Michelle Obama attacked for 'Not loving America'? What about McCain?

[EE-BO]

Originally Posted by jon1856

A gentleman in my gym said something tonight that hit matters on the head. (Too) Many people in the US now just get their news and information by way of sound bits. And they form their POV's based off of those and nothing else.

This is true- and I would argue that explains why so many pundits are talking about whether Michele or McCain are "real Americans" based on juicy tidbits taken out of context (and while I think Obama would be a DISASTER and McCain is an acceptable alternative- this whole thread is funny since the basic argument pits a Presidential candidate against the spouse of another Presidential candidate.)

In the long term, the issue you raise jon- in my opinion anyway- is laziness. We live in a prosperous nation where the citizenry have priorities that are far afield of our basic needs and protections. Americans are not interested in preserving their ability to eat- they are interested in preserving their ability to go shopping at the weekend.

In such an environment, it is very easy for parties to sway votes based on issues like abortion which should not even enter into the realm of governmental interference and also to play the game of "who is a real patriot" (i.e. who is a "real American").

Many ignorant people will fall for that game, and such is the price smart people pay for having to be of the same species as the morons.

I lunched last week with a longtime friend who is an Obama supporter and can make a compelling intellectual argument for supporting him over Hillary or McCain.

Talking to him gave me some hope for the enduring survival of America (no matter who wins in November) since it was the first time I had run into someone who could make a good case for voting for Obama.

But in the meantime, those who hang on media reports will do what they will- and such is life.

Political games based on out-of-context soundbytes suck- but they are driven by demand and not supply. I think it is safe to say that in this era where the political divide in this country is so evenly matched, that meaningless nuances of who said what and when have far more meaning than they should. History bears this out. This is not the first time the nation has been so evenly divided philosophically. That is very comforting when considering that in the near term we might end up with a Commander in Chief who I think would fail miserably.