"Obama at Saddleback"---a title that sounds like Greek theater; Edipus at Colonus comes to mind---has left all the usual suspects with a collective wedgie. "What does he really really mean when he said (fill in the blank)"? This is because none of us know who he is so we are trying to invent him inside our heads.


Althouse, among others when discussing "Obama at Saddleback," has a sort of wedgie about definitions and abstractions together with "hidden" meanings, whatever that is supposed to mean. Everything any of us say at any time probably has concealed meaning, concealed because we are afraid our real meaning will make people hate us; or that saying something simple will not be complete; or that we want to avoid the question altogether. Trying to figure out what anyone's "true meanings" really are is an exercise in windmill jousting. It's easier to save stuff in a memory bank until needed and judge what is said by actions. McCain won, something I'm not surprised about after seeing him without notes at a Town Hall answering questions from the crowd.