Saturday, March 01, 2008

There Are Obamamaniacs, and Obamamania IS Delusional

There is rational pro-Obama rhetoric. And then there is the Other stuff. It is hard sometimes not to hold his supporters against him. Like the way Harrogate used to feel about Phish, rejecting really good music because at the time, the behavior of the fans made Harrogate a little sick.

Listening to these people for so long, it becomes something of a chore not to Loathe the candidate himself. Last night's episode of Real Time with Bill Maher represented the greatest struggle yet, in Harrogate's ongoing effort not to puke when listening to the Obama Narrative. Dan Savage gets on there talking about how nervous he was being at his first Obama rally, how he'd heard about what it was like, but you just can't know until you're there to see it for yourself. Maher legitimizes the tripe, indeed he himself is a believer: Oh, please, Savage and Maher jointly cried out in the night, don't let Obama get shot, or otherwise taken from us fallen clay mortals.

Because in case you hadn't heard, Barack Obama is Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, and Robert Kennedy all rolled into one, now.

Oh! We fall upon the thorns of life! We faint! We bleed! We die! Oooo, how we grow afraid! Let no shot ring out in the night and take away our Joseph Campbell hero with a thousand faces.

If only Barack Obama is allowed to remain with us for a little longer on this Fallen plane of material existence, he will transform everything. But we are all at risk, for the Great One is not a human being with flaws, but rather he is simply too good for this earth.

Blech and Blech.

10 comments:

solon said...

Sigh....................

harrogate said...

Solon, Harrogate is curious. When you watch one of these people carry on thusly on television, reporters fretting about his physical safety and the like:

does the thought not ever cross your mind, to roll your eyes? At least a little bit?

solon said...

I could be wrong on this point, but I do not think I am...

I do not think that the comments by Maher and Savage need to be reduced to the Obama Narrative but upon the fate of Progressives that have attempted to change the system. From what you wrote, which is all I can go by since I have not watched Maher's show in months, this is not about a zeal for all things Obama as you make it out to be.

These two commentators may in fact believe in the 1960s conspiracy narrative in which they grew up. Hence, they are more cynical about change and do not believe that forces will let change to occur as it has not happened in the past.

You can never escape context...

thursdaynext.21 said...

The Rev and I used to live in Obamaha.

harrogate said...

Yes. Yes. Yes. We hear such all the time. Each Rhapsodic, Swooning instance, an exception in a world where there is No Rule.
A discrete anecdote whose explanation in now way reflects upon other anecdotes. The irony being, this itself is a Rhetorical Pattern.

But how about this. Savage joined like litanies of talking heads throughout the land, in making an absolute ass out of himself. By not saying, you're getting carried away and making an ass out of yourself, Maher was also making an ass out of himself.

And in doing so they were parroting many others. As you know, Worry for the Great Progressive's Personal Safety has been a narrative for a while.

(and more and more, the real threat of republican continuation fades from the story. fades even though mccain would have the same foreign policy, same economic policy, and in the end, the same social policy.

thanks in large part to obamamania, by the time we get to the general, it will really be as if we are just having an election posing two individuals against one another, to be judged on their own discrete merits.

sheesh. talk about escaping context.....)

Anonymous said...

Obamamania aside, there are numerous reports (beginning last Spring) about the strain this race has put on Secret Service. Clinton, as a former First Lady, already had secret service protecting her and Obama's had to start in June. (Other candidates did not get protection that early, if at all.) Normally, the Secret Service doesn't protect candidates until around now. So while it may seem paranoid when Savage and Maher talk about it, the government doesn't seem to think so.

Anonymous said...

Oops, even earlier than that. Here's a quote from the NY Times: "Mr. Obama has had Secret Service agents surrounding him since May 3, the earliest a candidate has ever been provided protection. As his rallies have swelled in size, his security has increased, coming close to rivaling that given to a sitting president."

Also, Clinton and Obama are the only candidates to have received Secret Service thus far.

Sorry! I found the article (by Jeff Zeleny, published February 25) after my last comment.

harrogate said...

megs:

Yes, it has been bought into for a long time, by government as well as by media.

But, why this is, is a function of Narrative. The Savage/Maher contingent from early on, as articulated by solon above, would have us believe it is because the message is so groundbreakig as to be construed as a progressive threat to the machine.

Now, Harrogate is aware there are likely nutjobs out there who would harm Obama for bigoted reasons. Same with Clinton, actually.

But, Harrogate holds that the idea that he places himself at personal risk with his message is a contrivance, and a saccharine one at that. Only Obamamania makes it seem a reasonable fear.

Anonymous said...

Obamamania, perhaps, but not Obama himself, who has downplayed this entire discussion when asked by reporters.

harrogate said...

Absolutely, not Obama himself. Harrogate hopes he has been at least moderately clear on this point.

So it was with the Phish analogy.

It is simply a case of people, both media types as well as the most excitable members of the citizenry, getting way carried away.