American Madness

Sen. Obama does not support requiring religious tests for recipients of aid nor using federal money to proselytize, according to a campaign fact sheet. He also only supports letting religious institutions hire and fire based on faith in the non-taxpayer funded portions of their activities, said a senior adviser to the campaign, who spoke on condition of anonymity to more freely describe the new policy.

- Obama to Make Call to Expand Bush’s Faith-Based Programs (AP)

What sophistry. The Federal government doesn’t give money to organizations that violate the law. Hiring and firing based on religious affiliation is against Federal law. If the organization takes Federal taxpayer money, it agrees to adhere to Federal law. Otherwise, don’t take the money.

Hey Obama: you’re not fooling anyone, so stop pandering.

There’s some more interesting analysis of the minutiae of the 2008 Presidential Election, with the NYTimes Campaign Stops blog calling on branding expert* Brian Collins to analyze the effectiveness of Gotham as Barack Obama’s preferred font.

With that said, though, there’s an oxymoronic quality to Gotham, which is why I think it’s become so popular. It has a blunt, geometric simplicity, which usually makes words feel cold and analytical (like Univers), but it also feels warm. It’s substantial yet friendly. Up-to-date yet familiar. That’s a tough hat trick.

Reminds me of our previous analysis of candidate branding, Vote Coca Cola In ‘08.

There’s some good logo analysis at 37 Signals and at Presidental Brands 2008.

* I don’t know when it became acceptable to stop giving criteria when calling someone an expert. Clearly, this guy knows his design, but why not introduce his background to us? Instead, the NYTimes includes a link to Wikipedia. The NYTimes is supposed to be the paper of record. Even if I’m just reading a NYTimes blog, I’d like to know that they bothered to find out whom they were talking to. A wiki link makes me think that this expert’s bona fides were not necessarily independently established by the Times as they should be.

…had a crazy preacher man.

While Hillary proved in no uncertain terms that she’s capable of telling huge and easily verifiable lies, the Obama preacher issue continues to fester in the back of my mind. Here we reprint a dialogue between two family members (one pro-Clinton / one pro-Obama) as they debate the issue. We join in mid-discussion:

You are so blinded by Obama’s ability to talk bullshit you can’t see the reason his affiliation with that pastor and church is troublesome. Of course black people have negative feelings about whites, duh. The problem is Obama’s 20 years of sitting in that nasty church, hearing those sermons and now saying he personally never heard anything but a call to Jesus.

Well, I would separate out Obama’s explanation from the political content of the sermons. If he said he never heard anything but a call to Jesus, he’s bullshitting.

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In “McCain Warns Against Hasty Mortgage Bailout ” the heir apparent to the Republican Presidency said:

“It is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers.” … “Government assistance to the banking system should be based solely on preventing systemic risk that would endanger the entire financial system and the economy,” … “Some Americans bought homes they couldn’t afford, betting that rising prices would make it easier to refinance later at more affordable rates.”

Mr. McCain argued that even during the ongoing crisis, the vast majority of mortgage holders continued to make their payments.
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