alternative hippopotamus

Where’s My *&^% Martini

6 Responses to “Where’s My *&^% Martini”

1. Vast Left Says:
   November 25th, 2008 at 11:45 pm

   A false choice, my dearest Hope Officer. In your world, there is only Bush’s Third Term or uncritical acceptance of whatever else is on the menu. Arguably, that’s what we were left with on election day, but only because progressives (many of whom are now shocked to discover that Obama isn’t a liberal) were asleep at the switch.

   If progressives hadn’t gone goo-goo-eyed for one candidate and asked him for nothing, they’d have had leverage and would have gotten more framing support (like Repubs got from Reagan and every Repub since), firmer policy promises, and a more left-leaning Cabinet.

   Instead, any and all criticism was deemed disloyal, racist, or what-have-you, so there was only one person to vote for, and zero incentive for him to offer progressives anything other than what he damn well feels like serving them.

2. AltHippo Says:
   November 26th, 2008 at 1:48 am

   We all try to refrain from false choices. Are you sure you have the choices right? In my world there was the prospect of a third Bush/McCain term or a reasonable and rational Democrat who was likely to enact things that I was in favor of, and unlikely to enact things I was against. The folks I knew were deeply critical of Obama’s FISA vote, but understood that this election was a contest between two opponents. The grassroots groups I work most closely with were also pretty clear about this.

   Now, as your Hope Officer I can hear that you want to feel on firm ground when you criticize the president-elect. Fear not! The era of the Bushies is coming to a close thanks to the efforts of those who actually campaigned for the president-elect. You can now criticize any one you want, just like it was like before January 2001, and not be afraid of losing your job.

   A different question, one that you may be concerned with, is how can I get my critique taken seriously? What can one do to avoid the perception that they’ve jumped the shark? How is it that OpenLeft.com is seen in a different way from CorrenteWire.com?

   That’s a bigger discussion, of course. As your Hope Officer, I will let you in on this secret: the folks at OpenLeft have made a point of helping other progressives. And for this, people like myself are deeply grateful. When you help others, they look at you in a different way than when you use terms like Obot, Kool Aid drinker, The Cult, The One, etc., on a regular basis. And, by helping others, I do mean in person, and physically, not helping in some internet sense of the word.

   That would be the principal issue that I would lay before you for consideration. Secondarily, there is the issue of predictability. Let’s take an example. If Obama sneezes, is CorrenteWire likely to post about how his sneezing shows that Hillary Clinton was a better choice in the primary? Or how his sneeze shows that he’s a fraud and a sell-out? Or, how his sneeze prematurely proves somebody-or-other correct?

   As your Hope Officer I would hope (my role, after all) that no one makes these assumptions about your blog, of which I know you are devoted. At the same time I hope you understand why they might.

3. Vast Left Says:
   November 26th, 2008 at 12:43 pm

   Mr. Hope Officer, sir! (Or Ms. Hope Officer, ma’am, as the case may be)

   I care a whole hell of a lot more about whether Corrente is right than about how it’s “seen,” though we are duly apologetic for having been prematurely correct that Obama isn’t a committed progressive and that progressives have very limited leverage over him (I would have said “zero leverage,” but the Brennan affair is a promising development).

   As I see it, we’re not in the business of currying favor in the high school that is the blogosphere. Our ideas and opinions stand up or they don’t. We speak snark to bullshit. When it’s the Kewl Kidz’ bullshit, that’s not the path to Prom Queen. Oh, well.

   We’re also one of the most liberal, so to speak, blogs in terms of guest-posting policy. We don’t write with one voice, but we surely did become one of the few places where people who were blown off or thrown of most other blogs could come and write, if they were so inclined, critically of Obama and the STFU dynamics that poisoned PB1.0. They were also able to post favorably about Obama, if they could stand to hear the critiques of a generally skeptical house — and few were. So, in that sense, we’ve been predictable, yes. We’ve predictably tried to fill the massive gap of skepticism about hopey-changey-charismatic transformation.

   We’re more popular than some blogs (such as yours), and less popular than others (such as OpenLeft, a site founded by celebrity bloggers, not that there’s anything wrong with that — it’s grown into one of my must-read sites).

   What do you judge your own writing on, Officer Hopo-Hippo? Technorati ranking and favor among the A-listers or the integrity, boldness, and timeliness of what you write? Whatever floats your boat.

   As to sneezing, that’s not our concern. But Mr. Obama certainly blows his nose like no other:
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHe46Y8xGPQ

4. lambert strether Says:
   November 26th, 2008 at 4:12 pm

   AltHippo writes:

   I’m aware that some of us have been combing the blogosphere to verify their theory that Obama is really a closet Republican.

   However, the passage from Clemons quoted in the post reads:

   “A senior Obama campaign official shared with The Washington Note that In July 2008, the McCain and Obama camps began to work secretly behind the scenes to assemble large rosters of potential personnel for the administration that only one of the candidates would lead.

   Lists comprised of Democrats and Republicans were assembled, sorted into areas of policy expertise, so that the roster could be called on after the election by either the Obama or McCain transition teams.”

   And when you read that quote, you’ll see why — and work with me, here, because I’m going to let you in on a secret technique I’ve often found useful when reading blogs — the subject line of the post reads “Just in case you thought there were two parties…” That is — to spell this out — the point of the post is not that Obama is a “closet Republican,” as AltHippo would have it, but that the distinctions between the two parties are increasingly distinctions without a difference. (Which is what “unity,” and the Democratic platform, are all about, after all.)

   Is it too much to ask that my Hope Officer be “aware” of what I actually write? I’d hate to be one of the “people” who get a fist in the mouth or a dead fish in the mail, based on a careless reading.

5. Kevin K. Says:
   November 27th, 2008 at 10:37 am

   If you squint it kinda looks like the Bizarro World versions of Jeff Goldstein and Dan Collins.

6. AltHippo Says:
   December 3rd, 2008 at 1:37 am

   “If you squint it kinda looks like the Bizarro World versions of Jeff Goldstein and Dan Collins.”

   I had to look Dan Collins up, but this is a concise analysis of the current state of the part of the blogosphere of which corrente belongs.

   To paraphrase the Collins website: “Pleez Help. My Cartoonist is not funny.”

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