The Day the Music Died

One of my favorite websites, HotAir, is reporting that when people look back to see the day that Hope and Change officially expired, this could be that day.

"Illinois voters say they would be negatively influenced if a candidate was endorsed by Barack Obama" (emphasis mine). And Democrat strategists are telling candidates: "Walk away from Obama."

Can we blame Bush for this? Hahaha.

And Barry, will you please SHUT UP already with the ridiculous, tedious "car" metaphor?

Oh, and where was Obama on this momentous day? He was starting his Vay-cay-shun, of course. He and the fam are at Martha's Vineyard, their second summer in a row at Blue Heron Farm, an estate that is estimated to rent for $50,000/week. He begins the 10-day vacation during a week when his Gallup approval rating is 41%, an historic low, and his disapproval rating is 52%, a high. The estate where the Obamas are going to "unwind" and "recharge" is located in Chilmark, MA, recorded in 2007 to be America's most expensive small town.

Sadly, unlike last year, this time there were no "happy-happy family off-to-our-vacation" photo-op shots this year. The word is out that Lady Obama is in no mood to have her picture taken arriving at yet another expensive vacation destination, after barely having had time to unpack from her Spain extrava-palooza. So the photo-op prop this year is Bo the Dog, who is happy to oblige. I mean, come on, is there really anyone out there so mean-spirited as to believe that this dog doesn't deserve a vacation?

What's the hottest selling t-shirt on the island at Martha's Vineyard this year?

Update. From J.R. Dunn at American Thinker: "Obama's Point of No Return." For Richard Nixon it was the eighteen minute gap; for Jimmah Carter it was the malaise speech. For Obama? "When historians come to select the moment when Obama went over the edge of the world, I think they'll find the great Iftar speech of August 13, 2010 hard to beat." Great article.

Update #2. An excellent article by Fouad Ajami at the WSJ: "Obama's Summer of Discontent"--The politics of charisma is so Third World. Americans were never going to buy into it for long.

A snippet from the article: Now that realism about Mr. Obama has begun to sink in, these iconic figures of history had best be left alone. They can't rescue the Obama presidency. Their magic can't be his. Mr. Obama isn't Lincoln with a BlackBerry. Those great personages are made by history, in the course of history, and not by the spinners or the smitten talking heads.

Update #3. Obama--"too often comes across as irritable and self-pitying." An article by Jeff Jacoby at the Boston Globe: "Lighten Up, Mr. President."