by Tan Copsey
Alright I promise this will be the last of the Obama Primer’s for some time. After Jess’ post on Tuesday, I couldn’t help but be drawn back to Barry’s shiny, multifunctional, fund-raising, life-giving, awe-inspiring website. Beyond the wonderful social networking opportunities, and the possibility of enlisting myself as Private Tan Copsey of the official Obarmy-Army of bloggers, there was this gorgeous piece of Political Theatre. It is without doubt the glossiest, prettiest, West-Wingiest piece of political advertising (neutral term substituting for propaganda), I ever did see. I immediately contacted Slate’s Obama messiah watch– for surely the second coming was upon us.
But this led to me to thinking, perhaps the opposite response to that which the advert was meant to inspire, - what is the appeal of Obama, and to a lesser extent, Edwards and Guilliani (I won’t mention Hillary)? Especially so far from any actual election, and when things seem particularly dire to the average US citizen. After conversation with my learned colleagues, it hit me that the godawfulness of waking up to Bush, Cheney, Iraq, Iran (?), and climate change every morning, makes glossy political theatre and a great imagined future, all too appealing. Martin Luther King may have had a dream, but Barack Obama is a dream. He is the Matt Santos/ Josiah Barlett/ JFK/ Martin Luther King, Democratic candidate for the public imagination primary. And he’s already won. The next glaringly obvious question is what will he do when it comes to actually forming policy, and facing that aforementioned godawful reality….
