Sexy Sadie Does Berlin

Original Link: http://www.hillaryis44.org/?p=691

For months we’ve explored “pet rocks”, The Music Man, Elmer Gantry, and the Heaven’s Gate cult, as earlier, pre-Obama, incarnations of pop flim-flam phenomena.

We have discussed a February 2008 article published by Berlin’s Der Spiegel on the Obama cult. German historians know the devastation wrought by cults of personality and the need to remember history:

The rise of democratic frontrunner Barack Obama signifies an alarming victory of style over substance. Not unlike the dot-com hype, his campaign promises more than he can deliver. The one thing his voters can count on is that they will ultimately be disappointed.

Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama reminds many people of former President John F. Kennedy or civil rights leader Martin Luther King. But when I hear him speak, I have to think of the crazy days of the New Economy.

It was a magical time, even for the most levelheaded of business executives. For several years, wild promises seemed to be the most valuable currency in circulation. Profits? No big deal! Experience? Unnecessary! Realism? More of an obstacle than anything else. While some entrepreneurs undoubtedly had realistic business models and administrative talent, most of them were simply peddling ideas.

The Der Spiegel article described well the effects of the snake oil, Hopium, which Obama was peddling.

The future is a hotly traded commodity in the 2008 US presidential campaign. Voters are hungry for change and for radical departure from a present they now perceive as mediocre, especially after seven meager years under the current president, George W. Bush. A man like Barack Obama is adept at taking advantage of this yearning. He utters beautiful sentences that massage the soul, sentences like: “We are the ones we have been waiting for” and “Our destiny will not be written for us, but by us.”

At his campaign appearances, Obama and his adoring supporters toss his campaign slogan, “Yes, we can,” back and forth until the room is in a frenzy. His events are reminiscent of Sunday morning exchanges between a fiery pastor and his enthusiastic congregation, except that Obama’s crowds are even more fervent.

But anyone able to look past the rhetoric of the 46-year-old candidate will recognize a growing sense of doubt — doubt that Obama easily manages to quell in his next speech, or his next one after that. The senator’s successes in the primaries also have a narcotizing effect. Obama defines himself as a new type of politician, as someone who refuses to be judged by the old standards.

The entire Der Spiegel article is a must read as Obama torments the citizens of the great city of Berlin:

Nevertheless, if Obama is elected he will eventually be forced to disappoint his voters. Politics in a democratic society is a balancing of interests, not a revivalist meeting. It takes finesse, experience and power to transform ideas into reality. Hope and optimism can enhance these qualities, but they cannot replace them. Obama’s message is more of a promise to heal the nation than a campaign platform.

The future Obama is promising seems foggy and indistinct. He wants to change the rules of engagement in politics, but he neglects to explain how and in what direction. He wants to write a new page in the history books, but what handwriting does he plan to use to make his entry? He wants to drive out lobbyists, but if he does, who will champion the interests of union members, war veterans and chemical corporations? He wants to negotiate with the world’s dictators, but to what end, exactly?

Will the bubble burst before late August?

If democracy functions only half as well as the market economy, the Obama bubble will burst. The burning question is: When? Will it happen before the Democratic nomination this August — or not until afterwards?

* * *
For some it is too late to wake up from the effects of Obama’s Hopium. James Lee Bishop, convicted murderer, died as penalty for his crimes. His last thoughts were Hopium addled ones about Obama.

“For those who oppose the death penalty and want to see it end, our best bet is to vote for Barack Obama because his supporters have been working behind the scenes to end this practice,” Bishop said. [snip]

Bishop’s final words were: “God bless America. It has been great living here. That’s all.”

Unlike some of Obama’s prominent friends and spouse Bishop blessed America even as American law permitted Bishop’s life to be taken in retribution.

What (34 years old and white) James Lee Bishop failed to understand was that Obama is not a death penalty opponent. For Obama the death penalty debate is merely a political matter of life and death - Obama’s political life and death.

Still, Obama found himself on various sides of the death penalty debate.

Five months into office, he voted to expand the list of capital crimes to include the brutal murder of a senior citizen or a disabled person. Four years later he opposed adding murders that were part of “gang activity” to the list, saying the term was a “mechanism to target particular neighborhoods [and] particular individuals.”

James Lee Bishop was not alone among the duped or confused by Obama as Obama plays all sides on every issue.

* * *

The Big Media Party which has both dispensed and consumed vast quantities of Hopium is growing is also growing truculent as their increasingly arrogant Obama tail wants to wag the Big Media dog.

Some journalists are now regurgitating the toxic Hopium.

But, as Obama ascended from underdog to front-runner to presumptive nominee, the flame seems to have dwindled. Reporters who cover Obama these days grouse that Obama’s flacks shroud the campaign in secrecy and provide little to no access. “They’re more disciplined than the Bush people,” a reporter on the Obama trail gripes. “There was this idea of being transparent, but they’re not. They’re total tightwads with information.” [snip]

Still, the campaign hasn’t helped itself, approaching reporters with a sense of entitlement. “They’re an arrogant operation. Young and arrogant,” one reporter covering the campaign says. “They don’t believe in transparency with their own campaign,” another says.

Reporters who have covered Obama’s biography or his problems with certain voter blocs have been challenged the most aggressively. “They’re terrified of people poking around Obama’s life,” one reporter says. “The whole Obama narrative is built around this narrative that Obama and David Axelrod built, and, like all stories, it’s not entirely true. So they have to be protective of the crown jewels.” Another reporter notes that, during the last year, Obama’s old friends and Harvard classmates were requested not to talk to the press without permission.

Last thing Obama wants is the fictions in his book and campaign exposed further.

* * *

As Obama marches through the vast Unter Den Linden in the shadow of the Victory Column monument in Berlin Hopium-free Americans grow resistent to the not-qualified Obama.

No matter how hapless and retrograde the John McCain candidacy is, Americans remain wary of Obama. No matter how much money Obama spends, no matter how much advertising is employed to sell Obama, no matter how little coverage McCain receives, no matter how much things go “well” for Obama and “bad” for McCain the question arises Why is Obama such a hard sell?

Lots of speculation on the web, and in whispering circles, about why Obama’s foreign trip–a slam-dunk success substantively and in photo-op terms (Obama laughing with Petraeus in the helicopter was the best)–hasn’t resulted in a polling bump. The emerging conventional wisdom seems to be that the trip is a bit too grand, too…presumptuous and voters are wary of that.

Far from receiving a “bump” Americans refuse to consume the Obama cotton candy.

Republican John McCain has quickly closed the gap between himself and Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama in several key battleground states even as the Arizona senator struggles to break through the wall-to-wall coverage of Obama’s trip to Europe and the Middle East this week.

McCain and Obama are in a statistical dead heat in Colorado, Michigan and Minnesota while the Illinois senator has a more comfortable double-digit edge in Wisconsin, according to polling conducted by Quinnipiac University for washingtonpost.com and the Wall Street Journal during the past week. Only in Colorado, however, does McCain hold a greater percentage of the vote share than Obama. [snip]

The surveys are part of a four-month long effort to measure voter sentiment in key battleground states that could determine the outcome of the race. The path to the presidency runs through a handful of battleground states, as both Obama and McCain seek the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House. Thus, the four states surveyed in this project provide a snapshot of where things stand less than four months before Election Day.

It was not so long ago that Obama and Big Media insisted that this election was different. Now, it’s back to the same old “battleground states”.

The first in the series of polls, conducted in the four states in mid-June, showed Obama comfortably ahead of McCain in Wisconsin and Minnesota while the races in Michigan and Colorado were closer although Obama still held the lead. The latest polling, showing a much tighter race, was conducted July 14 to 22, during Obama’s high-profile trip to the Middle East. [snip]

While both campaigns are heavily engaged on television in most of these states, it’s not immediately clear from the data what accounted for McCain’s rapid rise — particularly in Minnesota and Colorado.

Americans deep down have grave misgivings about Obama. Deep down Americans know Obama is “riskier” even as Big Media sells as a glorious new toy the “pet rock” of the year.

A majority of Americans think Barack Obama is a riskier choice for the presidency, but he maintains a six-point lead over Republican John McCain, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

With slightly more than 100 days until the election, the survey provides a glimpse of the challenges facing both presidential candidates.

For McCain, it comes amid a toxic political climate for Republicans. Just three in 10 respondents approve of President Bush’s job. Only one in seven McCain voters say they’re excited to vote for him. And the percentage of Americans who believe the country is on the right track is at its lowest mark ever in the poll.

For Obama, it’s that a majority think he’s a risky choice for the presidency; that less than half say the Illinois Democrat shares their background and values; and that there are concerns he’s too inexperienced.

“When it comes to mood, the Republicans face very long odds,” says Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted this survey with Republican pollster Neil Newhouse. “And when it comes to perceptions of Barack Obama, I think the Democrats and Barack Obama have a job to do.”

There is little enthusiasm for McCain in what is supposed to be a very big Democratic year. Bush and the Republicans are almost universally loathed. Many Americans know the nation is on the “wrong track”. The bad news for McCain comes in daily. And yet, Obama is only barely ahead.

The news of Obama avoiding bitter and clingy American troops stationed in Germany won’t assist Obama in his efforts to appear qualified to be president.

* * *

For Democrats and Obama the sound track to this election year is Sexy Sadie.

Sexy Sadie was the “pet rock” of music group, The Beatles. The song “Sexy Sadie” was originally titled “Maharishi”. The title change to “Sexy Sadie” was made to avoid potential lawsuits due to the depiction of the guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in a harsh way. Recall:

John Lennon wrote this about the Maharishi while he was leaving India in 1968. After attending his Transcendental Meditation camp with the other Beatles, Lennon thought The Maharishi was a crock.

The song describes Lennon’s total dissatisfaction with the Maharishi. While at his retreat, it has been said that the Maharishi attempted to rape Mia Farrow. Once The Beatles learned of this, they immediately went to the Maharishi, and Lennon announced they were all leaving. The Maharishi asked why? Lennon said, “If you’re so cosmic, you’ll know why.” As originally written, some of its lyrics were considered obscene, and had to be refined. Lennon had used the Maharishi’s name, but had to change it for fear of being sued. But, Sexy Sadie is the Maharishi. Needless to say, that was the end of the Maharishi and The Beatles relationship.

The new Sexy Sadie is Barack Obama marching his way through world capitals after failing to do any work in the U.S. Senate.


[Lyrics HERE]

Sexy Sadie what have you done
You made a fool of everyone
You made a fool of everyone
Sexy Sadie, ooh, what have you done

Sexy Sadie you’ll get yours yet
However big you think you are
However big you think you are
Sexy Sadie, ooh, you’ll get yours yet

Sexy Sadie, it’s another way of saying:

Obama simply cannot be trusted. Obama cannot be trusted on any issue. Obama cannot be trusted by his friends. Obama cannot be trusted by his enemies. Obama cannot be trusted.