September 07, 2008
The candidates and their versions of honesty
Hollywood screenwriter -- and recovering '60s leftist -- Roger L. Simon dismisses the "is Oprah biased in favor of Obama?" with a dismissive, "Duh!" before moving on to something more revealing.
More interesting is the snippet from [Bill] O’Reilly of Obama acknowledging that the Surge was a great success while seemingly not being able to admit that he was wrong about it. You would think it wouldn ‘t be that difficult, but he struggled as if admitting an affair.
Compare that with McCain who in the midst of his acceptance speech, seen by more even than Obama’s, acknowledged to the world that he was broken under the pressure of North Vietnamese torture.
What we have before us is the pretension of honesty (Obama) versus honesty (McCain). In a certain way it relates to the Oprah Show, which has always seemed to me an “as if” production: we are all “open” here, it purports to say. But to paraphrase Orwell, “some people are more open than others.” I suspect the public senses this and, ultimately, knows the difference. We shall see.
It seems to me that at almost any level, when the he turns the campaign into a comparison of the merits of Obama against McCain, or Obama's experience versus Palin's, the Democratic candidate always comes out second best.
Every time the Democratic candidate and his surrogates question Palin's no. 2 spot on the GOP ticket, it calls into question Obama's place on the top of theirs.
But the difference between McCain and Obama is even greater, and the contrast between the lives they've led couldn't be starker.
One man broke under torture, admits it, and has never forgotten what it means to suffer for his country. The other has led a charmed life, floating upwards like a feather on a warm, gentle, honeysuckle-laden summer breeze (why am I reminded of that darn feather from "Forrest Gump"?), somehow always settling on ever-loftier jobs based on nothing more than a ready smile and a glib line of guff.
I was -- and still am -- taken aback by McCain's admission; it's startling, stark and sobering. It's a helluva thing for a man, any man, to admit -- especially when he's running for the presidency.
And it's almost unbearably honest.
Posted by Mike Lief at September 7, 2008 08:13 AM
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