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Joan Didion Is Kind Of A Downer About The Election

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GuyBitchy
11/12/08

In reply to Joan Didion Is Kind Of A Downer About The Election
We've witnessed "the passing away of religious tyranny"?

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?
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Dickdogfood
11/11/08

In reply to Joan Didion Is Kind Of A Downer About The Election
I like Didion quite a bit but Jesus GAWD but sometimes she can't keep her narcissism in check and it's ANNOYING. Her "unexpressable uneasiness" doesn't really qualify as an analysis of or insight into the rest of the world; if anything, her burden as a writer is to make this uneasiness expressable, to make it connect to the rest of the world. And when she describes Obama's popularity as a "generational thing"--as something she can't understand merely/i> because she's not of a certain age--it sounds like she's quite comfortable thinking of it as resistant to interpretation. I expect better from her.

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.
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Dickdogfood
11/11/08

@Dickdogfood: Oh italics tags, I hate you so.
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Shotrock
11/11/08

@Dickdogfood: Yeah, I agree. Some of what she said is the voice of reason, but a lot of it is the sudden realization that the world has moved on beyond the Baby Boomers and their narcissistic obsession with everything 60's. It's no longer all about them, and more than a few, like Joan, are struggling to come to terms with that.
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brendastarlet is on it
11/12/08

@Shotrock: the world has to be tough for Joan Didion. She's now going to forever be viewed first as the widow of John Gregory Dunne, kind of like a Nancy Reagan of literature. No matter what she does from here on out, The Year of Magical Thinking will be her talisman.
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Eeva
11/11/08

In reply to Joan Didion Is Kind Of A Downer About The Election
Last week, just after the election, I went to a talk given by Samantha Power and Cass Sunstein. They are friends of and advisers to Obama, and yet both were quite restrained about the whole thing.

Sunstein described Obama as a visionary minimalist, an idea I was really taken with, and one Didion would like as well.
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LisaMc
11/12/08

@Eeva: A visionary minimalist--that sounds so interesting and cool. Kind of Zen, actually. How do I sign up?
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brendastarlet is on it
11/12/08

@LisaMc: Samantha Power had better be restrained. Her comments about Hillary during the campaign did her out of a State Department job (at least a high ranking one.) She's going to have to serve her penance.

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.
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SisterMaryMartha
11/11/08

In reply to Joan Didion Is Kind Of A Downer About The Election
Bless her for her reason.
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it takes a lot to laugh
11/11/08

In reply to Joan Didion Is Kind Of A Downer About The Election
Didion's a very cool customer, observing of California that it was built primarily on state institutions, like mental hospitals and prisons, notwithstanding the self-made-man ethos of her rancher father.

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.
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aspiringexpatriate
11/11/08

@it takes a lot to laugh: Are liberals getting pissed or just getting disappointed?

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.
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it takes a lot to laugh
11/11/08

@aspiringexpatriate: No, I mean the liberals on the political blogs - they want Lieberman's head on a platter.
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jigglyball
11/11/08

In reply to Joan Didion Is Kind Of A Downer About The Election
Death, taxes, and measured distance from Joan Didion.
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Iceland Spar
11/11/08

In reply to Joan Didion Is Kind Of A Downer About The Election
I don't typically read Jezebel, but I just wanted to say that this is an extremely good post.
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Saxon 212
11/11/08

In reply to Joan Didion Is Kind Of A Downer About The Election
She has every reason to worry. I work in luxury retail and people have just stopped spending money, we are heading for a cliff and the fall will be long and terrifying and it's the same in Denmark or Dubai.

Obama may be great but can he catch us before we hit the rocks?
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IamnotStarJones
11/11/08

@Saxon 212: I don't think it's Obama's job to catch us as much as it is our job.

A president can help but we need to calm our consumerist itch too.
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LisaMc
11/12/08

@IamnotStarJones: I've thought for many years now that we just don't need all this stuff. There's too many stores, too much marketing, too much manufactured "need." It will hurt but we have to get back to basics and necessities. And unemployment. Damn.
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brendastarlet is on it
11/12/08

@LisaMc: right on. Out where I live, there's a sense of just gloom over things, like that fog that hovers over an empty field in the morning. I don't even want to know what my house would sell for now. It's down to paying the bills, and just hoping I have a little money to spend for Christmas gifts.
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bluebears
11/11/08

In reply to Joan Didion Is Kind Of A Downer About The Election
I am SO JEALOUS. Tell me this will be on cspan soon. God, Didion is a genius.
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maggeimerc
11/11/08

In reply to Joan Didion Is Kind Of A Downer About The Election
I enjoy her view immensely.

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.
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bluebears
11/11/08

@maggeimerc: absolutely. I like obama a lot but he's not the dear leader. a little skepticism is healthy.
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GirlyWhirl
11/11/08

In reply to Joan Didion Is Kind Of A Downer About The Election
Sounds like she was the highlight of the evening to me. Didion doesn't mess around.

And she's so lovely... she looks like a little fragile bird to me.
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dancerevolution
11/11/08

In reply to Joan Didion Is Kind Of A Downer About The Election
Oh Joan, you with your reality and pragmatism. What a drag.
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Alexa_Khan
11/11/08

In reply to Joan Didion Is Kind Of A Downer About The Election
I would love to see this.

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.
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Penny
11/11/08

@Alexa_Khan: Yes, but will he make sure gas drops to 50 cents a gallon and force Bloomingdale's to have a bi-annual 95% Off Sale?

Because, I think he will. He's full of magic.
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aspiringexpatriate
11/11/08

@Archetype: I should really paste an article I was linked on election night. Very... Um. Yeah. I can't talk about it shoving my foot in my mouth, so I'll just paste it.

[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?
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Penny
11/11/08

In reply to Joan Didion Is Kind Of A Downer About The Election
Now this, Sadie, is a faaaaaabulous post. Love it!
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AllieCaulfield
11/11/08

In reply to Joan Didion Is Kind Of A Downer About The Election
Joan Didion's "measured caution" is practically perfect.
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Scout
11/11/08

@AllieCaulfield: wholeheartedly in agreement
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