Posted by
Roxanna M. on Wednesday, July 28, 2010 6:52:58 PM
Such is the title Frank Rich gives to his column in The New York Review of Books regarding Jonathan Alter's book, The Promise: President Obama, Year One.
"Of course, Barack Obama was too hot not to cool down. He was the one so many were waiting for . . . But still: How did we get to the nadir so fast?"
Because the Obama that was sold to us by the adoring, sycophantic media didn't exist.
He was an illusion created by Evan "I mean in a way Obama's standing above the country, above - above the world, he's sort of God" Thomas
and Terry "I like to say that, in some ways, Barack Obama is the first President since George Washington to be taking a step down into the Oval Office" Moran
and Chris "I felt this thrill going up my leg . . . and that is an objective assessment" Matthews
and Michael ". . . this is a guy whose IQ is off the charts - I mean you cannot say that he is anything but a very serious and capable leader . . . he's probably the smartest guy ever to become President" Beschloss
When asked what Obama's IQ was, Mr. Beschloss admitted that he had no idea. But, he was swept up in the idolatry that engulfed the left, a mania that turned an already left-leaning media into fawning lapdogs, each trying to outdo the other in the praise they could heap on a man that nobody - including them - knew much about.
Whereas John McCain, whose service to this country includes years of torture and privation, had to produce a birth certificate to prove he was eligible to be president, scorn was heaped on those who dared to question Obama's place of birth, even as he refused to release a birth certificate and spent millions fighting the lawsuits that sought to force him to do so.
Mr. Rich said in his article, "There is nothing in these pages to contradict the idea that Obama is the smartest guy in the room, hard as he works to avoid that fact". How does anyone know that Obama is the "smartest guy in the room"? As with his birth certificate, Obama has made sure that his grades are locked up good and tight, away from prying eyes, away from anyone and anything that might contradict the illusion he worked so hard to create and that the left has been so willing to foster.
So, ". . . why has he fallen short of his spectacular potential so far?"
Because his "potential" is also an illusion. If the media had bothered to look, they would have found that Barack Obama is really quite a zero. He won't release his grades, so nobody has any idea how well he did in school. He did nothing as president of the Harvard Law Review. There is talk that he didn't write the two books he said he did. He did nothing as an Illinois state senator, except vote "present" an amazing number of times in order not to leave a legislative footprint that he might someday have to answer for. He did nothing as a United States senator except run for president.
There was absolutely nothing in his background that deserved the hero worship of the media. It was inevitable that
. . . the illusion of "The master orator who left millions of Americans fired up and ready to go" would give way to the reality of a man who can't go anywhere or say anything without his teleprompter.
. . . the illusion of "his overconfidence in his ability to woo political adversaries" would give way to the reality of a man who said "I won" to those who disagreed with him.
. . . the illusion of "a very serious and capable leader" would give way to the reality of a man who said "I can't suck it up with a straw" when the time came to lead.
. . . the illusion of the "post-racial" man who seemed to "embody the hope that America could transcends its divisions" would give way to the reality of a man who allows his Justice Department to dismiss charges of voter intimidation by blacks against whites.
Barack Obama was the oasis in the desert. It was never going to take long for the thirsty people running to that oasis to see that it was nothing but a mirage.