Obama's smoke and mirrors?
By: Connor Stratman
Issue date: 11/13/08 Section: Opinion
I learned a lot about my country on election night. I saw a country that came together for a brief moment to stand up against political monotony that had lasted eight years. But, most importantly, I saw a country that was very easily deceived.
What the American people-particularly the young ones-demonstrated on that historical night was that they are very easily convinced.
Barack Obama is a textbook example of a Western charismatic leader. He, like John F. Kennedy and Franklin D. Roosevelt (and some might argue Ronald Reagan), has what so many politicians lack: a personality.
His ability to enunciate words and spew vague political poetry makes him almost irresistibly attractive to the public eye. And when his image is all television will show for months upon months without end, it really is no surprise that he won.
Considering the average American watches four hours of television per day-a lethal dose, most certainly-I would estimate that every average American saw Obama's image on the screen for a total of hundreds of hours.
I couldn't watch anything on TV without seeing something about him. It really can't be overemphasized how well-organized his campaign was.
But throughout his entire campaign, President-elect Obama made very little mention about the policies that he planned to implement or, as he put it, "change."
Change, to Mr. Obama, still seems to be in an embryonic stage, ideologically.
Most of what his campaign was based upon was pointing out the horrendous failures of the Bush administration, and subtly connecting them to John McCain so the public was convinced that they were, in fact, the same kind of politician. But no one really seemed to mention this to him, or to each other.
We are all so obsessed with the idea of changing something that it doesn't matter what that something is.
It makes us feel special, important, even powerful to say and think we were instruments of political change.
It gives us the illusion that we actually have some power over the government, though it is becoming increasingly obvious that that isn't the case.
But hey, perhaps I will be surprised.
What the American people-particularly the young ones-demonstrated on that historical night was that they are very easily convinced.
Barack Obama is a textbook example of a Western charismatic leader. He, like John F. Kennedy and Franklin D. Roosevelt (and some might argue Ronald Reagan), has what so many politicians lack: a personality.
His ability to enunciate words and spew vague political poetry makes him almost irresistibly attractive to the public eye. And when his image is all television will show for months upon months without end, it really is no surprise that he won.
Considering the average American watches four hours of television per day-a lethal dose, most certainly-I would estimate that every average American saw Obama's image on the screen for a total of hundreds of hours.
I couldn't watch anything on TV without seeing something about him. It really can't be overemphasized how well-organized his campaign was.
But throughout his entire campaign, President-elect Obama made very little mention about the policies that he planned to implement or, as he put it, "change."
Change, to Mr. Obama, still seems to be in an embryonic stage, ideologically.
Most of what his campaign was based upon was pointing out the horrendous failures of the Bush administration, and subtly connecting them to John McCain so the public was convinced that they were, in fact, the same kind of politician. But no one really seemed to mention this to him, or to each other.
We are all so obsessed with the idea of changing something that it doesn't matter what that something is.
It makes us feel special, important, even powerful to say and think we were instruments of political change.
It gives us the illusion that we actually have some power over the government, though it is becoming increasingly obvious that that isn't the case.
But hey, perhaps I will be surprised.
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