Seven years into his administration we still know little about this international man of mystery. Once more American Thinker provokes thought. Jack Cashill compares and contrasts Barack Obama with fictional TV character, Don Draper. In case you missed it, Don Draper is the lead character in the captivating TV show, "Mad Men". I am a big fan of the show and I was struck with "The Great Gatsby" parallels early on.
Like Jay Gatsby, Don Draper is a Midwesterner of humble origins who obliterates his history, goes to New York, conquers a corner of the world and finds his conquests less than satisfying. Both characters are driven by unquenchable thirst.
Reinvention of oneself is a proud American tradition. Muhammad Ali was often interviewed by Jewish men with gentile names, Howard Cosell being the most famous. A screen name was once de rigueur in Hollywood. Stan Jefferson, Marion Morrison and Archibald Leach fared well with their chosen identities. Decades later contrived personas would be mandatory in the rap industry. There would be countless Kreskins and Koreshes and Princes in between.
We know more about Lady Gaga than we do Barack Obama. In fact I worked with a lady who knew Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (yes I had to look it up) when they both attended NYU. Amazingly, I have accidentally found as many schoolmates who can vouch for Lady Gaga's enrollment as have verified Barack Obama's presence at Columbia.
We know more about 50 Cent, Ice-T, Ice Cube, Drake, Usher, the former members of The Village People and fill in the blank than we know about Barack Obama. What is discouraging is not that we know nothing, it is that a majority of Americans insist on playing Sergeant Schultz.
We know of the fabricated Barack Obama persona but will we ever learn about the Barry Soetoro persona? Or the self-identified Kenyan persona? The invisible student persona? The Hyde Park persona? The more-Marxist-than-Marx Occidental persona?
People who place any value on truth can never understand the mental processes of David Remnick or David Maraniss. Jack Cashill once more:
Even a supportive Obama biographer like David Remnick called Dreams a "mixture of verifiable fact, recollection, recreation, invention, and artful shaping."
What polite society used to call "Utter Bullshit".
More Cashill: Equally friendly biographer David Maraniss agreed. "The character creations and rearrangements of the book are not merely a matter of style, devices of compression, but are also substantive," wrote Maraniss, four years after his dishonest 2008 bio piece in the Washington Post helped Obama get elected.
Yes he is a compulsive liar but he is OUR compulsive liar.
Do we really want a fabulist as president? 53% say "Yes We Can". The insignificance of truth has long been established.
As we remove the skins from the onion we can't help but cry. It hurts. It really burns. Life would be easier if we diverted our eyes.
As with "Mad Men" maybe the Obama Era will end in an upbeat fashion. The entire world will assemble on a mountaintop to sing a gleeful jingle about drinking the Obama Kool-Aid. Hope and Change forever. Yes We Can.
Oh and by the way, "Mad Men" has positioned itself for countless spin-offs and sequels should they choose to exercise those options.
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