The God-King Barack Obama Barf-O-Rama

Without turning on the TV and getting sick from the spectacle of liberal America’s ultimate orgasm, I can find out what’s going on by reading the Web. Thus Powerline reports:

One expects the mainstream media to wax poetic when a Democrat is about to become president. But the praise it is heaping on Barack Obama is surely unprecedented.

The comparisons with Abraham Lincoln represent the most ridiculous example. On “Meet the Press” today, Tom Brokaw compared Obama’s resilience after losing the New Hampshire primary (which made him 1-1 in the early contests) to Lincoln’s resilience after set backs on the battle field during the Civil War. As I recall, President Bush also rallied after losing the New Hampshire primary in 2000. Did that make him Lincolnesque?

Ironically, earlier today I had drafted for later posting this question: What, other than being tall and thin and coming from Illinois, does Obama have in common with Abraham Lincoln?

And now, without having asked the question, I’ve learned the answer. Obama’s not falling to pieces after losing the New Hampshire primary (even though he had just astonished the world with his victory in the Iowa caucuses and was still the favorite for the nomination) was the moral equivalent of President Lincoln’s continuing to fight to restore the Union, despite devastating defeats for the Union side, hundreds of thousands of dead, and intense opposition to the war among some elements in the North.

Brokaw, whom I have long regarded as the most hateful of all the figures in the news media, has just carried hype to a whole new level. What drives such a gross, shameless falsification? It is this. For Brokaw, the central fact about America, and thus the biggest thing in the world, is white America’s guilt over its treatment of blacks, and the advance of blacks to make up for it. The election of a “black” as president is thus the greatest event in history. And therefore any setback, no matter how minor or predictable, that Obama faced on the path to his election is equal to the greatest setbacks in history, and Obama’s “achievement” in overcoming that setback is equal to the greatest, most difficult, and most painful achievements in history—particularly the successful prosecution of the terrible war that ended black slavery.

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Paul K. writes:

Over the past two months, there have been frequent advertisements for an Obama commemorative plate on CNN.

Over a swelling orchestra, the announcer tells us, in a voice practically choking with wonderment: “Now you can own a piece of history, commemorating the day the world changed forever. Be one of the first to reserve “Historic Victory,” the commemorative plate honoring the election of the 44th president, America’s first African-American Commander-in-Chief. His confident smile and kind eyes are an inspiration to us all. Truly, he is the sun of the 21st Century.” (Okay, I took that last one from a North Korean tribute to Kim Jong Il.)

I can’t recall any president inspiring this level of kitsch since JFK, after his assassination. Barack hasn’t even done anything yet—but that of course is key. Once he’s in office, the wonder will quickly dissipate as expectation meets reality.

LA replies:

Yes. It’s not the legislation passed during the First Hundred Days of Obama’s presidency that will be his most notable achievement, but the 75 days of hype preceding his presidency. After that, it will be all downhill.

Jim N. writes:

If anyone thinks it’s beyond the realm of possibility that these idiots would erect a 100-foot-tall bronze statue of Obama called “The Great Leader” on the Mall somewhere, they’ve got another thing coming. This whole spectacle must be humiliating to anyone with any attachment left to the ideals and promise of self-government. I know it makes me want to vomit.

Sebastian writes:

I think the inauguration should be understood as a religious redemption and atonement. Liberals hate religion but love political saviors, be they Che, Fidel, Chavez or Obama. Last night I was out in Brooklyn with a friend from Michigan and his new wife. They wanted to get the artsy New York experience (which for various reasons I’m vaguely tapped into), so we went bar hoping in the Williamsburg-Greenpoint section of Brooklyn, where I now live. Without exception, every bar and lounge had Obama flyers announcing a party on Tuesday to celebrate His Coming. At a local loft bar known for its techno ambiance music and often frequented by interesting Europeans, fifty plus blacks were having a self-described “Obamathon” in an “outreach” to a “white section of New York.” This is literally what the told me. They expected us to give them money and buy t-shirts. Another group was using the inauguration to raise money for schools in Haiti. The white hipsters were lining up to make donations. When we thanked them for the information and then returned to our conversation, the air was so frosty we had trouble getting a second round from the catered bartender. The things I saw were so vulgar I’d rather not describe them lest I appear racist.

The night culminated with a very pretty and very drunk artsy girl waiting for her car service who tossed her winter bonnet Mary Tyler Moore style, looked over and said, “We won!” My friend knew the Giants lost last week and thought maybe the Rangers were playing. Then it became obvious that “We” were the rich white twenty-somethings who worship this man.

Perhaps I’m just too close to it all here in Brooklyn, but something about her manner and tone, her naivete and identification with Obama, felt ominous. That image, “We won,” felt like a world-historic event. I can’t get it out of my mind.

LA replies:

I’d be interested in hearing about the things you saw.

Sebastian replies:

Just your run of the mill black-urban vulgarity: t-shirts with an image of Obama made with rhinestones; stickers with inter-racial couples (all black men, white women) that read “Come Together;” obesity shrouded in loud suits; very loud hip-hop and scores of adults gyrating and doing pelvic thrusts; lots of finger-waving and the classic “Ug-huh” righteousness; comparison of pre-Obama America to South Africa during apartheid. Ultimately nothing exceptional in other parts of New York. But as you know this section of town is strangely white (Polish and white art student-types), so it caught me by surprise.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at January 18, 2009 05:53 PM | Send