There's a small backlog of words I don't know piling up, but I thought it was time to take another tack, and go back to things in general I don't know, such as (see earlier posts), where in the world certain countries lie. Gotta mix it up a little from time to time, don't ya know.
I saw this headline on Slate Magazine tonight: "Obama's Botched War on K Street". Now it would be an easy enough thing to just click the link and find out from context what K Street is. I must assume it is not Wall Street, as that's already an easily understandable symbol, and I'm guessing it has to be in either New York or Washington, DC, but what in the world is it referring to? For one thing, I can't think of any sector of society that Obama is warring right now. The adversarial stance doesn't really seem to be his style. True, he sent the automakers home to retool, but I'd think that the simple word Detroit would have stood in there. The most recent controversy would lead me to think this has something to do with the CIA and the torture memos, so that would mean that K Street lies in Washington. The only other possibility that comes to mind is banking, as opposed to Wall Street, but as far as I an tell, he's been bending over backwards for them, not warring on them, so that is probably not right.
All right, all right. I don't have a clue what city K Street lies in. Time to click that link...
Okay, none of the above. 'K Street' refers to the lobbying sector and is based on a Washington, DC street where many lobbying firms have their offices. The Slate article calls Obama's war--yeah, it sounds familiar now--on lobbyists botched because it doesn't really make a distinction between good lobbyists and bad lobbyists. You can read more abouut both here, if so inclined.
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Well, Americans want dynamism in their new presidents -- wars against this, that or the other, preferable waged and won in the first few weeks of an administration.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Well, Obama had better step it up then, because the first hundred days must be close to up if they aren't already, and as the title of another blog of mine has it, he's Not New for Long.
ReplyDeleteNot New For Long is an apt title for media coverage of American politics. I forget the presidential administration involved as well as the source (it was probably the Onion), but I remember some satirist poked fun at the constant thirst for novelty and portentous pronouncements in American political journalism. The headline to the satirical article appeared just days into the administration -- call it Clinton's -- and it referrred to "The failed Clinton administraiton."
ReplyDeleteThis one was new territory....
ReplyDeleteFrequent commenter and friend Brian O'Rourke mentioned elsewhere that it was new territory for him as well, so now I don't feel so bad.
ReplyDeletePeter, I am totally with you on the portentous commentary. I think Obama had been in office for about four days when the talking heads started pronouncing their gloom and doom. It was pretty stunning and almost absurdist in its prematurity.
The insane pressure for novelty in the American media, especially television, makes even otherwise intelligent people say stupid things. A fellow blogger from Hawaii was incensed at Cokie Roberts' stupid comment when Obama took some time off to visit Hawaii for relaxation after clinching the Democratic nomination (and I hope I have the sequence of events right).
ReplyDeleteA bad tactical move on Obama's part, she suggested, because Americans regard Hawaii as a posh, foreign, luxury destination. "And yes," she added, "I know Hawaii is a state."
Now, it's not worth the time it would take to explain how stupid it was for anyone, especially a child of American privilege like Cokie Roberts, to make such a statement. My blog correspondent was incensed. I felt almost sorry for Cokie Roberts and the pressure of punditry that expects instant pronouncements on everything.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
“Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home”
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Of course, Americans should be right to regard Hawaii as a foreign nation, because until the overthrow of Queen Lilioukalani in 1893 and the formal annexation of Hawaii in 1898, it was quite definitely a foreign country. But I suppose that is a comment better suited to my Lapse of Memory blog. Try as I might, I really can't find a way to link this to lobbyists...
ReplyDeleteDang, that's what Cokie Roberts must have meant. U.S. out of Hawaii!
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Probably.
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