To follow-up on my post on Tuesday, I just came across this video created in November of 2008 by the CATO Institute, and hosted by Gene Healy, author of The Cult of the Presidency. It explores, with plenty of clips, 1933’s FDR-vetted movie, Gabriel Over the White House:
[youtube GV9C31Vy3jU]
As Healy notes, “I think by the end of FDR’s 12 years, you see something that looks like reality imitating fiction in some ways. This view of the president as akin to a national guardian angel really becomes deeply embedded in the national consciousness.”
When Newsweek declared “We’re All Socialists Now” and Evan Thomas claimed, “in a way Obama’s standing above the country, above — above the world, he’s sort of God”, these were the sorts of images that were rifling through their minds during the first half of last year. As Bill Kristol recently noted, everyone should be very grateful that Obama’s perch is not quite as lofty six months later, though, like the chraracter portrayed by Walter Huston in the video above, there’s still plenty more damage he can and likely will inflict upon the nation.
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