The “re-branding of America” is apparently underway
Barbara Ehrenreich in the Huffington Post:
When did you begin to think that Obama might be unstoppable? Was it when your grown feminist daughter started weeping inconsolably over his defeat in New Hampshire? Or was it when he triumphed in Virginia, a state still littered with Confederate monuments and memorabilia? For me, it was on Tuesday night when two Republican Virginians in a row called C-SPAN radio to report that they’d just voted for Ron Paul, but, in the general election, would vote for… Obama…
Thanks to Iraq and water-boarding, Abu Ghraib and the “rendering” of terror suspects, we’ve achieved the moral status of a pariah nation. The seas are rising. The dollar is sinking. A growing proportion of Americans have no access to health care; an estimated 18,000 die every year for lack of health insurance. Now, as the economy staggers into recession, the financial analysts are wondering only whether the rest of the world is sufficiently “de-coupled” from the US economy to survive our demise…
Obama is different, really different, and that in itself represents “change.” A Kenyan-Kansan with roots in Indonesia and multiracial Hawaii, he seems to be the perfect answer to the bumper sticker that says, “I love you America, but isn’t it time to start seeing other people?” As conservative commentator Andrew Sullivan has written, Obama’s election could mean the re-branding of America. An anti-war black president with an Arab-sounding name: See, we’re not so bad after all, world!
Once upon a time there was a serious country called the United States of America. It often had serious men, from all over the political spectrum, as leaders and as citizens. That was before “the re-branding of America,” however. Heaven help us all.
February 15th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Once upon a time there was a serious country called the United States of America. It often had serious men, from all over the political spectrum, as leaders and as citizens. That was before “the re-branding of America,” however…
So longstanding problems, legitimate conflicts and difficult uncertain trade-offs can be magicked away by “re-branding”. What’s next, a Children’s Crusade for World Unity?
From left and right I infer that in some respects Obama might be a natural successor to George Bush.
…Heaven help us all.
Would we recognize help if we saw it? Would we pay even a low price for it? Heaven bring us to our senses before the need and the price become drastic.
February 15th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Rebranding is magical thinkong at its worst - all we have to do is call everthing something that sounds ‘nice’ and all will be well.
February 15th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Exactly how does one die from “lack of health insuruance”?
Multiracial Hawaii, as opposed to what, monoracial Texas?
The piece reveals a foolish and bigoted author.
February 16th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Aristotle once observed that serious men don’t act seriously. One could then perhaps make the corollary: non-serous men always act seriously. And if the Democrats aren’t the most serious-looking, and -acting bunch, I don’t know who is.
February 17th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
An interesting thesis from Ehrenreich. The re-branding of America explains a process, but what is the end result? She may be right about the process, but she probably doesn’t realize what the result will be. The U.S., from 1776 until this day has been and remains, the only true revolutionary society on earth (OK, maybe Australia has entered has joined us). It is the only society which continues to promote individual initiative and, by so doing, the necessary corollaries such as private property, free markets, and the rule of law. ALL other nation states are ruled by, either directly or indirectly:chosen or self appointed, elites. Thus, Ehrenreich’s idea of re-branding will result in the U.S. “returning to the mean,” i.e. those who rule the government (lobbyists/big donors) will rule the government decision making process, involving the USG further and further into our everyday lives. The foreign policy result will probably be that the elitist decision-makers controlling other countries and international institutions will be happy to welcome the “trouble making” U.S., with its new elitist structure, since that will relieve unwanted pressure on them. Yes, we’ll be “rebranded”all right, just like a herd of wild mustangs caught and sold to a new owner.