Has The Obama Bubble Burst?

Ken AshfordElection 20082 Comments

Obamamania has been sweeping the nation, and he has been compared to Kennedy (John), Kennedy (Bobby), and Jesus.

Not surprising — because such is the way our culture works — a backlash was expected.

Kevin Drum thinks it is just about here:

Bubbles always burst, and Obama has been riding a major league bubble for months now. Before too much longer his supporters are going to come down to earth. Reporters will start wondering why Obama doesn’t like to talk to them very much — and then they’ll get bored and cynical and start doing to him what they did to Howard Dean in 2004. John McCain is going to find his rhythm (though he hasn’t yet) and start making some effective jabs.

This backlash meme is already widespread, and you can almost feel in the air that it’s about to explode into a feeding frenzy. In other words, it ain’t over yet. Wisconsin and the two weeks after it should be interesting, shouldn’t they?

I haven’t been paying attention much to the political landscape, so I can’t weigh in on this.  I do agree with the major premise though — a backlash will happen.

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That said, I think the Clinton campaign is (once again) erring by suggesting that Obama "plagerized" when he borrowed a rhetorical riff from Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick without giving due credit.  I think the "message" that the Clinton campaign is trying to send is that Obama doesn’t have the rhetorical gifts that everything thinks he has — i.e., he STEALS it.

Well, he may have taken one phrase from someone else, but that does not mean that Obama lacks oratory skills.  I think the Clinton campaign is barking up the wrong tree here.  Worse yet, I think she’s showing signs of desparation.  [UPDATE:  Pot, kettle, black?]

UPDATE:  Video added..

UPDATE:  Obama has borrowed from Patrick before (Patrick is an Obama supporter and friend), and admitted it.  From a 12/21/07 ABC report, this is what Obama told a crowd in Portsmouth, NH:

"But you know in the end, don’t vote your fears. I’m stealing this line from my buddy (Massachusetts Gov.) Deval Patrick who stole a whole bunch of lines from me when he ran for the governorship, but it’s the right one, don’t vote your fears, vote your aspirations. Vote what you believe."