Called to serve... but what, exactly, are the Obama Rules?

vastleft's picture

Update: The Left Coaster is helping codify the Obama Rules and Clinton Rules.

I'm not only a slow learner, but I also must've missed school the day the Obama Rules where taught. Y'know, the guidelines that my betters observe but which I've been deaf to these many months.

I'll soon begin reading "The Audacity of Hope," but I'm not sure it covers everything I need to learn.

For example, how was I to know that after the Iowa caucus there were enough people "energized" by Obama that no one should worry about the truthiness, the religiosity, the retrograde rhetoric, and the sleazy playing of the race card, and that we should have coronated him on the spot?

Ignorance of the law is no excuse, I know, but was there an operative rule that I simply hadn't learned, which would have kept me on the straight and narrow?

I'm beginning to develop a moral sense about this stuff, but it's still kinda cloudy for me. For example, I know this to be true, but I don't quite know why:

If Obama gets the nomination and loses, it will be the fault of Hillary and her supporters. If Hillary gets the nomination and loses, it will be the fault of Hillary and her supporters.

Surely, that is true. But what specific rule makes it so?

Without the proper schoolin', I might slide back into sinfulness, like arguing that Florida and Michigan voters should be allowed to participate in the primaries.

Now, I wouldn't presume to aspire to the wisdom of Lord Kos, but lesser historical figures have been known to list out the commandments that separate the holy from the heathen.

So, throw me a bone, will ya? I want to be a good Democrat, not the kind that divisively believes in competitive primaries.

Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things it would be gauche to change, the courage to go with the flow, and the wisdom not to wonder why.

And please slip me a set of those Obama Rules!

Comments

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
lambert's picture

Let me try to help you out

Just a first draft, but I think this has promise.

The rules:

1. Unity ponies for everybody!

2. Not everybody gets the same kind of unity pony.

3. Some unity ponies may be on back order.

[x] Any (D) in the general. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.

First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi

corinne's picture

Mine's on back order

and I hope I get the plaid one I requested.

I want to be a good Democrat, not the kind that divisively believes in competitive primaries.

Then don't ask questions and accept what you're told. It seems to work for the OFB.

kc's picture

Bubble Boy

--How could you not know?

Have you been living in a hermetically sealed mayonnaise jar?

You must get out and mingle with 'his people' more.

Oh yeah, HRC will be blamed regardless and it will take years for the crap that has gone down in this primary to be written about 'objectively.'

kc

vastleft's picture

Don't be cruel, kc

I know that there are rules, but no one ever told me what they were, certainly not when I could have helped save myself and others from certain peril.

Had I known after Iowa, I could have been a good Democrat, and I never would have supported the idea that another candidate should be allowed to run.

lambert's picture

See, that's where you went wrong

You have this crazy idea that ideas are, like, pre-authorized. You should have waited for the list of received ideas, and then gone ahead on that basis. But now it's too late.

[x] Any (D) in the general. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.

First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi

kc's picture

This is not like free-range capitalism

--These are not Bush-world rules. No regulations, free-range capitalism, throw an anvil at the poor.

--BO world has clearly defined rules. The OFB world approaches nirvana-however, you must be assimilated into the Borg in order to become aware of the rules/process of becoming 'one with Obama.'

kc

vastleft's picture

I guess it's a new form of "political correctness"

There was a correct candidate to back, and I didn't do it, and every day I didn't make a course correction, the more unsalvageable I became.

I guess the tip-off should have been that the Edwards and Clinton camps never projected the idea that you were an idiot or heathen if you didn't see things their way. That should have been a giveway that they weren't the correct choice, but I was too blind to see it.

amberglow's picture

millions of us tho, are in the same boat, &

it seems the rank and file of the party isn't following the script either. It must really make some mad--we're not looking for inspiration and change and unity--but for justice and a reverse of the horrors and progress and practical help and action for all--how silly are we? it must be that "old kind of politics" and those "old fights" he derides so often.

; >

amberglow's picture

ah!--it's "tired oppositions" that tripped us up-

"... to put aside tired oppositions that have bogged the nation down. Sure, it's short on specifics. But the way he calmly deconstructs old binaries is impressive. And it jolts you into thinking that sometimes a rut is just a rut, not a road. ..." -- http://www.slate.com/id/2185615/pagenum/2

See--we thought fighting for rights and progress and for healthcare and for equality and opportunity were the right thing to do because they helped people and made the country better. They were really apparently things that shouldn't be fought for and we shouldn't oppose those who hurt us and the country. Being pro-choice and fighting those who would force women back underground is an "old binary" and so is wanting our money not going to torturers and incompetents and cronies, and so is ...--we were actually bogging the nation down--who knew? (ugh)

lambert's picture

eRiposte has an answer!

Here.

Maybe if we all work together, we can figure this out!

[x] Any (D) in the general. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.

First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi

Help the hamsters with their winter heating bill ...

… as they power the wheels that turn the servers at The Mighty Corrente Building. Please, won’t you help them keep their cages shiny?

No PayPal Account required! Give the hamsters immediate relief!

Or Subscribe to make a monthly payment!

Corrente is completely supported by contributions from readers. Thank you!

Download Citibank Plutonomy files

Part 1 [PDF]

Part 2 [PDF]

Good reading! Favorite quote: What could go wrong?
Beyond war, inflation, the end of the technology/productivity wave, and financial collapse, we think the most potent and short-term threat would be societies demanding a more ‘equitable’ share of wealth.

The 12 Word Platform

1. Medicare for All

2. End the Wars

3. Tax the Rich

4. A Jobs Guarantee

Senior fellows of The Mighty Corrente Building

Leah (CA), Lambert (PA/ME), RDF (??), BDBlue (DC), Hipparchia (FL), MsExPat (NY), letsgetitdone (DC), twig (LA), Tony Wikrent, (NC), jawbone (PA).

Corresponding fellows

danps.

Western Coordinator

coyotecreek

Correspondents

Health care reform: DCBlogger.

Fellows emeritus

mjs, Riggsveda, Tresy, Tom, hekebolos, chicagodyke, shystee, and Xenophon, Vastleft (MA), Sarah (TX).

Random term

N. 1. Jerk-off artist. 2. A shill, typically clueless. Possibly originated by The Poorman (see Yglesis, but popularized by Atrios in his continuing feature, "Wanker of the Day." Usage example: "Tom Friedman, The Moustache of Understanding, has had another one of his big ideas. What a Wanker."

I support Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Americans United is dedicated to preserving the constitutional principle of church-state separation as the only way to ensure religious freedom for all Americans.