Pining for the imaginary man

I remember following the rising candidacy of Obama with bewilderment.

Something very unusual was happening in that presidential election that had rarely happened before, at least not in my lifetime. A major political party was putting forward a candidate for presidential office with almost nothing in the way of significant achievement, either personally or in some field of endeavour. Normally presidents are those who have gained experience in some real area of life and are a proven quantity, whether it be winning a world war (like Eisenhower) or reaching significant political office, such as a governorship (like Carter or Bush).

Obama had nothing to offer other than rhetoric and some books, and the results show for themselves. Obama is happy and back to doing what he love most, living in a world of books, theories and talking, something he's really good at. The democrats can get as frustrated as they like but it won't change a thing and the man they imagined him to be is gone, like a mirage in a desert.

And herein lies the real problem with author's contentions with Obama now. He is pining for an imaginary man, a man of great ability that was never there, a man never deeply scrutinized by an adoring media, a man who tried desperately to achieve his radical goals through the administrative state and presidential decree.

The Obama administration was the most overruled by the US Supreme Court in modern history. Even his own appointments like Kagen and Sotomayer have ruled against him multiple times. In fact he has lost unanimously before the Supreme Court fifty per cent more than his two immediate predecessors. A truly stunning indictment for someone who is meant to be a constitutional law professor, but such is the clash with reality when you constantly overreach your authority. But that is only part of his disastrous administration. He added US$8 trillion to the US national debt.

Even his most fervent supporters at the New York Times admit he used bureaucratic bulldozing to try and get his way resulting in the Congress and the Supreme Court constantly blocking him. The federal agencies such as the IRS became like caricatures of a banana republic as they singled out and persecuted conservative political groups. There was the disastrous Iran Deal, the criminal Fast and Furious program, Benghazi and the persecution of whistleblowers, more than double that of all previous presidents combined.

A lot of it reminds me of the mythologising of the Kennedy administration. Shortly after his assassination, within a week apparently, Jackie Kennedy spun a great tale about JFK's 1,000 days in office and finished with a quote from Kennedy's favourite musical, Camelot: "Don't let it be forgot, that for one brief, shining moment there was Camelot". From that moment on there was no stopping the media machine, no matter the level of Kennedy's achievements, or otherwise, he would be forever eulogised.

When it comes to the hard-nosed realities of politics, politicians invariably promise more than can be delivered. Gaining and keeping power is always the true goal and is often the goal most achievable. Likewise, there is always an element of dreaming that voters read into what can be achieved by those who are making the promises and this is particularly the case with the left as they always have the more radical goals to achieve. This was probably more true with Obama than any other politician before.

He promised good jobs to the jobless but it was Trump that made progress on that front. He said that his rise to power would slow the oceans rise and heal the planet yet did nothing of the sort because such things are beyond the power of any mortal. He promised social utopia and delivered more racial division than any politician for a generation. The media's problem isn't really with Obama's lack of action in the current political fray, it is a problem with reality. The reality of an inexperienced man who promised the New Jerusalem and delivered downtown Chicago.

There is an important lesson here for Australian politics. More and more we are seeing party operatives and machine men put forward for election. Oftentimes these people have uncanny similarities to Obama; little real world experience, often having gone from university to political or union jobs, not learning how to negotiate real life but how to negotiate a factional deal.

These people are very keen to make taxation rules that apply to others without ever having to suffer the consequences of those decisions themselves. They live in the world of theory, the world of intersectionality, a realm of grievance appeasement and media tomfoolery. Always seeking a headline instead of making headway.

People such as this make appalling decisions as our current energy debacle clearly shows. A person who knows what it's like to struggle to make ends meet and pay a power bill (without access to a slush fund) would be far less likely to implement an energy policy that has tripled power bills, no matter how much they are badgered by journalists and politicians.

If you get the impression that politicians live in an alternative reality, you're partly right, they do. The Westminster system doesn't allow for such larger-than-life creations like Obama but we can learn from the mistake. Don't allow the media to create distorted figures for public consumption, be suspicious if they show no interest in what they've actually achieved and always attempt to deflect your attention to their future promises. You'll save yourself and your children immense heartache, difficulty and cost.