Um...what can I say?

[tagryn]

Obama = cult of personality? From columnist Mark Morford at sfgate.com:

Many spiritually advanced people I know (not coweringly religious, mind you, but deeply spiritual) identify Obama as a Lightworker, that rare kind of attuned being who has the ability to lead us not merely to new foreign policies or health care plans or whatnot, but who can actually help usher in a new way of being on the planet, of relating and connecting and engaging with this bizarre earthly experiment. These kinds of people actually help us evolve. They are philosophers and peacemakers of a very high order, and they speak not just to reason or emotion, but to the soul.

Ahhhhhh! I guess we're getting a taste of how JFK was regarded by his admirers during the Camelot period...

Comments

[foomf.livejournal.com]

Yeah, politicians are usually given huge, ridiculous, exaggerated unrealistic images, like Reagan as "The Great Communicator" ... the ones coming from their supporters make them sound like the incarnation of all that is Good, while their detractors equally make them seem like the evil perpetrators of every wrong in the world, including making YOUR checkbook not balance.

[erikred.livejournal.com]

Cf. Bumbling Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter the inbred peanut farmer, St. Ronny the Senile, Rock 'n' Rollin' Bill the assassin, and Right-with-God George the moron. Everyone gets their unfair share of fringe admirers and detractors.

Out of curiosity, is this the tone we can expect for the rest of this campaign? Bashing McCain and Obama with vitriol, poison, and ridicule? 'Cos I thought we were past that and into talking about the pros for the candidates.

[tagryn]

Its actually a bash on one of Obama's followers, who made a ridiculous statement, hence worthy of ridicule. There's very good/reasonable reasons to support (or oppose) either candidate, but when support veers into adoration, or opposition ventures into demonization, that's going too far. When one thinks his candidate is sent by a Higher Power to show mortals a better way of living, there's not a whole lot of room for discussion left. That's a prophet being described, not a politician.

On the flip side, as the article in my previous post mentioned, McCain has to overcome the fact that he doesn't inspire this kind of devotion from his crowd. There's nobody fainting from emotion at his rallies, etc., and this does translate into tangible things like campaign contributions and volunteerism which help decide elections.

In general campaign terms? Oh, yeah, I think we're just at the tip of the iceberg. McCain'll all but have his last name changed to "Bush" and be portrayed as a posterboy for Alzheimers, and Obama'll get presented as a mix of Jimmy Carter II and a keffiyeh-wearing member of the Black Panthers. The campaigns themselves may not do this, in order to keep their hands clean, but the DNC/RNC and 527s will be more than happy to fill the void. There's nothing in recent history that gives me reason to think we're suddenly going to have a clean, rational campaign about the issues. Factcheck.org is going to be very busy with all the slime that'll be going around.