Even in this age of high-tech toys, two of my young grandsons can still be entertained by the emission of little iridescent spheres from a plastic loop that has been dipped in soapy water.  I am talking about bubbles – the kind that last for only a few seconds before bursting.  

A bubble can also be a metaphor.  Old King Solomon talked about emptiness in the ancient book of Ecclesiastes.  One word the wise ruler used to describe the fleeting nature of life without meaning was vanity – and it can be loosely translated as “soap bubbles.” 

Of course, most of us have heard about economic bubbles.  They occur when factors such as speculation drive prices to a level far beyond actual intrinsic value.  In the past few years we have seen a dot.com bubble, a Chinese stock bubble, and of course, most recently, the real estate bubble. 

Charles Mackay, a nineteenth century Scottish journalist, wrote a fascinating treatise entitled, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.  First published in 1841, the book chronicled “the most remarkable instances of those moral epidemics which have been excited, sometimes by one cause and sometimes by another, and to show how easily the masses have been led astray, and how imitative and gregarious men are, even in their infatuations and crimes.”

Mr. Mackay describes an assortment of nefarious financial schemes dating back to the early 1700s.  He noted that they were then nicknamed Bubbles.  To him, this term was “the most appropriate that imagination could devise,” adding that, “the most absurd and preposterous of all, and which showed more completely than any other, the utter madness of the people, was one started by an unknown adventurer, entitled, ‘A company for carrying on an undertaking of great advantage, but nobody to know what it is.’”

This could well describe American politics du jour.

When bubbles burst people who have been hypnotized by their splendor tend to be disappointed - like children who see something compelling one moment, only to witness sudden dissipation.  And sometimes, when bubbles connected to intensely personal concerns burst, there is discouragement – even disillusionment.

It might be constructive, maybe even essential, to think of the whole Barack Obama phenomenon as a gigantic bubble.  It has captured pan-cultural attention and transcends the humdrum of mere mortal politics.  Expectations are inflated.  Rational analysis has been muted.  Look, up in the sky – it’s a bird, it’s a plane no, it’s Super Senator above the political fray soaring in his designer soap bubble.

The value of Barack Obama’s stock is sky high these days.  His most devoted followers assume this upward trend will continue.  Happy days are just around the corner.  Can’t you just feel the love and unity?  Not to mention the change? 

And back on earth, those who should be watching more closely, and asking tough questions, seem to have temporarily (we can only hope) suspended their capacity for serious investigation while following the bubble-beacon here, there, and everywhere.

What does it say about legacy mainstream media outlets when it is left to the likes of Katie Couric to ask the man from Illinois an actual tough question with a measure of ferocity (at least for her)? 

Here is the problem, though.  No one, not even Barack “The Man Promising Personalized Pieces of Blue Sky” Obama, can possibly sustain the level of near universal affection and acclaim indefinitely.   Human glory tends to be a fleeting thing - especially the political variety.  In fact, the issue is not if Obama’s bubble will burst, but rather – when. 

And when it does, there will be a lot of unhappy American campers. 

There is a saying: “Motivation without implementation produces frustration.”  In the political arena this means that when someone inspires people without eventually following through, the result is significant disenchantment.  Barack Obama’s style over substance campaign is very much a bipolar candidacy.  We are seeing the manic phase now.

Stay tuned for the depressive future.

Rarely has a political figure generated the kind of near-universal acclaim that the junior senator from Illinois seems to receive.  His recent trip abroad drew enthusiastic crowds at every public event.  People sought to touch the hem of his garment.  Obama’s speech in Berlin was given before a crowd of more than 200,000.  Take that Camelot. Continued...