What did I get from reading these articles? Lurking behind Obama's fine speeches is a sharp, ambitious mind that has organized a campaign to win not in lightning lighting strikes but inexorably through persuasion. I caught some of MSNBC and a bit of Meet the Press and during one or the other pundit flapping jaws, I got thinking of Bruce Lee and his idea of being like water.
"Be formless... shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle; it becomes the bottle. You put it into a teapot; it becomes the teapot. Water can flow, and it can crash. Be like water, my friend..And then of Sherman marching through Georgia - although a bit quieter than William T..
Take this point from Maureen Dowd's ¿Quién Es Less Macho? :
"Among her other cascading woes, it turns out that Hillary is not able to manage her political family’s money. Like a prudent housekeeper, Obama spent the cash he raised — including from his continuing relationships with small donors — far more shrewdly, on ads rather than on himself."
And this from Frank Rich's The Audacity of Hopelessness:
"This is the candidate who keeps telling us she’s so competent that she’ll be ready to govern from Day 1. Mrs. Clinton may be right that Mr. Obama has a thin résumé, but her disheveled campaign keeps reminding us that the biggest item on her thicker résumé is the health care task force that was as botched as her presidential bid.
The New York Times endorsed Hilary Clinton. Are these indications of buyer's remorse? Or the shock of realizing that Obama has quietly gone about undercutting the expectations of this presidential campaign by sheer intelligence and hard work?
The Washington Post devoted two articles to scuffing up the Obama-mania. I got to say this mania for Obama is damned interesting but I do not think it is cause of his success but only a symptom.
Obama Fever Is Breaking On the Web deals with the Web reaction and some of the blowback and parodies:
"In recent days, sites have popped up indicating that the ongoing online Obamamania has hit a wall. What kind of wall? A snarky, ironic, this-Obama-thing-has-gotten-over-the-top wall. Obama's smiling mug is mashed up on countless faces on SenatorObamas.com. He's Sumobama. He's Pharaohbama. He's Navajobama, complete with a blue-and-white feathered headdress. The blog Is Barack Obama the Messiah? features a photo of the Illinois senator standing on a flight of stairs, Christlike, above an adoring crowd while a ray of light beams from above"(You might want to take another look at that Bruce Lee quote.)
The editorial The Obama Enigma makes this point:
The closing weeks of a primary campaign aren't especially conducive to thoughtful discussions of political philosophy. But if not now, when? Mr. Obama's rhetoric about bridging partisan differences has been inspiring, his personal story is moving and his qualities of leadership are undoubted. But do voters understand where, exactly, he would like to lead them?
Then there is David Ignatius' The Value of Newness:
"We are the last major nation to make the transition from Cold War thinking to something new. China and India are rising thanks to new leadership elites that understand how to succeed in global markets; Russia is about to elect a new president whose formative experiences came after the fall of the Soviet Union; Pakistan has just rebuffed its own durable Cold Warrior, Pervez Musharraf; even Fidel Castro, perhaps the iconic survivor of the Cold War, has decided to step down. Only in America could John McCain seriously campaign for leadership as a symbol of the past."
***To prepare for the next stage of the U.S. presidential campaign, try this thought experiment: Imagine the television footage of Barack Obama's first trip abroad as president -- the crowds in the streets of Moscow, Cairo, Nairobi, Shanghai, Paris, Islamabad. Now try to imagine the first visit by President John McCain to those same cities. McCain is a great man, and he would be welcomed with respect, deference, perhaps a bit of fear. Obama would generate different and more intense reactions -- surprise and uncertainty, to be sure, but also idealism and hope. Now tell me which image would foster a stronger and safer America in the 21st century.
Obama has liabilities as a candidate, but his inexperience paradoxically may actually bolster one of his core arguments -- that he would give America a fresh start.
I think that fresh start captures the whole of Obama and part of this Obama-mania thing. If he merely represented a fresh face, then he would not have lasted this long. The country has finally tired of the Bush/Cheney/Conservative/Neo-con mendacity and hypocrisy masquerading as our government. I say that is why Obama-mania exists.
I say watch out - he comes not with a laundry of list of programs to dazzle us but with an idea of different way of approaching how we approach our political and social problems. He is not putting ideology ahead of reality the way Bush and Company have done these past seven years. Obama is about work. Take a look at what he has done with this campaign and how he has done it.
With only a bit of my tongue in my cheek, I wonder if Obama will also not change one other thing. Football seems to be a favorite sports metaphor for politics. I understand Obama plays basketball - a much more fluid game than football.
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