Friday, November 27, 2009

Opinion

Robert Schlesinger

The Obama and Cheney Speeches: The Left Is From Vulcan, the Right Is From Mars

May 22, 2009 11:00 AM ET | Robert Schlesinger | Permanent Link | Print

By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Upon reflection, another thing strikes me about the Obama-Cheney face-off, or rather its interpretation. There is a mirror-universe quality to the partisan reactions to the two speeches—perhaps not surprisingly, but still quite strikingly. If you are a consumer of conservative blogs, Cheney was "a grownup," "sober," a projector of "gravitas" ... you get the idea. Obama, by contrast, is the callow, dilettante law school professor too busy campaigning to grasp the grownup, sober, grave nature of the presidency and the threat we face. It was "a mismatch."

If you're touring the lefty side of the blogosphere, the battle between them seems quite different. Obama was "characteristically thoughtful and elegant," Cheney was "completely illogical ... a complete moral simpleton." In short, "it wasn't even close."

Perhaps to distinguish which universe one is in when reading such reactions, Obama should be pictured on all conservative sites with a mirror-universe goatee, Spock-style, while Dick Cheney should be pictured on all liberal sites caressing a white cat.

And for a straight laugh, enjoy Cheneyku.

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Tags: speeches | Barack Obama | Dick Cheney

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Obama/Cheney

There is a world of difference in being a bloviating, self-righteous, left-liberal critic on the campaign trail and someone who actually has to make difficult decisions in the real world. Obama is rapidly discovering that talk (no matter how eloquent) is cheap; real change is hard.

the vulcan

I believe Obama comes from the snake oilers of the 1860s'

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Robert Schlesinger is a deputy editor at U.S. News and World Report and oversees all opinion editorial content. He is the author of White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters.

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