Well, they aren’t MY right wingers (you will note that I’ve never used that terminology when discussing Obama), but I’d say that it’s the same reason why lefties clung to ‘Bush stole the election!’ (in 2000 of course) until…well, even today, though it’s finally starting to fade out. Why did they keep on with that? Well, because it resonated beyond their base and it worked for them (to an extent…it worked best with their own base, and most others got tired of the rant after a fairly short time, but you could always count on some of the fervent to bring it up in just about any thread about Bush).
My advice to you is get used to it…it’s going to be a major theme of the Pubs in the coming election, so you are going to hear more and more about it as they hammer on this and other themes. If you think it has no traction or doesn’t resonate then you should be thrilled, since that means they are wasting their time.
That’s alright - furt’s examples don’t do that either. The Newsweek example was saying we expect presidents to be godlike and that Obama can’t do it all. The comment about the Cairo speech was just bizarre.
Wait, are you equating the factuality of the Bush-Gore election being so tainted that the Supreme Court had to decide it (in 5-4 vote along party lines) with your perception that more Obama supporters expressed more enthusiasm than you think was seemly? And concluding, ah, they all do it?
That might have been what the article said, but the imagery would certainly be familiar to a lot of folks on a certain sub-continent. And what about the Rolling Stone cover?
I think his examples were a good mix of where this meme is coming from. They were hardly exhaustive.
No, I’m pointing out a counter example that the left ran with even in Bush’s second term, and continued to harp on long past the point that most people were interested in the subject. Much as you claim that this meme you decided to start a debate thread on (which doesn’t have any traction but you felt compelled to discuss) is being harped on long past the point (you claim) that most people think it’s more than dogs vomit. Or something.
Just my humble opinion, of course, but I think the suggestion that Bush took an office to which he was only arguably entitled will appear in history books as long as history books are written while this stuff about Obama supporters expressing unseemly enthusiasm is going to be very small potatoes in the long run. One is a legitmate issue, deserving of serious attention, only partly for electoral reasons, and other is just silly stuff, spouted by jealous partisans that has no significance whatsoever. I’m sure YM does V.
What? I don’t deny that there were some Democrats who were totally overboard about Obama (though not all of those links support even that). I didn’t know that anyone denied that. But there’s a difference between overly enthusiastic about someone and deifying them or proclaiming them to be the Messiah. When you can find folks saying that Obama is God’s annointed sent to cleanse the country of evil, or praying to an idol of him, then that’ll be relevant to this thread.
That’s the kernal of my puzzlement, Chronos: they seem to be claiming that Democrats were enthusiastic about their candidate, and that a very small number of them were extremely enthusiastic.
Typical Dem response is: Yeah? Uh-huh, that’s correct, what’s your point?
Pubbie: You LERVE him, don’t you?
Dem: Uh, no, we support him for elective office, just as you do your candidates.
Pub: No, you LERRRRRRVE him!!
It just seems silly and childish, but yet it doesn’t fade.
The Shiva imagery is deliberate. The point isn’t that Obama is a god, it’s that he isn’t, and that he would have to be one to do all the things a modern president is expected to do. It’s not a good example of irrational enthusiasm for Obama.
Yeah, I think it’s fair to say that’s divine imagery. I said upthread that some Democrats had wildly unrealistic expectations for Obama and I probably understated that a little. Given how much RS hated Bush, you’d expect them to do that for Obama.
In Hilary’s race during the primaries, even she got snippy, and said “The skies will open, the light will come down, celestial choirs will be singing and everyone will know we should do the right thing and the world will be perfect.”
Democrats wouldn’t furrow their brows because they know who Republicans mean when they say “The One” (capitalized). It’s not that hard to work out in context.
I agree. Democrats know what it means because Republicans have been saying it for years. The Clinton comment was about Obama being naive, not about his supporters being over-enthusiastic.
I would like to point out that the meme of the Obama worshiper wouldn’t have as much “punch” to it now, because a lot of the enthusiasm of mid 2008 has faded away.
I suspect only the most partisan political commentator (Hannity/Limbaugh) would assert that it still exists in significant numbers.
Well, that’s kind of what I’m what I’m saying. The fanatics are all “You’re cuh-razy in LERVE with this demi-God, ain;t you?”, the moderates/independents are all “Eh, it’s just what pols do, attract their supporters,” and the Dems/libs are all “WTF?” TYhe puzzling part why the fanatics try to use it as an arguing point against the libs. It seems pointless to tease people about things they don’t even believe. I can see arguing “You just LOVE taxing people, dontcha?” because at least that’s a point that libs are wiling to argue and to acknowledge has some truth to it. “You think just EVERYBODY should get free health care, dontcha?” is another winner. I don’t see the point of arguing about something where your opponent is just going to scratch his head and wonder if you took too much oxycontin this morning.
Well, they aren’t MY right wingers (you will note that I’ve never used that terminology when discussing Obama), but I’d say that it’s the same reason why lefties clung to ‘Bush stole the election!’ (in 2000 of course) until…well, even today, though it’s finally starting to fade out. Why did they keep on with that? Well, because it resonated beyond their base and it worked for them (to an extent…it worked best with their own base, and most others got tired of the rant after a fairly short time, but you could always count on some of the fervent to bring it up in just about any thread about Bush).
The Newsweek example was saying we expect presidents to be godlike and that Obama can’t do it all. The comment about the Cairo speech was just bizarre.
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