Liberal Rapture asks: Has the Sainted One jumped the shark? If so, just when did the jump begin?
I suspect that the unprecedented move of [the] bulk of the DNC to Chicago gave even the most ardent pro-Obama Democrats pause. It is a remarkable power grab. A power grab made by a campaign that limped across the finish line, and that received a clear minority of votes. Obama is increasingly disliked and distrusted by a large chunk of those who should be his base - yet he moved the DNC lock,stock and barrel (almost) to the most politically corrupt big city in America in order to control it. Is this the moment that the Pro-Obama Democratic establishment starts to quietly question what they have signed on to? If I were a blue dog congressman up for reelection in a swing district I would be getting uncomfortable.
Of course, Obi's prog-blog base believes in kicking out the blue dogs.
Or maybe its Dean floating the idea that Hillary Clinton's name not be put in nomination... If Dean succeeds in making the Democratic Convention a gathering of the Comintern - with no dissenting opinions allowed - then the shark will probably have been jumped...(it is also an Obama Classic move: get the competitor off the ballot.)
The frustrating thing about a shark jump is that it becomes visible only in hindsight. You don't know when it occurred until months or years later.
6 comments:
So, how are we defining "jump(ed) the shark" here? Is it the point past which something can still be considered great, or the point past which something can be considered salvageable?
I think something has "jumped the shark" when it's simply past its peak. But I have a friend who will only use the term if he feels that whatever concept or person it's being applied to has been totally obliterated.
I never quite understand "jumped the shark" either - is it something like "he went a bridge too far"?
His appointment of Clinton ex-employee Solis Doyle as Chief of Staff to a VP who is not yet even named seems like another example of this shark/bridge thing.
He's certainly not courting the dissenters is he?
Each day's news makes me more worried about what's taking place.
My understanding is that having "jumped the shark" means that something can no longer be taken seriously; that it has reached the tipping point of absurdity.
The origin is a Happy Days episode where Fonzie jumps over a shark while water-skiing.
Well, shark-jumping is in the eye of the beholder, and defined by the beholder. One of the things I don't like about the phrase or the concept is that it solidifies the very American concept that there are no second acts. It's more pleasant to think that one may triumph after a failure or series of failures.
I've read that by combining the DNC and the Obama campaigns that essentially lifts that donation ceiling--that is before you could legally donate 2300$ to the Obama campaign, now you can donate 25,000 to the DNC, all of which could be used to fund Obama's presidential campaign. Shouldn't we have a law suit brewing here?
SHARK JUMPING LEGENDS
FYI: (I actually knew this) "Jumped the shark" (of course) is in reference to a last season episode of "Happy Day's" featuring The Fonz water skiing in CA in which he 'jumps a shark'. The scene was so trite as to coin the phrase generally assigned to careers/show's etc. that have lingered to bore. You know like Paula Abdul or Keith Olberman...Rev Wright...(insert list here)
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Obama/Osama '08 CHANGE You Won't BELIEVE When It Happens
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