Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Posted on 07/18/2011 1:10:46 PM PDT by the invisib1e hand
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
FIG. 1: The Anti-Obama, Gingrich packs a few narratives of his own: family-values cheater, man of the people with half-a-mil credit at Tiffany's, a great speaker who makes unconscionable gaffes. Before the fall brings us down, before the election season begins in earnest with all its nastiness and vulgarity, before the next batch of stupid scandals and gaffes, before Sarah Palin tries to convert her movie into reality and Joe Biden resumes his imitation of an embarrassing uncle and Newt and Callista Gingrich [FIG.1] creep us all out, can we just enjoy Obama for a moment? Before the policy choices have to be weighed and the hard decisions have to be made, can we just take a month or two to contemplate him the way we might contemplate a painting by Vermeer or a guitar lick by the early-seventies Rolling Stones or a Peyton Manning pass or any other astounding, ecstatic human achievement? Because twenty years from now, we're going to look back on this time as a glorious idyll in American politics, with a confident, intelligent, fascinating president riding the surge of his prodigious talents from triumph to triumph. Whatever happens this fall or next, the summer of 2011 is the summer of Obama.
FIG. 2: Left, the original master of mass-media performance art. Except his performance was one-note. And Bill Clinton, who said about Obama in 2008: "A few years ago this guy would have been getting us coffee." Now he's bringing the legacy policies that eluded you, Bill. Due to the specific nature of his political calculus, possibly not a single person in the United States — not even Obama himself — agrees with all of his policies. But even if you disagree with him, even if you hate him, even if you are his enemy, at this point you must admire him. The turning point came that glorious week in the spring when, in the space of a few days, he released his long-form birth certificate, humiliated Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, and assassinated Osama bin Laden. The effortlessness of that political triptych — three linked masterpieces demonstrating his total command over intellectual argument, low comedy, and the spectacle of political violence — was so overwhelmingly impressive that it made political geniuses of the recent past like Reagan and Clinton [FIG.2] seem ham-fisted. Formed in the fire of other people's wars, other people's financial crises, Obama stepped out of Bush's shadow that week, almost three years after taking over the presidency.
FIG. 3: The original American, Whitman: "In [Obama] I see myself, none more and not one a barleycorn less. And the good or bad I say of myself I say of [Obama]." But even that string of successes cannot fully explain the immensity of his appeal right now. Reagan was able to call upon the classic American mythology of frontiersmen and astronauts and movie stars; Obama has accessed a much wider narrative matrix: He's mixed and matched Jay-Z with geek with Hawaiian with Kansan with product of Middle America with product of a broken home with local Chicago churchgoer with internationally renowned memoirist with assassin. "I am large, I contain multitudes," Walt Whitman [FIG.3] wrote, and Obama lives that lyrical prophecy. Christopher Booker's 2004 book The Seven Basic Plots, a wide-ranging study from the Epic of Gilgamesh on and a surprisingly convincing explanation for why we crave narrative, reduced all stories to a few plots, each with its own kind of hero. Amazingly, Barack Obama fulfills the role of hero in each of these ancient story forms.
While Obama's story is ancient, it is also utterly contemporary, perfectly of the moment. His gift — and it is a gift that makes him emblematic — is that he inhabits all these roles without being limited by them. He has managed, miraculously, to remain something of an outsider while being the president of the United States of America, the most inside man in the world. He's African-American, but he's not African-American. He's from Chicago, but he's from Hawaii. One month he's bailing out the banks, the next he's keeping Gitmo open. He pushes health-care reform through with an unimpeachable heave of will then extends the tax cuts. He walks smiling through the newly opened White House garden on his way to announce renewed efforts at oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Meanwhile, his "balanced" approach to the economy has led to a slower recovery than other industrialized nations and the war in Libya has been half-assed at best, which is exactly what war cannot be. For two years, he seemed disingenuous and defensive, pushed into roles that his predecessors had scripted, alternately playing savior then monster. But no more. We can finally see who he is, we can finally understand the reality: In 2011, it is possible to be a levelheaded, warmhearted, cold-blooded killer who can crack a joke and write a book for his daughters. It is possible to be many things at once. And even more miraculous, it is possible for that man to be the president of the United States. Barack Obama is developing into what Hegel called a "world-historical soul," an embodiment of the spirit of the times. He is what we hope we can be.
We love Obama — even those who claim to despise him — because deep in our hearts and all over our lives, we're the same way — both inside and outside our jobs, our races, our cities, our countries, ourselves. With great artists, often the most irritating feature of their work is the source of their talent. Obama's gift is the same as his curse: He's somehow managed to be like the rest of us, only infinitely more so.
The Seven Stories of Obama
According to literary scholar Christopher Booker, every narrative in the world, from Gilgamesh to War and Peace to Water for Elephants, can be reduced to one of only seven master plots. Amazingly, the story of Obama contains every narrative.
Plot 1: Quest
Take the one issue that impacts every American, and that famously eluded Clinton, and bet your first term on it. Passing health care was a "big fking deal," to quote our vice-president.
Plot 2: Comedy
Message to Trump: If the president makes fun of you, laugh.
Plot 3: Rags to Riches
Born into nothing, the guy made $1.7 million on his book sales last year. He's money.
Plot 4: Tragedy
The man's grandmother who raised him dies days before he is elected president. You couldn't make up a more moving story twist.
Plot 5: Killing the Monster
Bush couldn't kill Osama. It took the black, liberal peacenik from Chicago who favors death panels to do it. Or something like that.
Plot 6: Voyage and Return
Here he is in Ireland, reconnecting with his lost lineage. The man claims he wants to put the apostrophe back in O'bama.
Plot 7: Rebirth
Remember that night in New Hampshire when the campaign hit a brick wall? It's also the night he told us, "Yes We Can." And he did.
Dear GOD~! please save us from these mindless idiots
bm
Wonderful satire.....it is satire isn’t it? He can’t be serious.
Who knew that Esquire is still being published? I thought that went out with Look magazine.
It really is. The argument is we must all derate ourselves so Barry will appear exemplary. The implicit admission is Barry is substandard but the way to ‘fix’ that is for everyone else to be worse. Liberalism is the opposite of exemplary. This should come as no surprise though.
What? No barf alert?
[We love Obama — even those who claim to despise him — because deep in our hearts and all over our lives, we’re the same way — both inside and outside our jobs, our races, our cities, our countries, ourselves. With great artists, often the most irritating feature of their work is the source of their talent. Obama’s gift is the same as his curse: He’s somehow managed to be like the rest of us, only infinitely more so]
Lordy, the artery in my temple just about popped reading this. Count the difference between myself and Oberfuhrer in Hubble distance.
How CAN I not love him? Wow, I need to ponder this for a while.
...
...
Nah.
I am remiss. Honestly, I spent so much time formatting it that I half thought it might be satire until I actually read it.
The author needs to step away from the bong.
We are all malignant, narcissistic sociopaths? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Over?
Yes...I thought of old Tingle Butt when reading this. I also thought of that dope pretend Conservative Brooks, that thought the crease of Barry’s pant was the sign of greatness.
We are surrounded by fools.
“Wonderful satire.....it is satire isn’t it? He can’t be serious.”
My first reaction was that it was satire. This was on a thread a day or two ago where it was first posted.
I was set straight. This delusional leftscum is dead serious. It is NOT satire.
Unreal, eh?
This piece, clearly part of the campaign strategy, seems to be coming straight out and telling people (or what passes for people, among its readership) to DO exactly that: SEE YOURSELF IN HIM. YOU LOVE HIM BECAUSE HE IS YOU.
This is first class propaganda. And it's ugly.
The character of any man is defined by how he treats his mother as the years pass ... need I say more about this person below other than there is no character, no integrity but there is a ton of attitude and arrogance that defines his shallow past and hollow future ... I rest my case.
I bought and read Audacity of Hope. It was difficult to read considering his attitude toward us and everything American. Let me add a phrase he uses to describe his attitude toward whites.
He harbors a "COIL OF RAGE". His words not mine. THIS IS OUR PRESIDENT Is anyone out there awake?
Everyone of voting age should read these two books: Don't buy them, just get them free from a library.
>From Dreams From My Father:
"I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites."
>From Dreams From My Father:
"I found solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother's race."
>From Dreams From My Father:
"There was something about her that made me wary, a little too sure of myself, maybe and white."
>FromDreams From My Father:
"It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, tostrike out and name names."
>From Dreams From My Father:
"I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa, that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself: The attributers of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela."
And FINALLY ...... and most scary:
>From Audacity of Hope:
"I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."
How many people in this country share the following combination of characteristics and influences: bi-racial baby of questionable parentage; brought up in atheist and then Muslim households; early life spent in the following sequence of locations: Hawaii, Indonesia, Hawaii; academic credentials claimed include Occidental College, Columbia, and Harvard but evidence of activities and achievements closely guarded secrets; claims travel to such anti-American countries as Pakistan but no evidence ever presented (a copy of a passport visa page would suffice, but his passport records are under seal); has apparently used various Social Security numbers at different times; 20 year membership in blatantly seditious and racist "church".
Does this sound like anybody most people would know much less be like? Each and every item on this list should be a red flag indicating a "problem" in hiring a person for any job. But the presidency?
Wow! I believe that this is what they call verbal fellatio.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.