A cursory survey of the articles shown on news.google.com indicate that every liberal is punching in an editorial on this movie. They are saying some of the darnedest weird things. If I understand them correctly, Obama is responsible for the best movie of the summer. He seems to have created the optimism that forced Paramount to make this new Trek in precisely the way they made it. This new Trek is the spirit of the Liberal Obama on film. If you love the new Star Trek movie, you are a soul-brother of the Liberal Obama.
Wow... He works fast, doesn't that Obama? I think I smell a political cogitation. What a co-inky-dinky? Who woulda thunk they'd have done a strange thing like that? This is very much like John Kerry putting on a Buckeye sweat shirt before appearing at Ohio State University and then a Wolverine cap in Ann Arbor the next day.
Let's face the facts folks. The Democratic party is attempting make a long-term comeback. It was not long ago when the entire world considered the United States to be (by far) the most conservative advanced nation in the world. Most of them still hold this impression of us today. It was not long ago that people were talking about the Democrats becoming a permanent minority party. It was just a scant 9 months ago that Palin... er... McCain was 10 points ahead of Obama in the polls. John only pulled ahead because he picked Sarah. Otherwise his campaign was dead.
Larry King famously asked Bill Clinton the following question in October 2008: "We are in the midst of the biggest financial collapse since the great depression. We have the biggest deficit we have had since World War II. We have the biggest debt ever. We have had 6 years of unpopular war. Why is Obama barely ahead in the polls? Why is this not a done deal? Why is this election not completely over and done already?"
Larry was reffing the very slim lead Obama held in the polls during the month of October. You should have seen the look on Bills face. Boy that was a combo of affects! Terribly embarrassing question there! Bill was humiliated over being forced to grapple this question.
Bill spun a political yarn about how 45% of the people are die-hard Republicans and 45% of the people die-hard Democrats. 10% of the people are die-hard independents who just can't make up their minds. They won't decide until 1 week before the election, if they follow their normal pattern.
With all due respect to the last Republican... er... Democrat to give us 3 straight balanced budgets in a row and 2 with a surplus (and I thank him profusely for this) I have to say that this theory is absolute and complete bullshit. Bill was telling one his famous lies there.
Fact of the matter is about 30% of the population now describes itself as die-hard Democrat. About 29% of the population describes itself as die-hard Republican. That number has shrunk considerably in the past 2 years. I am one of those who left the Republican house. Don't you dare think that makes me a Democrat. Fuck no!
The conclusion is clear. Something on the order 41% of the nation now calls itself independent or 3rd party. They don't like the Republicans. They don't like the Democrats. Most of them are like me in dismissing ideological rhetoric from both parties and watching actual voting behavior. If you do this, you will understand that Republicans vs. Democrats is anything but Liberal vs. Conservative. It is more like Target vs. Walmart. Similar vendors, similar products, similar prices. They pretend a difference. That fantasy is bullshit. It is just the Blue team vs. the Red team. It is like the Rams vs. 49ers: Two formerly great teams who both suck ass today. It makes no sense to describe the Rams as the conservatives and the 49ers to be liberals. That would be foolishness. We simply have two teams competing in a Zero-Sum game. That is all.
The behavior of the electorate in October was an indication that a large majority of the people do not trust the Democratic Party. Although they probably didn't want to support the Republicans, the notion of supporting a Democrat was unpalatable at best. The majority went ahead and did so anyhow. Truth be told, it was a 2 point victory for Obama. That is closer than anybody would care to admit. By the way, I don't think this had anything to do with race. I would like to have voted for Obama on a personal basis. I just don't like his party or their political slant, as mild as that slant might be. Ergo, I stayed home.
The fact that 41% of the voting population of the United States is non-aligned is a deep terror to both Republican and Democrat alike. It has produced unprecedented levels of voter volatility. We now have some unpredictability in the system. It used to be that every congressional seat was safe if occupied. That is not exactly true now. Worse still (from the point of view of the typical asshole in Washington) we have the most fertile conditions in American history for the arrival of a new 3rd party with some serious voter torque in its crankshaft. Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats want that to happen. They have co-constructed an election system which supposed to prevent that from happening. This handiwork may be the only thing preventing a major third part from emerging.
Make no mistake, the Democrats are absolutely thrilled with their new domination of Government. Make no mistake, they feel this is the way things aught to be. Nevertheless, they are terribly insecure about this victory they won in 2008. Given the number and percentage of independents, they know there is great volatility in the system. Their victory next year is uncertain at best. Political capital deposits can evaporate very quickly. You can hit a political liquidity crisis fast in this environment.
For this reason, the Democrats are doing a lot of post-sale evangelism. Under the heading of advanced pop-culture analysis the libs are attempting to sneak some rhetorical black-magic past us. That is why pessimism is now a conservative agenda according to the liberal columnist. That is why the Republicans are now the part of NO! That is why optimism is now a liberal thing. This is why the new Star Trek, destined to be the biggest hit of the summer, is now the very artistic embodiment of the liberal spirit of Obama.
I just wish they would not mis-characterize my Star Trek in the process. One Utopian liberal editorialised the question "Can the peaceful utopia of Star Trek happen in reality?" The presupposition is utterly false. Believe me, there was plenty of combat in Star Trek. The new Trek has Romulan commanders destroying entire worlds with minature black-holes. The Trek universe was not in a constant state of war, but it always seemed on the brink of a war. Many Trek plots have to do with diplomatic attempts to head off war. There were neutral zones like Berlin Walls separating Klingons and Romulans from those of the Federation. They blew each other up often enough.
Frankly, the statements of Star Trek's political optimism, liberality, peacefulness and Utopianism is vastly overstated. It shows how people project their biases upon the objects of their affection. It also shows that a shaky and nervous party will now try to co-opt the movie biggest hit of the summer in an attempt to build a long-term friendship & solidarity with the people.
