Obama and the Politics of Crowds

WSJ ^ | October 30, 2008 | Fouad Ajami

[yoe]

There is something odd -- and dare I say novel -- in American politics about the crowds that have been greeting Barack Obama on his campaign trail. Hitherto, crowds have not been a prominent feature of American politics. We associate them with the temper of Third World societies. We think of places like Argentina and Egypt and Iran, of multitudes brought together by their zeal for a Peron or a Nasser or a Khomeini. In these kinds of societies, the crowd comes forth to affirm its faith in a redeemer: a man who would set the world right.

As the late Nobel laureate Elias Canetti observes in his great book, "Crowds and Power" (first published in 1960), the crowd is based on an illusion of equality: Its quest is for that moment when "distinctions are thrown off and all become equal. It is for the sake of this blessed moment, when no one is greater or better than another, that people become a crowd." These crowds, in the tens of thousands, who have been turning out for the Democratic standard-bearer in St. Louis and Denver and Portland, are a measure of American distress.

[yoe]

(Crowds and Power).

Obama has been well educated in Bill Ayers idea of education which is Vladimir Lenin's plan..."Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.

If elected, you will never get him out if both Houses are Socialist Democrats.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

It’s easy for Barry to turn out public employee union members who get paid time off to attend his sermons.

[A_perfect_lady]

Save in times of national peril, Americans have been sober, really minimalist, in what they expected out of national elections, out of politics itself. The outcomes that mattered were decided in the push and pull of daily life, by the inventors and the entrepreneurs, and the captains of industry and finance. To be sure, there was a measure of willfulness in this national vision, for politics and wars guided the destiny of this republic. But that American sobriety and skepticism about politics -- and leaders -- set this republic apart from political cultures that saw redemption lurking around every corner.

That's good. Very clear-eyed.

[RC2]

Obama’s crowds come from having free entertainment for the people. The bulk of the crowds come for that, not Obama, but he likes you to think they came for him.

[Vaduz]

Third World societies=east and west coast states.

[WVKayaker]

Obama’s crowds come from having free entertainment for the people.

Deserves repeating, but we are only preaching to the wind. Those of us on this site are aware, but the MSM will continue to present the facade... just like the Roman columns!

Obomanation is the best term to describe him and his followers. Look at the fawning admirers on the TV screens, and pray for our nation! ...The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." (James 5:16b). (God tells us we believers are all considered as righteous, through our faith in His sacrifice!)