A Mirror for Obama
Published in Echo of Moscow
(Russia) on 13 February 2015
by Anton Orekh (link to original)
(Russia) on 13 February 2015
by Anton Orekh (link to original)
Translated from
by Robin Phillips.
Edited by Laurence Bouvard.
Obama has made a video advertising the government insurance system, and in the process, he grimaced and took a selfie. Well, how do you like that? As an idea, not so much, because the things that he advertised are not for us. Advertising is only effective when it applies directly to the audience.
In the video, the American president does, as they say, "what everyone does." Apparently, he does all the same things that ordinary Americans do. It turns out that he may be almost the same as they are, and the system which he promotes is for ordinary people.
But we watch this little movie as exactly that: a movie. Someone, undoubtedly, will laugh, simply because Obama is so funny and ridiculous, so strange in his efforts to take on the whole world and enslave Russia, our country, dismembering it into parts and appropriating its wealth for himself.
Besides that, Obama is black. So this video, which anyone can watch, is a great reason to unleash all his complexes and ignorance: to laugh over how the American Negro* president puts on airs.
Well, and what if it is abstract? Not Obama, but simply any president, even if it were ours with you? Is it good for him to conduct himself so informally? Doesn't this undermine the authority of power, doesn't it destroy its sacredness?
Since Soviet times we have been accustomed to believe that someone who holds not only the highest posts, but in general, any government post, must not appear to be an ordinary person. He must be serious, unsmiling, buttoned up and grim. Then he actually embodies power, and as the saying goes, he can do the very stupidest things with an intelligent expression on his face.
However, something has still changed, primarily because Soviet leaders looked at us mainly from posters and reviewing stands, but now there is nowhere to hide from cameras, telephones or the Internet. Therefore, our president has become unlike the Soviet leaders. But he won't advertise any kind of government insurance or medical coverage. He advertises himself as a man and not as a monument.
But our Vladimir Vladimirovich, while just a man, is not ordinary. He is a hero. He flies, he dives, he tames tigers. In an aircraft, on a motorcycle, underwater, on the mats. He is the kind of man our women want to have, but cannot. He is the kind of man our men want to be, but most cannot. He is alive, but all the same, out of reach.
Since school, we have envied such men — that they did more pull-ups than all the others, that they defeat anyone they want, then win at soccer and they do all of this easily and with a smile. Such a man will not grimace at himself in front of the mirror. As for selfies, in extreme cases, he will have an assistant.
Besides, Putin has no need to advertise any kind of government projects. It is enough for him to say that there will be a project, and people simply believe him. So watch Obama's video, and feel the total superiority of Russia over America. Hurrah!
*Editor's note: The word choice is an accurate representation of the original Russian.
In the video, the American president does, as they say, "what everyone does." Apparently, he does all the same things that ordinary Americans do. It turns out that he may be almost the same as they are, and the system which he promotes is for ordinary people.
But we watch this little movie as exactly that: a movie. Someone, undoubtedly, will laugh, simply because Obama is so funny and ridiculous, so strange in his efforts to take on the whole world and enslave Russia, our country, dismembering it into parts and appropriating its wealth for himself.
Besides that, Obama is black. So this video, which anyone can watch, is a great reason to unleash all his complexes and ignorance: to laugh over how the American Negro* president puts on airs.
Well, and what if it is abstract? Not Obama, but simply any president, even if it were ours with you? Is it good for him to conduct himself so informally? Doesn't this undermine the authority of power, doesn't it destroy its sacredness?
Since Soviet times we have been accustomed to believe that someone who holds not only the highest posts, but in general, any government post, must not appear to be an ordinary person. He must be serious, unsmiling, buttoned up and grim. Then he actually embodies power, and as the saying goes, he can do the very stupidest things with an intelligent expression on his face.
However, something has still changed, primarily because Soviet leaders looked at us mainly from posters and reviewing stands, but now there is nowhere to hide from cameras, telephones or the Internet. Therefore, our president has become unlike the Soviet leaders. But he won't advertise any kind of government insurance or medical coverage. He advertises himself as a man and not as a monument.
But our Vladimir Vladimirovich, while just a man, is not ordinary. He is a hero. He flies, he dives, he tames tigers. In an aircraft, on a motorcycle, underwater, on the mats. He is the kind of man our women want to have, but cannot. He is the kind of man our men want to be, but most cannot. He is alive, but all the same, out of reach.
Since school, we have envied such men — that they did more pull-ups than all the others, that they defeat anyone they want, then win at soccer and they do all of this easily and with a smile. Such a man will not grimace at himself in front of the mirror. As for selfies, in extreme cases, he will have an assistant.
Besides, Putin has no need to advertise any kind of government projects. It is enough for him to say that there will be a project, and people simply believe him. So watch Obama's video, and feel the total superiority of Russia over America. Hurrah!
*Editor's note: The word choice is an accurate representation of the original Russian.