Charles Blow of the New York Times is surprised that President Obama is almost — but not quite lifelike, in much the same way that an increasing number of New York Times articles are almost, but not quite accurate. As Blow writes:
In 1970, the Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori coined the phrase “uncanny valley.” In the field of robotics, and increasingly in computer animation, it refers to the theory that people feel good about robots — up to a point. When they start to look almost real, but not quite, we experience an eerie and unsettling sense of revulsion.
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AdvertisementBut one person I never thought would fall into this valley was Barack Obama, the charismatic candidate who electrified the electorate in 2008 and whom many saw as the fulfillment of the dream of the even-more-electrifying Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Yet here Obama is, down in the valley, struggling to connect with the American people and failing, increasingly coming across as dispassionate to some and outright revolting to others.
As the Professor would say, rube.
“Barack Obama, the charismatic candidate who electrified the electorate in 2008…”
I seem to remember that election a bit differently with a whole lot less electrifying of the VOTING electorate going on: a bitter primary brawl between Obama and Clinton that basically was decided by Obama getting the game rigged in his favor (PUMA!); an Obama down in the polls to McCain and only being saved by the bell (financial meltdown and McCain suspending his campaign); an election ‘landslide’ that wasn’t all that much different that what George W. Bush racked up in 2004.
What I DO remember is the journalistas and elites being electrified — cheap dates who were won over by well-creased trousers, correct pronunciation of the word ‘nuclear,’ lack of Texas twangs, a novel admixture of melatonin in a presidential candidate, and/or content-free telepromter reading.
Chuckie Blow has conflated his echo chamber memories with what really happened. “Almost real, but not quite,” indeed.