sarah eve kelly

Barack Obama is not the Messiah. He’s not a very naughty boy, either, but the cultism surrounding him is getting a little creepy.

He did a good job on The Daily Show (though personally, I thought Ron Paul did better). One might say he’s good under pressure, too, but I would argue that he’s not actually under an enormous amount of pressure. It seems to have escaped the blog pundits that they haven’t been supporting an underdog for a while now; this walking soundbyte is in the lead, and while it’s not fair to say that he’ll win a comfortable victory, the odds are good on his nomination. And that’s a pity, because I don’t think he’s that interesting, and I don’t think he would be a very effective President.

“We are the ones we have been waiting for” is a good statement, even if it is a little confusing at first. It’s a bit along the lines of “Ask not what your country can do for you,” but with a crucial difference: Obama’s foundation of support is coming from people who are used to fighting the Man and have no idea what’s involved in being the Man. That’s not a bad thing, but when you’re used to being the peanut gallery, odds are it’ll take a massive adjustment to perform well onstage.

Besides which there is little enough indication that Obama isn’t the Man. He says he’ll use his “bully pulpit” as President to shove through equal rights for gays, lesbians and transgendereds at the state level; well, that’s not going to work. And what else has he said? Even his biggest fan, Andrew Sullivan, admits that he’s not exactly crisp and clear on the issues. He is important, Sullivan posits, less because of who he is and more because of what he is: a non-Boomer.

Hillary Clinton is, of course, the Boomer personified, complete with the gauntlet of DSM-IV disorders associated with that generation. And she’s not good under pressure – the last month has shown us that. Well, not good under competitive pressure. She wasn’t banking on such a hard fight; Obama wasn’t banking to win, place or show. And now, while Obamaniacs are Obamacycling their way to the White House, Clinton is left with a “kick me” sign on her back, being given fifteen seconds to answer a question where Obama is given a full minute, and having photos taken of her that make her look worse than Britney Spears at Rite-Aid. She is also “shrill” and “defensive”, and is first accused of plastic surgery, only to suffer a chaser of Anna Wintour shrieking that she’s not feminine enough. The American media would not touch Obama’s ethnicity with a ten-foot feather duster except in the most reverent tones, but Clinton is being beaten with the femistick every hour of every day.

Hillary Clinton has led an extraordinary life, not a perfect one. I’d vote for her if I could, for my own reasons. I’ve heard that she lacks humility and authenticity, that she’s an achieving automaton for whom no one can feel any empathy. But they’re all like that; you have to be like that. Personally, I’m more wary of people who can fake sincerity than those who can’t, and that’s why I think the proponents of Obamessiah for President are going to be disappointed.

PS. John McCain? Who’s John McCain?

Till next time, if God wills it, &c &c.

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