Why President Obama Will Never Be Barack Obama Again

The most captivating political story of the present moment is not the Republican resurgence but rather the ongoing diminution of President Barack Obama. It is a story that started almost as soon as he took office, took hold with the passage of the stimulus, played itself out during the health-care debate and its aftermath, and reached its inevitable climax on Tuesday night. It is the story not of policy but rather of personality, and what makes it so captivating is its element of mystery. President Obama, after all, was elected by virtue of his personality, which provided not only contrast but novelty, and was grounded in his near-perfect pitch when addressing audiences large and small. Sure, he was cool and cerebral, but he was also confident, almost cocky, because he had the power to summon inspiring rhetoric on command, which meant that he had the power to summon us on command. Though many Americans didn't know very much about him, there was one thing that was never in doubt when we saw and heard Obama on the stump: his ownership of his gift. By the way he carried himself, we could tell that he had always had it, and because he always had it, we could be sure that he always would have it. How could we resist a man who simply by opening his mouth could move mountains — and who had ascended all the way to the presidency by staking his political life on his own eloquence? How could we resist a man who seemed so sure that we could not resist him?

Now his gift has all but deserted him, and all that prevents the story from becoming tragic is his own apparent refusal to be affected by it. There are many explanations for why he seems diminished by the power of his own office, from the vestigial racism of the American public to his misreading of his own mandate. But those are political explanations of a predicament that demands musical metaphors. Imagine Miles Davis losing not just his ability to blow but also his mystique; he might get his chops back, but the aura would be more difficult to restore, along with his ability to captivate audiences by turning his back on them. Of course, Obama has never turned his back on us, but so many Americans have turned their backs on him that it amounts to The Anointed One, as he is sometimes referred, being stripped of something that can never return: his anointment. And without it...

Source: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/barack-obama-rhetoric-110410?src=rss

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