For a number of reasons that I may discuss in the next few months, I've been thinking about reviving the old Reality World blog. Fortunately my old URL is still available so my sister wouldn't need to change the link from her page. I haven't decided for sure yet if I'll be maintaining this blog over the long haul, but I've re-established this page as a placeholder just in case.
Now let's see how long it takes before my sister finds out about this.
Oh yeah, I forgot to say in my old blog that I did in fact set up a blog for American Idol, even after telling my Mom twice that I hadn't (so in a way this post is sort of a confession). It's the reason for the change in my nom de plume and profile in case you were wondering, or at least paying attention. The Idol blog actually got some attention from blogged.com, which rated it the 13th best American Idol blog on the Net. Pretty sweet, huh. Regardless of whether or not I post anything here The Armchair Idol Judge will be the home of my Idol recap posts again next season.
I also want to take this opportunity to replay a post from the old blog, published on February 7, 2007:
Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce to you the man that the vast yet wacky Right Wing Conspiracy fears more than anyone else, the junior senator from the state of Illinois, Barack Obama.
OK, I was mostly looking for a reason to post another You Tube video (I sooo love DSL), but I've noticed that there have been a lot of outrageous and untruthful claims made against Barack Obama by the likes of Fox News and right wing talk show hosts. There was the claim by Fox News and the Washington Times that Obama went to a Muslim extremist school in Indonesia, which turned out to be a public school. It's only a Muslim school because, well, most of the people in Indonesia are Muslim (I've been there, so I know). Then there are those like Rush Limbaugh who claim that Obama is hiding his "Muslim heritage" and have taken to calling him "Barack Osama", even though Obama admits in his book (which I've read and I'm assuming they haven't) that his stepfather was in fact Muslim. I even heard someone claim on another right-wing radio show that Obama led a anti-Vietnam student protest at the University of Hawaii in 1969. Only problem is, Obama was 8 years old in 1969 (a small fact that the host didn't bother to mention, or maybe they think he's really, really smart). You don't hear these type of claims about any of the other Democrat candidates, even Hillary, and I think it's because they are afraid of him and his candidacy for President more than any of the others.
Why do they fear him so much? For one, they have nothing on him. The conservatives have so much baggage on Hillary that they can tie her up at airport security for hours. John Edwards? A trial lawyer, a loser to Kerry, an empty suit, plenty of ammo for the gun loving right wingers. And the rest of the Democrat candidates are either unknown or have no chance to win (though I wouldn't be surprised to see Gov. Bill Richardson become a factor before all is said and done. He's my dark horse, long shot, "what the hell" bet right now). Obama is entering the campaign plane with just a carry-on, hardly enough to do a "Monkey Business/Willie Horton/Swift Boat Veteran" style attack on him with any degree of credibility.
Second, Barack Obama doesn't have to try and explain away that ball and chain known as Iraq that is tied to the legs of Clinton, Edwards, and most of the other candidates (including the GOP ones). Obama doesn't have to claim that he was "for it before he was against it" and other such nonsense that made John Kerry look so wishy-washy. Look at the other candidates, especially Edwards, try and use Iraq as the prime message of their campaign, probably because that's what their handlers are telling them to do. It's pathetic in a way. It's also so 2004. Howard Dean tried that and look where it got him. YEEEEHAWW! Obama just says that we need to pull out of Iraq and that's that. No screaming. No yelling. Just simple matter of fact statements. Even if you disagree with his position the way he presents it almost demands some degree of respect.
In fact, Obama hardly ever screams and yells at all, which is another reason why the right wingers fear him. His speeches are not filled with the hatred for Bush, Chaney, Iraq, and the GOP that dominates the thinking of most of the other so-called "progressives". Even though Obama is very much an old-school liberal his primary message is that the Democrats need to work together with the Republicans rather than throw them into a fiery grave like Cindy Sheehan and her friends want to do. The neo-cons have been able to use all this bile and hatred for their own gain by making the liberals look like angry, babbling fools. They can't do that with Barack though.
Finally, and maybe most importantly, Obama is the first Democrat who has some credibility when he talks about morality. For years the Democrats have watched with envy in their eyes the way that the Republicans have been able to appeal to Christian voters. The Dems have tried to do the same, mostly by claiming that poverty is immoral, but it's been coming across as fake, phony, and pandering for votes. Obama, however, has been able to talk the talk and sound genuine in the process, perhaps because he was talking like this before he became the junior senator from Illinois. He may be the first Democrat that can walk into a conservative Christian church, the heart of the Republican base, and walk out with at least a few vote pledges. Not even John McCain has been able to pull that off.
Mind you, unlike my sister who appears ready to marry the guy, I'm not ready to cast my vote for him. I need to know where he stands on the issues and whether or not he'll help make me richer and happier (because let's face it, isn't that all we really care about?). I will say this, though, the fact that the whackos on the right seem to fear him so much leads me to think that there may be something to this fellow.
So now the Democratic Party has a decision to make. Do they back the one that they've lusted after for years (the junior senator from New York), or do they back the "safe" choice (such as the former senator from North Carolina), or do they back the guy that their opponents fear the most? Some conservatives, like Dennis Miller, are already claiming that Obama should give up his aspirations for President before he gets eaten by the Clinton machine. I wonder, though, how much of this is wishful thinking?
Just call me the Reality Prophet, well except perhaps for the part about Bill Richardson and the part about my sister marrying the guy, though I know that she did vote for him. And yes, before you ask, I did too.
Finally, I heard these words from former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz on Saturday that I thought were extremely profound and worthy of sharing:
"Even if you manage to win the rat race, remember that you are still a rat."
To be continued?
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