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From Hillary to Whole Foods
Jonah Goldberg's bestseller Liberal Fascism, had many potential subtitles during its editing cycle. At one point, the subtitle was "From Hegel to Whole Foods." At another it was "From Mussolini to Hillary Clinton." In his Times column today, David Brooks further complicates the Hillary/Whole Foods metaphor business. Hillary, he says, is the Safeway of the race. Obama is Whole Foods.
Hillary Clinton is a classic commodity provider. She caters to the less-educated, less-pretentious consumer. As Ron Brownstein of The National Journal pointed out on Wednesday, she won the non-college-educated voters by 22 points in California, 32 points in Massachusetts and 54 points in Arkansas. She offers voters no frills, just commodities: tax credits, federal subsidies and scholarships. She’s got good programs at good prices.
Barack Obama is an experience provider. He attracts the educated consumer. In the last Pew Research national survey, he led among people with college degrees by 22 points. Educated people get all emotional when they shop and vote. They want an uplifting experience so they can persuade themselves that they’re not engaging in a grubby self-interested transaction. They fall for all that zero-carbon footprint, locally grown, community-enhancing Third Place hype. They want cultural signifiers that enrich their lives with meaning.
This seems exactly right to me: I just got a call from my mom, a youngish Baby Boomer living in Virginia. She has a seat reserved for an Obama pre-primary speech next week at my old high school. And, despite the fact that she's leaning Hillary, she is pumped. She's psyched for the speech the way I'm psyched for the MacBook Air. (Obviously, Hillary is PC and Obama is Mac.) She's excited for the patented Obama experience. And she's not the only one...
Plant Immigration Rights Suppo|2.8.08 @ 7:10PM|#
I like Whole Foods. They have great chocholate and are one of the few places in my area where I can buy raw milk. Even most other health food stores do not offer raw milk (at least where I live.)
LIbertarian Librarian|2.8.08 @ 7:16PM|#
"Obviously, Hillary is PC and Obama is Mac"
And the Libertarian Party is Linux.
And the Boston Tea Party is FreeBSD.
The Personal Choice Party is FreeDOS.
Libertarian Librarian|2.8.08 @ 7:29PM|#
"GOP is quill and parchment?"
Actually, I think a better analogy for the GOP is to call it
Windows Vista.
http://print.wordpress.com/2007/04/15/the-ow-starts-now-100-reasons-not-to-upgrade-to-windows-vista-part-1/
Paul|2.8.08 @ 7:32PM|#
Barack Obama is an experience provider. He attracts the educated consumer. In the last Pew Research national survey, he led among people with college degrees by 22 points.
So what he's saying is, Obama voters are likely to read Gluten
Free.
I remember the first time I walked through a Whole Foods, and
wanted to buy a magazine (whoa, that's a story unto itself) and,
after seeing their magazine selection, I had to call my wife on the
cell and ask (quietly) "What's a 'gluten'?"
Paul|2.8.08 @ 7:34PM|#
Obviously, Hillary is PC and Obama is Mac.)
Hmmm...
Hmmm.... so Obama voters don't really want to know what's going on
in their legislation, they just want it to feel slick and polished?
They want legislation for..."the rest of us"? We might want to
start to be more careful with the metaphors.
|2.8.08 @ 7:41PM|#
Obama is Mac.
didn't some Obama supporter rip off a 1984 mac ad?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h3G-lMZxjo
TLB|2.8.08 @ 7:45PM|#
An Obama rally would be a great place for people to offer free
psychology tests.
An Obama speech is a great place for toner phone salesmen to pick
up good lines.
Plant Immigration Rights Suppo|2.8.08 @ 7:45PM|#
"The GOP is an IBM Selectric."
I have never used one myself but they were aparently used by both
Hunter S. Thompson and P. J. O'Rourk. If Wikipedia is to be
believed? Can anybody verify this in a non-Wikipedia fashion?
By the way, never having used one, are they anoying and hard to use
or something? Just asking.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Selectric
Paul|2.8.08 @ 7:48PM|#
I have never used one myself but they were aparently used by
both Hunter S. Thompson and P. J. O'Rourk.
And pretty much anyone who attended high school up through
1985.
Paul|2.8.08 @ 7:49PM|#
By the way, never having used one, are they anoying and hard
to use or something? Just asking.
No. As typewriters go, they were quite revolutionary.
|2.8.08 @ 7:56PM|#
I have never used one myself but they were aparently used by
both Hunter S. Thompson and P. J. O'Rourk. If Wikipedia is to be
believed? Can anybody verify this in a non-Wikipedia
fashion?
I'm old enough to remember the typewriter age. The IBM Selectric
was a damned good electric typwriter. The early PC WP software came
with IBM Selectric printer drivers (a port is on the IBM typewriter
later models).
It's all obsolete, but it was a well designed machine. Sturdy
too.
Libertarian Librarian|2.8.08 @ 7:59PM|#
"Barack Obama is an experience provider."
In terms of actual political experience he has about the same as
Hillary. Both were in the U.S. Senate. I don't think being the
spouse of an auto mechanic qualifies someone to work on my car. Not
that I am equating the two jobs. Auto mechanics actually provide a
valuable service and no one will throw me in jail if I choose not
to buy that service.
|2.8.08 @ 8:02PM|#
Selectrics were fast and rugged. Very well made and expensive. They had awesome key action--No computer keyboard has even come close, although the early IBM PC keyboards were pretty close (unsuprisingly).
MattXIV|2.8.08 @ 8:19PM|#
The GOP is hydrogen
fluoride.
Hillary is hydrogen
peroxide
Obama is hydrogen
chloride
David Brooks is hydrogen
sulfide.
And gulten is
protein contained in wheat and related plants. A fraction of people
have adverse reactions to it, resulting rumors of it's evil
powers.
|2.8.08 @ 8:20PM|#
Obama is Whole Paycheck?* That's another Brooksian low blow. Let's go with Trader Joe's, if you really must make such asinine metaphors.
Paul|2.8.08 @ 9:02PM|#
So, how did you download music onto your iPod with an IBM
Selectric?
By typing
010100101110101001010100101010100101110101101010100101101010010110101001010[contd...]
Paul|2.8.08 @ 9:04PM|#
And gulten is protein contained in wheat
and related plants. A fraction of people have adverse reactions to
it, resulting rumors of it's evil powers.
I thought we were talking about glutens?
two in the goo|2.8.08 @ 9:08PM|#
Hillary, he says, is the Safeway of the race. Obama is Whole
Foods.
And McCain is what, Woolworth's?
Well I dunno, didn't the five-and-dimes like Woolworth's take a
beating in the late 60's and early 70's? Yet it lived on for a few
more decades despite being old and looking rather tired and
rundown?
Plant Immigration Rights Suppo|2.8.08 @ 9:15PM|#
"And McCain is what, Woolworth's?"
McCain is your local Army / Navy Surplus store.
http://www.gr8gear.com/catalog/index.php
|2.8.08 @ 9:24PM|#
Hey, everyone, I wanted to announce the release of my new
book:
Metaphor Fascism: What the Fuck is "Bobo" Skylarking About
Now?
The thing with David Brooks, Katherine, is that he has a way of
writing things that "seem exactly right to me," and turn out to be
nothing but stale conventional wisdom expressed in blunt
stereotypes.
|2.8.08 @ 9:30PM|#
I'm just bitter because I spent three days thinking about that
"Patio Man" article before it occurred to me that it was
drivel.
David Brooks' writing is the cotton candy of social theory.
|2.8.08 @ 9:32PM|#
My company has at least one IBM Selectric that is used for typing over forms and for carbon copy type stuff. If I were to have one typewriter around the house, it would be one of those. An erase key is cool on a typewriter. I think my high school was still using them in the late 80's. But some of us nerds were learning to use scripsit on the trash-80 at the same time.
DannyK|2.8.08 @ 9:32PM|#
I forgot who it was -- Atrios? -- who said that "the minute the
Republican candidate is determined, David Brooks is going to turn
on Obama like a fangless weasel."
And voila.
And OBVIOUSLY, John McCain is the Quartermaster's Store -- you
might not like what they have, but you'll get one of everything and
like it!
|2.8.08 @ 9:41PM|#
Clinton is Wal-Mart. Obama is Target.
McCain is a Five-and-Dime.
Clinton is Internet Explorer. Obama is Firefox.
McCain is AOL.
Clinton is a Super Nintendo. Obama is a Sega Genesis.
McCain is an Atari 2600.
Metaphors are fun!
Kolohe|2.8.08 @ 10:00PM|#
I don't think being the spouse of an auto mechanic qualifies
someone to work on my car.
It worked in my cousin vinnie.
Beet this obscurity!!!|2.8.08 @ 10:16PM|#
"Obama is Firefox."
No, Obama is Arachne!
http://home.arachne.cz/
|2.8.08 @ 10:17PM|#
What perturbs me most is that K. Mangu-Ward's mom (along with
thousands of others) is getting all gushy over the thought of being
in the same room as a guy who's deepest desire is probably to
lighten our wallets.
Maybe it's living in D.C., but politics seems a really sad and
prosaic thing to get all gushy about.
nebby|2.8.08 @ 11:09PM|#
I once asked P.J. O'Rourke to name his favorite politician. He
told me "That's like asking who your favorite plumber is. You can
talk about who is a good politician, but why should you have a
favorite?"
Would you get gushy for a plumber?
|2.9.08 @ 12:03AM|#
Tom F.: Listen, David, I know we were drunk last night....
David B.: Don't say it, Tom. I'll have the mustache* back to you by
Monday.
*The
Mustache of Understanding.
Sam Grove|2.9.08 @ 12:03AM|#
Hey all, I came across this post by 'freedomlover' at Cafe Hayek: Ah why did I bother with this loser-tarian blog?
SxCx|2.9.08 @ 1:11AM|#
One option might be for Goldberg to change the title to The
Road to Serfdom, which is what F.A. Hayek called this book when he
published it 50-odd years ago.
Bam!
|2.9.08 @ 1:31AM|#
"The thing with David Brooks, Katherine, is that he has a way of
writing things that "seem exactly right to me," and turn out to be
nothing but stale conventional wisdom expressed in blunt
stereotypes."
joe,
That sounds about right to me. I might say, "dressed up
conventional wisdom" and "way overdrawn cariacutures and
generalities". Liked your proposed book title by the way.
Having said that, I kind of liked parts of "Bobos." I liked the
stuff on the Romantic Movement (the painter who used to take his
lobster for walks in Parisian parks because "it knew the secrets of
the deep and didn't bark". The links between the past Romantics and
the current ones was an amusing and interesting read).
But man, oh man, is he ever such a thoughtless conformist and
touretting spewer of generalities that ignore important
distinctions. Plus, I can't stand all that national greatness
malarky. He was one of the troubadours for that movement which
inevitably led us into the Iraq debacle. He champions the heroic
virtues but I don't see that he ever fought in any war, entered the
army, or even played anything rougher than touch football. He's
become his own crude cariacture of a sheltered, upper crust
boarding school snot.
wickscherrycoke@hotmail.com|2.9.08 @ 10:23AM|#
David Brooks may be an asshole, but his analysis of Obama supporters as those who "want an uplifting experience so they can persuade themselves that they're not engaging in a grubby self-interested transaction" is right on. Once you pass the soaring rhetoric in the Obama speeches you hear the same old song I have heard from Democrats for fifty years. Since when does a Democrat promising to raise teacher salaries through federal legislation constitute "change?"
|2.9.08 @ 12:47PM|#
midbrowcrisis,
Did you know that there aren't any restaurants that serve expensive
meals in central Pennsylvania?
Well, actually, there are. But wouldn't it be incredibly suggestive
if there weren't?
Nelson|2.9.08 @ 1:32PM|#
http://www.webupon.com/Web-Talk/10-Convincing-Reasons-Why-You-SHOULDNT-Buy-the-MacBook-Air.79025
I don't think Obama would appreciate the comparison to MacBook
Air.
|2.9.08 @ 2:36PM|#
Do you have the audacity to hope for change?
Hillary is Evian, Obama is Fiji.
McCain is toilet water.
Ron Paul is smart Water.
Kolohe|2.9.08 @ 3:19PM|#
McCain is a BB
Clinton is a CVN
Obama is an LPD
Romney is a CG
Huckabee is an FFG
Paul is an SS
and Gravel is a YP.
|2.10.08 @ 2:33AM|#
With a few exceptions, Whole Foods sells the same stuff as Safeway(or Vons - we don't have Safeway in LA), but more expensive, and you feel cool buying it. So yeah, Obama is Whole Foods, Hillary is a Safeway.
Plant Immigration RIghts Suppo|2.10.08 @ 8:37AM|#
"Would you get gushy for a plumber?"
Hmm, depends on the plumber. But if I choose not to hire a plumber
and try to do the job myself no one will throw me in jail. It may
or may not work and may want to hire one later on anyway but at
least I have that freedom. The same is not true of the job a POTUS
does.
|2.10.08 @ 1:35PM|#
"They want an uplifting experience so they can persuade
themselves that they're not engaging in a grubby self-interested
transaction."
That is exactly how I feel about voting. I would say the same is
probably true for poor whites who vote republican, and people who
run libertarian magazines.
LarryA|2.10.08 @ 2:19PM|#
There is at least one arena where Hillary and Barack agree. Both
are running on an "I respect the Second Amendment and my opponent
is unelectable because he/she doesn't" platform plank. The times
they are a'changin'.
One example: Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, campaigning in
Idaho over the weekend said "there are people who say, `Well, he
doesn't believe in the Second Amendment,' even though I come from a
state - we've got a lot of hunters in downstate Illinois. And I
have no intention of taking away folks' guns."
In 1996, however, Obama said in a questionnaire that he "supported
banning the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns" -- a
fairly extreme position.
"Well he has to speak to his own record, which has obviously
changed over a relatively short period of time," shot Sen. Hillary
Clinton, D-NY.
Pot>>Kettle>>Black.
Oh, and "shot." Heh heh.
highnumber|2.10.08 @ 4:45PM|#
Don't try to read this comment thread from the bottom up.
or
If you want a surreal read, try this comment thread from the bottom
up.
Scooby|2.10.08 @ 9:11PM|#
mediageek,
He's big; he's heavy; he's wood!
He's better than bad; he's good!
Devo|2.11.08 @ 1:13AM|#
I find Obama to be more of a Trader Joe's: very trendy, caters to leftists, and ever popular for some reason I cannot fathom.
|2.11.08 @ 3:10AM|#
There are two kinds of people: the synthesizers and the
analyzers. Brooks is a synthesizer. He grasps patterns quickly and
then makes cute categories out of them, sometimes (maybe very
often) stretching his thesis further than any man has gone before
or would go. So, he often misses "important distinctions." Then
again, the overly analytic mind never seems to admit there are any
patterns at all. There are only things they can pull apart, so they
often miss the forest for the trees.
Of course, I'm over-generalizing.....(paging David Brooks). As a
friend of mine once said, "There are two kinds of people - those
who divide people into two kinds....and those who don't."
|2.11.08 @ 11:39AM|#
"McCain is a BB
Clinton is a CVN
Obama is an LPD
Romney is a CG
Huckabee is an FFG
Paul is an SS
and Gravel is a YP."
Clinton a CVN? that takes a bit of explainin'
|2.11.08 @ 11:46AM|#
I'd say:
Clinton is a YTB; good for pushing things around.
Obama is a FFG; fast, sleek, good looking and moderately useful,
but short on capability.
Huckabee is a garbage scow.
Romney is a CG, but a CG moored in the reserve fleet.
Paul is a YFDB; useful when intentionally sunk.
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