that Obama meme

George Packer echoes my thoughts and fears***:

What worries me about Obama’s campaign is that it’s increasingly a movement about a man. If you support his opponent, you’re against hope itself. The “Yes We Can” ditty that’s sweeping across the Web and mesmerizing two-year-olds (I know one) is a theme song of messianism. If he fails to win the nomination, the song could easily, swiftly change to “We Don’t Think We Want To.” Obama’s crusade is preparing the ground for a massive display of Democratic pique in the form of Party suicide.

There’s a more earthbound Clinton version of messianism-the arrogance of power. Some in her circle speak of Obama with an open contempt that only reveals their shallowness. There are a lot of reasons to like Obama and his message. And, at the moment, it doesn’t seem as if his campaign will need to prepare its mass following for disappointment: Obama’s long, slow burn is now exploding into a prairie fire. But I’d feel better if he stopped offering himself as the personal embodiment of hope. After all, if hope is defeated, what you get is despair.

On the other hand, what was once just a meme has now been taken into the actual political arena:

Mrs. Clinton, of New York, basked in cheers from crowds during a campaign swing through Texas, whose March 4 primary has become increasingly vital to her candidacy. She also contrasted what she called her “solutions” for voters’ financial struggles with what she termed the “rhetoric” of Mr. Obama, her rival for the Democratic nomination.

And half a continent away at a news conference in Washington, Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, said Mr. Obama’s speeches had been “singularly lacking in specifics.”

And the blows landed:

Mr. Obama seemed to allude to the criticism of his rivals who suggest that he excels at rhetoric, but falls short on details, by saying at the outset of his remarks that he was going to “take it down a notch” by giving a speech that he said would be “a little more detailed, a little longer, with not as many applause lines.”

Yes, it’s hard to score points against political rivals when you’re spending your time seducing the public.

Obama is a quick study. He will adapt. But it feels like the perception of a sweep for Obama—the perception of momentum—has been stalled somewhat. Hillary looks stronger today than she did yesterday, although the suggestion that her campaign is willing to go to war with Obama over the Michigan and Florida delegates will keep the Hillary Hate flowing.
But the very surprising Romney endorsement means that the Republicans are starting to come to terms with McCain. That leaves battling Democrats at a disadvantage against (possibly) unifying Republicans.

What an incredible campaign season!

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*** On February 8, I referred to the “mania” surrounding Obama, and wrote:

Just a friendly reminder that depression usually follows mania.

For the record, I first referred to Obama as a mirage on January 8.

On PrezVid, they called it the Seinfeld campaign back in April 2007:

Why is the Obama campaign like the Seinfeld show? Because it’s about NOTHING!

Don’t tell me we can’t do something. Yes, we can! . . . yada yada yada . . . Let’s be the generation that ends poverty in America . . . yada yada yada . . . We know what to do with health care . . . yada yada yada . . . We’ve got to get beyond small politics . . .yada yada yada. . .We can do better than that. . . yada yada yada. . . We need to come together. . . yada yada yada . . . We’ve got to return to the spirt that built America . . . yada yada yada . . . It’s time for us to step up and meet these challenges . . . yada yada yada . . . This is not a campaign about me, it’s about you . . .yada yada yada. . .

And it’s still vapid after all this time …