IT’S THE NIHILISTS, STUPID

Like the parable of the blind men and the elephant, the media pundits are all trying to describe the Obama elephant. Lovers of politics are going to have a field day reading the commentary on what happened to Hillary and how Obama did it. In The New Republic John B. Judis encourages us to imagine Obama as an “American Adam;” a new man created afresh by a society seeking and craving a new unblemished start. Citing D.H. Lawrence and Emerson, Judis takes us through the processes and prophets of renewal and change in American history. His Obama is “Melville's Adamic hero, Billy Budd” who has good looks, health and youth. Judis’ article is great reading, evidence of a first-class mind and as good a hunch as any one could have at this point.

In the Wall Street Journal the always insightful, fresh and articulate Daniel Henninger describes the elephant as an actor bringing forth a dream. He casts Obama in the leading role ready to deliver the Democrats’ “universal” themes of health care, education and protection from the wolves of business greed. According to Henninger, “Hillary is so last century she is in the world of Eleanor Roosevelt.” Obama is a born-again Bill Clinton, new and inspirational.

Both these observations and analysis are probably right. They are certainly not in opposition and are in many ways complimentary. Obama is the new cute fresh kid in the graduating class. An especially powerful role as the class was made up of kids who were together since kindergarten. The Clintons are the kids who created the in-clique.

When I feel the elephant I can describe something else too. What I feel is as much about what the Obama elephant is standing on, as what the elephant feels like. The elephant is standing on a support stool made of political Nihilism.

As in tsarist Russia and end-stage monarchist Europe, there is a sense of hopelessness and fatigue with politics and leaders. The list of complaints and dissatisfaction starts with campaign financing and continues with K Street bagman and the never-ending fundraising from vested interests. The lies, corruption, earmarks, criminal behavior and subsequent indictments, hypocrisy of a personal and sexual nature, and the war started and gone bad, have created a classic Nihilist zeitgeist. The aristocracy of this country in the political, military, and economic arenas are more like Tolstoy’s Dacha owners than Roosevelt’s “dollar-a-day” men of yesteryear. I feel that the waste, corruption, fraud and incompetence displayed in pursuing this war are closer to the tsar’s efforts on the Western front in World War I, than Eisenhower’s 25 years later. If a politician or general thinks that “the surge’s” success is anything but the Iraqis toying with us, I am sure they will be made aware of this by a Tet-style display any time the Arabs so choose.

The Russian aristocracy that spawned Nihilism has many similar traits that our economic aristocracy displays. The accounts of the consumption, recklessness, indebtnesses and just plain squandering of assets on champagne, furs and jewels…and leaving it all in a heap of insolvency has too many parallels to today’s Wall Street crowd for my comfort. The Russians too sold their assets for ready cash. The reckless printing of currency, the subsequent debasement of the ruble, the gap between the rich and poor … sound familiar? The very questioning of the mental competence of the country’s ruler echoes Nihilists of yore.

Hillary misjudged the depth of despair. Policy wonks don’t free serfs; they study the economy of doing so. Hillary, to use the old Eldridge Cleaver observation, “is part of the problem” and Obama not being so, may be “part of the solution.” Hillary misjudged the rage of our youth who are plagued by indebtedness. She misjudged the need for radical rethinking of the $400 billion lining military contractors’ pockets, and for paying a few friends-for-the-day in some “awakening council” who frankly may only be awake to how much they can pocket. I could continue to discuss the mismanagement and dashed dreams that confront our country at every level but I will part with just one more observation; the image of the downer cow being dragged to the slaughterhouse resonates at more levels with the American people than just those who like fresh hamburger. It illustrates failed government and irresponsible corporations plagued by the illness of greed being fed to the people at large.

Our Nihilists however had something the tsars never dreamed, a ticket to a voting booth. It empowers individuals to make change through enfranchisement. Bombs and assassinations are not necessary here in America. We can overthrow the entrenched and free ourselves with the pull of a lever or the touch of a screen.

Obama is what an anarchist’s bomb looks like in a democracy. That’s why so many people are registering to vote for Obama, registering for the first time. Young and old, rich and poor, their inner Nihilist is calling out to give change a chance. Of course, Obama is human and will fail at much that he will try. Of course the process will grind dreams into realities. All sane people understand this but it is the throwing of the bomb into the tsar’s coach that is the enabling act, not the results.

That’s my feel for the elephant known as Obama.