Obamania a cult?

[Tex]

Two interesting blog posts today from different political perspectives. First, Jake Tapper at ABC:

Inspiration is nice. But some folks seem to be getting out of hand.

It's as if Tom Daschle descended from on high saying, "Be not afraid; for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people: for there is born to you this day in the city of Chicago a Savior, who is Barack the Lord."

Obama supporter Kathleen Geier writes that she's "getting increasingly weirded out by some of Obama's supporters. On listservs I'm on, some people who should know better – hard-bitten, not-so-young cynics, even – are gushing about Barack…

Describing various encounters with Obama supporters, she writes, "Excuse me, but this sounds more like a cult than a political campaign. The language used here is the language of evangelical Christianity – the Obama volunteers speak of 'coming to Obama' in the same way born-again Christians talk about 'coming to Jesus.'...So I say, we should all get a grip, stop all this unseemly mooning over Barack, see him and the political landscape he is a part of in a cooler, clearer, and more realistic light, and get to work."

He titles this post, "And Obama Wept". LOL.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpu...bama-wept.html

Then this from the conservative side, Scott Johnson of Powerline points out Bill Katz's ruminations on how great oration is overrated for the presidency.

I don’t know what Mr. Obama’s future will be. He’s an exciting speaker, but his speeches have the substance of a vacant apartment. He might just get by. After all, there are other things propelling his candidacy. But he might also look back on our history and realize that rhetoric alone rarely carried the day. If anything, it can, especially with the intimacy of television, wear out its welcome and become tedious.

The conventions will be held in the summer. The election is nine months away. While I won’t be voting for Mr. Obama, I will be interested to see if he can put some furniture in the room.

Read the whole thing ... he actually compares the oratory skills of several past presidents and their opponents, and makes some interesting points.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archive.../02/019737.php

Notice how everytime Cali Coug posts on Obama, he follows it with about 30 exclamation points? "One step closer to President Barack!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" It's like we're all 14-years-old. Grab a random member of the Obama cult off the street and see if he/she can tell you a major policy point.

We're seeing a political campaign built around a personality rather than around substance, and it's a little bit scary. I may detest John McCain, but I can't deny that the man has ideas and we all know what they are (although he's a little guilty of identity politics as well).

If Obama goes all the way, I have this hunch he's going to be in way over his head.