The Cult Like attack of Obama
By scarce Friday Feb 15, 2008 3:35pm 
The backlash against "Obama-mania" has really begun in earnest in the last week or so. Last night on CNN's The Situation Room, Carol Costello treated viewers to a Fox News-like presentation of more recent examples.
Download | play 
Download | play
COSTELLO: Many political observers say they've never seen anything like it. Thousands wait in line to see him, and it seems with every speech, they always latch onto Obama's three favorite words.
OBAMA: Yes, we can.
COSTELLO: Obama supporters wildly respond, chanting enthusiastically along with their candidate. But it's a scene some increasingly find not inspirational but "creepy."
L.A. Times columnist Joel Stein is cited, calling it "Obamaphilia. Then two of the very serious people sect have their opinions presented, Conservative columnist David Brooks in the NY Times, through his alter-ego Dr. Retail:
Meanwhile, Obama’s people are so taken with their messiah that soon they’ll be selling flowers at airports and arranging mass weddings. There’s a “Yes We Can” video floating around YouTube in which a bunch of celebrities like Scarlett Johansson and the guy from the Black Eyed Peas are singing the words to an Obama speech in escalating states of righteousness and ecstasy. If that video doesn’t creep out normal working-class voters, then nothing will.
Or Joe Klein in Time magazine, in a piece called Inspiration vs Substance. None too subtle is Joe. Klein also introduced the descriptor "creepy" to Obama-mania.
"There was something just a wee bit creepy about the mass messianism ... [T]he message is becoming dangerously self-referential. The Obama campaign all too often is about how wonderful the Obama campaign is.
And although not mentioned in the CNN piece, the truly creepy conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer gets into the act yesterday with this Washington Post column The Audacity of Selling Hope.
Interestingly, Obama has been able to win these electoral victories and dazzle crowds in one new jurisdiction after another, even as his mesmeric power has begun to arouse skepticism and misgivings among the mainstream media.
ABC's Jake Tapper notes the "Helter-Skelter cultish qualities" of "Obama worshipers," what Joel Stein of the Los Angeles Times calls "the Cult of Obama." Obama's Super Tuesday victory speech was a classic of the genre. Its effect was electric, eliciting a rhythmic fervor in the audience -- to such rhetorical nonsense as "We are the ones we've been waiting for. (Cheers, applause.) We are the change that we seek."
Krauthammer compares it to what he experienced as a young man growing up in Montreal, in what became known as Trudeaumania. The more obvious example to many Americans who remember the spring of 1968 is with Robert Kennedy. It would seem the traditional media's reaction to inspirational political figures has not improved in the intervening 40 years. If anything it's only gotten worse.
Or as Will Bunch succinctly put it:
But the real takeaway here is that passion + politics = cult.
God -- the real one -- save our political discourse.
Login or Register to post comments.
Foist!
yes i'm an obama follower.
and a cultist!
gimme some kool-aid! i need kool-aid!
Seems to me the 29% who still support Bush after all the damage he's done to our reputation, constitution, freedoms, military and budget are the ones who are the cultist. But don't expect to hear that in the corporate media!
These people are truly grasping at straws now...and that to me is a damn good sign!!!
the msm doesnt want us to be optimistic
they want us to remain cynical, depressed bastards
i was a kid when bobby kennedy was exciting the masses...but i still remember how my parents reacted to him....and it was a good thing
so is "obamamania"
emobile @ 2:
I like grape kool-aid...there IS NO OTHER than grape!
So, what's wrong about rallying around someone who actually had a vision. I remember another great man who had a vision: something about love thy neighbor. Boy, if we'd only have listened to him.
uncle joe mccarthy @ 5:
I am in agreement with ya Uncle Joe!
Well I agree it is creepy.
Don't drink the kool-aid!!!
After 7 years of Bush/Cheney, none of this should come as a surprise.
I support Obama, but I think skepticism about crowd's chanting monosyllabic slogans in unison is healthy. I think skepticism about adulation of political figures themselves rather than their policies is healthy.
Look, the truth will out. Which in this case, I believe, is that Obama is far and away the best candidate in the race. If Obama is all that we think he is, then he has nothing to fear from these pundits. But, again, I think it's healthy to question this type of phenomenon.
If you don't take this very seriously, you're whistling past the graveyard.
I am a Hillary supporter - but it's a close question. When I was at the caucus, I found the Obama kids a little - not creepy - but silly. Not all, or even most, Obama supporters can be branded "cult-like." But enough of them can to generate a storyline. The Obama cult can be as deadly as the Dean scream.
As a Hillary supporter, I don't want to press this storyline within the party, because it's toxic for everyone. On the other hand, it's crazy swiftboat type stuff - like the Dean scream or a nutty story about Kerry's military service - that kills Democrats in the general. Obama needs to figure out a way to get a handle on this.
I say this not because I'm against Obama. I hope Obama can counter it, and counter it quickly. But it is one reason I lean towards Hillary - Obama, being new on the scene, hasn't had a chance to define himself, and the Republicans will.
Let em scream on. You think the given power structure is going to go quietly??? They are going to fight as hard and as dirty as they can to keep power. THIS is the real war. We need to fight back and fight back hard. I was somewhat ambivalent, in the beginning, about Obama. But the fact that the "pwers that be" on both sides are terrified of him is all I need to hear. He has my full unwavering support.
I think they're scared of how much influence he has.
I was always suspicious why Carol Costello replaced Zain Verjee (sp.) a very competent reporter that was moved over to State Dept. reporting and getting less airtime . What ever the reason , it looks like she better at advancing CNN's agenda and not only about Obama , but other issues as well . keep an eye out on her . Maybe Zain wasn't a good enough propagandist .
If you want creepy just listen to any of the republican candidates
liberalNmoderation @ 6:
i like lime. :)
but it don't matter the flavor.
it's what we in the Cult of Obama mix it up with
before we jump off the cliff :)
Obama frequently blares U2's "City of Blinding Lights" at his events. Hmm, "Shining city on the hill," anyone? Sounds like the Barack Obama Cult want to be like the Ronald Reagan Cult.
well, gee maybe y'all should take these old fogies' opinions about Obama heading a 'cult' and just air them, uncritically, as an example of the "power" of the right wing media! because these folks don't get enough free press, they neeeeed liberal blogs to give them more. yapping heads are not going to determine the course of this election, and the best criticism they have of Obama is that he has a lot of enthusiastic supporters. for real! that is literally true, their best hope is to make people feel uneasy because Obama is popular. it's hilarious to watch liberals and Dems crouch back into their defeatist mindset and whimper that the big bad republicans are going to come along and magically undo Obama's support.
what I'm trying to say is, couldn't you just proclaim them to be full of shit, rather than reproducing all of their intellectually bankrupt drivel and giving it some credence? EVERYONE knows that the Republicans will be on the attack in the election, that's not something anyone is in denial of. what people are excited about with Obama is that we finally have a candidate who won't be trashed by their cheap, petty tricks. who is actually significantly differentiated from the Republicans. Kerry, Gore could be attacked for not being different enough. not so in this case.
it does help in defeating these media narratives though, for people to just immediately trash the accusation and those making it (of there being a 'cult') instead of giving air to their grievances and debating it as if it was actually a serious question! stop thinking like victims and losers!
Count me in with Obama. A highly intelligent Constitutional scholar that has brought people together to accomplish a lot in ILL. Personally, I find Joe Klein and Charles Krauthammer more than a little "creepy." It's come down to, this is all they have got. They are really reaching now. As for David Brooks, he is an idiot. He has been reaching since Bush took office. This country needs an inspirational leader now more than ever. We are in such bad shape, it is going to take a movement of large numbers of Americans to accomplish anything. We are in so deep, a President cannot do anything alone. Votes for Obama will also translate into a bigger majority in Congress. Obama is the best chance we have domestically and globally. That's not koolaid, that critical analysis.
This is the same corporate media who, for the most part, were cheerleaders for invading Iraq instead of acting like professional journalists (in other words, the credibility of the corporate media is about as low as that of George W. Bush and Congress).
The corporate media talking heads comment about voter apathy during every election season. And yet, when someone comes along that truly motivates a broad spectrum of voters, especially young voters, some in the corporate media are ready to criticize that candidate.
What I believe is going on is that Obama is talking about change. Real change and that scares the Establishment and defenders of the status quo of which the corporate media are part of. The fact that so much of Obama's contributions are coming from ordinary folks instead of powerful establishment interests is a good indicator of his broad and popular support and that he is not beholden to the status quo.
Maybe someday we'll also see change in the corporate media. I'm not holding my breath because the corporate media's allegiance is to its ad customers and stock holders and if they can deliver news that supports both, that's where they'll place their efforts. I saw the corporate media do the same thing with Ross Perot and his concerns about NAFTA and debt back in the early 1990's. And, as we know now, Ross was right. Ross Perot was taking on the establishment and they fought back and won.
If some in the corporate media are having a backlash against Obama, I'll take that as a good sign that Obama may very well be able to deliver change.
Once again, projection proves the mainstay of Right-Wing propaganda. Anyone who has seen these lunatics fawning over the dubious qualifications George W. Bush knows where the cult-thinking is...
cult Obama is frightening. I actually herd one pundit compare him to JESUS!!!!! I'm thinking seriously of not voting for a Democrat this year, if Obama is the nominee.
The Media has a LOT of power...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPlvdSQ6cAM
"There's really five companies that control 90 percent of what we read, see and hear." - Ted Turner
What's wrong with been political passionate? In the US politics is considered boring by most people as opposed to other parts of the World where citizens are sooo much more involved in the political process. ie: Europe. It seems that Americans always have something better to do than pay attention at the political process as a whole. God forbid they find a canditate exciting and moving and there we go: A Cult says the almighty MSN...sheesh!!
"Self-reverential?"
If you're going to put up a quote that everyone can read, you might want to not fuck it up in front of everyone. She seems pretty worked up about what these desparate right-wingers think. Pretty stupid report.
I sincerely mean this, #%$K Joe Klein, David Brooks and the rest of mainstream media. If this kind of thing was happening with McCain we would hear nothing but how great it is and how he has taken on the mantle of Ronald Reagan. Because it is a Democrat we get this nonsense and pure crap. Yeah, inspiring working class voters is such a bad thing. These big media asses could care less about the average working class of this country.
What? Charles Krauthammer calling someone "creepy"! Takes one to know one.
Ruthless People @ 3:
Fucking Amen!!
liberalNmoderation @ 4:
True Point.
This from the bunch that deified Reagan that is really rich!!
Obama will NOT be the nominee. You heard it hear first.
Well, Ron Paul is gone... that was the last media "political cult"... Obama shoulda seen this coming.
RLF @ 23:
It's the pundit that you should be scared of, not Obama. What kind of thinking is that?
Obamaphilia?
Nice job trying to make this a sexual matter ya pervert.
What a contrived smear campaign.
If this is the face of Hillary's revamped campaign.... It's a sad day for the Clintons.
Obama is my shepherd, I shall not want - from the Prophet Obama 3:36
The far right is scared sh*tless! It warms my heart.
By the by, he also has my vote in November.
StirFry @ 357:
my mother in law was the same,she was a super nice person.she just watched Faux Nooz to much
mudshark @ 361:
but it did take her 20 + years for her to accept me.
mudshark @ 362:
Jesus! That's a long fucking time.
xoites defends Constitution @ 363:
LOL...yeah.
But she was very nice.She'd take her digs at me and dems...every once and a great while.
Cause she knew.................I'd stand up to her. My father in law was a dem.But he was kinda weird.He ended up with Huntingtons Corea.
That's where my wife got it.
mudshark @ 364:
I am very sorry to hear that. It must be hard on you.
this is such a journalistic disgrace i don't even know what the hell to say.
where are the email links and contact phone numbers? give us some contact info on each listing so we can react!
Come to Obama. Kneel before Obama! Drink his blood! Drink his tears! Now rise and walk, you sick and crippled. Go forth!
mcnote5150 @ 353:
Wild speculation. Proof please.
alien @ 366:
No, you had it right the first time. There is nothing to say.
xoites defends Constitution @ 365:
I take it you're familiar with HD.
Actually X ,I consider myself lucky.1st,it's not like they said " You have 6 months" or anything like that.This is hard to express.
I'm Lucky,she's the most wonderful person I've ever met.
But I will say this........................it makes you get your priorites right.
Real Fastthe thing that made it worse was the doctors didn't have time for me,they just gave me a pamphlet and said"Here.....read this"
mudshark @ 356:
I don't think you can really give a leader credit for an economy anymore one way or other. Global trade has made it so there is very little they can do. However, I think many give Bill too much credit for the boom of the 90s. It was all a magical economy and the bubble burst. It just happened to wait until Bushie was in office, but everyone knew it was going to go for a crapper. It wasn't real.
Robert @ 368:
You want proof? Of what? This whole thing is bullshit from top to bottom and from begining to end.
Proof? LOL!!!!
An Average Joe @ 7:
Hey folks, with comments like this, it appears that Carol Costello may have a point. Are we electing a president, or choosing a new messiah?
what is with the incessant need for Hillary supporters to label and demonize Obama supporters? They are "cult-like", they all come from red states, they are all young, they are mostly black, they are mostly men etc. Except that some people are choosing a different candidate than your own and try to sway with them logic, not bullying, name-calling and fear.
mudshark @ 370:
Unforgivable!
Have you looked for a support group? I think that would be a good idea.
X....anyone that puts up with me.................well.....................has too be pretty damn good.
xoites defends Constitution @ 372:
LOL!!!! Imagine being in the frame of mind in which the best way to articulate your political views is by making an analogy to a computer marketing drive! LOL!!!!
Give me proof that the Clintons are orchestrating this "cult" theory. And no amount of LOLs will suffice.
mudshark @ 370:
Damn...sorry to hear about that one. Doctors as well. Life is strange, that is for sure.
mudshark @ 376:
Thank you for the compliment but i don't think it is as hard as you seem to think. :)
ConcernedCanuck @ 371:
none of them are real,it's what you do with it while you have it.And in that,BC did very well.
JEALOUS!! That is all this is. Also I don't know why but it seems like CNN is supporting Hillary and is not giving equal media discussions.
Robert @ 377:
Look, just vote for the person you want to be President. I was in school yard spitting contests more logical than this crap.
xoites defends Constitution @ 375:
has it been hard?fuck yes it's been hard.I've never actually spoken to anyone about it...
My wife was diagnosed in 2003......and the doctors figure she's been having (geezzz how should I say this) lets just say it's been advancing for 5 years prior to the diagnosis.it's fuckin hard X.....but it's ok.........my wife comes first.
xoites defends Constitution @ 382:
I'm sorry, I was just addressing your seeming inability to address the question with a proper response. Throwing a LOL out and dismissing the question outright hardly seems to progress a discussion. Also, I just entered this discussion. If it's illogical, it started long before I asked a question.
mudshark @ 380:
I agree with you. I think Bill was just a smooth player, same as Obama. Doesn't mean he isn't going to be a good Prez......but....
actually hard doesn't do it justice...............try mindblowing.........in a very negative way
FUCK those creeps! Obama is the only candidate worth looking at. Now the well known STUPID MONEY that always seem to come out at election time is funding blatant slander on media. This really pisses me off! It is the same STUPID AMERICAN MENTALITY that brought us george Bush! WHY do you think Obama's slogan STANDING FOR CHANGE runs so true to so many of us? BECAUSE WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH. Enough of the predictable juvenile lies that seem to work so well on the undereducated. Enough of the GOP fascist news medias who strategically target candidates who run against the fascist militaristic principles of the GOP. Well, I am now sold more than ever on Obama. I want NOTHING to do with any nation that supports war mongers like bush and McCain. I am sick to death of being sick to death with the GOP. I don't want ANY candidate who bends their ethics for compromise. DO NOT compromise with the GOP. THEY are more of an enemy than we face anywhere these days. They have brought this nation down to its knees... and THEY are proud about it... FUCK THEM!
The Clintonistas are getting scared!!
GoBama, GoBama, GoBama
Now that he's gotten their attention, Americans will make the right choice, assuming it's a fairly educated choice. Even many Repiblicans are "joining the cult"!!
Cult of personality...hmmm.
Seems better than some of the alternatives on display:
Cult of Stupidity
Cult of Ignorance
Cult of War
Cult of Jesus
Cult of Allah
Cult of Secrecy
Cult of Torture
Cult of Fear
Cult of Mendacity
Cult of (Phony) Experience
Cult of Lousy Personality
Cult of the Invisible Hand
Cult of the Market Knows Best
Cult of You Can't Be Both Free and Safe
Cult of Clintonian Victimhood
I'm sure I've missed a few, but for now I think I'll vote for Obama and skip
the midnight rituals.
I hate them trying to wave the flag of "normal working-class voters." They make up the reality they want and try to sell it to us using trumped-up imaginary people, like if they tell us often enough that NORMAL JOES won't vote for Obama and think he's a cult leader, we'll all stop thinking and believe them. Sometimes it seems like a lot of journalists think their job is to gauge the trends in an election and try to act as a counterforce to whatever is happening, no matter what it is. Truly bizarre.
mudshark @ 383:
That's a helluva long time to not talk to anyone about it. That's gotta be worse than the disease. Everybody needs someone to vent to Mudshark. It doesn't help the disease, but it sure has to make a person feel better to vent.
sorry to bum you guys out, and X...........Thank You.......
just ,thank you.there are those moments.
and I'm startin to have one.
I'm tired of hearing how the more highly educated voters are attracted to Obama. After all, what could the highly educated possibly know?
Did it it occur to anyone else that when Clinton was whining about Obama's speeches, she was giving a speech?
Creepy is sneak attacks.
Creepy is invasion and occupation.
Creepy is destroying the peoples' property.
Creepy is chimpy's secret government.
Creepy is asking for immunity when "nobody is breaking the law."
Creepy is using the people of the US to get a bill pass for his buddies.
Creepy is chimpy, turd, teeth and the rest of the nuts.
Creepy is fighting brown people and calling them "al Qaeda."
Creepy is using fear.
Creepy is repugs tons of lies.
Creepy is the amount of crooks in chimpy's admin.
Creepy is tons of pervs in chimpy's admin (they just got another one the other day.)
Creepy is craig.
Creepy is all fakeass Christians.
Creepy is repugs commenting on enthusiasm.
Creepy is looking at chimpy's face.
You have got to be kidding me!
That was one of the most ridiculous
things I've seen!
Shame on CNN.
Creepy News Network
repugs are alway raining on someone's parade.
mann isn't creepy?
get real.
Creepy!!!??? The last eight years are what is creepy.
Let's see...a junior congressman from Illinois, with a law background supposedly isn't qualified to be Prez? Oh right, I guess Abe Lincoln wasn't qualified either...
Obama is the one. I just hope he doesn't end up like Bobby Kennedy.
Nope. CNN just wants us to vote for Clinton.
If they're really looking for something creepy, they need only walk over to Glenn Beck's dressing room. THAT would be "creepy."
I was a member of the cult but, thanks to some deprogramming (i.e., reading about his positions on gay marriage, nukes, the death penalty, and God), I have decided he's just another politician.
Yes, God forbit, our leader be inspirational and get us to dream bigger dreams. Far, FAR better to have Mr. C Minus, MBA, as president...
CalGeorge @ 43:
The best politician we have going for us...
fuckin media
Orangutan. @ 45:
Maybe!
ConcernedCanuck @ 391: