Call it a journalistic infomercial. Michael Lewis. That mildly racist tone that came through in his “bearing Greek bonds” series. The ivy league style invidious comparison, and liberal jingoism wrapped in a sugar coated Northeastern style that vaguely tries to capture some of the spirit of an F.Scott Fitgerald but without any of the tension and critical content. In the end “Obama’s Way,” based on the extracts in vanity fair is generic tripe, Thomas Friedman with a bit more time on his hands. The idea, as he mentioned on Charlie Rose, was to capture a bit of the magic of John Hersey when he wrote on Harry Truman based on a series of live interviews when Hersey was at the New Yorker; Hersey pushed himself to break literary limits, Lewis is a go to choice as reliable mouthpiece, keenly aware of the relationship between bread and butter.
—Obama playing basketball with the Harlem Globetrotters (Official White House photo)—Read More:http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2012/04/obamas_2012_easter_egg_roll_ph.html
But Lewis is not operating in a vacuum. He is part of this Northeast, New York culture; the hyper secular pseudo-intellectual who are invariably Liberals and Democrats. The most obvious trait is that old archetype, the Ugly American, the smug intellectual higher moral ground, the ingrained notion of superiority, the sparks of narcissism. A very limited cultural universe, basically made up of people they are competing with for attention and media coverage, as well as some “classics” from earlier generations like Steinbeck etc. But outside of what they have not been indoctrinated with on a wholesale level, they appear remarkably limited, but with an intense focus on their own efforts to “game” the system to their advantage. …
—There’s a very important lesson to be learned from this official White House photo.
Consider it proof that white guys can’t jump.
Especially if they’re old and fat. Especially if they’re playing basketball against their boss. Especially if that boss is the President of the United States. Especially if the boss brings a basketball emblazoned with his own logo.—Read More:http://www.ihatethemedia.com/obama-dunks-on-an-old-fat-white-guy
ADDENDUM:
Kind of like reading scripts of Seinfeld episodes….(see link at end)…At nine o’clock one Saturday morning I made my way to the Diplomatic Reception Room, on the ground floor of the White House. I’d asked to play in the president’s regular basketball game, in part because I wondered how and why a 50-year-old still played a game designed for a 25-year-old body, in part because a good way to get to know someone is to do something with him. I hadn’t the slightest idea what kind of a game it was. The first hint came when a valet passed through bearing, as if they were sacred objects, a pair of slick red-white-and-blue Under Armour high-tops with the president’s number (44) on the side. Then came the president, looking like a boxer before a fight, in sweats and slightly incongruous black rubber shower shoes. As he climbed into the back of a black S.U.V., a worried expression crossed his face. “I forgot my mouth guard,” he said. Your mouth guard? I think. Why would you need a mouth guard?…
“Hey, Doc,” he shouted to the van holding the medical staff that travels with him wherever he goes. “You got my mouth guard?” The doc had his mouth guard. Obama relaxed back in his seat and said casually that he didn’t want to get his teeth knocked out this time, “since we’re only 100 days away.” From the election, he meant, then he smiled and showed me which teeth, in some previous basketball game, had been knocked out. “Exactly what kind of game is this?” I asked, and he laughed and told me not to worry. He doesn’t. “What happens is, as I get older, the chances I’m going to play well go down. When I was 30 there was, like, a one-in-two chance. By the time I was 40 it was more like one in three or one in four.” He used to focus on personal achievement, but as he can no longer achieve so much personally, he’s switched to trying to figure out how to make his team win. In his decline he’s maintaining his relevance and sense of purpose.
Basketball hadn’t appeared on the president’s official schedule, and so we traveled the streets of Washington unofficially, almost normally. Read More:http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/10/michael-lewis-profile-barack-obama
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