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The projection here is quite amazing....
T here are two ancient tricks to politics. One is the old "bread and circuses" routine - offer people the moon and stars, and let their desire for fine things blind them to the cost that must be paid. This was sufficient to get Obama elected, but, steeped as he is in Democratic Party tradition - Chicago Democratic Party tradition, at that - Obama also invoked a second timeless strategy. We might call this, with a nod to Orwell, the Emmanuel Goldstein Gambit. It simply involves demonizing some handy actor as the source of everything wrong in the world, and then not being him.
These tactics are time-tested, and they work as well now as they did in Macchiavelli's day. But they go only so far. If you last long enough, at some point your panem et circenses run out; at some point, the bill comes due; at some point, people have seen enough entertainment and they return to their real lives to take stock. This is where your Goldstein Gambit can save you: but Obama uses his so indiscriminately, and so often, that he has robbed it of its emotional force. The mantra "Bush's fault" loses impact the longer Bush is away from the scene (cannily, Bush has taken pains to absent himself from public scrutiny while Obama has floundered, notably refusing a Ground Zero photo-op and avoiding the sort of intrusive post-presidency of, say, a Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton); but, to replace it, Obama has resorted to a bewildering array of boogeymen, ranging from "millionaires and billionaires" - an exclusive club to which he has full membership, of course - to the bitter, gun-clinging blue-collar workers he paints as enemies of the Hispanic voting bloc and dupes of the Koch brothers. In the end, it is easier for voters to identify with this hydra-headed Goldstein than with Obama himself - and this arises because, oddly, Obama has no sense of politics. He's good at it; but he doesn't feel it, he doesn't understand it, he doesn't know it. He's an idiot savant, without the saving grace of Chauncey Gardiner's humility.
The beauty about the Trump era is how simpleton minded the base is. Paint all Democrats as not patriots and spread the same fear mongering scorched earth rhetoric if a Democrat is elected. I remember when Obama (twice at that) was elected how many on the Right thought the world was going to end and were packing their bags to leave. lol. News flash, no one died, no boogeyman busted your doors down to steal your pea shooter in the middle of the night and the economy has been in the same upward trajectory for the past decade (of course Trump will take credit for all that). We see how well the fear mongering worked during the mid terms, by flipping the house. Now 2020 is here and here we go again, more of the same fear crap of the past 3 1/2 years. Talk about beating a dead horse. Smh
A long rant about Obama. 2008 called, they want their President back. How is this relevant to this current administration let alone the 2020 candidacy? Unless you’re ranting about Democrats again. There’s several reasons as to why Obama was elected to 2 consecutive terms.
KPMG OP - what a thoughtful and articulate analysis. Of course it is met with Havas typical D response - Trump and supporters bad (which is a step up from racist).
Then PwC with my new favorite response “I know you are but what am I”
An intellectual analysis is lost on the “Trump bad, supporters stupid” crowd.
2008 is that when you remember Obama from...if only!
LOL, OPs last sentence is one of the greatest projections of Trump I've ever seen.
A post-presidency description of Obama (filled with far-right blather) describes every democratic candidates who are pre-President? What a bizarre statement!
It was not from 2008, later than that. But it pretty spot on. Pies in the sky, sounds familiar? 1% replaced “millionaires and billionaires”, trump & racism replaced Koch brothers
Koch brothers have changed up their politics a bit. They didn’t back trump, and in an effort to “elevate civil discourse” and they promote protection for Dreamers. They’ve been floating backing Ds