Victor Davis Hanson comments on a pattern of blaming America exhibited by none other than the hopey-changey one himself. Hanson finds it less than inspiring.
Aside from the silliness of these statements, the problem for Obama, again, is that incrementally they really do start to add up—America's "tragic history," the mini-sermon on decline to the 7-year-old, waffling exegesis to Rick Warren about our own evil, the confessions to the cheering Berliners about our transgressions—and these doubts are enhanced rather than ameliorated by Michelle Obama's various rantings, and the creepy things former associates like Ayers, Wright, and Pfleger have said about America and its culture. Some disinterested observer from Mars might adduce that the Obamas at this point can't help it, since the 'everybody believes it' anti-American message they absorbed was of long duration and reinforced where they went to school, where they worshiped, and where they worked.
Hanson calls it Pavlovian, a knee-jerk response from Obama. I'd point out that Obama reveals his inexperience with things like this. Obviously, he has a real problem with the country he wants to lead and is unable to control his criticism. Regular voters - not the flying squads of true believers - will decide this election. Continuing to pander to the beliefs of the fringe left is not going to play well with the vital center.
So, by all means, Barack, carry on.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released its long-awaited analysis of what happened to World Trade Center 7 on 9/11/2001. The troofers (including Rosie "Unemployed" O'Donnell) have long theorized that fire could not have brought the building down. The NIST begs to differ. Fire did, indeed, bring the building down. That opens up some rel concerns since many tall buildings may be inadequately designed to handle fires without suffering structural failure.
Today's report confirms that a fire was, indeed, the cause. "This is the first time that we are aware of, that a building taller than about 15 stories has collapsed primarily due to fires," Sunder told reporters at the press conference. "What we found was that uncontrolled building fires—similar to fires experienced in other tall buildings—caused an extraordinary event, the collapse of WTC7." The unprecedented nature of the event means that understanding the precise mechanism of the collapse is important not just to answer conspiracy theorists' questions, but to improve safety standards in the engineering of large buildings.
The final report describes how debris from the collapse of WTC 1 ignited fires on at least 10 floors of WTC 7 at the western half of the south face. Fires on Floors 7 through 9 and 11 through 13 burned out of control, because the water supply to the automatic sprinkler system had failed. The primary and backup water supply to the sprinkler systems for the lower floors relied on the city's water supply. Those water lines were damaged by the collapse of WTC 1 and 2. These uncontrolled fires in WTC 7 eventually spread to the northeast part of the building, where the collapse began.
After 7 hours of uncontrolled fires, a steel girder on Floor 13 lost its connection to one of the 81 columns supporting the building. Floor 13 collapsed, beginning a cascade of floor failures to Floor 5. Column 79, no longer supported by a girder, buckled, triggering a rapid succession of structural failures that moved from east to west. All 23 central columns, followed by the exterior columns, failed in what's known as a "progressive collapse"—that is, local damage that spreads from one structural element to another, eventually resulting in the collapse of the entire structure.
As the report points out, joints in these buildings are designed to resist the downward pull of gravity, not the lateral stress of a structural member expanding rapidly in a hot fire. Popular Mechanics continues to do yeoman's work slapping down the troofers with hard facts.
Found via Neptunus Lex.
Barack Obama's big plan to announce his VP choice via text message has brought out the mischievous in some people. A large number of people report receiving fake text messages announcing false names. There is little chance that things will get any better in the next few hours until the "big moment." So, by then, many people will pay no attention to the real announcement.
CHESAPEAKE, Va. – By the time Barack Obama is ready to announce his vice presidential pick, will anyone believe him?
In recent days, as speculation and anticipation has mounted, so too have phony text messages declaring Obama’s supposed running mate – from Evan Bayh and Hillary Rodham Clinton to Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps.
It’s a cruel twist in a prolonged game of guessing that has put political junkies and Democratic supporters on edge since the campaign announced last week that it would disclose Obama’s choice through text messaging, which is expected to happen by Saturday.
In the absence of real information, pranksters have filled the gap with guidance from the website Wonkette – and maybe Howard Stern, too.
What gets me about this story is that nobody in the Gang Who Couldn't Shoot Straight - er - the Obama Campaign - saw this coming? Really? Nobody? In the attempt to look young and hip, they end up looking inept and clueless. Nicely done, folks.
It seems there are some interesting ties between Michelle Obama's employer and the Barack Obama campaign. The Washington Post reports:
Michelle Obama, an executive at the medical center, launched an innovative program to steer the patients to existing neighborhood clinics to deal with their health needs.
That effort, in time, inspired a broader program the hospital now calls its Urban Health Initiative. To ensure community support, Michelle Obama and others in late 2006 recommended that the hospital hire the firm of David Axelrod, who a few months later became the chief strategist for Barack Obama's presidential campaign.
Axelrod's firm recommended an aggressive promotional effort modeled on a political campaign — appoint a campaign manager, conduct focus groups, target messages to specific constituencies, then recruit religious leaders and other third-party "validators." They, in turn, would write and submit opinion pieces to Chicago publications.
One key recommendation from Axelrod's firm: "Respond quickly to opposition activity."
The medical center's initiative provides a window into the close relationship between the Obamas, their associates at the University of Chicago and Axelrod, the strategist most central to Barack Obama's rise. It also illustrates how that circle, and particularly Michelle, dealt with an intractable social problem that confronts many urban areas: How much care should large, nonprofit hospitals offer the poor in return for tax-exempt status?
This is interesting on a couple of levels. In a way it is just typical Chicago politics, where contracts are routinely steered to political supporters. In another, it gives a lot of insight into how Axelrod thinks politically: Astroturfing beats grassroots. Neither Michelle Obama or Axelrod would comment about this article as it was being written. Also a hallmark of Chicago-style political business ties. Read the whole thing.
Where's the changey-hopeyness? It isn't apparent in this deal. It also isn't apparent that the netroots understand that they are being cynically manipulated as part of a (well) paid political consultant's expressed strategy.
Politics | Gaius Friday, 22 August , 2008 | 
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