The myth of Obama's transcendence
One of the sillier cover stories I’ve ever seen just came out in The Atlantic, entitled “Why Obama Matters” by Andrew Sullivan. Sullivan’s message has been effectively echoed around the blogosphere for several weeks now. His article starts when he admits that Obama’s policy proposals- what he would actually do if president- are none too special. Sullivan claims, however, that Obama is the only candidate who can play a “transformational” role. Sullivan gives a long litany of rhetorical excesses from the left and right- Michael Moore and Rush Limbaugh, that kind of thing- and then boldly claims they are all due to some mysterious Baby Boomer malady. As Obama is not a Boomer by virtue of being 8 years younger than John Edwards, these cultural divisions will magically go away.
As a rule of thumb, whenever a writer argues that somebody can transcend a problem, it usually means the author has no clear idea how to solve the problem. Sullivan lists a few transcendent factors unique to Obama, his race foremost among them. But ultimately, the argument seems to be: “elect Obama and a miracle will happen and the cultural wars will end.” It simply doesn’t seem like a credible scenario to me. No matter how high-minded Obama’s rhetoric, it will not by itself resolve deep cultural divisions in the United States.
I’ve been frustrated my whole life by Baby Boomer’s sense of nostalgia, and their even odder notion that by dint of an accident of fate they happened to have been born within some 6000 days of each other they cosmically share an identity. In a way, Sullivan’s article just does it again, placing the Boomer’s once more in the path of History. Obama is a fine candidate, and should be judged on his merits. Judge him by his credentials and his policy proposals not some mythical transcendence.
As a rule of thumb, whenever a writer argues that somebody can transcend a problem, it usually means the author has no clear idea how to solve the problem. Sullivan lists a few transcendent factors unique to Obama, his race foremost among them. But ultimately, the argument seems to be: “elect Obama and a miracle will happen and the cultural wars will end.” It simply doesn’t seem like a credible scenario to me. No matter how high-minded Obama’s rhetoric, it will not by itself resolve deep cultural divisions in the United States.
I’ve been frustrated my whole life by Baby Boomer’s sense of nostalgia, and their even odder notion that by dint of an accident of fate they happened to have been born within some 6000 days of each other they cosmically share an identity. In a way, Sullivan’s article just does it again, placing the Boomer’s once more in the path of History. Obama is a fine candidate, and should be judged on his merits. Judge him by his credentials and his policy proposals not some mythical transcendence.
