As the Cheering Stops

Townhall.com ^ | February 2, 2014 | David Stokes

[Kaslin]

President Obama had some typical applause lines the other night during his State of the Union address, but evidence abounds that there is less and less applause these days outside the Beltway for his performance and policies. Some of that is normal as a presidency moves toward lame duck status, but in Obama’s case it seems to be more pronounced.

Charles Mackay, a nineteenth century Scottish journalist, wrote a fascinating treatise titled, “Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.” First published in 1841, the book chronicled “the most remarkable instances of those moral epidemics which have been excited, sometimes by one cause and sometimes by another, and to show how easily the masses have been led astray, and how imitative and gregarious men are, even in their infatuations and crimes.”

Mr. Mackay described an assortment of nefarious financial schemes dating back to the early 1700s. He noted that they were then nicknamed “bubbles.” To him, this term was “the most appropriate that imagination could devise,” adding that, “the most absurd and preposterous of all, and which showed more completely than any other, the utter madness of the people, was one started by an unknown adventurer, entitled, ‘A company for carrying on an undertaking of great advantage, but nobody to know what it is.’”

When bubbles burst, people who have been hypnotized by their presence tend to be disappointed, like children who see something compelling one moment, only to witness its sudden dissipation. And sometimes there is even disillusionment.

It might be constructive, maybe even essential, to think of the whole Barack Obama phenomenon over the past few years as one of those gigantic bubbles. It captured pan-cultural attention and transcended the humdrum of mere mortal politics. Expectations were inflated. Rational analysis was muted. Look, up in the sky—it’s a bird, it’s a plane, no it’s Super President above the political fray soaring in his designer soap bubble.

The value of Barack Obama’s stock was once sky high. His most devoted followers assumed this upward trend would continue toward utopia. Happy days were just around the corner. You could just feel the love and unity—not to mention the hope and change.

There was a problem, though. No one, not even Barack Obama, could possibly sustain that level of near universal affection and acclaim indefinitely. Human glory tends to be fleeting, especially the political variety. Obama’s bubble is bursting.

And there are many unhappy American campers.

There is a saying: “Motivation without implementation produces frustration.” In the political arena this means that when someone inspires people without eventually following through, the result is disenchantment. Barack Obama’s style over substance campaign was very much a bipolar candidacy. We have seen the manic part—now we are bearing witness to the depressive side.

Rarely has a political figure generated the kind of near-universal acclaim that the junior senator from Illinois seemed to receive when he ran in 2008. His trip to Europe drew enthusiastic crowds at every public event. People sought to touch the hem of his garment. Obama’s speech in Berlin was given before a crowd of more than 200,000. Take that Camelot.

One German publication actually referred then to Barack Obama as “President of the World.” That was before he was elected as merely the President of the United States. That’s heady stuff. For an American politician to get that kind of response in Europe was remarkable.

But it was not unprecedented.

Ninety-five years ago another American received the royal treatment on the continent. His name was Woodrow Wilson and he became an international hero, at least for a brief and shining moment. Within days of the signing of the Armistice ending The Great War, the man who led our country into a war to make the world safe for democracy crossed the Atlantic to become president of his world.

As Mr. Wilson’s train arrived at the Hoboken Pier in New Jersey on the morning of December 4, 1918, a great crowd gathered to wish him a safe and prosperous voyage. A band played the national anthem as the George Washington set sail on the ten-day trans-Atlantic voyage. More than 10,000 people viewed the scene from a distance in lower Manhattan. They wanted to witness history. You see, not only was the chief executive going abroad to save the planet, he was, in fact, the first president up to that time to travel outside the country while in office. Zeppelins hovered overhead. Planes looped and swooped. It was the media event of the decade.

When the ship reached the Port of Brest in France, it was met with even greater enthusiasm. Margaret MacMillan, great-granddaughter of Wilson’s contemporary and collaborator at the Paris peace conference, David Lloyd-George, described the scene in her excellent book, “Paris 1919: Six Months that Changed the World”: “The streets were lined with laurel wreaths and flags. On the walls, posters paid tribute to Wilson, those from right-wingers for saving them from Germany and those from the left for the new world he promised. Huge numbers of people, many resplendent in their traditional Breton costumes, covered every inch of pavement, every roof, every tree. Even the lampposts were taken. The air filled with the skirl of Breton bagpipes and repeated shouts of ‘Vive l’Amérique! Vive Wilson!’”

Woodrow Wilson was the most popular man in the world.

But just a year later it had all changed. Someone in Barack Obama’s camp should long ago have found a copy of a 1964 book by Gene Smith. The title says it all: “When the Cheering Stopped.” President Wilson came to understand that the deafening sound of grand and glorious bombs bursting in air can, all too quickly, give way to the nearly inaudible sound of a bursting bubble.

By 1920, the man who had so recently been hailed as the greatest international statesman ever, watched in physical and emotional brokenness as his nation rejected what he hoped would be his lasting legacy. They voted Republican and would twice more in the decade. Mr. Wilson died in 1924 after another in a long line of strokes. But doubtless somewhere in the mix were complications due to a bubble that burst.

People are fickle and the bigger the bubble, the bigger the mess when it inevitably bursts. Stay tuned.

[ronnie raygun]

To kick it up a notch the oppressed females in the audience stepped into the isle to dance.

[DeaconRed]

Wait until they see him in a orange jump suit.
Or if Sheriff Joe gets him a Pink Jump suit. . . .

[ForMyChildren]

Should be required reading in high school history classes.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

But it won’t.

[Texas Fossil]

MEMOIRS OF EXTRAORDINARY POPULAR DELUSIONS.

VOLUME I.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24518/24518-h/dvi.html

—

MEMOIRS OF EXTRAORDINARY POPULAR DELUSIONS.

VOLUME II.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24518/24518-h/dvii.html

—

It is available in several other book reader formats at:

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24518

—

Here is a HTML version that is index driven. It is possibly a little easier to find interesting sections to read and see the overall view of the book.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24518/24518-h/delusions.html

[Texas Fossil]

Index of the book:

    Volume I.
        Contents.
        List of Engravings.
        Preface.
        The Mississippi Scheme.
        The South-Sea Bubble.
        The Tulipomania.
        The Alchymists.
        Modern Prophecies.
        Fortune-Telling.
        The Magnetisers.
        Influence of Politics and Religion on the Hair and Beard.
    Volume II.
        Contents.
        List of Engravings.
        The Crusades.
        The Witch Mania.
        The Slow Poisoners.
        Haunted Houses.
        Popular Follies of Great Cities.
        Popular Admiration of Great Thieves.
        Duels and Ordeals.
        Relics.

[cloudmountain]

Did you see the interviews about Obama’s speech? The interviewer asked for opinions about his speech....BEFORE the speech had been made. Harhar, HILARIOUS.

[Repeal The 17th]

“...Woodrow Wilson ... December 4, 1918 ...
... the first president to travel outside the country while in office ...
... was the media event of the decade...”
-
Interesting tidbit of history.

[Liz]

The value of Barack Obama’s stock was once sky high. His devoted followers assumed this trend would continue. You could just feel the love and unity—not to mention the hope and change....but....Human glory tends to be fleeting, especially the political variety. Obama’s bubble is bursting....b/c there are many, many unhappy American campers.

There were shivers among the electorate that he, and his minions, were secretly conspiring to overthrow the Constitution, to keep him in office forever.

WASHINTON TIMES REPORTED: 2012 Candidate Obama trucked through Tinseltown to buck up his star-crossed supporters. His first stop was an unusual sub rosa closed-door, off-the-record meeting for a dozen donors who had maxed out their contributions. Bill Clinton was there as Mr. Obama spent two hours kvetching at DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg’s house.

Then Obama moved on---pitching to 150 people, who paid $25,000 to eat at a Wolfgang Puck restaurant with superstar George Clooney, film studio honcho Harvey Weinstein and Oscar host Seth MacFarlane. At the time, the worshipful Hollywood honchos were actually planning an Obama star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame to cement his place in La-La Land....

Alas, Hollywood and the rest of America found out they couldn't keep their health plans, as a grinning, lying Obama had promised over and over, again.

[IronJack]

Bubbles burst because, like obama's presidency, they're built on lies and illusions. Obama hasn't changed. He was incompetent from his first day. Heck, he was incompetent as a senator. And probably long before that, even back to his college days.

Conservatives saw that. We tried to tell people that. But the media conspired in the illusion, and repeated the lie that he was a towering intellect, a visionary, a hope-and-change Messiah.

Now, 5-plus years and untold damage later, the realities don't match the claims. He has almost no significant accomplishments under his belt, and his signature legislation is an embarrassing, hated nightmare of bureaucratic bungling, draconian design, and execrable execution (just as we predicted it would be). His foreign policy -- whatever it is -- is a quisling mess. The economy is in ruins. Race relations are at an all-time low. And America is slipping from primacy into "also-ran" status. Plus we're still getting American men and women killed in third-world hellholes that are unworthy of our blood. Obama has been an utter, unqualified failure.

Since liberal candidates tend to be pretty packages with nothing inside, the day inevitably comes when you have to open the package. That you're disappointed seems only logical.

[Liz]

Even more ominious---the Obamas are now seen as luxury-loving parasites, living high, greedily sucking at the public teat......wire-transferring a bundle offshore for a cushy retirement and to finance Mrs O's political ambitions.

NRO tallied what taxpayers are paying for M/M O to live large on the taxpayers' dime: a grand total of $1.4 billion per year:

Air Force One ($181,757 per hour), executive chef ($100,000 per year), three full-time White House calligraphers ($277,050 per year for the trio), chief of staff to the president’s dog ($102,000 per year), Ohaha's royal motorcade ($2.2 million). $100 million alone for the African apology tour.

==========================================

$1.4 BILLION is the current annual cost of the White House — just in household expenses, not including US policy operations for which the WH exists-- administered by some 900 parasites--- policy staff recruited by Ohaha.

There's the $100 million trip to Africa not including the foreign aid billions O handed out to these oil-rich satraps. There's serial Ohaha vacations costing taxpayers millions---- (the low estimate Hawaii vacays is $4 million each, but is probably five times that); the pricey Martha's Vineyard stays; Mrs O's costly trip to elite Marbella w/ an entourage of 30.

Mrs O's $3900 PER NIGHT in Ireland PLUS 30 more rooms for her entourage.

Ireland's Grace Kelly hotel suite.

=======================================

TAXPAYERS SUFFERED RUINOUS HEALTHCARE CANCELLATIONS--BUT THEY PAY $7 MILLION FOR THE OBAMAS HEALTHCARE---NRO found the first family’s yearly health-care costs Americans $7 million; the reason why only Boobamba himself was "enrolled" last month --and not his family.

Mrs O wore her pricey diamond bangles (bought on a govt salary?) at a DNC fund-raiser, attended by "tolerant and compassionate" Dems....raised big bucks to keep Mr O in office so he could work for "the poor." Her diamond Gothic cuff priced at $15,350 set with 2.17 carats in diamonds and the Quatrefoil bracelet at $11,800 set with 1.73 carats in diamonds. (Excerpt) Read more at houston.culturemap.com.

Mrs O wowed all the "tolerant and compassionate" Dems who hate the rich and support endless tax-paid programs "for the poor."

===============================================

Mrs O has 24 assistants at her beck and call. Her
wardrobe, nails and hair pieces subsidized w/ tax dollars
of struggling Americans.

[Mears]

These two give a whole new meaning to the word “uppity”.

.

[Ditter]

>>”Now 5 years later”>>>>

Liberals are STILL putting George Bush down.

“Yeah obama is bad but G Bush was worse!”

[bert]

They have successfully duped many conservatives into believing just that

[Rides_A_Red_Horse]

Of course McCain jumped up and down while clapping like a giddy school girl.

[Savage Beast]

(Many are stupid. Many are lazy. Many jump on the bandwagon.)

(On the other hand, some are smart.)

An excerpt:

"O Oysters, come and walk with us!"

The Walrus did beseech.
"
A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk,

Along the briny beach:

We cannot do with more than four,

To give a hand to each."

The eldest Oyster looked at him,

But never a word he said:

The eldest Oyster winked his eye,

And shook his heavy head--

Meaning to say he did not choose

To leave the oyster-bed.

But four young Oysters hurried up,

All eager for the treat:

Their coats were brushed, their faces washed,

Their shoes were clean and neat--

And this was odd, because, you know,

They hadn't any feet.

Four other Oysters followed them,

And yet another four;

And thick and fast they came at last,

And more, and more, and more--

All hopping through the frothy waves,

And scrambling to the shore.

The Walrus and the Carpenter

Walked on a mile or so,

And then they rested on a rock

Conveniently low:

And all the little Oysters stood

And waited in a row.

"A loaf of bread," the Walrus said,

"Is what we chiefly need:

Pepper and vinegar besides

Are very good indeed--

Now if you're ready, Oysters dear,

We can begin to feed."

"But not on us!" the Oysters cried,

Turning a little blue.
"
After such kindness, that would be

A dismal thing to do!"

"The night is fine," the Walrus said.
"
Do you admire the view?

"It seems a shame," the Walrus said,

"To play them such a trick,

After we've brought them out so far,

And made them trot so quick!"

The Carpenter said nothing but

"The butter's spread too thick!"

"I weep for you," the Walrus said:

"I deeply sympathize."

With sobs and tears he sorted out

Those of the largest size,

Holding his pocket-handkerchief

Before his streaming eyes.

"O Oysters," said the Carpenter,

"You've had a pleasant run!

Shall we be trotting home again?'

But answer came there none--

And this was scarcely odd, because

They'd eaten every one.

The Walrus and The Carpenter
Lewis Carroll
From:Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1872

[Savage Beast]

Thanks for posting this. ~S

[Sequoyah101]

Aunt Hester or Ester or whatever is the role model for moochie.

I don’t know what the role model is for odumbo. Malcolm X, Frank Davis or what. George Jefferson may be close enough for uppity though.

I watched “Gone with the Wind” last night on TCM. The blacks riding around with the carpet baggers could have been the same picture today. That movie was made 75 years ago.

Speaking of not much changing from 75 years ago, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”. I don’t know if it was real or satire then but the images portrayed are absolutely real today. The only thing missing is Harry Carey as president of the Spinate. The words unspoken conveyed by his smile and expressions to Jimmy Stewart were outstanding and heart warming.

[Mears]

“Speaking of not much changing from 75 years ago, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”

-

Thanks for the reminder-—I’ll have to get that and watch it again. I haven’t seen it in years.

.