Opinion: New Obama Ad - The American Promise: The New Cult of Change in the Country of Fear
Obama’s new political ad, “The American Promise” is the single most frightening political advertisement I have ever seen in my life. It’s absolutely chilling. The rabid cultist gleam in the eyes of the supporters nearly weeping as Obama repeats his meaningless rhetoric. Can this be real?
I’ve never had much faith in the political understanding of my fellow man. Admittedly, I’m a horrible misanthrope, of the opinion that the masses are irrational chumps, with about as much understanding of basic economics as I have about the inner workings of the Large Hadron Collider.
Maybe I’m out of touch, but I imagine the average person setting out nachos every Sunday to root for Red or Blue like a political football game; shouting out buzzwords like “More Regulations!” and “Al Qaeda Hates Freedom!”, then talking about it the next day at the water cooler. Why else follow politics if not as conversation fodder, right?
I figured I’d just watch the madness from the sidelines for a while and move to Costa Rica when the shit really starts to hit the fan and the freaks inevitably vote themselves into slavery. I didn’t think it’d happen so quickly though.
To be clear, I’m emphatically not a McCain supporter. I’m not expressing a partisan bias, I’m expressing a bias against stupidity and absurdity.
Really, this ad is mesmerizingly absurd. Have we been so completely zombified by political rhetoric spoken over rousing music that we can’t even recognize propaganda when we see it?
Obama offers nothing in this ad… absolutely nothing, no issues, no solutions, only more fodder for the cult of personality that has grown up around him. But he even goes beyond that by brilliantly switching the campaign away from himself. He’s no longer the candidate, the people are. According to this ad, a vote for him is a vote for yourself. You like yourself, don’t you?
New Ideas?, New Politics?, Change?
These words mean everything, and therefore nothing. They’re vague and obscure and all-encompassing and they have no place in the political arena. It’s time people spoke up and stopped letting these pandering maniacs insult our intelligence with nonsense terms. We, as voters, need to demand clarity from politicians. We can’t sit back and mindlessly applaud every grunt and gesture and bit of gibberish as if it had real meaning. We can’t get hypnotized by whimsical jive, no matter how beautiful it sounds.
And Change is, of course, a beautiful word, especially now. Undoubtedly, we’ve had a very real creeping badness growing in the US over the past 8 years. We have an endless war on terror and constant fear of terrorists and even of our own government. I don’t want to get blown up, or snatched away to some far off dentention center for reading a book on the danger list. The world has changed, and people are hopeless in the face of this insanity. They need some sort of empowering message, something to make them feel good about their government, to make them think their government is finally on their side. Obama, the brilliant politician and marketing genius, has capitalized on that, without offering a single tangible, workable, political solution. The thing is, government is never on your side, and you should never feel good about it. Anyone telling you otherwise is just covering your eyes to the thievery and corruption that goes hand-in-hand with all government. Don’t fall for it, you’re smarter than that, you’re better than that.
I have never feared more for my country than I do this election year.
Too much? Too harsh? Did I go too far here? Let me know what you think in the comments section.
7 comments
I feel like this essay suffers from the same lack of content that you bash Obama for. Of course I understand the idea of the American public as “sheeple”, but overall this comes off as you talking about how great YOU are by comparison to the rest of everyone. and let me be the first to tell you, you’re not. you’re some person who thinks he’s smarter than everyone else, so this is how you’ll get back at them: you’re gonna blog your little misanthropic heart out. So anyway, yeah. I clicked on this link because the title at least seemed worth checking out, but there is no content here, just masturbation… which most people do in private.
This is nothing new in United States politics. Politicians in general offer 97% hot air and 3% substance. This ad strikes me as being no different.
This country survived the Red Scare, rationing during WWII, printing its own money to keep it afloat, nuclear winter fears, the Great Depression, and the Patriot Act (I think). The Obama ad doesn’t have much on these events.
Wow.
So this ad scares you, but comments made from the mouth of Sarah Palin DON’T?
Non-partisan? Not from what I’m reading.
I agree, that it’s wrong to trust the government too far.
That’s PRECISELY why McCain scares me.
Anyone who thinks a vote for McCain is anything other than a vote for Palin is a fool.
I’d take somebody who at least has a decent track record of upholding individual freedoms over someone who says that the freedom of the press is a “privilege” that is being abused and that she wants to put a stop to it.
To say nothing of her belief that Dick Chaney’s abuse of his position is not only okay, but she wants to expand upon it.
If you don’t like Obama, fine, don’t vote for him.
But please, do us all a favor and spare us the inanity of the idea that McCain is somehow more likely to uphold the constitution.
Vote Ron Paul.
Amen.
TOO MUCH, Too far and are you not guilty of what you acuse others of?
“I have never feared more for my country than I do this election year.”
Really? Even compared to the 2004 election, right after the war and when the entire world was criticizing our every move? And now this single commercial has frightened you into thinking this election has more at stake?
Spare us the alarmist tone, your frightened rhetoric is no better than the empty rhetoric of politicians that also spout fear. You’re smarter than that, you’re better than that. If you want to fear for your country, fear the financial corruption that is sweeping small businesses under the rug, and letting the large corporations thrive on the remains - all while being passively accepted due to mainstream media and misleading advertisements - many of which you honor on this very website.
Just saying, it seems like you are in bit of a glass house, if you want to start throwing stones at using empty rhetoric against the masses, no?
I think this article is an accurate assessment of the situation.
Obama is more of a cult than a candidate for President.
Leave a Comment