I went to law school with Obama and was a member of Harvard Law Review when he was elected president. I voted for Obama then. At the time, I believed what qualified him to be president was his amiable nature (so many on the Review were just plain annoying), intelligence, and the fact that he was well-spoken and thoughtful. But something in the back of my mind always nagged me about him…something I couldn’t quite put a finger on. Certainly, he tended toward arrogance — as do so many at Harvard. Some of my classmates dubbed him a “smooth operator”. He went out of his way not to say anything controversial or exceptionally unique. He never “rocked the boat”, and when he spoke I always got the feeling that he was looking past me, past this moment, and plotting two or three steps ahead. Very calculating, very deliberate. Looking back, I now realize that what I saw in Obama was naked ambition.
When Obama first announced that he was running, my first thought was “What the hell? He can’t be any worse than any of the white candidates, so why not give him a shot?? But as his campaign has moved forward and as this race has unfolded, it has become clear to me that people are supporting Obama for the wrong reasons: they actually believe this man WILL make a difference, that he will somehow change their lives and set this country on a new and better course for the future. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Based on the man I knew in law school and the pre-packaged, faux-MLK soundbites he has grown accustomed to delivering now, I am firmly convinced that no Democratic candidate — with the exception of Hillary — has become more co-opted and firmly a part of the political Machine. How can you honestly believe that Obama is working outside the system when he admits to receiving investment advice from his “good friend”, Warren Buffett? When Oprah loans him her private jet for fundraising trips? When George Clooney, David Geffen and Steven Spielberg fawn over him like schoolgirls? When he visits Wall Street to raise money?
It is telling that Obama has had to work harder to garner support from black constituents than he has to win over his white, upper middle class supporters. Historically, blacks have developed an instinct for things and people not to be trusted. Call it a survival skill. But luckily Obama can count on the white folks, because he relieves their guilt and makes them feel like we have “come so far” as a people. The tall, charming bi-racial man became a success story. The system must work!
But if you listen very carefully to Obama, and you aren’t swept away by the cult of personality (as an earlier poster so aptly put it), you will notice that Obama isn’t saying anything new or revolutionary. He is gaining traction simply because he is smart, charming, has a resume too sparse to yield and scandals or mistakes — and oh yes, he ISN’T Hillary Clinton.
Obama never speaks to what truly ails this country: a crushing national debt, a dollar that is falling in value so rapidly that it boggles the mind, a silent war being waged on the middle class, our dependence on foreign debt to sustain ourselves. No, instead Obama would rather wax poetic about “dreams” of the father he never met and offer glib platitudes to the multitude of Americans who could use more truth and cold, hard reality and less Tony Robbins, Dr. Feelgood campaign speak. And by the way, his foreign policy isn’t revolutionary, either. He has strong ties with AIPAC, actively courts them, and has vowed to “neutralize” Iran at all costs, including militarily. Make no mistake: this man will drag us into another war, just as Hillary, Pelosi or Dubya would. The wealthy shareholders in Obama, Inc. would have it no other way.
But what is perhaps most disturbing about Obama is his infatuation with HIMSELF. Even amongst the self-indulgent crowd in the Beltway, Obama has taken narcissism to new heights. Doodling portraits of himself while he waits to speak; using every spare moment during Congressional recess to write books (and ask yourself why a man 45 years old deems his life important enough to write two books about his life and his thoughts? Can we expect 15 memoirs by the time he is 60?) Pumping his fist like a rapper when he appears on Oprah.
Obama, like a child star, has risen so far, so fast — that the money, attention and acclaim seem to have dazed him. And who could expect otherwise? We are so incredibly jaded and desperate for leadership that we have chosen to hitch our wagon to someone freshly emerged from the womb — simply because they haven’t screwed up yet, don’t have any ostensible baggage, and may us feel warm and fuzzy about the future.
I think it’s a mistake to be fooled by Obama, and I believe the next 18 mos will prove me right. When the gleam wears off and a more critical eye is used, we will see that Obama is more flash than substance, more Hollywood-revolutionary than civil rights revolutionary.
TK, if you are voting for Obama because you want change, because you want to see this country move in a radically different direction that will return power to the middle class, restore America to greatness, and because you want to see someone think and operate outside the box…then you are bound to be sorely disappointed if Obama is elected (which, by the way, is about as likely as Hillary being elected — i.e., it ain’t hapening in these United States anytime soon. The vast majority of red America just isn’t ready for a woman, a black man — hell, not even a white Catholic man or a Mormon!). But if you are voting for Obama because you want to tread the path of least resistance, keep rowing in the same general direction we’ve been heading and hear some pep talk along the way as we head off toward the raging rapids ahead, then Obama is your man.
The choice is yours. Be informed in your decision-making. Be critical with your questions. You owe it to yourself and to this country not to be swayed by the cult of personality.
