No joke. Obama literally has a drug advantage over his opponents and even arch right wingers are doing the drug, getting high on Obama.
The pundits are gushing about Obama.
Joe Scarborough “My blackberry was going—a lot of my Republican friends were saying, “I’ve got chills.”
Patrick Buchanan: "You can’t resist. It touches the heart."
Chris Matthews: "Sometimes people are able to say that things that get people willing to charge machine gun nests—it’s so powerful you’re willing to give your life for it."
Dan Rather "He could become the Tiger Woods of American Politics."
There's no doubt about it. Watching the Obama tidal wave can easily give you thrills-- the frisson-- that chill up the back of your neck.
Obama does it by touching the heart, by creating, in our minds, a vision of faith and hope successfully challenging incredible odds.
He put in words the night of the Iowa primary and it was like lightning.
I felt it-- the thrill, the chill up the back of the neck, and my heart was clearly touched.
These phenomena of the touched heart-- the glow in the chest, the tingling feeling, the thrill up the back of the neck-- they're not unique to Obama and they are absolutely drug induced-- more on how a bit later.
Parents experience heartwarming moments when they watch their kids peacefully sleep.
Movie makers strive to create scenes that touch the heart and send that frisson-- the shiver up the spine, because that's what turns movies into box office hits.
Parade-goers and music listeners experience chills up the spine at stirring moments.
Rob Kall is executive editor and publisher of OpEdNews.com, President of Futurehealth, Inc, inventor . He is also published regularly on the Huffingtonpost.com and is a columnist with Northstarwriters.com. He is a frequent Speaker on Politics, Impeachment, The art, science and power of story, heroes and the hero's journey, Positive Psychology, Stress, Biofeedback and a wide range of subjects. He is a campaign consultant specializing in tapping the power of stories for issue positioning, stump speeches and debates. He recently retired as organizer of several conferences, including StoryCon, the Summit Meeting on the Art, Science and Application of Story and The Winter Brain Meeting on neurofeedback, biofeedback, Optimal Functioning and Positive Psychology. See more of his articles here and, older ones, here.
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and there are Rob's quotes, here.
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A few declarations.
-While I'm registered as a Democrat, I consider myself to be a dynamic critic of the Democratic party, just as, well, not quite as much, but almost as much as I am a critic of republicans.
-My articles express my personal opinion, not the opinion of this website.
that get their news from indy sources, obama is not, or not consistently, the most popular; Paul and Kucinich frequently are.
Obama has vacuous, nice-sounding slogans, 356 bundlers and probably well over $80 mil now. He also has the support of the corporate media.
Obama is as much a Republocrat as Clinton, Edwards, Ghouliani and Romney, and is not to be trusted.
Bill Clinton didn't pursue Iran-Contra, likely cuz the cocaine was being run thru Mena, AK while he was govnr, and he fucked the US with the WTO, GATT and NAFTA. Slightly less evil than a Republican is too evil for me any more, i'm voting my conscience.
by
Better World Order (4 articles, 432 quicklinks, 28 diaries, 925 comments)
on Monday, January 7, 2008 at 12:12:10 PM
was not directed at you, Rob, per se; it was directed at those who might be under or susceptible to the influence. Your observations about Obama's power are quite appropo
Thanks for OpEdNews, it's my home page
PS, forgot to plug WhiteHouseForSale.org where interested people can track the candies fundraising and get other useful info the corporate media don't report on
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Better World Order (4 articles, 432 quicklinks, 28 diaries, 925 comments)
on Monday, January 7, 2008 at 12:34:00 PM
The entire line of attack against Clinton Re: NAFTA, etc.
is bogus. It's bogus because everyone for it at the time on the Democratic side had no idea these things would turn out as they did. I was in favor of all of the above as I have said many times. Without going too far into details (I can if you insist) I thought that the positives would far outweigh the negatives. The exact opposite happened.
You can claim Clinton et al made a mistake with NAFTA et al. You cannot fairly claim they were necessarily evil for pushing them. There are a LOT of things that good people can try to do that they think will be good but in the end turn out badly.
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Steven Leser (226 articles, 49 quicklinks, 34 diaries, 1615 comments)
on Monday, January 7, 2008 at 9:38:43 PM
to see that I'm not the only soul who's analysing this phenomenon in terms of addiction. (See my response to Paul Scott.) It's those appeals to hope and patriotism that send up the red flag. Oh, yawn, here we go again: Americans being doped up for another electoral foregone conclusion.
When Obama gets serious about what he would do to undo the recently legislated dictatorial powers of the presidency; what he would do get Israel out of the apartheid business; what he would do to fix NAFTA so that it would quit producing the necessity for Mexicans to cross the border in order to feed their families; what he would do to dismantle the military-industrial complex; what he would do about abandoning those permanent bases in Iraq (to say nothing of the 700 other US bases across the globe); what he would do in support of the United Nations and international law, etc., etc. -- when he makes all of this clear, then I'll get excited about this election.
Until then, dream on, Americans, secure in the pseudo-warmth of the chemicals flowing through your veins.
by
delia (0 articles, 1 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 112 comments)
on Monday, January 7, 2008 at 12:40:53 PM
There is of course only one man who has stated actual solutions to the issues mentioned here. The media ignores him, we the people have gotten the idea that he is not an option when the fact seems to be he is not an option that corporate america wants us to consider.
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Roger (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 388 comments)
on Monday, January 7, 2008 at 12:50:30 PM
I'm not advocating or denigrating either. Obama and his message of "HOPE" or rather its NEED for it needs more thought as the implication could have profound implications for the USA.
1. A reaction to reality finally rocking the American self image of being 'the greatest nation in the world' (which is a prime platform /justification or "RIGHT" philosophy.
2. A reaction to the excesses of GWB in so much as they emphasize the public’s feeling of impudence and frustration to achieve what they want from the Government.
3. None of the above meaning that the public are caught in short term hype in which case it too will have a potentially devastating ‘hangover’. With a long term prospective of even greater disillusionment.
Either scenario reads for both sides of politics but doesn’t bode well for the future.
Then again he may really be a ‘great man and leader’ .
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Andris (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 531 comments)
on Monday, January 7, 2008 at 6:17:24 PM
Rob, you hit it bang on! The media people are really tripping over themselves to make good press seem near orgasmic! It just happens that Obama is the flavor of the week... Will it stay that way...
To use YOUR analogy, when they come off of their drug induced stupor, probably not....
OH, and it is fantastic how some people view your remarks as being against Obama... NO, to all of the people out there who would think that way, it is not a comment about obama, it is a comment about the media outlets who all seem to report like lemmings!
Say what you will, but they use the same words and the same styles.. where one writer goes the rest follow..
Ciao, CZ
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steve scheetz (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 667 comments)
on Monday, January 7, 2008 at 1:00:35 PM
having had my moments of freeing myself from all those lies I was told as a kid, most of my superiors have been young, dynamic black men. I'm no longer impressed. Substance is what gives me the chills. I've so much "good stuff" over the past 30 years, Obama leaves me yawning..........
ESPECIALLY as I listen to his messages and see beyond his colours.
Fireworks may work for you guys. I think it's dangerous. Like most all addictive drugs are. Yip.
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Tony Forest (7 articles, 18 quicklinks, 166 diaries, 1429 comments)
on Monday, January 7, 2008 at 1:15:24 PM
Obama does nothing for me. Everything I've heard from him has been said sooooo many times before. He still takes corporate money for God's sake! What do you believe he'll do for any one of us?
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Timothy V. Gatto (348 articles, 177 quicklinks, 38 diaries, 574 comments)
on Monday, January 7, 2008 at 4:45:17 PM
I remember another guy who had charisma. He wasn't so good. Remember that guy, with the funny mustache? Actually there were two of them. One in Germany, the other in Russia. And they both promised CHANGE!
Everyone wanted change because things were terrible. They thought it couldn't be worse.
I am told Obama intentionally mispronounces words to elicit identification from African Americans. How phake can you get, bro?
I have not seen that he knows where he will get the money for his programs, or that he has a real foreign policy. Proposing to negotiate and make alliances is fine, but it is not a policy. What are the negotiations going to be about? And what if they fail? What if Iran just isn't interested in stopping their nuclear development and in cooperating with the Great Satan? What if he can't get bipartisan agreement on his programs for change? The system he wants to remove protects itself. He doesn't seem to be aware of that difficulty.
Ami Isseroff
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Ami Isseroff (3 articles, 1 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 7 comments)
on Monday, January 7, 2008 at 5:48:22 PM
Dictatorial mad man no. I think you're drawing an incredibly long bow to the point of paronoia.
Was JFK a maniac? no just a flawed individual? Read some of the press of the time.
The media is about Selling more advertising. Sensation real or imagined (manufactured) sells papers. Imagine a news head line that read 'same ol same ol ' how many papers would it sell? America = Capitalism= profit Maximization .
Simple as that
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Andris (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 531 comments)
on Monday, January 7, 2008 at 6:26:07 PM
Raising comparisons to charismatic orators like Hitler and Stalin is not wrong. But as Andriss pointed out, comparisons to JFK and FDR are also not wrong. Charisma in politicians doesnt imply good or bad or any ideological bent. It doesnt imply competency or the lack of it.
The thing is, this endorphin high will wear off. It may take a week, it may take a month or two. These things dont last that long. When it does, people are going to want to know where this person is taking them. I hope that when that time comes, he has good answers. If he doesnt, the GOP machine wil rip him to shreds. I hope we dont get to that point and realize we should have nominated Edwards.
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Steven Leser (226 articles, 49 quicklinks, 34 diaries, 1615 comments)
on Monday, January 7, 2008 at 9:50:11 PM
As I posited in my article, It’s all in the Brain, much of political behavior, both from the perspective of how we elect our “leaders,” to their behavior once they get in office, can be understood and explained from the findings of neuroscience.
Extending your own view, the decline not only of Hillary but Romney, as well, can perhaps be linked with their often reported problems with “likeability.” Both are seen as cold, calculating, and distant from the voters.
Conversely, perhaps the surge of Obama and McCain can be understood as them being agents who will assuage the anxiety and fear that Bush and friends have been so successful in stimulating in the American brain.
I am hopeful that we will see many more articles with a focus on the biological and chemical processes driving behavior, which can be of great value in providing all of us greater understandings of what drives the elective choices we make.
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Sherwin Steffin (15 articles, 25 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 97 comments)
on Monday, January 7, 2008 at 7:16:23 PM
I've had chills twice in this campaign, but not from Obama.
Only two of the candidates can provoke chills in me - Edwards was one, the night of the Iowa caucuses. The other is Kucinich, who is exactly where I want my candidate to be on every issue. Edwards is catching on to the populist rhetoric, and he probably means most of it, but Dennis lives it. I want a Peace President. I want a president that sees us as part of the world community. I want a president that really knows what it's like to be poor. One who cares about the environment. Who believes in getting the profit out of health care, and free education for kids from pre-K thru college. I can go on and on, but my point is, Obama's not my kind of high. I'll admit that I was really proud that so many young people hit the caucuses the other night, but I also know that Obama got most of the people who turned out for Kucinich, Dodd, Biden, Gravel and Richardson. We won't really know what the numbers are until after New Hampshire. No matter what happens there, I stay behind Kucinich. He's the real deal.
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Morgaine Swann (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 17 comments)
on Monday, January 7, 2008 at 7:28:29 PM
Edwards has given me that kind of feeling too. I think he has given it to a lot of people. Perhaps not as many and not as recent as Obama. But I think Rob is wrong to imply that Edwards is not capable of it.
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Steven Leser (226 articles, 49 quicklinks, 34 diaries, 1615 comments)
on Monday, January 7, 2008 at 9:52:16 PM
Rob is correct. Obama is highly charismatic to a significant percentage of people, the tingle effect. He is certainly able to generate an emotional response from many listeners with his performances. As does Oprah, his current Stump Queen. However, the interesting thing about stimulus responses is that while initially a small dose does the trick after a while larger doses are necessary. This usually holds true with ingested substances and emotional stimuli.
The initial Romantic Psychosis that many of us experience when a new love object comes into our lives soon extinguishes. Either we move on to a more meaningful, reality based relationship or that relationship ends and both parties go searching for the next person high. How this plays out in Election Mania remains to be seen but it is difficult to sustain High Drama over a long period, reality tends to get in the way and Stump Queens move on to other adrenalin producing situations. The Long Haul is boring.
Which means that if there is a real person in there who can take a political position he had better come out very soon!
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Pam Ladds (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 12 comments)
on Monday, January 7, 2008 at 7:49:14 PM
My whole "schtick" is about addiction and trauma .. and how that translates into political reality.
Obama's voice is incredible; he's a real fifth chakra person, a truly melodious baritone hums out and "makes" you WANT to get mesmerized.
Only during the debate, as the "spell" came on, I kept seeing those Wall Street donations listed on a piece of paper in my mind's eye and the "tingle" would just go away. BOOM! REALITY BITES.
Then I watched the very REAL videos of Dennis Kucinich coming out of his tangle with the ABC offices AND a wonderful series running in the NYT called Purple States and saw one of the citizen journalists interact with Dennis.
And I have been in fullscale GRIEF ever since. Literally crying into my keyboard and looking for other Dennis supporters for solace.
I MIND giving up "my" America -- the one that could have been without BuZh ruining the place .. the one that "might" have been if Dennis could get a fair shake at the Presidency. It moves me to tears of GRIEF.
It might not be a "drug high", but it's what's my recovery has taught me really matters .. CONNECTION THAT IS REAL.
I don't NEED more drugs or "highs" - I need to stay sane. And Dennis keeps me in the land of the living politically. The rest are still peddling DEATH, tingles or NO.
by
ladybroadoak (38 articles, 20 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 391 comments)
on Monday, January 7, 2008 at 8:37:29 PM
