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Irrational Obama Exuberance
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For the first time in a long time, Americans are happy about their political leaders. Three reasons why Obamania isn’t just completely ridiculous. Avlon is the author of Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe Is Hijacking America.
It's bizarro world in America post-election—we feel hopeful about our politics and fearful about the markets.
It's the opposite of what we've come accustomed to in recent years, times when if the economy's grooving than all other factors fade away—even war itself—or as it was ten years ago, when the internet bubble happily distracted us from the Monica-mess.
But right now we're enjoying a bit of bliss after a 22-month build-up, and President-elect Obama is basking in approval ratings well ahead of his final vote-total. A November 25 Gallup poll showed that "between 63 percent and 67 percent of Americans have, in the weeks since Election Day, said they are confident in Barack Obama's ability to be a good president." His wisely centrist Cabinet picks have led to that broader confidence. Apparently even some McCain supporters are now thinking this historic turn of the page and change of pace might be what the nation needs to revive and re-center itself.
Obama presented himself as an American individual first, not, as Teddy Roosevelt would say, "a hyphenated American."
The closest parallel is JFK, who won an even tighter race than BHO, and then rocketed to nearly 70 percent approval ratings as a telegenic young family entered the White House, riding an invigorating wave of ethnic and generational change. Then came the Bay of Pigs.
This Camelot moment won't last either. There will be mistakes, scandals, and missteps. But if you're feeling a dash of irrational exuberance you're not alone—and there are in fact real reasons to feel renewed optimism about the USA at the dawn of the age of Obama.
A Meritocracy Again: Quick anecdote: Walking across New York's Central Park in the summer of 2000, I passed a guy apparently fresh from the Philadelphia Republican convention, wearing a t-shirt which read, "I believe in the American Dream—George W. Bush for President." It was not a joke.
The election of George W. Bush was a lot of things, but it was not a triumph of the American Dream. It was a regression, the triumph of a latent aristocratic gene that resides in the heart of humanity when democracies get lazy. But the Prince Hal stuff doesn't sit well with Americans—when the former boss's son gets the top job in our democracy it starts to erode the ennobling idea of American exceptionalism itself. And the rise of the Obama phenomenon—especially as alternative to the restoration of the House of Clinton—has revived the reputation of America as a meritocracy.
We elected not just the first black man, but the son of an African immigrant, raised by his grandparents in a lower-middle class home, so devoid of establishment pull that he couldn't even get a ticket to his own party's convention eight years before he accepted its nomination. By electing the anti-Bush—inspirational, articulate and unconnected—we restored the age-old empowering idea that anyone can become president if they work hard, and posses the right combination of intelligence, integrity, guts and guile. And that's good for America.
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Paul Schrodt is a writer living in New York City. He has contributed to New York magazine, Radar, and Esquire.com.
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John Avlon’s new book Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America is available now by Beast Books both on the web and in paperback. Advance orders can be placed here. He is also the author of Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics. Previously, he served as chief speechwriter for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and was a columnist and associate editor for The New York Sun.
Queen of the Tea Party
John Avlon’s new book Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America is available now by Beast Books both on the web and in paperback. Advance orders can be placed here. He is also the author of Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics. Previously, he served as chief speechwriter for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and was a columnist and associate editor for The New York Sun.
The Tea Party, Day 2
John Avlon’s new book Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America is available now by Beast Books both on the web and in paperback. Advance orders can be placed here. He is also the author of Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics. Previously, he served as chief speechwriter for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and was a columnist and associate editor for The New York Sun.
donatello
To coin a phrase using a silent H. "It's BHO time."
LindaA1
Yes. There is such good cheer all round our "tired electorate" which is happy to be distracted by anything. And certainly Obama pleases by being so Christmas-esque. Feel good stuff all built on a fantasy and marketed well - and forever - by a commercially driven media and the money powers that be.
Enjoy the Happy Holidays while you can! The hang-over cometh.
BTW. A whole bunch of people out here are not impressed with Obama and his cabinet picks. Analyzed closely, they tell the tale of the same inexperienced, slippery politician from the Chicago machine who can't make a hard decision of his own to save his life. Everything he has done so far is straddling the fence, kicking the can down the road and adopting other mechanisms designed to cover his own lack of decisive backbone and administrative skill.
He defeats Hillary by ridiculing her for a lack of foreign policy experience - then makes her Secretary of State? He defeats the Bush GOP by railing against the Iraqi war - and then keeps Bush's top war gun GATES AND GATE'S HENCHMEN on to run the OBAMA WARS?
And that's a good thing? Perhaps a little EGGNOG for the left would be a better choice this holiday season THAN KOOL AID!
Forestroot
Exuberance is the word of the day, the month, the year. This is helping the building of a New Administration. And the President -Elect is taking advantage of the Exuberance. Experts from California, Chicago, New York, Washington DC, People with real experience in 5 or six different administrations. Women, Blacks, Hispanics, and veterans. And the manner in which Obama is publishing these appointments, keeps the energy growing. Some say artificial time limits mean nothing. But, I think the first 100 days following January 20th must produce, and produce a lot.
Darsan54
A political electorate which demands miracles of its candidates, both sides of the fence please, is one of the reason all politicians are considered slippery or failures. We routinely disparaged and demean our elected leaders, failing to note WE elected them. The electorate should realize, we elect them to represent and fight for our interests, but being a democracy, not necessarily win every fight. There will be concession and compromise. We have to realize our politicians are human and honor them for trying to lead us to our better selves.
wolynski
Bliss and afterglow... I feel I'm in Poland and Karol Wojtyla just got elected Pope...
Obama was the anti-war candidate. Short of Hartford, Connecticut being over-run by foreign troops, there is no need to bomb anyone anywhere. No bombing would be awesome.
tomfarr
I find this adulation nauseating. Perhaps we could hold off on it for a while until Obama actually accomplishes something.
Is that asking too much?
imagineapuddle
I find this criticism nauseating. Perhaps we could hold off on it for a while until Obama actually screws something up.
Is that asking too much?
sophia5
I voted for Obama feeling he'd wind up being a centrist and not a left leaning marxist loon as portrayed by conservative gas bags. On the other hand all the pom-pom waving, genuflecting for Obama from the NBC family of "journalists" was sickening. Let's keep it real. Many of the airhead "like-you-know" mall walkers supported Obama for cult of personality ... the MTV Vote ... the "Coolness" factor, and probably never heard of Condoleezza Rice, and could probably be convinced she's some kind of side dish.
kokuaguy
"of what we've come accostomed to ..." ?????????? I guess you could use a few more editors, as well as all those sorely lacking proofreaders.
And to nauseated tomfarr -- it's not adulation of Obama you're unhappy with; you were obviously opposed to him as a candidate and disapproving of everything he did 'back then.' Nothing he does in the future will please you, no doubt. It's not Obama that causes those queasy feelings, I'm sure; it's the change he will bring (and has already brought) that makes your blood run cold.
tomfarr
Obama may turn out to be a very good president. It's hard to know in advance, since he has never held an executive position.
I wish him well, since he'll be running the country, along with the crassest of political hacks Pelosi and Reid. Most of his appointments up to now are pretty good. But appointments are not a record of achievement. Everything remains to be seen.
For now, hosannahs and hallelujahs are premature.
smpkg54
Mr. Avlon--hire a copy editor.
clubed60090
LindaA1 - you seem to be suffering from a bad case of sour grapes - maybe some Pepto might help with that bad taste in your mouth. Unfortunately, it won't help you open your mind enough to consider that an intelligent leader might not look or act like the selfish dolts who have brought our country to these dire straights with their slick mis-management and self-serving ways. I'm not surprised so many people like yourself are not capable of recognizing what good leadership looks like, there has been so little of it in the past 8 years.
estcruzer
For those that haven't seen reasons for jublilation I'd like to clarify at least two things that have changed because of BHO's election. 1) elections in America have been given back to the people that vote. Up to now, unless you had lobbyists, big business and very rich people on your side you couldn't run for nomination, let alone president. BHO has demonstrated that if you have the right message you can go to the people for your support and they will provide it. and 2) a black man was elected president in America. This illustrates, due to his courage in attempting to be elected, that we as a people (at least those who vote) have made significant progress in ignoring race as a significant factor in deciding who should run the country. These two sea changes will remake US history more than anything he can do in office and if he died tomorrow (god(s) forbid) his impact will be none-the-less.
Finally, I would like to say that anything BHO does will be better that we have seen from the last 8 years of WHB reign of terror, so rejoice there is a new "decision maker" in town.
ottovbvs
You have to laugh when people blithely describe Pelosi and Reid as the crassest of political hacks when we've had to contend with Gingrich, DeLay, Boehner, Bush et al. What Benchmark do these people use. Actually Reid, while not JFK, is a fairly good example of immense personal achievement in the American tradition while Pelosi is a third generation politico of centrist persuasion and the first woman to make it to speaker which suggests some talent for her job. Most of the people who make these kind of hyperbolic comments would have trouble running a pretzel stand but it's a free country I suppose which entitles them to make these juvenile comments. On the subject of Obama, he is of course demonstrating just how good he is and it's getting right up the nose of the far right. Basically he's completely outflanked them with his appointments which have collected universal applause from Dems, independants and moderate Republicans. There are inevitably going to be misteps but nothing serious while he implements a dramatic policy of change that will be wormwood and ashes to the right, executed by competent pragmatists of the center left and center right, thus satisfying Disraeli's definition of the most effective form of govt: Tory men and liberal measures.
bgarst
Merit? Is this a joke? What has Obama done to show he has any merit whatsoever? Giving a good speech is not even remotely close to being a good president. You can hate on Bush all you want, but as a two-time successful governor of Texas, he had demonstrated far more merit than Obama.
The exurberance, it will turn out quite destructive. Th leftwing bubble which Obama has produced will pop like all others, only this time the ramification will stretch across all aspects of the economy. You simply can't do the things he is proposing to do and expect it to turn out good. Our only hope, and one which is looking at least possible, is that he may just be a great liar, and has no intention of implementing much of what he promised. Not that yet another dishonest president is something to celebrate.
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