Obama, Where Art Thou?

30 October 2009

– by Mike Murray

With apologies to Joel and Ethan Coen, where is he? You know who I mean. The One. Yes, that one – the larger-than-life figure who was going to bring us all together. The person (or prophet, or deity, or whatever) who was going to “transform” everything – politics, race relations, the environment. Everything.

His faithful followers are asking: Where did Brother Barack go?

From where I sit, he hasn’t gone anywhere. That’s because he was never here in the first place. Not in the sense that millions thought. By now, it should be dawning on nearly everyone, even among his most ardent supporters, that Obama never was “a new kind of politician.” Unless, by new, you mean someone who cut his teeth on the brass-knuckles style of Chicago politics – someone even more ruthless than what we had previously experienced on the national stage.

“Religion,” it is often said by admirers of Karl Marx (who is attributed with popularizing the sentiment) “is the opiate of the masses.” Marx borrowed the expression, no doubt, from “Die Religion … ist das Opium des Volkes” (Religion is the opium of the people). And, just as Marx changed the words a little, so did Obama.

Presidential candidate Obama boiled the notion that religion anesthetizes down to its essence – “hope” – as so many politicians before him have. Shoot, it wasn’t that long ago that Bill Clinton’s campaign was telling us that Bubba was the man from Hope (Arkansas). The obvious play was on the dual meaning of the word “hope.” Clinton’s handlers used it convey the idea that the aw-shucks kid from humble beginnings represented grand possibilities for our nation.

So, picking up on scores of political figures who preceded him, Obama made “hope” – coupled with “change” – the central theme of his drive for the White House. It worked. People always crave comfort and improved lives. They continually seek respite from “politics as usual” – and from all of the ills that befall them.

Candidate Obama said all the right things. He appealed to the “better angels of our natures.” He spoke of all that we could accomplish if only we would put our differences aside. If only we would separate ourselves from the shackles that lock-step loyalties to political party, race, gender, regionalism, etc. represent, we could come together and solve many of our common problems. If only we would open our minds and our hearts, he preached, we could accomplish much.

Millions wanted to believe. And their desire, coupled with George W. Bush fatigue (which translated itself into Republican disaffection) – plus a bit of voter and finance fraud, and a big assist from the mainstream media – landed Obama the Oval Office. Obama’s supporters could barely wait until Inauguration Day. They wondered aloud why there need be such a long transition period. They were as excited children, anxiously counting down the days during the holiday season.

When January 20^th, 2009 arrived, they breathed a collective sigh of relief. Finally, a new day had dawned. At long last, America (nay, the entire world) was on its way to healing. The celebrations were long and loud. Tears streamed down the cheeks of – wait for it – hopeful faces. Even the eyes of hardened pols such as Jesse Jackson welled up and spilled over.

But, as the saying goes, “something that seems too good to be true probably is.” Such is clearly the case with Obama. Although he has been in office less than a year, long gone are the esoteric messages of commonality, cooperation, and collaboration. The gloves have come off, and so has Barack’s mask. No more Kumbaya talk from him. He is now the Chicago-style political thug who exhorts his supporters to “bring a gun to a knife fight,” to “get in the faces” of those who disagree, to “hit back, even harder.”

Hope, it seems, was merely a campaign slogan for Obama – one useful only to get him past Hillary Clinton in the primaries, and to dupe moderates and conservatives into voting for him in the general election. Enough were fooled that he achieved victory. Still, not everyone bought the blarney.

A few of us – including the Chicago Tribune’s John Kass – were skeptical early on. Kass used the term “hopium” to describe the soap Obama was selling. It was a clever, commingled construction of Obama’s “hope and Marx’s “opium” references. Kass pegged Obama as pusher of hopium well before Election Day. I, too, began to doubt the sincerity of The One – as a reading of a good many of my Berea Bits essays will attest.

The signs were there all along, for anyone who cared to look beyond Obama’s platitudes and pithy rhetoric (much of it borrowed, without attribution). As early as April of 2008, I was pointing out (in Cool Cat Turns Catty) that Obama was not truly “transformational.” Because, at the drop of a hat, the guy would descend into the political gutter – and resort to tried-and-true dirty techniques. Hardly the stuff of a genuinely post-partisan soul.

And, once Obama assumed office, things got even worse. He wasted no time in demonizing those on the political right. Talk radio and cable hosts came in for specific ridicule. And scores of peaceful protestors, some of whom had even voted for him (and who only disagreed with one or more of his fiscal policies) were suddenly categorized as “extremists.” Even worse, senior members of Obama’s administration officially declared them to be “low-level terrorists.”

As a candidate, Obama had billed himself as post-racial. But as President, he sat silent for long weeks as his minions accused critics of being racist. Obama could have called a halt to the nonsense at any time. But he didn’t. And his silence spoke volumes. Anyone who doubts that the odious (and absurd) charges of bigotry were a demagogic effort by Team Obama to quash dissent just isn’t paying attention.

After that, our self-described “transformational” president began a war with Fox News – which airs (among its many general-news programs) opinion shows hosted by people not favorable to Obama. Fox’s opinion hosts reveal themselves to be precisely what they are – commentators, not journalists. But, since they often offer commentary critical of Obama’s agenda, the President has gotten extremely hot under the collar.

As a consequence, he has dispatched his White House flaks (long-time Chicago cronies, mostly) on an all-out assault on Fox News – appearing on competing cable and broadcast networks and hurling inflammatory accusations. It wasn’t the first time that Obama has sought to silence those who dare disagree (see: Obama’s War on Dissent), and it certainly won’t be the last.

But is sure is unseemly – especially for someone who billed himself to be miles above such distasteful practices. Obama is nothing like the person he pretended to be while he was courting voters. That figure has long vanished. It seems now to have been only an illusion – a friendly, vaporous apparition.

Worst of all is the damage Obama is leaving in his wake. He led his followers to believe he was building a bridge to a better future, one paved with hope. But, much more so than was the infamous construction in Alaska, Obama’s bridge leads to nowhere. And he’s burning it behind him.

His dreadful performance as president – one greatly removed from the one he promised – will make it harder (rather than easier) for others to follow in his footsteps. Future minority candidates, especially, will find the climb steeper, the sledding more difficult. Because it will be hard for whites to trust that they won’t again be burned, that they won’t be called racist the first time they have the audacity to disagree. Until the demographics shift in America (during the mid- to late-21^st century), brown, black, red, and yellow hopefuls will have a more difficult time than ever ascending to the presidency – thanks to Obama.

Candidate Obama promised to help narrow the chasm of racial tension in America. But he is, instead, widening it. Through his many sycophants, he is shamelessly exploiting the color of his skin in order to deflect criticism. Their hateful use of race to demonize detractors is, itself, a form of bigogry. And it is disgusting.

The bottom line is that Barack Obama is not blazing a trail. Neither is he unifying our nation. He is, instead, employing scorched-earth tactics in the pursuit of selfish political interests. Not only is he failing to bring America together, he is systematically tearing it apart.

Which is plenty bad enough. But, to my way of thinking, his greatest shortcoming lies in the way he has let down those who most admired, who most believed in him. Many millions of people – some new to politics, some jaded and returning after scores of bad experiences – bought the message Obama was selling. They desperately wanted to believe that he was sincere, that he would do all that he could to bring people of disparate races, ideologies, and generations together.

But he has not. The man who sold himself as something of a messiah has proven to be all-too human. He promised hope, but he’s delivering disillusion. There is no joy for many of us who early on saw Obama for what he truly is – an ambitious politician in altruist’s clothing. Rather, we grieve for those he has deeply disappointed. And for our nation.

Berea Pundit