Big Brother Barack?

When Barack Obama controlled both the vertical and the horizontal this week, a rational person could be forgiven for getting a bit of the big brother heebie-jeebies. The idea of Mr. Celebrity putting on such schmaltzy affair was, you must admit, an interesting choice. It reminded me a bit of the convention in Denver ... every speaker had a sob story. Mine, of course, being the sobbiest, as I had to endure a week wading in the democrastiness. I think the best summary was probably the description by Chris Ayres at Times Online:

"America's supplies of tissues must have been exhausted during Barack Obama's 30-minute election broadcast late on Wednesday night. It had been billed as a "closing argument" by the Democrat's seemingly unstoppable campaign. In reality, it was an all-out, no-holds-barred weepathon with a feel-bad factor pitched somewhere between the third act of Schindler's List and the slaughter scenes in Watership Down. I emerged from my TV room sodden-eyed and legs trembling, wishing that Iran would just drop the bomb and get it all over with."

So, with that in mind, and in keeping with the onslaught of videos posted at Political Machine this week, please enjoy this:

It's funny right? Maybe not as funny/sad as the one I posted last night, but still funny.

Obama's infomercial, by the way, was itself like a youtube video. Selective, manipulative, and edited for impact. A closing argument ought illuminate and encapsulate the case you are making. So as far as that goes Obama's half hour was right on. It was an argument from and for emotion, just like his campaign.

Look, I know it's the game. This is our world. A world in which a show with the title "Dancing with the Stars" can become a hit. Politicians play the game. It's just they rarely do it as blatantly as Senator Obama. His half-hour show was all Hollywood, coming off like one of those telethon pitches where they have celebrities narrate tragic personal stories, mixed in with a bit of the "no money down" late night promise-thons. Don't believe me? Listen to this woman's reaction to an Obama speech:

The idea that we're all about to be saved by The One isn't just out there, it's still growing. This woman's sentiment is exactly what Senator Obama was hoping to tap into with his infomercial. Will he turn 2009 into 1984? Well he won't turn it into Reagan's 1984 that's certain, and more's the pity. Will he and his bullet-proof congressional majorities and his political and emotional capital give in to the deep leftist impulse toward supreme authority and statism ... Orwell's 1984? It's worth thinking about.

"Any attempt to replace a personal conscience by a collective conscience does violence to the individual and is the first step toward totalitarianism."
- Herman Hesse - Herman Hesse