I’m pretty sure I saw Paul Krugman on my NJ Transit train this morning. He was sitting across and two seats behind me in a quarter-full car and was typing on a laptop. I know he’s affiliated with Princeton, and he might have been going there — I was on an express train and Princeton was the next stop after Newark.
I’ve disagreed with stuff he’s written about Clinton and Obama lately, but I wouldn’t have known what to say to him.
Thinking again about the Obamacrombie boys, I dug up this Salon.com profile of Abercrombie & Fitch’s CEO from two years ago. It’s worth reading because of how creepy and obnoxious the guy comes across. (I linked it here when it originally ran.)
He wants desperately to look like his target customer (the casually flawless college kid), and in that pursuit he has aggressively transformed himself from a classically handsome man into a cartoonish physical specimen: dyed hair, perfectly white teeth, golden tan, bulging biceps, wrinkle-free face, and big, Angelina Jolie lips…
As far as Jeffries is concerned, America’s unattractive, overweight or otherwise undesirable teens can shop elsewhere. “In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids,†he says. “Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.
Two years later it still makes me want to vomit.
So, other than the Obama/Abercrombie/Fitch dorkwads…
I wanted to write some sort of insightful post about the Pennsylvania primary results. Unfortunately, I can’t think of anything insightful. It just goes on and on. Hillary Clinton’s candidacy just won’t die. She’s like the Anti-Monitor in issue #12 of Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Seriously, though…
Not that it matters, since I already voted (2½ months ago!), but I think I’ve returned to being neutral in the Democratic race. Or at least I feel less personally invested in an Obama victory. If for some reason he doesn’t get the nomination, I won’t feel personally offended like I would have after the Texas and Ohio primaries.
He still has my heart, but Hillary’s been starting to win my head. (Al Gore in 2000 had both; John Kerry in 2004 had neither.)
Hillary’s a dark lord, but she’s our dark lord. She has an intuitive understanding of how the Republicans play the game. At the same time, that’s what I don’t like about her. She’s adopted the Republican narrative. She’d endorsed the Republican way of playing.
Obama either doesn’t understand the narrative, or he doesn’t feel he needs to play it. “Why can’t I just eat my waffle?” Indeed. I’m increasingly frustrated by his unwillingness to play the game. Look, you’ve got the youth vote locked up already. Can you finally start turning your attention to the working class and elderly? Not everyone will go to your website and look at your specifics. Will you please deign to talk about them and play the game? There are some idiots out there who need to be led by the hand. They’re not going to seek out your positions. You have to talk about them.
Hillary Clinton’s transformation is unbelievable. She’s morphed from a “liberal elitist” enemy of the right into a gun-toting, shot-drinking, working-class hero. She’s practically the waitress who served Obama his uneaten waffle and topped off his coffee.
Oh, and she’s ready to nuke Iran.
What the frak happened to her?
I’m not as sure as Eric that McCain’s a goner. By all rights, George W. Bush should never have been reelected. Never underestimate the stupidity of the American people. On the other hand, McCain should be benefitting greatly from the internecine Democratic warfare right now, and yet he still can’t break his 45 percent ceiling, so who knows what will happen.
See? Like I said. I have nothing useful to say.