Obama, Shaman--candidate’s post-masculine charisma tempts America in the age of Oprah

City Journal | Frontpagemagazine ^ | July 14, 2008 | Michael Knox Beran

[EagleUSA]

Charisma gave us Bill Clinton too. At least that is what some people call it — I call it fraud, lack of qualification, anti-Americanism, radicalism, socialism, power-madness, and gross ego.

Now if that is CHARISMA, so be it. I don’t think Dan Webster agrees either.

[isrul]

“Post masculine charisma” What a sick and twisted society we live in.

[Minn]

After McCain won the Republican nomination I've decided I have no ability to predict politics. Still, I have this sort of hunch that the whole Obama rock star thing may begin to collapse on him at some point as he becomes the target more parody and mockery.

For every stupid chick that faints at the sight of him, there are perhaps two voters that find that type of thing repulsive and frightening. Given that his status as a radical is now parodied brilliantly on the cover of the left-wing New Yorker, the man may soon become a walking cartoon: "Messiah Jihad Teleprompter Man" that fewer and fewer take seriously as presidential timber. Or not.

[steve8714]

Perot gave us Clinton. Bush gave us Perot.

[steve8714]

When did effeminacy become “post-masculne”?

[karnage]

Good piece.

[shibumi]

I think the euphemism “post-masculine” is just a way of saying that Larry Sinclair has a good memory.

[Ouderkirk]

For as much as I despise Bill Clinton, he was at least a man and was unashamed of it.

Obama is a deballed eunuch.

[johnny7]

Only one problem with that image,,,

[the invisib1e hand]

great graphics.

[CholeraJoe]

There's Jeremiah's fancy Rolex again.

That's a Rolex President Day/Date with diamond bezel. It'll set you back $21K, new.

[FlyVet]

Dostoyevsky was among the few who grasped the momentousness of the change that Machiavelli initiated in the West’s conception of diablerie. Near the end of The Brothers Karamazov, he describes an encounter between the devil and Ivan Karamazov. The devil appears, not with claws and horns, but in the guise of an elegant man of the world: he phrases his mordant taunts in French and laughs at modern intellectuals who believe that he doesn’t exist or who worry that to admit his existence would harm their “progressive image.”

No shocker. The devil is, after all, an angel of light, a thing of great beauty. The image of "claws and horns" fools no one.

[Jabba the Nutt]

"The country, or much of it, has longed for such a figure, a man from the once-oppressed race whose rise to power will atone for the sins of slavery and racial stigmatization."

Can you say "Magic Negro"? The point here, is that this works only with guilty, white liberals. That is why Obama could not bring in working class and elderly white voters even among the Democrats. Through decades of demonization, Republicans are going to be even less susceptable to guilt-tripping politicians.

I don't see either Obama or Clinton as particularly charismatic, maybe because I'm logical. And what the Democrats say about their plans and policies are illogical and will not work. Democrats seem to be susceptible to that "thrill up the leg".

[Dr.Deth]

Main effect: Bookmark
Side effect: Bump

[mojito]

Terrific article, thanks for posting.

[chickadee]

Thank you so much for posting this article. I have been looking for the words to articulate what is wrong in the thinking of the "true believers" and this article spells it out quite clearly. These two points in particular are the IEDs that the true believers refuse to acknowledge:

What both Aristotle and Weber made too little of is the mentality of the charismatic leader’s followers, the disciples who discover in him, or delusively endow him with, superhuman qualities.

****

The danger of Obama’s charismatic healer-redeemer fable lies in the hubris it encourages, the belief that gifted politicians can engender a selfless communitarian solidarity. Such a renovation of our national life would require not only a change in constitutional structure—the current system having been geared to conflict by the Founders, who believed that the clash of private interests helps preserve liberty—but also a change in human nature.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

"post-masculine charisma"?

"the exoticness of his shamanism"

[neverdem]

Still, I have this sort of hunch that the whole Obama rock star thing may begin to collapse on him at some point as he becomes the target more parody and mockery.

The Lighter Side of Obama (Huge ego with no humility, he's custom made for parody!)

[Stultis]

bump