Politics by Image, Paint by Number

The British ambassador to Washington faces calls to resign after he described the US Presidential candidate Barack Obama as "uninspiring" and said his policies are "still evolving".

In a leaked seven-page letter...the leak seems certain to put a question mark over his position as ambassador.

In his letter Sir Nigel lavished praise on his speeches, describing them as "elegant" and "mesmerising", while repeating that that has "star quality".

But in another cutting remark, he said Mr Obama "has talked at least since the 1980s about a shot at the Presidency".

Obama is 'uninspiring' says British Ambassador by Leonard Doyle

In a society where victory is popularity, not being right, you're doomed if someone leaks such a letter, or so they tell you. (Reality is he's not doomed if he stands by it, but if he turns and run, the parasites will smell blood.)

The sad reality is that his analysis is more insightful than what you'll find in the American media.

Obama is a religious symbol for racial reconciliation, and the triumph of Good Intentions over practical politics. If he were Indian, Asian or Hispanic, no one would care as much. If he were white, ditto. But he's from the oppressed minority, so he has guilt points, more even than a Jewish or Gypsy candidate, or a woman, as Hilary Clinton found out.

His politics of "change" are both amorphous and obviously fake, since he has the same lobbyists as the right and the last leftist candidate, and has already made some missteps that show he's most interested in business as usual.

He has connections to shady construction deals, a race-baiting organization called ACORN that also helped bring about the mortgage mess, and of course, to some radical groups of the racial nationalist variety. We wouldn't tolerate THAT in a white or Jewish candidate, nor would we very much like a femme panther.

Politics by image is doomed to fail, and this is no exception. The problem is that when you don't tackle problems, you only find out the results decades later, when the situation collapses. If you do take on hard problems, people can hate you immediately.