I think it is clear that not everybody in Left worships at Obama’s feet. But it’s equally clear that some do. Yes we can, We are the ones and Vero Possumus all come to mind.
“If you can diagnose a C.o.P. just on the grounds that a leader has some zealots, you’ll proceed to cut up the left into the Cult of Hillary Clinton, the Cult of John Edwards, the Cult of Martyred Kerry, and a mass of cynics who think all Democrat leaders are hopelessly compromised with the tangle of political and corporate interests.”
Nobody said that cults of personality were limited to the Left. They exist on the right; why would it be surprising if they existed on the Left? But they do exist and I think it is reasonable to assert that in Obama’s case it is certainly much more pronounced than any current politician with the exception of Hillary Clinton. A lot of the criticism directed at Hillary in the last days of her campaign essentially revolved around the charge that it was ‘all about her’. In effect she was being criticized for having a cult of personality; and much of backlash against the Clintons arose precisely from the perception that they had turned the Democratic Party into a personal fiefdom.
Far from being a bum rap, the cultlike following of Barack Obama is probably his campaign’s most distinguishing feature. It is one that has been widely remarked upon by his political opponents; and I think will be increasingly remarked upon by people on the liberal side of the aisle. With respect to the idea that there has been no “silencing” of his by threats, real or implied I will answer with one word: Geraldine Ferraro. Geraldine Ferraro’s critique of Obama — and Ferraro is a liberal with impeccable credentials — were met by accusations that she was racist. If you can call Geraldine Ferraro a racist, then who can’t? “How dare you?” was and is one of the staples of the BHO campaign.
None of this is to say that you or Greenwald are members of this type of movement. But it’s far better to see it for what it is than to argue that it doesn’t exist simply because you oppose it. It is because it exists that you oppose it.
