Charles Krauthammer Op-Ed
This article originally appeard in The Washingto Post and was reprinted in the courier journal. It is reprinted here and written by Charles Krauthammer.
WASHINGTON -- The Democrats are in a panic. In a presidential race that is impossible to lose, they are behind. Obama devotees are frantically giving advice. Tom Friedman tells him to "start slamming down some phones." Camille Paglia suggests, "be boring!"
Meanwhile, a posse of Democratic lawyers, mainstream reporters, lefty bloggers and various other Obamaphiles are scouring the vast tundra of Alaska for something, anything, to bring down Sarah Palin: her daughter's pregnancy, her ex-brother-in-law problem, her $60 per diem, and now her religion. (CNN reports -- news flash! -- that she apparently has never spoken in tongues.) Not since Henry II asked if no one would rid him of his turbulent priest, have so many so urgently volunteered for duty.
But Palin is not just a problem for Obama. She is also a symptom of what ails him. Before Palin, Obama was the ultimate celebrity candidate. For no presidential nominee in living memory had the gap between adulation and achievement been so great. Which is why McCain's Paris Hilton ads struck such a nerve. Obama's meteoric rise was based not on issues -- there was not a dime's worth of difference between him and Hillary on issues -- but on narrative, on eloquence, on charisma.
The unease at the Denver convention, the feeling of buyer's remorse, was the Democrats' realization that the arc of Obama's celebrity had peaked -- and had now entered a period of its steepest decline. That Palin could so instantly steal the celebrity spotlight is a reflection of that decline.
It was inevitable. Obama had managed to stay aloft for four full years. But no one can levitate forever.
Five speeches map Obama's trajectory.
Obama burst into celebrityhood with his brilliant and moving 2004 Democratic convention speech
It turned an obscure state senator into a national figure and legitimate presidential candidate.
His next and highest moment was the night of his Iowa caucus victory when he gave an equally stirring speech of the highest tones that dazzled a national audience just tuning in.
The problem is that Obama began believing in his own magical powers -- the chants, the swoons, the "we are the ones" self-infatuation. Like Ronald Reagan, he was leading a movement, but one entirely driven by personality. Reagan's revolution was rooted in concrete political ideas (supply-side economics, welfare-state deregulation, national strength) that transcended one man. For Obama's movement, the man is the transcendence.
Which gave the Obama campaign a cult-like tinge. With every primary and every repetition of the high-flown, self-referential rhetoric, the campaign's insubstantiality became clear. By the time it was repeated yet again on the night of the last primary the tropes were tired and flat. To top himself, Obama had to reach. Hence his triumphal declaration that history would note that night, his victory, his ascension, as "the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal."
Clang. But Obama heard only the cheers of the invited crowd. Not yet seeing how the pseudo-messianism was wearing thin, he did Berlin and finally jumped the shark. That grandiloquent proclamation of universalist puffery popped the bubble. The grandiosity had become bizarre.
From there it was but a short step to Paris Hilton. Finally, the Obama people understood. Which is why the next data point is so different. Obama's Denver acceptance speech was deliberately pedestrian, State-of-the-Union-ish, programmatic and only briefly (that lovely coda recalling the March on Washington) lyrical.
The problem, however, was that Obama had announced the Invesco Field setting for the speech during the pre-Berlin flush of hubris. They were stuck with the Greek columns, the circus atmosphere, the rock star fireworks farewell -- as opposed to the warmer, traditional, balloon-filled convention-hall hug-a-thon. The incongruity between text and context was apparent. Obama was trying to make himself ordinary -- and serious -- but could hardly remember how.
One star fades, another is born. The very next morning McCain picks Sarah Palin and a new celebrity is launched. And in the celebrity game, novelty is trump. With her narrative, her persona, her charisma carrying the McCain campaign to places it has never been and by all logic has no right to be, she's pulling an Obama.
But her job is easier. She only has to remain airborne for seven more weeks. Obama maintained altitude for an astonishing four years. In politics, as in all games, however, it's the finish that counts.
WASHINGTON -- The Democrats are in a panic. In a presidential race that is impossible to lose, they are behind. Obama devotees are frantically giving advice. Tom Friedman tells him to "start slamming down some phones." Camille Paglia suggests, "be boring!"
Meanwhile, a posse of Democratic lawyers, mainstream reporters, lefty bloggers and various other Obamaphiles are scouring the vast tundra of Alaska for something, anything, to bring down Sarah Palin: her daughter's pregnancy, her ex-brother-in-law problem, her $60 per diem, and now her religion. (CNN reports -- news flash! -- that she apparently has never spoken in tongues.) Not since Henry II asked if no one would rid him of his turbulent priest, have so many so urgently volunteered for duty.
But Palin is not just a problem for Obama. She is also a symptom of what ails him. Before Palin, Obama was the ultimate celebrity candidate. For no presidential nominee in living memory had the gap between adulation and achievement been so great. Which is why McCain's Paris Hilton ads struck such a nerve. Obama's meteoric rise was based not on issues -- there was not a dime's worth of difference between him and Hillary on issues -- but on narrative, on eloquence, on charisma.
The unease at the Denver convention, the feeling of buyer's remorse, was the Democrats' realization that the arc of Obama's celebrity had peaked -- and had now entered a period of its steepest decline. That Palin could so instantly steal the celebrity spotlight is a reflection of that decline.
It was inevitable. Obama had managed to stay aloft for four full years. But no one can levitate forever.
Five speeches map Obama's trajectory.
Obama burst into celebrityhood with his brilliant and moving 2004 Democratic convention speech
It turned an obscure state senator into a national figure and legitimate presidential candidate.
His next and highest moment was the night of his Iowa caucus victory when he gave an equally stirring speech of the highest tones that dazzled a national audience just tuning in.
The problem is that Obama began believing in his own magical powers -- the chants, the swoons, the "we are the ones" self-infatuation. Like Ronald Reagan, he was leading a movement, but one entirely driven by personality. Reagan's revolution was rooted in concrete political ideas (supply-side economics, welfare-state deregulation, national strength) that transcended one man. For Obama's movement, the man is the transcendence.
Which gave the Obama campaign a cult-like tinge. With every primary and every repetition of the high-flown, self-referential rhetoric, the campaign's insubstantiality became clear. By the time it was repeated yet again on the night of the last primary the tropes were tired and flat. To top himself, Obama had to reach. Hence his triumphal declaration that history would note that night, his victory, his ascension, as "the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal."
Clang. But Obama heard only the cheers of the invited crowd. Not yet seeing how the pseudo-messianism was wearing thin, he did Berlin and finally jumped the shark. That grandiloquent proclamation of universalist puffery popped the bubble. The grandiosity had become bizarre.
From there it was but a short step to Paris Hilton. Finally, the Obama people understood. Which is why the next data point is so different. Obama's Denver acceptance speech was deliberately pedestrian, State-of-the-Union-ish, programmatic and only briefly (that lovely coda recalling the March on Washington) lyrical.
The problem, however, was that Obama had announced the Invesco Field setting for the speech during the pre-Berlin flush of hubris. They were stuck with the Greek columns, the circus atmosphere, the rock star fireworks farewell -- as opposed to the warmer, traditional, balloon-filled convention-hall hug-a-thon. The incongruity between text and context was apparent. Obama was trying to make himself ordinary -- and serious -- but could hardly remember how.
One star fades, another is born. The very next morning McCain picks Sarah Palin and a new celebrity is launched. And in the celebrity game, novelty is trump. With her narrative, her persona, her charisma carrying the McCain campaign to places it has never been and by all logic has no right to be, she's pulling an Obama.
But her job is easier. She only has to remain airborne for seven more weeks. Obama maintained altitude for an astonishing four years. In politics, as in all games, however, it's the finish that counts.
posted by Anonymous at 5:51 AM
3 Comments:
Interesting, but as a democrat, I do not feel panicked at all. Especially after seeing the recent polls showing Obama is again leading. Now that the whimsy behind Palin's nomination is over, substance will again prevail.
I suppose i do get panicked at the idea of how much further into the tank our nation might sink if we get four more years of Bush Lite (aka McCain).
The kind of arrogance and smug over-confidence shown by the above poster is why/how Hillary lost the Democratic Primary, and is why/how Obama will lose in November.
Hmm, let's see here, this blog was posted on September 23, right? So, when did Krauthammer write this Op-ed (since the date of publication wasn't cited)?
Well, it looks like this piece was published in the Washington Post on September 12 on page A5, eleven days before it was posted on this blog.
I bring this up because, you know, a lot can change in these elections in a very short period of time. Including opinion, both at the public (such as some of today's polls that suggest Obama has strengthened his lead to anywhere between 5 an 9 points) as well as the individual levels.
For example, Charles Krauthammer wrote this Op-ed on September 5 (just 7 days before the article in question went to press): here.
If you don't have time to follow the link, here's my favorite part of what CK writes: "The vice president's only constitutional duty of any significance is to become president at a moment's notice. Palin is not ready."
...and this: "The problem is the inherent oddity of the incumbent party running on change. Here were Republicans -- the party that controlled the White House for eight years and both houses of Congress for five -- wildly cheering the promise to take on Washington. I don't mean to be impolite, but who's controlled Washington this decade?"
Oh, and this one too: "The gamble is enormous. In a stroke, McCain gratuitously forfeited his most powerful argument against Obama. And this was even before Palin's inevitable liabilities began to pile up."
Apparently seven days is a long enough period of time to flip-flop completely without having to be called on it. To see Krauthammer, along with so many others of the conservative persuasion gulping down the right-wing Kool-aid as if they were doing keg-stands at a George W. Bush frat party, going so far as to say that Palin has "foriegn policy experience" because of her state's proximity to Russia (even though the campaign has yet to release any concrete examples of Palin as Governor dealing in any way with any Russian official of any kind, and repeated requests for said examples have been thus far ignored); or that she has "national security experience" because she controlled the Alaska National Guard (even though Maj. Gen. Craig Campbell, adjutant general of the Alaska National Guard, said himself that he and Palin play no role in national defense activities, even when they involve the Alaska National Guard. The entire operation is under federal control, and the governor is not even briefed on situations.) reminds me of yet another republican bald-faced hypocrisy that on the one hand denounces Obama supporters as blind-faith hero worshipers, all while creating one of the most elaborate and outlandish cults-of personality in modern history around Sarah Palin.
Meanwhile, the McCain campaign continues to shield her from the evil (read: mythical) liberal media. But if Sean Hannity wants to talk to her, cool. Or Charlie Gibson. But I would place a wager that she won’t even be talking to Katie Couric again any time soon after her performance there.
But she’s a pit bull with lipstick. Or something like that. She can stare down Putin from her back porch. We shouldn’t question her ability to answer tough (or any) questions under pressure from the scary evil communist media, we should just “trust” that she’s ready to face pressure from actual scary evil communists who run some of the other countries in this world.
I’m also willing to bet that McCain’s antics regarding the postponement of the presidential debate is actually designed to postpone, or eliminate altogether the VP debate due to Palin’s understandable unreadiness to face Joe Biden, who is known as an expert in foreign policy by members of both parties (see/hear the McCain campaign’s proposed debate re-scheduling in this video at about the 3 minute mark).
I guess if you haven’t heard about the whole suspension of the McCain campaign thing, or his proposal to postpone the debates, get your late-breaking, up to date and relevant information right here at NA Health in seven to twelve days to see what Charles Krauthammer has to say about it.
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