One reason I read Dave Weigel is so that I won’t have to pick through Orson Scott Card‘s “fascinating political paranoia” on my own:
… His last column on politics is a sort of masterpiece of that genre, starting with the grouping of “George W. Bush lied about WMDs in Iraq” among “politically useful lies,” and continuing with a fantasy of how Barack Obama will stay in power forever.
Obama is, by character and preference, a dictator. He hates the very idea of compromise; he demonizes his critics and despises even his own toadies in the liberal press…In other words, Obama already acts as if the Constitution were just for show. Like Augustus, he pretends to govern within its framework, but in fact he treats it with contempt.
Here on Earth, Obama has actually signed off on a series of compromises that fell short of what he demanded—the health care law, the debt limit increases—and he’s only the latest president to appoint a series of advisers who are termed “czars.” Back on Planet Card, it’s clear that Hillary Clinton will not be the Democrats’ 2016 nominee.
Michelle Obama is going to be Barack’s Lurleen Wallace. Remember how George Wallace got around Alabama’s ban on governors serving two terms in a row? He ran his wife for the office. Everyone knew Wallace would actually be pulling the strings, even though they denied it. Michelle Obama will be Obama’s designated “successor,” and any Democrat who seriously opposes her will be destroyed in the media the way everyone who contested Obama’s run for the Democratic nomination in 2008 was destroyed.
That’s a fun theory that forgets the role that 50 states have in electing a president, and the lack of operational control the White House has over the voting systems of those states. How does he get around that? Card sees how. “Like Hitler and the Iranian dictators,” Obama has announced his plan for a “powerful domestic army to terrify any opposition that might arise.” According to Card, “Obama called for a ‘national police force’ in 2008, though he never gave a clue about why such a thing would be necessary.”…
Yeah, quite a few people here would be really really happy to campaign for Michelle 2016, but for the sad reality that she doesn’t want the job. But if you’re into militaristic fanfic, click the link for more details.
Back here on Planet RBC, what’s on the agenda for the evening? Anybody on the Facebook know if Cole’s been posting there?
Open Thread: Orson Scott Card Is Scared of “Obama Augustus”Post + Comments (141)