Cult of Rationality

Here’s Jake Tapper of ABCNews on Obama’s mind boggling popularity. His basic point is that many Obama supporters, especially young people, are starting to express cult-like devotion that appears purely emotional and almost religiously ecstatic.

Tapper is right that the country needs to dig deeper with Obama. If enthusiasm and Jesus-like imagery is all he can engender his presidency will not do well. I think that what people are going to find, however, is that there is a lot more depth to be found. We just need to be ready for it, and maybe we’re now at that stage.

While Obama’s rhetoric has often been lofty, his basic approach has always been about “reasonableness.” This is why he appeals to moderates and even Republicans on many issues. It is also why Hillary has had so much trouble attacking him with cheap shots. Now it might seem silly to suggest that a candidate is deeply and emotionally inspiring because they are reasonable, but this is because reasonbleness has become so marginalized in our political culture that we have trouble recognizing this old friend.

First of all, even if you buy into the idea that inspiration comes from tapping into “deep values” but has no rational basis (a view I reject), it is clear that the “deep value” that Obama is tapping into is based on the core principles upon which our country was founded: transparent government, reasoned argument, distrust of Washington but hope for the future. In other words, even if “reasonableness” is not, generally, an inspiring trait, it is inspiring to Americans. One can read the Federalist Papers or the Gettysburg Address and get the feeling I am talking about. They are quite inspiring and they are chock full of common sense reasoning about the untoward consequences of failing to act boldly.

Now I happen to think that “being reasonable” is inspiring, in general, for a host of reasons, but that may be just me. But I think it is particularly inspiring right now because we have had so many years of “tricky” talk/spin where we were never given legitimate grounds for disagreeing or criticizing our leaders. Tricky talk is a way of making it seem like there is something wrong with your audience if they don’t see things your way even while you are making an absurd argument. It discourages debate by sending the implicit message that either:

a) the leader is crazy

or

b) the leader would rather look crazy than open up a real discussion, so take a hint and zip your lip!
Bush/Chency perfected this (e.g. “mission accomplished”) but Bill Clinton was a virtuoso innovator in this field. It is a tactic politicians use when they are weak. They figure that insulting/discouraging people from discussing reality gives them a better outcome than revealing their positions and having out the debate. In other words, they figure that if you knew the truth, you wouldn’t support them.

Barack Obama is inspiring because he is different. He tells you his positions and he tells you why. You are allowed to disagree with him! I think the emotional outpouring we are seeing, now perhaps bordering on the absurd, is a result of the relief we all feel at being allowed to think like rational people again without wondering if there might be something wrong with us. It is like he is saying to the nation “no, you are not crazy! The emperor was naked — I saw it just the same as you did.”

There is no question that as this initial emotion subsides, he needs to start getting concrete. But I am confident he will do so because, well, that is the logical next step. It is what a reasonable person would do once they had people really listening to them and believing in them. So this is the test, no question. It is the right test and we should hold Obama to it, but I think we should also be optimistic that he is going to pass.