Los Angeles Times: "Obamaphilia has gotten creepy"

[bidenista]

Joel Stein, who is backing Obama, thinks some of his fans are going too far:

He's got Obamaphilia
It's embarrassing to be among the fanatics of a relatively mainstream presidential candidate

February 8, 2008

You are embarrassing yourselves. With your "Yes We Can" music video, your "Fired Up, Ready to Go" song, your endless chatter about how he's the first one to inspire you, to make you really feel something -- it's as if you're tacking photos of Barack Obama to your locker, secretly slipping him little notes that read, "Do you like me? Check yes or no." Some of you even cry at his speeches. If I were Obama, and you voted for me, I would so never call you again.

Obamaphilia has gotten creepy. I couldn't figure out if the two canvassers who came to my door Sunday had taken Ecstasy or were just fantasizing about an Obama presidency, but I feared they were going to hug me. Scarlett Johansson called me twice, asking me to vote for him. She'd never even called me once about anything else. Not even to see "The Island." What the Cult of Obama doesn't realize is that he's a politician. Not a brave one taking risky positions like Ron Paul or Dennis Kucinich, but a mainstream one. He has not been firing up the Senate with stirring Cross-of-Gold-type speeches to end the war. He's a politician so soft and safe, Oprah likes him. There's talk about his charisma and good looks, but I know a nerd when I see one. The dude is Urkel with a better tailor....

My mom, a passionate Hillary Clinton supporter, immediately attacked Obamamania. "Some part of me wants to say, 'People wake up. He has no plans.' I get frustrated listening to his speeches after awhile," she said. She also said that the new vacation house in Key West is really great and her vertigo hasn't been acting up. I started to feel a little more grounded again. Did I want to be some dreamer hippie loser, or a person who understands that change emerges from hard work and conflict? "People are projecting an awful lot onto him," Mom said. "Almost like what was that movie with, oh, the movie, oh God. That English actor, he practically said nothing. Oh shoot. He was the butler and everybody loved him and what he was thinking and feeling. Do you know the movie I'm talking about? You don't." Hers, of course, is the demographic most likely to vote. But she's right. Obama is Peter Sellers in "Being There." As a therapist, she's seen the danger of ungrounded expectations. "You feel young again. You feel like everything is possible. He helps you feel that way and you want to feel that way; it's a great marriage. Unfortunately, the divorce will happen very quickly." Mom is the kind of realistic tough-talker who isn't afraid to make divorce analogies to a child of divorce....

More: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-stein8feb08,0,3418234.column

[Josiah1982]

1. Obama cult is getting creepie I think it's a religion thing that I don't want to join.

[dkf]

2. What do you do? Google for the words Cult and Obama and autopost?

Geez. Get a life.

[bidenista]

4. heh

No, but what a great idea! I'll let you know how that works out.

[rodeodance]

5. Just browe 2 major US papers-NYTimes and LATimes--& Sac. Bee-no need to google

[rodeodance]

6. oh--and UK Guardian yesterday.

[woolldog]

10. Guys, read the entire article.

It's funny and well written.

[Scurrilous]

33. That's exactly what the poster is doing.

Type Obama + Cult into Google News and then spam onto DU.

&#@*& troll.

[Cant trust em]

43. That's Bidenista's move

Search for anti-Obama articles and post them. No analysis. No ideas. Just links.

[niceypoo]

56. Always killing the messenger?

Thats a major http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/ad-hominem.html">LOGICAL FALLACY, doncha know?

[rodeodance]

3. OUCH

[Josiah1982]

7. Hey I sum other Du members think you came up with the "CULT" thing.

COOL!

[woolldog]

8. That article is hilarious.

Everyone should read it. Thanks for the link.

[liberalnurse]

9. Finally ann up front honest article !

It's promising to now see that the "Honeymoon is Over".

[Recursion]

11. LOL! That was a great article

(Somehow I don't know if you read it?)

[Whisp]

12. of course the great unwashed would be besmirched as a cult

by the powers that be.

they are friggen in dire fear of us and any resemblance of an uprising or empowerment.

this just tells me more that Obama has started something truly unique. The big uns are shitting their pants. (cult talk, brainwashing, etc. lol) they never thought a bunch of cheeto eatin' playstation playing kids and overworked parents could actually have the energy to get up and count. and yell.

[loveangelc]

13. that was actually a really funny and real article :-)

All of this is clear to me, and yet I have fallen victim. I was at an Obama rally in Las Vegas last month, hanging at the rope line afterward in the cold night desert air, just to see him up close, to make sure he was real. I'd never heard a politician talk so bluntly, calling U.S. immigration policy "scapegoating" and "demagoguery." I'd never had even a history teacher argue that our nation's history is a series of brave people changing others' minds when things were on the verge of collapse. I want the man to hope all over me.

Still, I can't help but feel incredibly embarrassed about my feelings. In the "Yes We Can" music video that will.i.am made of Obama's Jan. 8 speech, I spotted Eric Christian Olsen, a very smart actor I know. (His line is "Yes we can.") I called to see if he had gone all bobby-soxer for Obama, or if he was just shrewdly taking a part in a project that upped his Q rating.
---
"People are projecting an awful lot onto him," Mom said. "Almost like what was that movie with, oh, the movie, oh God. That English actor, he practically said nothing. Oh shoot. He was the butler and everybody loved him and what he was thinking and feeling. Do you know the movie I'm talking about? You don't." Hers, of course, is the demographic most likely to vote.

But she's right. Obama is Peter Sellers in "Being There." As a therapist, she's seen the danger of ungrounded expectations. "You feel young again. You feel like everything is possible. He helps you feel that way and you want to feel that way; it's a great marriage. Unfortunately, the divorce will happen very quickly." Mom is the kind of realistic tough-talker who isn't afraid to make divorce analogies to a child of divorce.

"We want what he represents," she said. "A young, idealistic person who really believes it. And he believes it. He believes he can change the world. I just don't think he can."

Thing is, I've watched too many movies and read too many novels; I can't root against a person who believes he can change the world. The best we Obamaphiles can do is to refrain from embarrassing ourselves. And I do believe that we can resist making more "We Are the World"-type videos. We can resist crying jags. We can resist, in every dinner argument and every e-mail, the word "inspiration." Yes, we can.

[BigBearJohn]

14. The dude is Urkel with a better tailor....

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[ellisonz]

15. Joel Stein is a humourist, and bordeline Republican.

[Cameron27]

36. He's also supporting Obama

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

16. Creepy troll.

[Hekate]

17. Joel Stein thinks he's humorous, but I find him tedious at best. Worse, this is ROVE'S MEME. nt

[BlackVelvet04]

48. LOL Rove had nothing to do with it....

silly, silly, silly.

[loveangelc]

18. the writer is a fan of obama guys...

[FrenchieCat]

19. I agree!

I sent Stein this!

SUBJECT: 7.2 million voters plus LA times Editors experiencing Obamamania! So Good!

Dear Joel Stein,

Ten warning signs of a potentially unsafe group/leader.

Absolute authoritarianism without meaningful accountability.
(Won't apologize for IWR vote, lists excuses)

No tolerance for questions or critical inquiry.
(Planted questions and scripted Hallmark channel town hall)

No meaningful financial disclosure regarding budget, expenses such as an independently audited financial statement.
(Won't release tax returns)

Unreasonable fear about the outside world, such as impending catastrophe, evil conspiracies and persecutions.
(Vast right wing conspiracy, media conspiracy)

There is no legitimate reason to leave, former followers are always wrong in leaving, negative or even evil.
(Kennedy, Kerry, Moveon, and Culinary Union thrown under the bus)

Former members often relate the same stories of abuse and reflect a similar pattern of grievances.
(Throngs of former Clinton admin. workers and advisers defecting and criticizing and thus being labeled right wing shrills)

There are records, books, news articles, or television programs that document the abuses of the group/leader.
(See 90's)

Followers feel they can never be "good enough".
(I won't even touch this one for fear of being flamed to death)

The group/leader is always right.
(Clinton voted against a ban on Daisy cutter use on civilian populations...being defended on DU as just one example)

The group/leader is the exclusive means of knowing "truth" or receiving validation, no other process of discovery is really acceptable or credible.
(It isn't true unless it is posted on hillaryis44 or by Taylor Marsh)

[creeksneakers2]

52. There is a vast right wing conspiracy

You could call it a movement or a conspiracy but they definitely all are involved in terrible dirty deeds, keep secrets, and plot and cooperate with each other. They all work together. I could come up with a list of names. I don't know if they still do but they had weekly meetings of 150 members organized by Grover Norquist. At these meetings, they'd set strategy.

I don't believe in most conspiracies and think the people who do are kooks. But this vast right wing conspiracy is right out in the open. The crazy ones are the ones who don't believe what is right in front of them.

[Celebration]

20. funny--no, really funny

"We want what he represents," she said. "A young, idealistic person who really believes it. And he believes it. He believes he can change the world. I just don't think he can."

Thing is, I've watched too many movies and read too many novels; I can't root against a person who believes he can change the world. The best we Obamaphiles can do is to refrain from embarrassing ourselves. And I do believe that we can resist making more "We Are the World"-type videos. We can resist crying jags. We can resist, in every dinner argument and every e-mail, the word "inspiration." Yes, we can.

Haha, he has learned that if you use "inspiration" at the dinner table, then you are accused of being in a cult!

:rofl:

[jannyk]

21. My God! That's it! He's Chauncey Gardiner!!!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Usrename]

55. Chance the gardener.

No doubt that the people will move toward the message they want to hear, regardless of the messenger.

There is no dispute though, that Obama is an accomplished person.

[robbedvoter]

22. It's the second Obama supporter I read who writes "take it easy - slow down a bit"

That so many jump at them calling them "heretics" only confirms they're right.

[ProSense]

23. Never! All the way to the WH:

7.3 million votes for Obama

7.3 million votes for Hillary

[Bread and Circus]

37. you didn't read the whole article did you?

because if you did you would realize it's the author's mom ( a clinton supporter ) who is essentially telling him what and what not to believe.

I kind of dug the article because it's nuanced. But I don't have much respect for a guy still taking orders from his mom.

[renate]

58. as a mom, I have to disagree with you

:)

Just kidding, sort of. I do kind of love that my kids are much more socially and politically aware of what's going on than most kids their age (they're extremely young) because they listen to their mom.

[YOY]

24. And the Hillary folks have not?

Jesus f***ing christ I can't wait for this primary BS to be over and go away.

[blogslut]

25. Dream of a Virgin

[Dogmudgeon]

26. Has the Obama Cult "Jumped the Virgin"?

Some would say "yes".

--p!

[blogslut]

29. Jumped the Virgin

How many can a man fit in one phrase?

[KittyWampus]

27. Sorry, that's Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranite -One Second Before Awakening"

by Salvidor Dali.

[blogslut]

28. thank you

I am not super up on the names of Dali's works. I appreciate your help.

[hulklogan]

30. "Do you like me? Check yes or no." !!!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[whatchamacallit]

31. Satire, intentional or not.

[Tom Rinaldo]

32. Watch this OP get added to the list of Hillary machine coordinated smears of Obama

...even though it is writen by someone who is actively supporting Obama. I guarentee this link will turn up on a list meant to prove that a coordinated conspiracy to take down Obama with a "cult" meme.

The thing is the media is one big echo chamber. It is fashion on a 5 day cycle. Everyone gives their own spin on the spin that everyone else is spinning the spin on.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

34. Well That Kind Of Puts Things In Perspective.

It was actually a good article, and I know exactly where he's coming from.

[Bread and Circus]

35. Actually your synopsis of the article is incorrect...

at first I was skeptical then I realized what a nuanced article this is. Joel Stein actually sounds like he digs Obama, it's his mommy (a Clinton supporter) who's telling to abandon his beliefs and succumb to her brand of cynicism.

Now, why does that sound familiar?

Yeah, Bidenista, next time read the whole article before you speak.

[Dogmudgeon]

38. It's satire

"... it's his mommy (a Clinton supporter) who's telling to abandon his beliefs and succumb to her brand of cynicism."

Actually, it's just funny. No grand statement here.

Laughed. My. Ass. Off.

--p!

[calico1]

39. Excellent article and right on the money with

regard to many (not all) of his followers.

[Straight Shooter]

40. Many a truth is spoken in jest.

I don't think of Peter Sellers when I see Barack. I think of high school "Mr. Popularity" contests, I think of the "pet rock" craze, I think of Republicans and their can-do-no-wrong hero Dubya, and I think of a Chia pet.

Most of all, I am reminded of other men, using the power of oratory, who not only had feet of clay, but were made of clay up to their neck.

[Indenturedebtor]

41. HAH

You didn't even read the article.

lately it seems that you haven't been reading threads before you post either. Like you wrote a program that sees the word obama and spits out "Young cult koolaid no substance, stupid"

[Mr.Fitzgibbons]

42. This article, parodic tone and all, gets at the heart of the problem

Once the love-fest melts away and the media starts to turn on Obama, the hope and inspiration talk won't work anymore and there will have to be a substantive conversation going on and real, well-thought-out plans.

[AX10]

44. Too many Obama supporters don't want to admit...

that Obama is only a "cult of personality". At least this one does admit that there is a problem with Obama.

Obama's style of campaigning is all to similar to that of Bush 2000. He gives the nice talk, but does not want to talk about policy.

[eridani]

45. The elite thugs do not want popular participation in politics at all

That sort of stuff should be left to our masters :sarcasm:

[apnu]

46. apparently "creepy" is the meme today replacing "cult"

I wait, with baited breath, for the next, exciting, bullshit meme.

:sarcasm:

[BlackVelvet04]

47. The dude is Urkel with a better tailor....

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: I wish I had thought of that.

[Avalux]

49. Joel Stein's opinion. So what? I'm glad he thinks his mom has the all the answers.

:eyes:

[lligrd]

50. Same Chit People Used On Dean

I sure hope it won't work a second time and doom us to a McCain Presidency and a 100 year war.

[Bake]

51. "Urkel with a better tailor"

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Bake

[Medusa]

53. My the Clintonistas are calling in al the favors to get this meme out there aren't they?

First the NY Times now the LA Times. I guess the Washington Post piece will hit sometime this weekend.

[niceypoo]

57. Actually this 'meme' is being created by Obama's supporters

Who make asses out of themselves over a stump speech, written by paid professional speech writers, as if it were written by God.

[HeraldSquare212]

54. That's not a news story or editorial in the LA Times, that's an opinion piece.

The David Brooks article in the NYT was also presented as though it was from the NYT. That's intentionally misleading, and a pattern that suggests coordination. But thanks!

[cooolandrew]

59. I'll forgive the writer and hope they can escape their negativity. Labels are so Republican.

[VotesForWomen]

60. some people are caching on. nt