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Bill Kristol, the World's Worst Op-Ed Writer™, burps:
Obama’s unnecessary and imprudent statement impugns the sincerity or intelligence of those vulgar sorts who still choose to wear a flag pin.It's not just that his hackishness burns, but that his writing is so supremely terrible. That said, Kristol is a fairly good early indicator of what the attacks on Obama will look like, so I recommend reading the op-ed. Indeed, his final paragraph lays out exactly how Republican operatives -- like Bill Kristol, who is an operative masquerading as an intellectual -- want to frame the election:
Barack Obama is an awfully talented politician. But could the American people, by November, decide that for all his impressive qualities, Obama tends too much toward the preening self-regard of Bill Clinton, the patronizing elitism of Al Gore and the haughty liberalism of John Kerry?It’s fitting that the alternative to Obama will be John McCain. He makes no grand claim to fix our souls. He doesn’t think he’s the one everyone has been waiting for. He’s more proud of his country than of himself. And his patriotism has consisted of deeds more challenging than “speaking out on issues.”Obama is an elite liberal intellectual whose ideology trumps his patriotism and whose grand speeches unsettle the Heartland. John McCain is the stolid, steady soldier who loves his country and will grimly push forward. And the smears and insinuations that will emerge on a level beneath the narrative explicitly articulated by Kristol and McCain will be far worse. Make no mistake: This will be an ugly election.
