What can we say about Obama and his contradictions? He’s the man they faint over like the Beatles. He is also the guy that earnestly discusses health care policy and other wonkery. He made a deadpan comment about that Bill Clinton’s dance moves (or lack thereof) would prove if he’s black. Yet, he’s the Harvard lawyer who eschews sound bites and overt partisanship.
Obama is actually quite brilliant politically. He talks like a very serious guy, but, if you listen closely, he says nothing. Just by way of example, Obama says the most important job of the next president “will be to mobilize the American people to move forward.” This means nothing. People are nonetheless impressed with his “seriousness” and gravitas.
I think this is mostly because he can ably articualte both sides of an issue. He rarely sinks to the Clintons’ penchant for describing conservatives as a sinister cabal with bad motives. His style is a big part of the product because that style is so different from Bush’s. Where Bush is cocksure, inarticulate, and uses the rhetoric of fear and oversimplification, Obama is deliberate, highly articulate, discusses his opponents’ positions intelligently, and uses the rhetoric of . . . (drum roll please) . . . hope.
I think he is, however, very unserious. I know this not because “Obama Girl” exists or shallow women are fainting at his speeches. Nor is it proven by the insufferable “Yes We Can” video. He’s unserious because he does not openly face the fact that controversy and unpopular trade-offs are the essence of politics. This evasion is highly evident when he talks about foreign affairs. His basic schtick is to change the subject and talk about midnight basketball or health care.
If he were brave rather than slick, he could articulate a more sensible vision of domestic and foreign policy. He’s really just a product of his party. Democrats don’t want to hear about trade offs or spending cuts or the need to face al Qaeda. They just want to hear from the Smart Guy Who Will Take Us Out of Iraq and Soak The Rich. On every other issue, his supporters insert their own beliefs into the empty vessel rhetoric of “hope” and “change.” They are happy because they think Obama is such a great guy for agreeing with them, even though that agreement is only in the ether, so to speak.
Obama is spawning unserious devotion precisely because of his apparent seriousness, which at bottom is not serious at all. It’s an illusion. He is a typical hack Democratic politician, but he happens to speak well and has charisma. He knows if he spoke like Kucinich, he’d lose. So he conceals his beliefs behind a facade of empty rhetoric. That’s all he’s got. Some “messiah.”
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“Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.” Magic
Obambi could get rich.
Obama ’08! woot! woot!
I believe that’s the response you’re looking for. Thanks for weighing in on my blog.
As you point out, people like Obama because they can fit their views into his empty rhetoric. But let’s be frank, a lot of his supporters also like him because he is black, and they get a personal high from the sense of moral vanity that results from supporting the first serious black candidate for president. They also believe they can re-define the country into something more congruent with their belief system simply by electing a liberal black president. Once thus redefined to their liking, some will (like Michelle) be able to take pride in their country for the first time. And taking genuine pride in one’s country is also quite a gratifying feeling, however fleeting the sensation probably will be for some of these individuals.
There is something to that. Some people, including white people, like that he’s black but also a reasonable candidate to support who does not talk like Jesse Jackson (at least does not in front of white audiences). Others, especially older voters down south, won’t like him because he’s black. It’s also true that some people’s view of America is such that the stain of everything from how we treated the Indians, to slavery, to Jim Crow, to failing to get involved in WWII and end the Holocaust earlier than we did will make them think our entire history is a stain to be scrubbed out.
But it won’t be enough to have Obama as President. Because we’ll be told “we still have a long way to go.” The contrast with the more meritorcratic business world and the thin ranks of black CEOs and law firm partners will be noted. Everyone who votes against him and all the states he does not carry will be marked as retrograde places requiring reeducation. Imagine the red-blue country map with the red states having swastikas or KKK symbols on them. And God forbid he loses; I fear the riots will be the worst in American history.