Sunday, February 17, 2008

Barack Obama: A Political Phenomenon Explained

Barack Obama strikes me as something of a Rorschach Ink Blot test. No, you libbies, the term "ink blot" is not a reference to Obama's race. Shut up and listen.
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Years ago, but not so much anymore, psychiatrists used something called "the Rorschach Ink Blot test" to evaluate psychiatric patients. They would show the patient a series of ink blots of both black and red color (again, no racial or political reference is intended or implied).

The ink blots would be cut down the middle and one side copied as a mirror image and attached to the first side. This created a symmetrical ink blot, where the left half and the right half were mirror images of each other. See the image above as an example.

The blots were merely random arrangements of ink with no real design. But when one looks at them, the mind can't help but project meaning onto them, the same way it sees recognizable shapes in cloud formations. (Ever seen a face in the clouds? Or the shape of an animal? Of course you have.)
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The theory, I think, was that the mind would project onto the otherwise random and meaningless ink blots whatever the mind was most concerned with, i.e. its hopes and fears. Since I am concerned with liberals, I interpreted the above ink blot as a bat (or moonbat), when any fool can see that it is really a beautiful woman clothed only in a tiara and a feather boa (and oh, how she wants me!). However, I digress.
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Barack Obama is something of an Ink Blot too. No one knows what he believes, what he has done, or why he is qualified to be President of the United States. Nevertheless, he has achieved a messianic status with millions of zealous followers who believe in him deeply. Why, you may ask, since he has never said anything but "Get on the Change Express" and "Bring that lady on the floor a glass of water."
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There isn't much, really, to base such fervent belief in this man. However, if you look at Obama as a Rorschach Ink Blot, you begin to understand a very old political phenomenon, the phenomenon of the "dark horse" (no racial reference is intended or implied), the unknown candidate who steps in and unites the warring factions who select him as the candidate.
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Since the candidate is an unknown, voters project onto him all of their hopes, wishes and dreams. They imagine that he is the savior they have been waiting for, the statesman who will solve all of their problems, allay all of their fears and issue in a new epoch of peace and prosperity.
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Hippies imagine he will legalize pot, Code Pink members imagine he will end war and bring socialism, Moveon.org members imagine that he will arrest Rush Limbaugh and stop global warming. Like psychiatric patients projecting meaning onto a random shape, voters project their hopes and dreams onto an unknown candidate. The deep meaning they find in him exists primarily in the mind, not in reality.
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Meanwhile, after the dark horse is elected and sworn in, he thinks to himself: "What the hell am I going to do now??" Sadly, he hasn't a clue.
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So there you have it folks, the phenomenon of Barack Hussein Obama explained for all to see and understand. Now I'm going outside for a cup of coffee and a cigar. I think I've earned it.
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