On election day it occurred to me that one good thing about the prospect of Barack Obama in the White House was its answer to my curiosity. Fearing what happened to the proverbial cat, I cast my ballot for John McCain.
It required no great imagination to see that McCain would indeed be “more of the same” of Bush-style politics, with the probable benefit of his predilection for wielding the power of the veto pen against big spending. I’m one of those few in the low 30 percentile who approve of George W. Bush, who believe he has made for a very good president, despite his many flaws (as any leader is sure to have). So envisioning a new, and reformed, Republican presidency that favored smaller government, a strong hand in the war against jihadists, and a free market that remains free—I was good with all that. I knew what to expect with John McCain…
Obama was something else entirely. Our two-year introduction to this dynamo from Chicago taught us little about him, and what we managed to find out—no thanks to a sycophantic media—wasn’t exactly comforting. The man we heard speaking so coolly didn’t match the man we were digging out of the inner workings of the notoriously foul Chicago political machine. The more bad stuff that appeared, the more curious I became. The more strenuous his self-revisionism, the more I wanted to see who this man would become.
My curiosity now has a chance to be satisfied. The Left—a block that has obviously gained supremacy in America, even nabbing many Republicans—quickly created their Obama-as-Savior version of the man, and it is this image that captured the hearts of Americans, allowing the meaningless phrase “Change We Can Believe In” to actually stick. It is this image that rendered people’s concerns about his character as insignificant. Those who voted for Obama voted for a savior, whether they want to admit it or not.
My own image of the man is not so easy to pin down. Barack Obama appears to have quaffed deeply from a socialist well all of his life (even his church promoted black liberation theology, which is an aberrant brand of Christianity), so it is very probable he is a true believer and intends to refashion the country in the style of European socialism. If Obama-as-Socialist is who we have placed at the head of the free world, freedom will soon be in decline.
Perhaps less alarming is my image of him as a Machiavellian opportunist who has learned how to use people and the system to propel himself to power and stature. His yes-and-no voting record shouts “far left,” but his statements, then and now, and his number of equivocating “present” votes, may indicate a man who is willing to say just about anything to strengthen his appeal. Is he, for example, really going to call in ACORN workers “during the transition” to help “shape the agenda”? I doubt it, but if he does, surely it will be just for show. Obama-as-Populist may prove to be a relatively harmless chameleon, working hard to be all things to all people while surrounding himself with a reasonably competent cabinet to navigate the rough waters of government.
The worst scenario would be to find ourselves with a man who tries to fulfill the image of Obama-as-Savior. With a “righteous wind” at his back, and fanatically adoring enthusiasts in both the United States and around the world, it isn’t hard to envision the rise of The One who has the uncanny ability to persuade people to get lockstep behind him, turning voters into followers and followers into worshippers. There is no need to list historical examples that should serve as constant warnings against this sort of thing, is there? Any major disaster can push a popular leader toward authoritarianism or worse. It would be naïve to pretend it can’t happen again, or can’t happen in America.
Whoever this man is, I doubt that we will know with certainty any time soon. The mastery of rhetoric has been both boon and bane of mankind, and Obama will employ it deftly to serve his needs. There were many factors involved in bringing Obama to power, including a phenomenal campaign, a fawning press, serendipitous economic circumstances and latent guilt involving black history, but most important was Obama’s effective and calculative use of rhetoric as a shield against serious character flaws.
When people are frightened, when people are uncertain, when people sense a need for the sort of change they can’t articulate, they are quick to throw character right out the window. Then they turn to the man with the silver tongue and winning personality, who need say very little that means anything, as long as he says it well.
A. M. Siriano is a blogger, poet, humorist and webmaster, and writes for amsiriano.com. 
