Upon Sober Reflection…
link Reception for Obama Is More Sober Than in 2008 – NYTimes.com.
Well it has been 5 years and the comedown was bound to happen. The swooning crowds, the breathless adulation, the rock-star persona, the trance-like state of delusion by the masses. They are all subsiding. We’re not talking Justin Bieber here, that’s still going on. We are talking about an obscure senator from Illinois five years after bursting on the scene seemingly out of nowhere to reach the world’s highest office. That the fascination has lasted this long is amazing by itself. Justin Bieber, to his credit, at least has a basic talent.
On any given day as you stand in line at the checkout stands at the supermarket, you will be exposed to the numerous blaring headlines of Hollywood gossip magazines offering profoundly important news about the most picayune activities of the glitterati. We find that Kim Kardashian is pregnant! It’s a miracle! We know that Justin likes Selena, but she likes someone else’s boyfriend and Taylor Swift is miffed and Jennifer’s wedding is postponed and Brad suffers heartbreak and Jessica is fat.
Gripping stuff, but mostly it’s all noise to normal and intelligent people. Only 12 year old girls have an obsessive appetite for these morsels of drivel dressed up as fresh news on their idols.
Apparently there remains that hard core journalistic equivalent of 12 year old girls that are still intoxicated by the cloud of greatness that emanates from the incumbent healer of the earth and saviour of mankind. According to stories such as the one in the linked article, by the New York Times no less, journalists that are not Chris Matthews and increasingly much of the general public are sobering up. It’s the equivalent of the realization that the Korean rapper Psy is a one act phenomenon…which he is. Like William Hung of American Idol fame, his 15 minutes are over. Over the past half year, there is increasing evidence that the adoring Obama fan base is falling away as it becomes obvious that beyond the ability to read off a screen, the man has no talent. It would be as if people listened to Vanna White’s opinions on world affairs solely by virtue of her skill at turning letters on a board.
When you hear the same old banalities and cheap bromides offered again and again as sage wisdoms delivered in that same condescending pedantic tone, especially if read off a screen, the credibility is lost. When you lose credibility, you lose audience. When you lose audience, you lose effectiveness and influence.
When people are at raucous party and especially if they are in an altered state, every conversation is witty, every person is fascinating and the loud amorphous music all sounds intoxicatingly brilliant. In the sober moments of daytime however, those same conversations are banal, the people are bores and the music becomes just so much cacophonous noise. Methinks we are at that sobering moment.
Update: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/obama-second-term-doldrums-93295.html
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1627b9a4-e234-11e2-87ec-00144feabdc0.html#slide0