Charisma can be dangerous. Will Obama's charisma and his rhetoric lead us into trouble?
Sometimes it takes a non-American to articulate clearly what we keep forgetting down here in the great fog of politics. In this case it's a Canadian writing about Barack Obama, quoted by George Packer at the New Yorker.
[Obama's] instincts are not confrontational, but rather dialogic. It’s not so much that he seeks consensus (although he does) as that he seeks to instill a commitment and desire for some solution to, or resolution of, a problem which the group now “owns.” Perhaps more significantly, Obama tries to get people to recognize that they will not succeed in achieving all of their policy goals, that not all solutions or resolutions will satisfy everyone, and that we can accept solutions with which we strongly disagree, so long as we are heard and respected in the political process.
This kind of message tends to be a bit of a “dampener” on the enthusiasms of those seeking a cult figure, and Obama’s people have often been frustrated with his tendency to back away from fanning the fires of hero worship.
But, precisely because he seeks to dampen the excesses that come with political enthusiasm, Obama’s message is most definitely that of a movement of a “new bipartisanship” (or, perhaps better, a new “post-partisan” politics). Obama is trying to sell us a “new” politics and a new style of leadership, where the focus on decision-making will be inclusive and coöperative, rather than exclusive and confrontational.
Hillary has missed the point -- and this may have cost her the nomination. Her rank partisanship, anger, and confrontational style have only helped to make Obama's calls for inclusiveness and cooperation more attractive to voters.
