Your wise assessment that all politicians are akin to snake oil salesmen is right on target. All of them. We end up choosing what we consider the better elixir mixer.
David Axelrod is that champion chemist this year. He is a specialist in manufacturing the “personality politician. His campaigns are hitched to personalities rather than ideologies. His first major coup was getting the young Deval Patrick elected to the governorship of Mass. The similiarities in speeches and the rallying cry of “Yes we can” in Patrick and Obama’s campaigns are an Axelrod signature. Obama however provided the personal perfect storm of opportunity. Right time, right place.A few legitimate scandals to sweep opponents out of the way especially in the Senate race in 1994. A no paper trail
voting record and Rooseveltian rhetorical prowess. An attractive personable black man with a lovely little family. And conveniently, a jaded citizenry, sick to death of 16 years of the same old faces in the White House. Mr. Obama was made to David Axelrod’s order of one from column A. He has been cooked and seasoned and served up with signature Axelrod socialist sauce. Spinkled with George Soros money he is a dish best tasted cold when the wispy aroma of something new and fresh has left the air and the same old kitchen smells reminds one that this probably yesterdays hash tarted up with a little extra gravy courtesy of the Snobosphere.

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