Obama And the Politics of Crowds

3 Comments

1. A while back, I was reading a biography of Lyndon Johnson and I was struck by the similarities between his victory and the 1964 election: Johnson was a wildly popular candidate that beat a Republican candidate with a campaign strategy that appealed to the conservative base at the expense of moderates – so essentially, only kooks voted for him, as Johnson said.

   Johnson was poised to be the most popular president in memory. But he was ultimately undone by huge problems that he inherited and didn’t have the power to fix, like Vietnam.

   There are differences, though, between Johnson and Obama.

   For one thing, Johnson failed in Vietnam because he committed himself to previous Kennedy policies of escalation. The whole point of Obama, though, is that he represents a change in direction from Bush policies, which is why a Bush and Reagan-sick country voted for him in huge numbers.

   So I don’t necessarily agree with the idea that Barry is going to flame out when he’s revealed a mere mortal.

   I find it amusing that when attempting to critique Obama, Professor Ajami brings up two things:

   1) He’s popular.

   2) People go to his rallies.

   Compared to candidates that have corruption charges, insane religious beliefs, and other real problems as to their competency and honesty, critiquing a candidate as “too popular” is kind of hilarious. Is he also “too good looking?”

   All while reading this article, I thought, “Man, these guys have got nothin’.”

   I love Ajami’s comparison between Obama and authoritarian, sleazy third-world leaders that get by on charisma and populism. Here in Miami, lots of cold warrior living fossil Cuban-Americans sport bumper stickers that say “Cuba Wanted Change in 1959.” Putting aside for a moment that it’s absurd to compare tribal/factional leaders (like the Bhuttos, who are elite Baluchistani) and countries without a single truly democratic government in their history (like Cuba), to the United States, the world’s longest unbroken history of democracy and peaceful transition of power.

   Rather, Barry O = Middle East demagogues is a leery insinuation without grounding in any actual policies. It shows the entire tone of the McCain campaign, based on FEAR, whose strongest arguments are fear arguments: “boogedy-boogedy SOCIALISM!!!” and “Terrorists will attack if we embolden them with Obama.”

   Of course Barry beat McCain last night: hope beats fear every time.

   Incidentally, Nightwing, I was wondering…how does it feel to live in a BLUE state?

   As Nelson Muntz would say: Ha. HA.

2. And another thing: this article is typical of the standard “it’s only a crime when Democrats do it” line of reasoning. if Professor Ajani was interested in something like intellectual consistency, he would have at least mentioned the fervor and cult of personality that accompanied Ronald Reagan to victory in 1980, where St. Ronnie also ran under “change.”

   I find it amusing to juxtapose all these anxieties about Barry becoming an American Castro to how truly respectful of the limits of the powers of the presidency he is: Barry says he’d never pull Bush tactics like wiretapping and he wants to close Gitmo. In the Vice Presidential Debate, Joe Biden came out against the way Cheney turned the Veep office into the Fourth Branch of Government. According to Joe, the job of the Vice President is to break ties in the senate, and that’s all. Once again, the imperial presidency is only a problem when its a Democrat.
   Also, Ajami’s reasoning is flawed. Not just for the reason I described: there are real differences between American society and the Middle East and Latin America (where charismatic revolutionaries become sleazy leaders when placed in power), but also because there’s a very real chance Barry O can in fact, solve our national problems. One of the biggest differences between Obama and McCain have been McCain’s failure to understand the nature of the problem. Barry had Warren Buffet to advise him. McCain had Joe the Plumber.
   Not only is Ajami’s reasoning flawed, I don’t think there’s even have a proper argument here.
   1) Obama is charismatic and promises reform.
   2) Sleazy Middle eastern leaders are charismatic and promise reform..
   3) Therefore, Obama is just like a sleazy Middle Eastern leader.
   Anyway, here’s the REAL problem, as I see it, Dave, if I could be brutally honest: Barry is popular and you’re freaking out about that.

3. LOL, Trust me, Julian if anyone can be brutally honest, it’s you. 🙂

   Believe it or not, I have no problem with Obama being popular. Heck, I like him myself. My problem is I’m 43 now, not 23, or 18, so “like” isn’t enough to hang my vote on. I’ve officially crossed over into codger territory, where “how nice is the guy” has given way to “yes, but what’s he ever DONE?”

   I came of voting age in 1983, at the height of the Reagan Revolution, and that combined with my upbringing I suppose shaped who I am, politically (in your eyes, no doubt, I’m a “neo-con”). Obama promises to be a similar inspiration to a newer generation of voters, hopefully (and I mean this) one that will continue to involve itself in the political process beyond this one, “historic” (ie: sexy) election. I bring up Reagan because at 19 I had little grasp of complex political issues, and really no hard and fast “values” to use as a litmus test for politicians. All I knew was how Reagan made me feel about America (great) compared to how Carter made me feel (hopeless and depressed). But where I could vote my “feelings” in 1984, nowadays it’s strictly business.

   I don’t know that Ajami is predicting disaster for the U.S., or saying that Obama is another Khomeini because he’s popular. Mostly he seems to be saying that the size of those crowds is our strongest indicator of just how bleak things have gotten; that when people look to a politician for salvation, it’s a more telling sign of national crisis than any scary numbers on Wall Street.

   I do worry that people have set themselves up for disappointment, and I worry that an Obama presidency will flounder if he can’t deliver near-instant results to voters who expect him to be Captain Marvel, Ghandi and Jesus all rolled into one. But for the record, I am encouraged by some of his choices for advisers, and I liked a lot of what I heard in his victory speech. As of January 20, he’s my president, too, and he’ll have my support until and unless he proves he doesn’t deserve it.

   Oh, and I don’t care what color my state is on the map. I’ve voted enough times by now to take a philosophical view of “victory” and “loss.” Neither is ever total.

   Thanks, too, for the Nelson Muntz quote. The sneering visage of Nelson is the last piece of the puzzle in assembling my mental image of you. But we’ve entered an era of “Hope” today, so one of my hopes is that some of the grace and class shown by your hero Barry will rub off even on you.

   Congratulations, by the way, and God bless America and the president-elect.

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