Sunday, January 18, 2009

WE CAN'T KNOW HIM NOW

If We Ever Did

There is so much hope and fantasy surrounding Obama now, so much emphasis on his historic role, so many comparisons to Lincoln and FDR, such a stress on the mountain of problems he faces as he prepares to be sworn in, the person himself has been lost to view.  Through the welter of projections, the layouts, the interviews, the cover stories, the punditry, he has been rendered invisible.  And when he emerges, with or without his Blackberry, he will be safely encased in the Presidential bubble, his acts and statements endlessly spun, he will be invisible in yet other ways.  

Clearly we are in the midst of a national celebration.  He has become a totemic figure, an idol, a superman.

So what can we do about it?  To be sure, we will all -- myself included -- succumb to our dreams and join the celebration.  But then I think it will be important to keep reminding ourselves that we actually do not know him anymore -- if indeed we ever did.  The focus will shift to the job:  the actions and the projects he undertakes, what he uses his power and influence to accomplish, what he actually does.

The really important thing is that, as the real Obama disappears from view, he himself does not get seduced into believing that he is more than he is.  Recent history suggests that this easily happens to Presidents.  Most advisors have their own agendas, their ways of using those they advise to bring about their own ends.  Few people speak truth to power.  And then few powerful people retain the capacity to believe in their own limitations and ignorance.

That will be the real thing to watch for.

4 comments:

Ted said...

The question is not IF there will be an interdiction of Obama’s Presidency by the Supreme Court, the questions are WHEN and HOW that interdiction will transpire — that is, if the USA is to continue as the Constitutional Republic that now exists.

Daykay@mac.com said...

I think we see the results of those powerful people who fail to sustain understanding of their own ignorance and foibles, of those who accept the mythological stature accorded them by acolytes and the media. The ones who do not fall prey to some sense of being larger than life, and I think there are many, are much less newsworthy. I think Obama is one of these latter types, a powerful man who somehow sees his power as derived from others rather than as an extension of himself.

Ken Eisold said...

Daykay@mac.com said...
I think we see the results of those powerful people who fail to sustain understanding of their own ignorance and foibles, of those who accept the mythological stature accorded them by acolytes and the media. The ones who do not fall prey to some sense of being larger than life, and I think there are many, are much less newsworthy. I think Obama is one of these latter types, a powerful man who somehow sees his power as derived from others rather than as an extension of himself.

January 19, 2009 8:41 PM

Ken Eisold said...

Ted said...
The question is not IF there will be an interdiction of Obama’s Presidency by the Supreme Court, the questions are WHEN and HOW that interdiction will transpire — that is, if the USA is to continue as the Constitutional Republic that now exists.

January 18, 2009 2:38 PM