The Cult of Obama

[Ironduke]

The Cult of Obama
by Ironduke
2/11/08

Barack Obama's presidential effort more closely resembles a religious movement than a presidential campaign. An underwhelming lightweight when it comes to issues of substance, issues, and policy, Obama has managed to garner mass popular support through his mastery of rhetoric and oratory. With gatherings that are closer to cult religious services than political rallies, Barack Obama speaks in messianic language, as if he is the Second Coming of Christ rather than a candidate for president of the United States.

At least Hillary Clinton doles out regular doses of specific policy proposals, she can be given credit for that much. On the other hand, Barack Obama doles out vague, indefinite yet somehow inspiring and mesmerizing messages of “change” and “hope”. “We are hungry for change, and we are ready to believe again,” says Obama. Cast a look at his followers, and you'd think the man could feed thousands with two loaves and five fishes, turn water into wine. To see the way some of the people behind him grasp and cling to every word he says, one might expect him to turn around, place his hand upon her head like a healing Evangelical pastor, and cast the cancer right out her body.

He occasionally, fleetingly speaks of the issues faced by ordinary Americans, such as the mortgage that can't be paid, crumbling schools, and so on. But the only real proposal that he's made is that tax breaks will be taken away from companies like Maytag that “ship jobs overseas.” So how do we fix the problems of foreclosures and crumbling schools, Barack? Any ideas? I've yet to hear one.

Obama sounds an awful lot like Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King used a similar style of oratory to inspire the masses to march toward a worthy goal – civil rights for blacks. At least he had an end goal that was concretely defined. Obama steals a page from Dr. King's playbook, yet there are no defined end goals to accompany his message.

With lines such as “our time has come” and “we are the ones we've been waiting for,” perhaps Barack Obama is actually the Messiah returned in the flesh to establish the Kingdom of God. If he isn't, he needs to drop the vagaries and start talking some substance. Perhaps all we need is for Walter Mondale to pop his head around the corner and ask, “Where's the beef?”

The Cult of Obama - World Affairs Board

[motivez]

This is my biggest beef with Obama, and IMO it's his biggest challenge moving forward. I've said on a number of occasions that he has to be substantive when discussing issues instead of offering flowers and bunnies and all this other nice sounding stuff with nothing solid backing it.

Hillary, for all of the criticisms I have about her.. is still a policy wonk. She can talk about the specifics of her plans and what she wants to do and so on and so forth at length. Obama might be able to, but all I know is that he really hasn't.

The last debate he had he tried to, and was more successful than he had been in the past.. but he still has to do more. A lot more.

[Scrum]

I thought this was pretty funny....

"I certainly don't know what he believes in. The only foreign policy thing I remember he said was he's going to attack Pakistan and embrace Ahmadinejad," Bush said.

"Of course President Bush would attack the one candidate in this race who opposed his disastrous war in Iraq from the start. But Barack Obama doesn't need any foreign policy advice from the architect of the worst foreign policy decision in a generation," said Obama spokesman Bill Burton.

[garbagemanlb]

This weekend he won Washington state, Louisiana, Nebraska, Maine, and even a mother fucking Grammy.
YouTube - Barack Obama wins the Grammys

I'm a believer.

[Phantom]

I don't see much difference in the "substance" of speeches between the two candidates. It just seems to me Obama delivers with a little more hope and inspiration in the message.

Not too many people want to come listen to a candidate list a series of positions that they are most likely already aware of anyway. Both candidates understand this.

[JaJae]

When I watch the debates I see Obama answering questions and giving policy positions all the time. In his speeches, yes he is delivering a message of hope. I don't think calling his campaign a "cult" is at all intellectually honest. We could sit around and pick apart any campaign and call it "cult" but it would serve nothing more than a display of personal dislike for the campaign.

[David Octavius]

Originally Posted by motivez

This is my biggest beef with Obama, and IMO it's his biggest challenge moving forward. I've said on a number of occasions that he has to be substantive when discussing issues instead of offering flowers and bunnies and all this other nice sounding stuff with nothing solid backing it.

No doubt there are challenges but challenges in a Republic imply there needs to be some consensus and "reaching across the aisle" for anything substantive to happen. We are not a dictatorship, what one wants doesn't necessarily happens, at least it shouldn't.

Hillary is smart but for better or worse she is divisive and that is last thing we need now is for our Congress to be split when there are major issues that need to be dealt with. At least with Obama there is a much better chance of parties coming together on some of these issues.

Also as you know "policy wonks" does not equal great Presidents, many great Presidents are great leaders (not the same thing), Obama has that "it" factor Hill doesn't have. In 2000 we needed a nerd, now we need leadership.

[thewise1]

Originally Posted by JaJae

When I watch the debates I see Obama answering questions and giving policy positions all the time. In his speeches, yes he is delivering a message of hope. I don't think calling his campaign a "cult" is at all intellectually honest. We could sit around and pick apart any campaign and call it "cult" but it would serve nothing more than a display of personal dislike for the campaign.

Have to agree.

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by motivez

This is my biggest beef with Obama, and IMO it's his biggest challenge moving forward. I've said on a number of occasions that he has to be substantive when discussing issues instead of offering flowers and bunnies and all this other nice sounding stuff with nothing solid backing it.

He may be soaring a little too high too fast? At some point the reality will set in and he will be forced to be much more clear on policy and how he will "unite" everybody as he has promised.

[David Octavius]

Originally Posted by RMNIXON

He may be soaring a little too high too fast? At some point the reality will set in and he will be forced to be much more clear on policy and how he will "unite" everybody as he has promised.

He IS clear on policy as JaeJe mentioned - the other candidates are nitpicking because he has the oratory skills they don't

[motivez]

Originally Posted by David Octavius

He IS clear on policy as JaeJe mentioned - the other candidates are nitpicking because he has the oratory skills they don't

I don't buy into that at all, he speaks a lot in general terms and has been very good at wording descriptions of his policies so he doesn't have to get very specific on the details.

Sure, he's clear on policy -- the broad strokes of the ones he likes anyway -- but when it comes to the finishing details, that briefcase is a little light.

He's gotten better than he was when the campaign first started, but if he hopes to do well against McCain in a General Election debate, he's going to have to become more comfortable talking about the specifics of his policy.

[Publius]

I found this amusing, and it's marginally topical.

[bheld]

This is misguided criticism. Neither candidate has been terribly specific and in the long run it really doesn't matter. These attacks on Obama are just excuses for the poor performance of Hillary, and the excuses have been piling up a lot more quickly lately.

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by David Octavius

He IS clear on policy as JaeJe mentioned - the other candidates are nitpicking because he has the oratory skills they don't.

I am not that clear on Obama Policy, but we may solve Global Warming if we let Hillary speak more often!