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| Peggy Noonan: What does Barack Obama believe in? |
| 2006-12-15 |
| . . . What does he believe? What does he stand for? This is, after all, the central question. When it is pointed out that he has had almost--almost--two years in the U.S. Senate, and before that was an obscure state legislator in Illinois, his supporters compare him to Lincoln. But Lincoln had become a national voice on the great issue of the day, slavery. He rose with a reason. Sen. Obama's rise is not about a stand or an issue or a question; it is about Sen. Obama. People project their hopes on him, he says. He's exactly right. Just so we all know it's projection. He doesn't have an issue, he has a thousand issues, which is the same as having none, in the sense that a speech about everything is a speech about nothing. And on those issues he seems not so much to be guided by philosophy as by impulses, sentiments. From "The Audacity of Hope," his latest book: "[O]ur democracy might work a bit better if we recognized that all of us possess values that are worthy of respect." "I value good manners." When not attempting to elevate the bromidic to the profound, he lapses into the language of political consultants--"our message," "wedge issues," "moral language." Ronald Reagan had "a durable narrative." Parts of the book, the best parts, are warm, anecdotal, human. But much of it pretends to a seriousness that is not borne out. . . . . . . It seems to me that our political history has been marked the past 10 years by lurches, reactions and swerves, and I wonder if historians will see the era that started in the mid-'90s as The Long Freakout. First the Clinton era left more than half the country appalled--deeply appalled, and ashamed--by its series of political, financial and personal scandals. I doubt the Democratic Party will ever fully understand the damage done in those days. In reaction the Republican Party lurched in its presidential decision toward a relatively untested (five years in the governor's office, before that very little) man whom party professionals chose, essentially, because "He can win" and the base endorsed because he seemed the opposite of Bill Clinton. The 2000 election was a national trauma, and I'm not sure Republicans fully understand what it did to half the Democrats in the country to think the election was stolen, or finagled, or arranged by unseen powers. Then 9/11. Now we have had six years of high drama and deep division, and again a new savior seems to beckon, one who is so clearly Not Bush. We'll see what Sen. Obama has, what he is, what he becomes. But right now he seems part of a pattern of lurches and swerves--the man from nowhere, of whom little is known, who will bring us out of the mess. His sudden rise and wild popularity seem more symptom than solution. And I wonder if historians will call this chapter in their future histories of the modern era not "A Decision Is Made" but "The Freakout Continues." |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #7 Hillary! already has him booked for a picnic at Ft. Marcy Park in fall 2007... too obvious. A plane |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-12-15 19:47 |
| #6 Answer: Acquiring power. |
| Posted by: DMFD 2006-12-15 18:20 |
| #5 He sounds more like he is running for President at the local church instead of the U.S. The book should be titled "The Audacity to Run." The usual rule of thumb for running for Presidency of the U.S. is, if the media loves you in the beginning, you won't make it past the primary. |
| Posted by: Poison Reverse 2006-12-15 14:18 |
| #4 I know he's big on the whole 'Infanticide' thing. That really gets him hot. Nothing like butchering babies to make a man's day. The rest is typical leftism wrapped in a pretty smile and a smooth voice. |
| Posted by: mcsegeek1 2006-12-15 12:15 |
| #3 Hillary! already has him booked for a picnic at Ft. Marcy Park in fall 2007... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2006-12-15 12:00 |
| #2 Obama seems to be a screen that reflects whatever the person looking wants. As pointed out he is a reflector of projections. In this he seems much like Colin Powell when people were going gaga for him as a Pres. candidate. Where is the person of accomplishment? |
| Posted by: AlanC 2006-12-15 09:49 |
| #1 Barack Obama. |
| Posted by: Barack Obama 2006-12-15 08:46 |