insulting, debasing, and disempowering

"Chicago Slim's use of a behavioural 'dream team' to manipulate voters is creepy enough. What is worse - much worse - is the subtext of the Time piece: Obama knows best and you, the teaming masses, are stupid. Of course, this is the central experience of Clinton supporters who tried to inject counter points in to the Obama machine.

"YOU ARE STUPID.
YOU ARE RACIST.
YOU ARE UNEDUCATED.
YOU DON'T 'GET' IT.

"The techniques used during the campaign will continue for as long as they are seen to be working.

"They are effective - to a point. Most people do join 'the tribe's' endeavors, whatever they may be. At a certain point people watch American Idol because other people watch American Idol.

"To counter this is the remarkable number of people who simply never "got" Obama. I am one.

"To illustrate: On 3 counts I find the coverage of Chicago Slim suspect.

"1. He did not 'win' the Democratic nomination. He took it. Clinton received more votes and sans the Florida/Michigan DNC coup and the footlicking Obamamedia, she would have won. A majority of Democrats preferred Clinton. That is fact.

"2. In an economic tornado last November Obama only mustered just over half the voters. 47% of us voted for someone else. This is utterly unimpressive when 8 years of Bush and rampant economic fear is taken into account.

"3. Obama's current popularity - at about 60% - is continually reported as 'overwhelming'. It is not. It is to be expected at this point and hardly unique. The near immediate (in political terms) rise of his disapproval ratings is more telling. GOP partisans almost uniformly disapprove and 52% of independents do now as well. He is hovering at 60% by virtue of overwhelming Democratic support. It takes much longer for the most committed to own and admit to buyer's remorse. None of this equates to 'overwhelming' popularity. It equates to 60% of the population thinking he's a 'good guy'. Fewer like what he's doing.

"What interests me is the substantial number who never bit the Obama apple. The behavioral dream team failed on this count - in both the nominating process and the General. Even with his 'white papers' on group behavior he still needed caucus packing and Donna Brazille to shove him over the top. It is not a leap to say if you haven't ingested the kool aid yet, you probably never will.

"Good for you. Keep it up. Everyday those of us who opposed this man are being proven correct."