The Teflon of Rationality

I saw a great phrase, maybe coined by Red Star at DailyKos, maybe not: The Teflon of Rationality, in regard to Obama. Red Star didn't flesh it out in any real way, but posted the video of Obama responding to Bush and McCain's foolish argument that talking with our enemies constitutes appeasement.

Obama was calm, cool, reasoned, and point by point destroyed Bush and McCain's ludicrous charge -- their premise is no good in the first place (as usual), and it is obvious they are simply engaged in partisanship and, in McCain's case at least, it's not what they actually think. In short, Bush and McCain are the same old liars we've come to know and despise at the top of our government, lo, these last seven or eight years.

So Obama gives his response, very rational, very forthcoming, seeming like a guy who is speaking the truth as common sense, what the language of international diplomacy calls for. (McCain's people called this "hysterical diatribe." To which anyone with any rationality would have to stand back and say, "Whaaaaaat?")

So here is this phrase, "The Teflon of Rationality." We're not used to people having Teflon for the right reasons! Someone, jedley, in that DailyKos thread pointed out that Reagan had the Teflon of obliviousness: "you can't ruffle a guy who has no idea what you're talking about but smiles affably just the same." But imagine government that tries to govern by rationality, reason, sense, decent principles, truth. It'd be so different than what the neocons gave us!

To me Teflon means their crap won't stick to you because you are speaking the truth as the rational alternative. And what they're throwing at you are lies, the irrational alternative. Does truth win out? Not on its own. The nation needs to be ready for it. By a bare majority we weren't ready for it in 2004. We hope we are now!

Jedley there seems to think the Teflon has to do with you yourself, the candidate, not being ruffled. I think it's this other quality of the opposition's irrational charges and arguments not sticking to you.