The Candidate as Inkblot

...and You explained it very well.

Peggy Noonan has a great take on Obama, it's that he represents something WE made, with our modern culture, an articulate charasmatic black man that makes (some) of us feel really good about hope and the future.

I had not seen that article, which is odd as I am usually a big Peggy Noonan fan, so thank you for telling me.

I agree that in some ways he is a modern creation, but in some others he is something that we have had for a long time. It is the same sort of vacuous platitudes tapping into popular sentiment that let Peter the Hermit start the passion from crusades, or Hitler launch the National Socialist movement.

Not the Obama is anything like either of those examples in his goals, but he is similar in being very good at manipulating popular passions with empty words, just like the two I mentioned.

Of course, he has yet to face independent and conservative voters. We know he can woo some of the left, but we have not seen how much ability he has to tap into a non-liberal world view. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Thanks for the comment, and the Noonan article. Please come back again and read more. I have a lot of old material which may be of some interest. Some is a bit dated now, but I hope some is still relevant.

Welcome to the blog.

Thank you for the kind words. I hope you don't take offense to some of the less than kind things I have said about your namesake in earlier posts.

Welcome to the blog, and thank you for the comment. Please come back and read more. Always glad to have a new reader. Especially one who says kind tyhings about my writing.

Jonah Goldberg makes the case that Liberal Fascism always comes wrapped in an appealing popular package. You might not be as far off the mark as you want to believe.

Thanks for the follow-up. If we get a few more of these I may have written my next entry without even trying.

You are right that Obama's ability to manipulate crowds with empty platitudes into which they read what they want is the same method by which a lot of fascist movements started, but I still shy away from actively worrying that Obama is the precursor of some American totalitarianism. (As I plan to write an article soon about overheated rhetoric in political discourse, I have to avoid saying that...)

But even though I don't think Obama himself has any intention at the moment of becoming the African-American Duce, it does worry me to see the cultish reactions. The swooning, the adoration without any specific reason, the ability to embrace him without any political platform, the fainting fans, the cheering even when he blows his nose (recorded in Best of the Web earlier this week), all sounds a bit like the crowds at Nuremberg rallies.

So even if Obama is not a threat, the path he has opened, the fact that he has shown future demagogues how easy it is to woo modern audiences, scares me quite a bit. It is possible that someone with more malevolent goals could tap into the same cultural trend and do quite a bit more harm. (As I think Obama can only move left-wing crowds, I still doubt he will win the general election, so his potential for harm is likely limited. I just don't think his snake oil will sell to the center and right. But I could be wrong.)

I only hope we wise up before the next election, and this particular approach to politics vanishes once more. I really am uncomfortable with the appearance of the personality cult in American elections.

Thanks again for posting. Good to hear from you a second time.

The wife beater syndrome several times over the last month. You know, the wife loves the beater and she wants to make it work. He'll say what she wants to hear and all is well, until the next time...when will they realize it ain't about love? It is about survival and though we will survive this "beating", the other sufferers will still be hoping.

That does fit the democrat obsession with empty suits. Then again, Obama is quite unique. The Dems loved Kerry and Gore, but they absolutely worship Obama. It is a very strange phenomenon.

He seems more like a rock star or a celebrity. But that may actually explain it. Like a rock star he speaks in generalities, and is just generically "cool". It allows everyone to see in him what they want (kind of like your wife beater analogy) and they adore him for it.

Good to hear from you again.