This is far too Orwellian for me! What is next Mr. President? "Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia"? Or "All animals are created equal. But some animals are more equal than others."
Although I am still glad Obama is our President and not McCain or Bush, I think Paul Krugman nailed the guy in his Op-ed column on March 28, 2008:
"Mr. Obama is widely portrayed, not least by himself, as a transformational figure who will usher in a new era. But his actual policy proposals, though liberal, tend to be cautious and relatively orthodox."I've seen nothing so far to cast doubt on Krugman's claims, and much to fortify it.
"The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc, but to make all other modes of thought impossible. . . . Newspeak was designed not to extend but to diminish the range of thought, and this purpose was indirectly assited by cutting the choice of worlds down to a minimum. . . . A Party member called upon to make a political or ethical judgment should be able to spray forth the correct opinions as automatically as a machine gun spraying forth bullets" (Orwell, 1984).
Doc,
ReplyDeletePaul Krugman not only nailed it, he has the Obama camp running in fear. So far his take on what should be done has been dismissed with the wave of a hand, but the White House has a crew monitoring his every word.
Sadly, Krugman had an opportunity to bring his wisdom into play but turned down Obama's request. I think he said that he would rather play the part of the watchdog. My take: we've got enough sentries what with Limbaugh and George Will, what we need is someone to light the path.
Excellent article.