The Obama Puzzle

So far, Obama’s aura has blinded us to how little Washington has really changed.

But he won’t remain a cult-figure much longer. The day is coming when this man will again be a mere mortal – no longer a demigod whose urbi et orbi pronouncements enchant millions. Then he’ll cease to walk on water; he’ll be a politician who, like everyone else, just cooks with water.

The radiance won’t fall from him suddenly; the pervasive global commercialization of him and his family (even including White House First Dog, Bo) will leave their traces behind. But someday he’ll cease to be a cult-figure and perhaps just become a trademark with the first name, Barack.

The day of disenchantment will certainly come. It’s just that nobody wants to talk about it right now as America’s idol celebrates his first 100 days in office. Obama isn’t celebrating, but the White House is celebrating him. On the Internet, on television, on the covers of political magazines, fashion magazines, and publications for dog lovers, vegetarians and anglers – everything is Obama!

The hysteria just strengthens Obama’s aura.

Even the one-third of Americans who absolutely reject him are under his spell. America’s right wing rages against him with slavering hatred, today calling him a socialist, tomorrow a fascist; a tyrant who wants to turn America into a dictatorship. The louder his enemies scream, the more befuddled and dumbfounded they appear.

All the hysteria just reinforces Obama’s aura. He smiles serenely and stays cool. This President has accomplished more in his first three months than all his predecessors together since Franklin Roosevelt. So far, every attempt to brand him with one ideology or another has failed. Obama-mania is on a rampage, but no one seems to really know how to define Obamism.

Just this: It’s a style (as opposed to an inflexible line) that fascinates us. Whether it’s the fight against the economic crisis or the decision to send more troops than ever into battle in Afghanistan: Obama is always successful in convincing us that his policies are absolutely necessary – on purely logical reasoning alone, no ideology needed.

The only thing is, if this is all dull pragmatism, why all the hysteria surrounding him? That’s the key to the Obama puzzle. The man fulfills our longing for a vision. He’s a one-man show: Obama himself (not any of his Cabinet members) is able to rouse all our uplifting emotions and awaken a common feeling that “together, we can heal our country and save the world”, without it sounding hollow.