Similar to my post Obama Is Door No. 2, Fouad Ajami in his great article in The Wall Street Journal, Obama and the Politics of Crowds, points out that the hysteria in favor of Barack Obama long ago passed the stage of irrationality:
On the face of it, there is nothing overwhelmingly stirring about Sen. Obama…. The political genius of the man is that he is a blank slate. The devotees can project onto him what they wish. The coalition that has propelled his quest — African-Americans and affluent white liberals — has no economic coherence. But for the moment, there is the illusion of a common undertaking …. The day after, the crowd will of course discover its own fissures. The affluent will have to pay for the programs promised the poor. The redistribution agenda that runs through Mr. Obama’s vision is anathema to the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and the hedge-fund managers now smitten with him. Their ethos is one of competition and the justice of the rewards that come with risk and effort. All this is shelved, as the devotees sustain the candidacy of a man whose public career has been a steady advocacy of reining in the market and organizing those who believe in entitlement and redistribution….
The morning after the election, the disappointment will begin to settle upon the Obama crowd. Defeat — by now unthinkable to the devotees — will bring heartbreak. victory will steadily deliver the sobering verdict that our troubles won’t be solved by a leader’s magic.
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