A few days ago I recommended Just How Stupid Are We?, by Rick Shenkman, a regular commentator on Fox News and CNN. I repeat the recommendation. You should read the book, if only for Shenkman's comments on the election of President Obama.
The book itself was written before the 2008 election, but the author has added an epilogue in which he refutes the argument that the election of Obrama proves that the American people -- those who vote, that is -- are smarter than he gave them credit for.
Shenkman says what should be obvious, that the election of Obama was based on pure emotion, rather than reason. (That is why Walt called it wrong, by the way. I never thought US voters would take leave of their senses completely.)
Obama's message was that a vote for him was a vote for hope-and-change (n. singular). What exactly would be changed was not spelled out, and the American people, the great unwashed, were gullible enough to fall for it.
Here's what Shenkman says:
One wishes not to so generalize Barack Obama's profile as to make him indistinguishable from other pols. He clearly is different.... But he behaved just like an ordinary pol on so many occasions that one begins to suspect that his chief calculations were more similar to theirs than different.
Did he really believe the American people are smart? Of course not. Like McCain, he counted on people not being smart.
And of course he was right.
But perhaps "the people" are waking up. Yahoo! polled its readers yesterday on the question "Has Obama brought meaningful change to the world?" 36% said yes. 64% voted NO.
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