Obama as Savior
Max Blumenthal is onto something significant here with his idea, laid out in his last post, that the enthusiasm shown for Obama during the presidential campaign by progressives stemmed from a sort of secular salvation narrative. I suspected something like that during the campaign, just gauging from my own emotional response to Obama's campaign speeches. If I, a jaded reporter, was getting that lump in my throat, then how much more deeply were activists feeling the Obama magic?
In Republican Gomorrah, Max quotes Eric Fromm in Escape From Freedom:
If we do not see the unconscious suffering of the average automatized person, then we fail to see the danger that threatens our culture from its human basis: the readiness to accept any ideology and any leader, if only he promises excitement and offers a political structure and symbols which already give meaning an order to an individual's life.
Although Max uses that quote to illustrate how religious right leaders stuck by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, even after evidence emerged of his corruption, I think Fromm's formulation applies as well to the left in its wild embrace of Obama during the presidential campaign. The apparent difference between the left and right is that the left allowed itself to feel betrayed by the cold shock of reality when Obama proved to be something that did not comport with its ideology.
For years, I have believed that America is a traumatized nation, especially in the course of the last decade. (I'll have a piece on AlterNet next week on precisely this topic.) The trauma, I believe, is felt as deeply by progressives as right-wingers, though processed through different narratives.
The American trauma of the new millennium didn't begin with 9/11; it began with the 2000 presidential election. Never before in their lifetimes had Americans seen, in an obvious way, their electoral system near to collapse. The month and a half of not knowing who the next president would be, and how that decision would be arrived at, totally screwed with our sense of self as a nation, which hinges on the perceived sense of the strength of our democracy. We're all raised on the belief of American exceptionalism. It's in our bones, whether or not we accept it intellectually. So, when the decision of our presidential election was taken by a Supreme Court fiat, progressives, understandably, were reeling.
Then there was 9/11.
Then the invasion of Afghanstan.
Then the virtual suspension of the Constitution with the USA Patriot act, and later the abuse of the FISA surveillance law.
Then the invasion of Iraq, on false pretenses -- pretenses many progressives believed were false all along. Yet they witnessed Democratic senators and members of Congress go along with the president so as not to look wimpy. Obama was among the few who voted "no" on the Iraq war.
Then Iraq got ugly.
Then there was the 2004 election, which many believe was stolen by Bush in Ohio.
Then the economy tanked.
So, yes, progressives were, indeed, a traumatized lot by the time of the 2008 presidential election. Never mind our personal stories of whatever familial dysfunction shaped us as individuals: Abuse and addiction are hardly limited to those on the right (though, as Max seems to suggest in Republican Gomorrah, they may be overrepresented in the religious right), but we use different tools to address them.
Along comes Obama, a man whose very appearance spoke to the progressive urge for racial reconciliation, and whose ability to speak to the best in us was nothing short of inspiring. And he had his own redemption story, as outlined in his memoir, Dreams From My Father. He went through a dark spell, he tells us, of drug use and racial resentment. He came from a dysfunctional family and never knew his father. He came through all this to win his way through Columbia University. Instead of going to a white-shoe law firm upon his graduation from law school, he became a community organizer -- which, for progressives, is roughly analogous what a commitment to tithing means to adherents of the religious right.
Matching Obama's visage, narrative and appeal to a desperate desire for change, it's no wonder progressives succumbed to the magical thinking of Obama as national savior. As Max notes, Obama himself was not unaware of the phenomenon. Quoting Obama from his book, The Audacity of Hope, Max offers this: "I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views."
Nowhere is this more apparent than with the progressive response to Obama's decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan. Michael Moore accused the president of potentially creating a generation of cynics of the young people who voted for him in the belief that he would never do such a thing. In truth, had they listened to what Obama said about Afghanistan during the campaign, they'd have nothing to be cynical about: they're just getting what they paid for. Obama's Afghanistan policy is the fulfillment of a campaign promise, not the betrayal of one.
After much soul-searching, I decided to support Obama in the primary. As a lifelong feminist, and a fan of Hillary Clinton until her vote on the Iraq war, it was a gut-wrenching conclusion to arrive at. I did so for two reasons, one based on fact, and the other on an aspirational impulse that stemmed, I admit, from an aspirational yearning (though one I would like to believe was a bit more subtle than an all-out belief in Obama as national savior). The former was his vote against the war in Iraq; the latter, his great oratorical gifts, which I believed he would use to call the nation to act collectively for the common good.
Yet, for all the speaking he does -- and he does lots and lots of it -- he has only rarely summoned the American people to come together for the sake of all. As Max reminds us, during the campaign, Obama invoked the Hopi aphorism, "We are the ones we've been waiting for." He could still play the role of savior by proxy, I think, if only he would call on the American people to save ourselves.
Now, that's a salvation narrative I could get down with.
that the enthusiasm shown for Obama during the presidential campaign by progressives stemmed from a sort of secular salvation narrative.
After Obama's FISA vote, many progressives had no illusion that Obama was a progressive savior.
December 18, 2009 1:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Obama was among the few who voted "no" on the Iraq war."
In the Illinois Senate?
December 18, 2009 7:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
And did Illinois invade Iraq?
NO!
But still..
Some people say he ain't the Messiah!
December 19, 2009 2:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Seriously, and he probably would have voted for it if he had actually been in federal office at the time.
December 20, 2009 2:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Adele Stan is on to something here. I went though a similar process, though I signed on wioth Obama even before he declared. And I think we ignore (or worse, belittle) at our peril the alienation many, perhaps most, of our fellow citizens feel. Crass consumerism isn't a philosophy to live by and it is profoundly unnourishing, quite the opposite. there are yearnings for community and meaning on all sides, because that is a very human impulse.
She is right about the serial traumas we experienced, none getting properly analyzed except maybe the overanalyzed 9/11.
A very good piece. I have finally accepted that the "change" Obama has brought is that he is our first Black President and he ratcheted down the partisan rhetoric. That is about it, though it is not nothing. He might have done more had the economy not tanked so badly at the end of last year, but then, he might not have been elected had that not happened.
December 18, 2009 7:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
I mean Obama himslef ratcheted down the partisan rhetoric as copmpared to Bush. But hsi opponents doubled theirs, so the debate/cacaphony is at leasty as loud, if not louder than before.
December 18, 2009 7:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow, less than a year and you have given up. He has done a lot more than nothing.
Obama accomplishments
Signed on October 28, 2009
Hate Crimes Bill
Signed on October 28, 2009
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010
Signed on October 22, 2009
Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act
#
Signed on August 06, 2009
Cash For Clunkers Extension
#
Signed on June 22, 2009
Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act
#
Signed on May 22, 2009
Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009
#
Signed on May 22, 2009
Weapons Systems Acquisition Reform Act
#
Signed on May 20, 2009
Helping Families Save Their Homes Act
#
Signed on May 20, 2009
Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act
#
Signed on April 21, 2009
Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act
#
Signed on March 30, 2009
Omnibus Public Lands Management Act
Signed on March 20, 2009
Small Business Act Temporary Extension
Signed on February 17, 2009
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
*
Signed on February 11, 2009
DTV Delay Act
Signed on February 04, 2009
Children’s Health Insurance Reauthorization Act
*
Signed on January 29, 2009
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
December 18, 2009 8:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
There are also many accomplishments on the world stage. Read James Fallows at The Atlantic for the accomplishments on the Asia trip that were not reported or not reported correctly.
The progress with Russia on nonproliferation. The main reason for the Peace Prize.
The better relations and cooperation with other nations, worldwide.
I think that there are big changes that benefit the entire world!
December 18, 2009 11:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
He gets credit for very little by the media. I should update the list for sure.
I disagree that Obama is a different person that he said he was. I still believe he is a man of integrity and has attempted to do more in his first year in office than any president since FDR.
I can't even imagine what our lives would be like today if he hadn't won and instead we had McCain/Palin in the white house. Now that is a sobering thought indeed.
I support this President. I am a realist not a dreamer.
December 21, 2009 9:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
Aren't you the one that's always defending Obama's lack of leadership on real HCR by saying the president doesn't legislate?
Which is it?
Oh yeah, I forgot. It's whatever Obama says it is.
December 19, 2009 1:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, that is me? Got a problem with that???? And if so, too bad.
December 21, 2009 9:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
As a Democrat and a military vet, I find myself wondering how white America can be so obtuse, and ever worse, Democrats for being obtuse?
First, the AUMF was a bogus artifice since the Constitution called for a Declaration of War. Today, when I consider Obama's statements before and after his election, as a constitutional scholar, he should have disowned and returned the AUMF Resolution to Congress and asked for a much better legislative effort. He didn't and it shows when the rubric of War and Peace, and in particular the War part. And of course, LBJ's Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was a bogus artifice as well. Consequently, historical "guide posts" and "markers" to inform and teach my fellow Democrats much, if everyone wants to create their own oblivious reality. As such, we did it to ourselves.
And as to the Peace portion of this rubric, or for domestic tranquility, Obama has been a neo-lib for most of his political career. Of course, today's behavior is not one for 'buyer's remorse' but finding for oneself, that being "out slickered" by another city slicker, is off-putting.
Sadly, one of my pet peeves about Obama is that he 'ripped off' my community when he advanced the notional for "Si Se Puede!" and has failed to live up to the Moral High Ground that underpins this utterance.
Jaango
December 19, 2009 12:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
I do believe Obama is the savior.
December 19, 2009 9:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
Richard Perle is one of the last people obstructing him in Washington. The funny thing about Jews is that they believe in mercy death. The far right and evangelicals believe in human sacrifice. Neither is going anywhere. That's not in route.
December 19, 2009 9:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
LousGirl 84: liked the list, thank you. I suggest you add international in addition to legislative, i.e. Cairo speech: That an American president spoke the words "assalaamu alaykum" was alone, after three illegal occupations -wars- of Muslim countries, worthy of a Nobel, altho certainly not reparation.
Of Obama's opposition to the (2nd) Iraq invasion: Not being in the U.S. Senate yet, he knew he had the luxury of being against the war. (He knew,and Axe knew, of his presidential aspirations.) He knew that you cannot vote against a war and run for president, ie. middle manager of The Complex. a k a the "commander in chief-y" thing. Nor would he have gotten "elected" had he not endorsed some war, i.e. Afghanistan. The "military" started promptly calling in its markers exactly one year ago, with a 'leak' of needing 30,000 more bodies in Af-vastistan, a few days before Christmas 2008.
December 19, 2009 10:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
I object to this idea that the enthusiasm for Obama was a "secular salvation" narrative. When Max Blumenthal refers to Obama as the blank screen upon which people project their hopes and fears, he is translating the Republican talking point of Obama, the Magic Negro into the jargon of academia.
The enthusiasm for Obama was and is mostly the hope that blood will perhaps once again flow through the body politic through the resumption of policy being created again. Eight years of a continual state of emergency put policy formation into paralysis.
I hurts like hell when blood returns to a limb after falling asleep for a while. But consider the consequences of sparing oneself of that pain.
December 19, 2009 10:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
My enthusiasm for Obama was based on the things he said - he was going end the influence of lobbyist, not play the standard political game, not make backroom deals with drug companies, deliver health reform without a punishing mandate and so on...
So this BS about 'the savior' really just sounds like an excuse for him being a very different person than he SAID he was.
December 20, 2009 7:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
What a candidate says he will do and what a president finds out when he's there in the Oval Office that he CAN do are often two things so different and even opposed to each other that it invariably comes down to this.
But what I am most disappointed with so far is nothing to do with Obama, but with this insanity that has gotten promulgated somehow that gives people on a moment to moment basis, just enough information and a lot of rumors, to continually keep us upset and angry.
There's no reason for this. He's doing everything he promised to do except make us feel better. We don't. Cause the problems we handed him are bigger than we knew. And to change the way this country handles things back to right way is taking a lot of structural work that is under the radar.
Not all of it would have to be under the radar, but the media isn't interested. The media treats us like the children we are. We don't have to be told by the president to come together and fix things - we're supposed to be grown-ups ourselves. But we haven't acted that way for years. So we're projecting every bit of that onto Obama. I've never seen a president so thoroughly picked to pieces 15 times a day by political ideologues on both sides.
December 21, 2009 10:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for saying it, Tena. I am disappointed with some of his decisions, and I really wish he had treated health care with the same finesse that he did his campaign (with a little muscle thrown in to stomp on Lieberman, Nelson and their ilk) but I'm with you; he got the shittiest job imaginable on January 20th. The teabaggers blame a decade of misdirection and rotten leadership's results on him, and an inordinate number of people just nod their heads in agreement.
But when we become as unforgiving and willing to go off the deep end as the rest of them, it's time to sit back and try to take the long view.
December 21, 2009 12:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
I've seen this before, the liberal projection of confidence was not as great but the vitriol and anger on both sides that followed was quite the same. Google the name Bill Clinton and you will find a treasure trove of accusations and monstrous claims only rivaled (and possibly surpassed) by what Obama is up against now(Or you can just take a brief stroll down memory lane to the crazy nineties and you'll find the same). Just sayin'
December 21, 2009 3:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Amen Tena. Hey, random question - are you on twitter?
December 21, 2009 10:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
Adele, I like the article, it's much like what I was noticing during the primaries. Mccain tried to point this out with his celebrity ads and the right pushed the antichrist meme but to no avail as the Obama campaign moved to the message of economic populism and "mainstream American values". I'd add one contention though, Obama did not vote "no" on the Iraq war. He was not in the US senate at the time of the vote but the reason you probably believe that is the well oiled campaign machine that pushed the idea that he did without ever explicitly saying so. Winning primaries is about exciting the base much like mid-term elections. Which is why I'm hopeful about 2010 because the Obama campaign team knows a thing or two about that.
December 21, 2009 3:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
The situation faced by Obama is VERY different from the Democrats under FDR. Then, there was NOT a phalanx of Republicans out to dare filibuster every reform, and the oceans of lobbying money (estimated at over $600 MILLION in health care alone in recent years) and politicians so systematically receptive to it in the Democratic Party had not reached current proportions. We need to compare what Obama does not just to past changes overall, but to the political landscape out there today.
That said, unless Obama turns significantly more progressive in the next year or two, which some have accused me of "wasting time" hoping for, he will then have turned out to be the third consecutive Democratic president who profoundly disappointed hopes of reform: Carter, Clinton and Obama. Carter and Clinton ran as being more centrist than the 'pack' while Obama was right in a more moderate pack and if anything projected (in the primaries at least) an image of being at least potentially a BIT more progressive minded.
Johnson carried through much reform on the wave of a HUGE landslide in 64, and also managed to get the country entangled in Vietnam. In short, basically, every Democratic president SINCE FDR, who faced very unusual and protracted circumstances not comparable to today's, though there are at least some parallels, has either severely disappointed hopes of reform, or led the country down a road that undermined hope of democracy and reform profoundly (imperialist war).
Those who condemn progressives like myself who supported Obama as "faux-gressives", a newly popular word thusly applied are having a field day. The only solution is for authentic progressives to organize and become more demanding, and that includes confronting the extensive underground repression that is perennial in our society. So far, I don't see the EFFORTS of the kind needed significantly beginning, but maybe I'm missing it
December 22, 2009 7:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Even as a UK citizen not exposed to US politics on a day to day to day basis, it appears Obama is starting to find the going tough and maybe he isnt the messiah after all...only time will tell.
February 14, 2010 2:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
He gets credit for very little by the media. I should update the list for sure.
I disagree that Obama is a different person that he said he was. I still believe he is a man of integrity and has attempted to do more in his first year in office than any president since FDR.
I can't even imagine what our lives would be like today if he hadn't won and instead we had McCain/Palin in the white house. Now that is a sobering thought indeed. So it's great.I like it!
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