K on Barack Obama

[highlyeccentric]

I keep getting weirded out by all the Obama-mania, and find that the best way to think of it is not so much as people electing a politician, but as America electing a temporary king. It is weird to get so het up about a politician, but if you're treating someone as the consummate symbol of your nation, that's close enough to a king for me.

Says K just now: "I keep wanting to slap people on my flist and say "he's just a man!... You're right about the king thing, Americans electing their king. It's like the English thing where the King can cure scrofula. Except the whole country's got scrofula. Which is pretty gross, actually."

Comments

[avedaggio.livejournal.com]

I think a lot of Americans are just *relieved*. No more Bush, no more Cheny... A lot of people thought that the last 2 elections were stolen from the American people, and while I don't read quite as much into it as they do, I share in the relief. And it's relief I also see in people in other countries (I am one of the rare americans who not only knows there is a world outside of America *gasp* but I even follow the BBC news. I should get a gold star or something.). Relief that Obama won't pre-emptively strike them with nukes for possibly having thought about WMDs in the last 20 years.

I'm afraid you'll have to endure my countryfolk being giddy for a while. :) I avoid it by simply not watching the news.

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

Oh, I get the RELIEF thing. The entire world is relieved... ;)

American politics is weird in general from where I sit, though. The position of president is... well, king-like. I've had people who don't like Bush at all still tell me not to insult "the president" just because he's the president. It's WEIRD.

[ahsavka.livejournal.com]

I was going to say this.

Remember, in '04, it was Bush vs. Kerry. Kerry was boring, but how could anyone who wasn't totally bizarre or acted like an idiot in public lose?

And then he lost.

This new guy, meanwhile, is better spoken, a bit of a geek (he loves Star Trek, he will fight for net neutrality), consistent (esp. compared to the competition), not half bad looking ...

I don't own any Obama stuff. The "mania" completely makes sense to me, though. The night of the election I saw more talk about it from my non-US friends than citizens. Is it all over your news, or something? Are people freaking out in Australia? We have groups of people still ridiculously happy, but despite living near the capital I haven't seen any in the flesh. Just on the blogs and such. I think maybe it's being overhyped. (I think the two biggest pieces of news being used against Mr. Obama right now are that his fans are overzealous and that he speaks well. XD)