Virginia Postrel has an interesting article in the Atlantic in which she argues that the glamour of Barack Obama has attractions and dangers.
For some reason, perhaps the magical origins of the word glamour, her argument makes me think of a couple of things in the Harry Potter universe: To supporters Obama is the Mirror of Erised, showing people what they desire most, but to his opponents he’s a boggart, appearing to be whatever they fear most.
If he becomes president, we’ll all find out what he really is.
(Hey, I’m sleep-deprived today. Give me a break.)
I agree with Virginia Postrel that glamour resides entirely in the mind of the audience. She further states that President Obama had glamour at one time but never had charisma. I agree that Obama’s glamour has been tainted, but I think Obama has always had plenty of charisma and that has not changed.
He practically damned himself by making the ruinous mistake of assuming that if he embraced the House and Senate Republicans, they would put the good of the nation above their determination to make him look like a failure as President of the United States. He naively, some might argue bravely, assumed they would work collaboratively and reasonably compromise to address the second greatest economic crises in our Nation’s history. Tragically, for him and America, he was wrong.
For more on charisma and Obama go to http://ctgovusa.blogspot.com
~ richard allbritton, Miami, http://rallbritton.com