Obama, Failing All Else

The last straw would be to see Obama becoming president in lieu of something better. The one who is supposed to bring radical change to the country, the first black man at the White House, the man of the generational turnover, elected failing all else. Let’s be serious, something is wrong with the Democratic candidate. He has lost his charisma, even if he is still pleasant. He has lost his appeal, even if everyone wants to kiss him. He has lost his determination, and so have his speeches: it seems like he has nothing else to say. We are not the first to notice this change, despite that fact that his entourage is trying to cover up the problem by defining it as a “Zen status,” a form of leadership, the calm in the storm. It could be. But he looks like a frightened fawn rather than calm. Like a fawn frightened by a car and the fast vehicle is the economic crisis.

The second debate with McCain was about economy, the heart of American life. Barack made a repetitive speech and gave no solutions to the problem.

In front of an unbelievable collapse he offered neither an intellectual challenge nor a clue to resolve the situation. “How can America recover from the financial crisis?” a journalist asked him during the debate. Obama answered literally: “Well, I think it starts with Washington. We’ve got to show that we’ve got good habits…And so part of the problem, I think, for a lot of people who are listening here tonight is they don’t feel as if they are sharing the burden with other folks… I think it’s important for the president to set a tone that says all of us are going to contribute, all of us are going to make sacrifices…I want to use a scalpel, not the hatchet, so that people who need help are getting help.” If this is not the usual generic statement of good intentions, it means I understand nothing (and this is possible). But it doesn’t seem that these statements helped the stock exchange in any way.

All this has nothing to do with McCain’s performance, since he looked weak, too. But at least he tried, announcing an unexpected plan to roll over the debts of troubled homeowners. Americans don’t seem to trust Republicans and the proposal went in vain. Obama could have taken advantage of this, but he just continued his story, acting like he was the only person on the stage. While McCain promised to drill all over the country to look for oil and new nuclear power stations, Barack answered back promising education and medical assistance for women, especially about maternity and mammography. When McCain tried to speak up that, “Americans are angry, they’re upset, and they’re a little fearful,” Obama spoke with the soft Democratic language: he used the words “you” and “yours” ninety times, talked about his mother, his wife and even his grandmother. He used the expression “middle class” a million times and at the end he suggested the usual, even if accurate, state intervention to protect the citizens. In short, a common solution for unique times.

Still, the Wall Street Journal foresaw that six out of ten electors will vote looking for the best economic solution, and on this basis the majority supports Obama. How is it possible? Does a weak proposal like the one we heard really make a hit? Or does Obama just benefit from the resentment towards Republicans, considered co-authors of the crisis? In sum, Barack Obama can win the race, but it would be just a victory of sorts.

We don’t know what’s happening to the Democratic candidate. But we do know when he began to “evaporate.” After the Convention that decreed his victory, his voice vanished, swallowed by his own exhaustion, by the covenants with his own party and then by Sarah Palin’s vitality. This little breakdown is understandable, yet by being so close to the vote what counts is not his journey as a candidate, but his future journey as a President. What if the “new man” Obama wins thanks to others’ collapse? It wouldn’t be nice, since the next President of the United States will have to fill in the gap left by this overall crisis.