>>>>>Hello from iPhone ;-)
>>>>
>>>>That is actually right on point. I don't blame Obama personally any more than I blame and iphone or a Mac for the ad-agency presentation that "cool" people obviously make one choice and others are just dweebs. Every bit as offensive as the idea that anyone who doesn't vote GOP or want to bomb somebody isn't partriotic.
>>>>
>>>>But the media and the Believers and the ad agencies are ultimately going to do Mr. Obama more harm than good. Beware the backlash. As I see it, now it is mostly a question of whether the wave breaks before or after the election.
>>>>
>>>
>>>I put the smiley there on purpose, poking fun at myself for possible attraction to BSTs (bright shiny things). Actually I think both of them have real substance in addition to being bright and shiny.
>>
>>I do understand that and part of my point is that whatever there is of Obama's substance or even real potential is going to get lost in the hype and there is going to be a backlash.
>>
>>I honestly don' t know what he has under the hood and I don't think his adoring followers (as opposed to those who just frankly want the most liberal or "progressive" candidate available and therefore quite correctly support him as their standard bearer) do either.
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>>I think the Barackstars and Obamaniacs are going to cause a lot of independants to reject him just because they don't want to be what his followers are telling them supporting Obama will make them.
>>
>>It is the same reason I abhor Steve Jobs and all his works. Don't really have anything against Apples or Obamas - I just hate mindless smugness. Don't much care for cults. I'm afraid I'm not much of a candidate for Scientology either.
>
>In that case I don't agree with you about Apple, either <g>. They make great products. It isn't just marketing, although they do a very good job of that, too.

But that is exactly my point. They *do* make good products and wrap them in a cultish smugness that implies choosing them bestows a level of hipness - and not choosing them implies a level of "i'm never going to get laid"

Of course this is the core of advertising cigaretters, designer clothing etc. - products that are in themselves signs of emptiness in the consumer. But to apply it to technology the way apple has always done obscures technology with pop smarminess. It is a deliberate choice on their part and I have no doubt it sort of works. I am turned off by it and so will not buy their products.

And then there is Obama. I might be more interested in him if there was at least some attempt at substance over form - but then he would not be a candidate.