Monday, February 18, 2008

The Obama Crowd

Once again Drudge carries a photo of Obama blending into an audience. This time it's accompanied by a headline about supporters fainting. There is the potential here for a new meme from Obama critics. Andrew Sullivan has discussed this critique of Obama's supporters. It is, to use Hoffer's term, "the art of 'religiofication'-the art of turning practical purposes into holy causes" (p. 6). This is an apparent goal of Obama's opponents in both the Clinton and McCain camps.
First, the claim is made that Obama just gives nice speeches without substance. It's similar to the "all hat, no cattle" criticism of Bush. Second, the "Obama supporter as fanatic" line is going to make its way through the media, especially, I suspect, talk radio and the blogosphere. Drudge makes this statement in a more subtle way through his choice of words and images. The fainting implies the supposedly emotional and irrational nature of Obama supporters.

1 comment:

libhom said...

The levels of enthusiasm among some Obama supporters are hardly unusual. It's almost as if "Keating Five" McCain and Clinton resent the fact that very few people are enthusiastic about them.