As someone who does not believe in a god who would drop down from the
skies to bring enlightenment to the whole world, I am equally
skeptical of "heroes." This, especially, when the supposed hero
promises to bring utopia down in the manner of an Old Testament
prophet who promises to deliver the word and rule on earth of his god
to his people. Barack Obama represents just such a phenomenon - a
religious evangelical type who drum-beats his message using religious
imagery to a nation of mostly believers, with some agnostics and
possibly even atheists joining the bandwagon after letting their
hearts overrule their minds. Admiration always mandates the absence
of an independent view - a gushing fan cannot see any flaw in the
object of his/her admiration, Obama being the equivalent of an Elvis
Presley before a crowd of Tennessee teenagers.
This, then, is a counter-view in response to the praise of
Obama that has ben posted on these forums earlier. While I do not
endorse Dan Henninger's views in their entirety, I am always
suspicious of religionists as rulers. Even while they display
somewhat secular tendencies through their careers, there is just a
slight religious epiphany that could cause them to turn completely
around and claim that it was their belief that drove them to do this.
This, then, is a response taken from the newspapers (as the other
posts so far have been) to the supporters of Barack Obama over
here and elsewhere.
Mehul Kamdar
http://online.wsj.com/article/wonder_land.html
WONDER LAND
By DANIEL HENNINGER
Obama at the Top
February 14, 2008; Page A16
Hillary Clinton probably didn't watch the stem-winder speech that
Barack Obama delivered Tuesday night after cleaning her clock in the
Potomac primaries. If not, she should.
It was tiresome.
The speech was classic Obama. Beautifully written and beautifully
delivered, the words soaring to the rafters of a Madison, Wis.,
auditorium filled mostly with 17,000 cheering students. The rookie
senator had just come off blowouts of Hillary in Virginia and
Maryland.
The senator's charisma and appeal has been undeniable. He is almost
insanely eloquent. Still, about halfway into this (very long) speech,
the feeling was hard to shake: This is getting hard to listen to.
Again and again.
Is Sen. Obama peaking? Probably not. The across-the-board growth in
his Potomac numbers was impressive. The more appropriate question
would be, is the Obama wave cresting?
Barack Obama has ridden these primaries like a skilled surfer,
catching big emotional waves and riding them spectacularly, letting
this new force carry him forward. Even the biggest waves, however,
eventually break on the shore.
The conventional critique of Sen. Obama has held that his pitch is
perfect but at some point he'll need to make the appeal more concrete.
I think the potential vulnerability runs deeper. Strip away the new
coat of paint from the Obama message and what you find is not only
familiar. It's a downer.
Up to now, the force of Sen. Obama's physical presentation has so
dazzled audiences that it has been hard to focus on precisely what he
is saying. "Yes, we can! Yes, we can!" Can what?
Listen closely to that Tuesday night Wisconsin speech. Unhinge
yourself from the mesmerizing voice. What one hears is a message that
is largely negative, illustrated with anecdotes of unremitting
bleakness. Heavy with class warfare, it is a speech that could have
been delivered by a Democrat in 1968, or even 1928.
Here is the edited version, stripped of the flying surfboard:
"Our road will not be easy . . . the cynics. . . where lobbyists
write check after check and Exxon turns record profits . . . That's
what happens when lobbyists set the agenda. . . It's a game where
trade deals like Nafta ship jobs overseas and force parents to
compete with their teenagers to work for minimum wage at Wal-
Mart . . . It's a game . . . CEO bonuses . . . while another mother
goes without health care for her sick child . . . We can't keep
driving a wider and wider gap between the few who are rich and the
rest who struggle to keep pace . . . even if they're not rich . . ."
Here's his America: "lies awake at night wondering how he's going to
pay the bills . . . she works the night shift after a full day of
college and still can't afford health care for a sister who's
ill . . . the senior I met who lost his pension when the company he
gave his life to went bankrupt . . . the teacher who works at Dunkin'
Donuts after school just to make ends meet . . . I was not born into
money or status . . . I've fought to bring jobs to the jobless in the
shadow of a shuttered steel plant . . . to make sure people weren't
denied their rights because of what they looked like or where they
came from . . . Now we carry our message to farms and factories."
It ends: "We can cast off our doubts and fears and cynicism because
our dream will not be deferred; our future will not be denied; and
our time for change has come."
Wonder Land columnist Daniel Henninger discusses how Barack Obama's
sometimes bleak image of America will square with Independent voters
in the November elections.
I am not saying all of this is false. But it is a depressing message
to ride all the way to the White House.
Presumably this is a preview of what he intends to run with against
John McCain, who was mentioned several times. (Straw in the wind:
This audience cheered when he called Sen. McCain an American hero.)
Presidential elections now are settled by about 30% of the electorate
that occupies the independent center. In late December, Gallup
released a poll in which 84% of respondents said they were satisfied
with their own lives. At some point in the next 10 months, people
will have to square Sen. Obama's Grapes of Wrath message with the
reality of their lives.
Unease about the economy is real, but Sen. Obama is selling more than
that. He is selling deep grievance over the structure of American
society. That's the same message as John Edwards, or Dennis Kucinich
for that matter. Hillary Clinton's mistake may have been to think
this is 2008, not 1938, with the solution lying in leveraging votes
in a Democratic Congress. Instead of Hillary's wonkish geniuses,
Barack is selling the revolution -- change "from the bottom up."
Right after the Wisconsin speech, TV broadcast another -- by
victorious John McCain. The contrast with Sen. Obama's is stark. The
arc of the McCain speech is upward, positive. Pointedly, he says we
are not history's "victims." Barack relentlessly pushes victimology.
For Sen. Obama the military and national security is a world of
catastrophe welded to Iraq and filled with maimed soldiers. Mr.
McCain locates these same difficult subjects inside the whole of
American military achievement. It nets out as a more positive
message. Recall that Ronald Reagan's signature optimism, when it
first appeared, was laughed at by political pros. Optimism won
elections.
Whatever else, Barack Obama isn't talking sunshine in America. He's
talking fast and furious. People not yet baptized into Obamamania may
start to look past the dazzling theatrics to see a vision of the
United States that is quite grim and could wear thin in the general
election.
There may indeed be a Message B for the fall in the Obama drawer.
This week's speech, like a televangelist's, may be designed to drive
small contributions. The Web-site version ends with an appeal to
donate to "this historic moment." I suspect, though, that it is the
core of the Obama campaign, now or later.
Odds are that he will ride it to the nomination among Democrats for
whom America can never quite escape the Depression. Hillary Clinton
can only offer what she's got -- a clear-eyed ambition to get, and
use, Democratic power.
Everything in life has a top -- stocks, football teams and political
phenoms, as she well knows. Though down, Hillary ought to suck it up
for Ohio and Texas and hope the Obama wave starts to break. On
current course, it will.
Write to henninger@wsj.com.
See all of today's editorials and op-eds, plus video commentary, on
Opinion Journal.
And add your comments to the Opinion Journal forum.
*****************************************
Sign the Petition : Release the Arrested University Teachers Immediately : An Appeal to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/university_teachers_arrest.htm
*****************************************
Daily Star publishes an interview with Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/news/daily_star/daily_star_MM.pdf
*****************************************
MM site is blocked in Islamic countries such as UAE. Members of those theocratic states, kindly use any proxy (such as http://proxy.org/) to access mukto-mona.
*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates 5th Anniversary
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/5_yrs_anniv/index.htm
*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates Earth Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Earth_day2006/index.htm
*****************************************
Kansat Uprising : A Special Page from Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/kansat2006/members/
*****************************************
MM Project : Grand assembly of local freedom fighters at Raumari
http://www.mukto-mona.com/project/Roumari/freedom_fighters_union300306.htm
*****************************************
German Bangla Radio Interviews Mukto-Mona Members:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/german_radio/
Mukto-Mona Celebrates Darwin Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/index.htm
*****************************************
Some FAQ's about Mukto-Mona:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/new_site/mukto-mona/faq_mm.htm
****************************************************
VISIT MUKTO-MONA WEB-SITE : http://www.mukto-mona.com/
****************************************************
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
-Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mukto-mona/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mukto-mona/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:mukto-mona-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:mukto-mona-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
mukto-mona-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: