I read an interesting article highlighted in the Drudge Report. It was from an article in The Australian about Obama. The journalist, Geoff Elliott compared the reaction Obama is getting to how people reacted to Mandela. In other words, people are looking up to Obama as more than just a new leader, but as a cult figure even something “akin to a messiah”. Wow.
I even have to admit that I was transfixed listening to him give a speech. It was hard to resist not yelling out an “amen” and that was from my living room. I can only imagine the impact of listening to him in person. And yet… there was a great quote in the article I read:
Well known political journalist Joe Klein of Time magazine, who was travelling on the campaign plane this week with Obama, too, wrote of a nagging concern about this kind of rhetoric of inspiration over substance, noting "there was something just a wee bit creepy about the mass messiahnism".
Creepy or not, how do you compete against this? I almost feel sorry for Hillary who is pitting her substance against someone who speaks in promises and hopes yet has still to give specifics on what he is trying to accomplish. Hell, he hasn’t even said what his concrete goals are, other than being President, much less how he plans to attain them.
And therein lies the catch. For the minute he gives specifics he is sure to disappoint people. In fact, how can he not end up angering his followers when they find out that underneath the glamour of a cult figure, he is a cold analytical politician? And we all know what happens when the crowds turn against their messiah…..
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