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At Large
The New Boss
At the “We Are One” concert, Barack Obama easily outclasses Bruce Springsteen.
(Page 2 of 2)
Professor Javier Gálvez, a professor of pre-Colombian music, dance and culture at Claremont College in California, was dressed in rather impressive Aztec regalia that included feathers at least five feet long. He directs an Aztec dance group called Danzantes del Sol. He was also a local organizer for the Obama campaign and was given tickets for the inauguration.
“I support Obama because he is an indication of a new path, a change in the world, a change in this nation, and an opportunity for everybody,” said Gálvez. “I believe he will bring the changes necessary to see that we have a better nation and a better world.”
Another person from California, Kris Stone, said, “Obama’s the hope for the future. This is the signal of the long national nightmare being over with the Bush Administration and what they’ve done to this country. I believe they’ve gone a long way to destroy it. And you just heard President Obama, all this hope he’ll bring us, and I think he’ll bring us together and start to solve these problems.”
During his brief speech, Obama used some form of “hope” six times. In one passage he said:
Obama’s ability to inspire is his greatest asset. It may also prove to be his greatest liability. With big hope comes big expectations. If Obama cannot fulfill most of those expectations — make a better nation and world, bring us all together, be a great leader — it will surely create big disappointment.
Obama seems to sense this, and part of his speech tried to temper the enormous sense of hope that he has inspired:
That sentiment may have sunk in with some in the crowd.
Cliff Valenti, a software developer in D.C., told me, “What appeals to me [about Obama] is the change aspect. That doesn’t mean that I’m not proceeding warily. I don’t like that he reversed on FISA during the election…. I’m hoping just for government that’s more for the people although I don’t know if that’s what I’ll get.”
Even McKenna Black, when asked what she thought the country would look like four years from now, replied, “Honestly, it’s gonna be difficult. I understand that it’s not going to be, ‘All of sudden Obama’s here and everything is gonna be perfect.’”
Nevertheless, it was clear that Obama’s inspiration moved her more than his sobriety: “I think there is going to be a ‘Before Obama’ and an ‘After Obama.’ It’s gonna make a big difference.”
Obama can keep that sense of optimism going for quite a while. Yet he has built up such big expectations that, in the long run, he seems to have nowhere else to go in people’s eyes but down. If, as I fear, his economic stimulus package actually worsens the economy, the great edifice of hope Obama has constructed will come crashing down. And that may be something that even the most inspirational rhetoric cannot overcome.
About the Author
David Hogberg is a senior fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research. Follow him on Twitter.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (50) | Leave a comment
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Jason | 1.20.09 @ 6:41AM
Obama doesn't inspire anything. People are inspired by what they imagine him to be. It's an illusion. America voted for an empty suit and sooner or later there will be a price to pay.
http://www.rightklik.net/
BD57| 1.20.09 @ 7:08AM
The big question for me is "How does he deal with resistance?"
He has a lot of people around him & in his base whose m.o. is to demonize the opposition. If he goes that way, the people Hogberg quotes are likely to follow - they have too much invested in "Obama as savior of the nation" to say "Wait a minute; if we're going to be 'brought together', those folks concerns have to be taken seriously."
Kitty| 1.20.09 @ 7:21AM
Hope of what? Change what?
I recognize this euphoria on the left because when Reagan was elected we on the right experienced it, too. The difference was we knew what to expect.; we knew what Reagan was going to do.
So far I haven't been the recipient of the left's glad tidings. By chance, I wore my Reagan t-shirt to last week's session of physical therapy for my shoulder. My PT took one look at it and launched into a bitter, hate-filled denunciation of President Bush. So much for that hope'n'change stuff.
...
Robert Rosencrans| 1.20.09 @ 9:10AM
Obama is the ultimate Cheerios candidate, packaged to make you feel good, while promising some type of personal nutrition, though in Obama's case the contents are not defined on the outside of the box.
Did Obama offer hope? What was the hope? Hope is a meaningless concept at best. The audiences of Oprah Winfrey and Jerry Springer exist on hope. A never ending string of victims and emotional outbursts define their audiences lifestyles, and all to their delight.
Hope is what you have when you have nothing, or you've run out your string. Hope is what you hear corporations say when they file for bankruptcy, as in "We hope to bring this company back." They rarely do.
Brian| 1.20.09 @ 9:24AM
I live two miles from the White House and have no intention of even watching a moment of this on TV.
I hope for our sake he's a successful President but I have little faith that he will be, given his lack of accomplishments and woeful inexperience.
Today may be the apex of Obama's Presidency, I hope he enjoys it.
Jeremiah| 1.20.09 @ 9:26AM
Kitty it's time to get even and try to be as mean as those goat molesters; fire your PT and let him know why!
Kitty| 1.20.09 @ 10:40AM
Brian, like Rush, I hope BO fails because we don't need anymore socialism in the USA.
Jeremiah, actually, I've been giving serious thought to changing PTs for that very reason. I've noticed that she doesn't appear to be very outgoing --she doesn't smile -- which could be chalked up to her politics. Anyway, I canceled my appt. for this morning.
...
John| 1.20.09 @ 11:15AM
Hope isn't exactly gonna' pay the bills. As "Bad Santa" (Billy Bob Thornton) advised the chubby loser fat kid, "S**t in one hand and hope in the other, see which one fills up first".
C. Torio| 1.20.09 @ 11:51AM
People will still feel he is the harbinger of hope, come what may. This guy is made of Teflon, and people do not impute guilt on him the way they would do to his predecessors. He will only be atributed the positives, never the negatives. It will be eight years of Obamamania. And if he can pull a Bloomberg, perhaps another twelve.
Jeremiah| 1.20.09 @ 12:14PM
EIGHT years? No Sir. We have the mid terms in less than 2 years and so many [...]gates that our opponents will have lost all will to fight.
Today is the first day of USA Decadence, let it become the countdown of the liberalism fall into the dumpster of History!
Alan Brooks| 1.20.09 @ 12:36PM
O. will do well because he is so Machiavellian.
FDR was past master, the conniving old fox.
Doctor Right| 1.20.09 @ 12:59PM
I DO NOT hope for Obama to have "success". because "success" for him means runaway socialism for us, and decay for America. I hope he fails miserably, and is tossed-out in 2012.
BTW...How sick is it that a young girl in Florida thinks "No one was ever interested or even had pride in our country, almost upset that they were American and not from somewhere else." ???
Then again, this is EXACTLY what the multiculturalists like Obama want...
"Success" for America means fighting Obama and the left tooth and nail over the next 4 years.
james| 1.20.09 @ 1:45PM
As usual, Mencken put it most succinctly:
You can't go broke underestimating the American public.
I feel today the way many Germans must have felt on Jan 30 1933.
Everly Waverly| 1.20.09 @ 2:54PM
There's this notion that Obama is going to solve all our problems, my posterior. It's not so much the problem that's at issue but the solution that's gonna destroy us....
jaywhite| 1.20.09 @ 3:02PM
I recall there was a similar euphoric atmosphere among libtards at Clinton's first inauguration . The "One" will be become the lightening rod every president becomes. I don't think using the race card is going allow Obama to avoid the hostility every President receives. So I say to Obama enjoy today because it's all downhill after today.
JoshFranklin| 1.20.09 @ 3:10PM
Europe hates America and George W. Bush so much that they themselves either elected or re-elected Bush allies including Silvio Berlusconi in Italy, Tony Blair in Great Britain, Angela Merkel in Germany, and Nicolas Sarkozy in France. Not to mention Canada elected Stephen Harper, and Australia re-elected John Howard. So Obamatrons, put that in your machine and spin it.
Michele San Pietro| 1.20.09 @ 3:21PM
A new boss? Let's hope not! The President must not be a boss, he must simply run the country as best as possible during his term of office. Only dictatorships have a boss. And America, thank God, is still a democracy in spite of all.
Robert Nowall | 1.20.09 @ 5:32PM
I was sure not inspired by how Obama handled taking the oath of office...I think I've heard every recording of every inauguration ceremony going back to, oh, Taft, I think---I've heard the presidents blow lines in their speech, but to blow the oath?
Alan Brooks| 1.20.09 @ 7:19PM
gee im surprised Jeremiah wants liberalism in the dustbin of history, and 'first day of USA decadence'?
Is that post from daffy daphne?
Frank| 1.20.09 @ 9:01PM
Hey FYI...if you're a fan or familiar at all with Springsteen then you would know that wasn't "boos" you heard, it was people chanting "Bruce"...it usually happens everywhere and anywhere he goes...I hardly think anyone at that show would have the sanity or the balls to boo Bruce Springsteen...hail the Boss.
don| 1.20.09 @ 9:17PM
So what the heck is taking so long for the
Tom Delay court festivities to begin? That
should be a real fun time!
Alan Brooks| 1.20.09 @ 9:39PM
i miss Daphne. shes like the woman who heard voices, the one from the homeless shelter who came over to dinner in 1969.
ruth| 1.21.09 @ 1:08AM
Alan, at times someone messes with Jeremiah's moniker; it makes me laugh. Daphne's around--undercover. How many of your remarks originate from your childhood and how many are from literature?
Jeremiah| 1.21.09 @ 8:37AM
Right on, Lady Ruth! (hi Ruth!) At times Jeremiah from haussedecombat shows up and wreaks havoc in the cohorts of dumb liberals (pleonasm) who haunt this blog. Fortunately he ain't alone!
Frank, bruce springsteen really blows bears, he's the ultimate bore since that "Philadelphia" sorry excuse for a song. Why didn't it become the Democratic Party Hymn?
ruth| 1.22.09 @ 2:41AM
Wish I knew who you were. One of Arthur's knights, that's who you are. Chivalry lives! YAY!
ruth| 1.22.09 @ 2:46AM
One thing about Springsteen: I've always thought he looks stupid as a stump.
Jeremiah| 1.22.09 @ 9:13AM
Well Ruth, just log in that French forum, send a PM to Moderator and your wish will be fulfilled!
Take Care.
I beg to differ: I once met a very clever stump.
Jeremiah| 1.22.09 @ 12:33PM
...and I carved a rifle stock out of it. Never missed a shot since.
http://haussedecombat.xooit.fr/t49-To-our-American-readers.htm
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