Rush, Facebook, And Feelings
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March 1, 2009
You are all probably clever and competent enough to know that Rush Limbaugh headlined the CPAC meeting yesterday. And one thing in particular stood out for me in his speech:
“There are certain realities. We don’t have the votes in Capitol Hill to stop what’s going to happen. What we can do is slow it down…and do the best we can to inform the American people of what’s really on the horizon. I know it’s going to be tough. At some points, I don’t think it can happen even right now. This is still the honeymoon period, and there’s a lot of devotion to the Obama administration. It doesn’t have anything to do with intellectual thinking, it’s feelings.”
You know, this is absolutely right. Very rarely do I come across an Obama supporter who doesn’t get all gooey and emotional when they talk about him. Look at that buffoon on MSNBC Chris Matthews as an example. He said, “I have to tell you, you know, it’s part of reporting this case, this election, the feeling most people get when they hear Barack Obama’s speech. My, I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don’t have that too often.”
Obama has a gift. He is a brilliant orator, uniquely capable of arousing waves of emotion from his audiences. I was on Facebook the night of his state of the union address, and saw a comment thread from some folks to whom I’m connected. It went like this:
Girl One: I just LOVE Obama! Girl Two: I have such a girly crush on our Mr. Pres…Inspiring! Girl One: OMGosh so do I…is that wrong? 😉 Girl Three: Me too me too me too!!
You see? It’s all emotional. It’s all sapped out and gooey. It’s not rational, or sensible, or practical, or even remotely about about actual content of the speeches. Obama’s success has been due in large part to the way he makes people feel. And this is precisely the challenge that conservatives face in the next election cycles. We need representation which can touch the hearts of the constituents like Obama clearly does, only actually make sense, which Obama clearly does not.
