Topic: Nation Finally Shitty Enough To Make Social Progress

[Pugnate]

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/nation_finally_shitty_enough_to

Stick with it, it gets really funny towards the end.

Obama's victory is being called the most significant change in politics since the 1992 election, when a full-scale economic recession led voters to momentarily ignore the fact that candidate Bill Clinton had once smoked marijuana. While many believed things had once again reached an all-time low in 2004, the successful reelection of President George W. Bush—despite historically low approval ratings nationwide—proved that things were not quite shitty enough to challenge the already pretty shitty status quo.

"If Obama learned one thing from his predecessors, it's that timing means everything," said Dr. James Pung, a professor of political science at Princeton University. "Less than a decade ago, Al Gore made the crucial mistake of suggesting we should care about preserving the environment before it became unavoidably clear that global warming would kill us all, and in 2004, John Kerry cost himself the presidency by criticizing Bush's disastrous Iraq policy before everyone realized our invasion had become a complete and total quagmire."

 

[idolminds]

heh

[Cobra951]

Not funny because it's too true, even if expressed as satire.  What really made me laugh was a link at the bottom of that page.

[Pugnate]

Well, while some of it rings true, I don't think his skin color was as big a hurdle as they are making it out to be, which is the exaggeration that made me laugh.

edit:

It has to be said that John Kerry's lack of charisma made George Bush look like The Rock. Was he really the best candidate the Dems could come up with last time around?

[Cobra951]

No, I think it is.  And I think it's the inescapable realization that change is needed that made enough of us switch allegiances.  Race isn't a big deal for me, but tell me that it isn't in Virginia.

[scottws]

I saw the results from some poll or survey on CNN, and it said that 90% of blacks surveyed supported Obama and 3% supported McCain.  I thought that was interesting.  I know most blacks are usually Democrat anyway, so I wish I saw what the percentages have been in past elections for comparison to see just how much race might have been a factor.

[Cobra951]

The figure I saw was 95%.  The thing is that even if every black had voted for Obama, they would not have been able to put him in office.  That takes many of the rest of us.  Black people as a statistical group typically vote for democrats.

[shock]

Women.  Hahah.

[Quemaqua]

I think it was Howard Stern that polled a bunch of young black people about Obama's positions on the issues by saying what McCain's positions were, and they were all like "Oh yeah!  I totally agree with that!  Obama in '08!"  Which is a little funny, but mostly sad.

I sort of agree with the title of the article, though I'm not about to read it since it will likely depress me, but I don't really feel as though progress is forthcoming.  So... nation finally shitty enough to think about making social progress, perhaps, but probably still too shitty to actually do it.