The emptiness of O, cont.

I’m not the only one who thinks that in his statement yesterday Obama came across like an empty suit. The Hill asks a (virtual) panel of political pundits what they thought of it. and several of them point to the emptiness of it. The same is even more true of the commenters at the site—I don’t think the Hill is known as a conservative publication. Several mention his inability to construct even a half-plausible lie, such as when he says that he is not interested in passing out blame for the security failure, then declares that he takes full responsibility—meaning, he’s responsible, but don’t blame him! Such as his saying that we are “at war,” while continuing to treat the enemy in this supposed war as ordinary criminal defendants with Miranda rights.

The page has a video of a few minutes of Obama’s statement. I find it literally unbearable to listen to him. He has this offensively mechanical way of speaking, in which he uses exactly the same tone, intonation and rhythm in every sentence. If you had only heard this way of talking once, it would strike you as decisive and authoritative, as it did me, the first time I heard it. But after hearing it more than once, you realize it’s completely artificial. Politicians are actors of course. But a politician who speaks every sentence in exactly the same obviously fake manner is beyond strange. This is an emptiness that transcends that of an empty suit. It is the emptiness of an alien in a science fiction movie pretending to be a human being. Or, more to the point, it is the emptiness of an alien from America pretending to be an American.

- end of initial entry -

Ray G. writes from Dearborn:

I’ve told you and others this since the ‘08 campaign. I literally can’t stand The One’s speaking voice. Of course I disagree with most of what comes out of his mouth, with respect to his views and policies. But I’m talking here about his actual voice—I can’t stand listening to him! He has the “most perfect” politically correct, academic-utopian, bureaucratic-speak I’ve ever heard.

A robot-like automaton, who doesn’t identify with our country and can’t even fake the requisite allegiance and passion.

LA replies:

But what about his keynote address to the 2004 Democratic convention? His tone and manner there were certainly winning. Also, early in his presidential campaign, that is, before his victory in the Iowa caucuses (after which be morphed into an arrogant messiah), when I heard him being interviewed, I found his speaking manner very pleasant to listen to.

So, he did once have the ability to fake it—and he’s lost it.

But doesn’t that also fit the sci-fi paradigm which is often used in relation to Obama? That is, at a certain point, the human mask comes off, revealing the reptilian face beneath.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at January 08, 2010 01:41 PM | Send