And like Obama, JFK was treated more as a personality more than a leader of a party.
You can view Obama as a devious calculating cynic, saying one thing and then doing another. You can see him as a prisoner of larger forces that push all politicians into the embrace of special interests serving the status quo masked as “the politcs of the possible.”
Or you can still be bullish because he is going over the heads of the dead weights in office worldwide.
"Obama is going over the heads of elites, attempting to establish moral legitimacy as a leader, turning popularity into policy, “ writes Robert Marquand in the Christian Science Monitor. “What we are seeing is not spin, but a sincere effort to reach out to hearts and minds, appealing to better instincts, to the reasonable nature of others. It is a revolutionary approach."
Revolution, smevolution. Populism can be progressive or reactionary, as it has been throughout our history. The Tea Baggers see themselves as “populists” fighting the supposed “tyranny” of the government. “ So did the “Yes We Can” crowd who put Mr. O in office and are now mostly cheering or half-cheering from the sidelines.
Words are important even if they are not sufficient. AP reports, "There are already some indications [Barack's] words are having the desired effect of undercutting extremists. A militant leader in Egypt called on the Taliban to respond positively to Obama's gestures, and Hamas militants in Gaza say they are ready 'to build on this speech'
"Obama may have managed to 'plant the seed of doubt in some minds' of extremists, said Robert Malley, senior analyst at the International Crisis Group think tank. 'There was enough ... that represented openings for those who wanted openings.'"
Revolutionaries know how to appropriate rhetoric to advance their agendas and audiences. Before Obama conquered Cairo, Napoleon did the same. Writes Hizb ut-Tahrir, “he told the people, ‘You will be told that I came to destroy your religion; do not believe it ... I have more respect than the Mamelukes for your God, His Prophet, and the Koran’ and many more sweet words besides.”
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