Jezebel 
Enter your username and password.
-
posts about #garywills more → 
Joan Didion Is Kind Of A Downer About The Election
New York, 3:56 AM
Fri Dec 11
66 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip your editors:
Editor-in-Chief:
Anna Holmes
| Twitter
Deputy Editor:
Dodai Stewart
| Twitter
Senior Contributing Editor:
Tracie Egan
| Twitter
Contributing Editors:
Anna North
| Twitter
Sadie Stein
| Twitter
Reporter:
Irin Carmon
| Twitter
Editorial Assistant:
Margaret Hartmann
| Twitter
Contributors:
Rich Juzwiak
Email | Twitter
Latoya Peterson
Email
Jenna Sauers
Lizzie Skurnick
Interns:
Katy Kelleher
Twitter
Weekends/Commenter Moderator:
Hortense
| Twitter
| posts about #garywills more → |
Joan Didion Is Kind Of A Downer About The Election |
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
11/12/08
Really?
When it was such a widely unchallenged premise in our media and elsewhere that to be a Muslim is to be inherently unworthy, a threat, a deviant?
Many stepped up to point out that Obama is not a Muslim. How many stepped up to say the faith of countless millions, here in America and across the world, shouldn't be treated as a slur?
11/11/08
Also: the 60s. The 60s? Hm. Yes, you had Ayers, but I don't recall the 60s being evoked in this election anywhere near as much as it was 1992 when you had an Actual Sixties Dude and his Actual Sixties Wife taking the national stage. And oy, "partisanism as consumerism." I cannot think of an emptier phrase--it's almost Friedman-worthy.
Yeah, I voted for him. And yeah, I've tried very hard to keep my hopes in check, as seems reasonable.
11/11/08
11/11/08
11/12/08
11/11/08
Sunstein described Obama as a visionary minimalist, an idea I was really taken with, and one Didion would like as well.
11/12/08
11/12/08
I heard her speak at Stanford about her book on Sergio Viera de Mello, who is/was one of my heroes. The first 20 minutes of her talk were about Samantha Power. Wasn't there for that, sweetie.
11/11/08
11/11/08
I think she's right about Obama and does him a service by pointing it out. He's already pissing off liberals by choosing not to go after Lieberman. There's a lot of work to be done and getting it done isn't going to be easy nor a vindication of one side (we libs) over the other.
11/11/08
Cause really, we have no idea what goes on behind closed doors. He might've groveled already. Or he might've been like 'I'm sorry, Barack, but the people spoke, they liked you better, so I'll help you.'
Who knows, really?
We can't start armchair quarterbacking when he's only made one press conference, which went rather well in and of itself.
11/11/08
11/11/08
11/11/08
11/11/08
Obama may be great but can he catch us before we hit the rocks?
11/11/08
A president can help but we need to calm our consumerist itch too.
11/12/08
11/12/08
11/11/08
11/11/08
Part of what got us into a mess was people blindly following Bush and expecting him to save us all after September 11th. Now everyone is blindly following Obama and expecting him to save us all after Bush. I may adore Obama but I can never blindly follow any political leader.
Always always always question your leaders. Blind faith is for religion, not politics.
11/11/08
11/11/08
And she's so lovely... she looks like a little fragile bird to me.
11/11/08
11/11/08
I don't know Didion well, but The Year of Magical Thinking was incredible in its weirdly distanced pain.
She's right and he's said it himself. We have to get real about what one man, in a a three-branch government, in a society that took years to go downhill, can accomplish.
He's not going to magically fix the economy, end all vestiges of racism, restore our reputation and save all pound puppies January 20.
11/11/08
Because, I think he will. He's full of magic.
11/11/08
[www.latimes.com]
[en.wikipedia.org]
It is an interesting academic discussion- just how much are we relying on one person to solve our problems?
11/11/08
11/11/08
11/11/08