ACTORS AND POLITICIANS

We love the King’s English and are unabashed fans of those who have mastered it. We agree with the theater critic who once remarked that he could listen to Sir Richard Burton read a grocery list. We are therefore forced to comment on the mystical status that has been conferred upon the speech of Barack Obama. Having been raised in the center of the Bible Belt we recognize the rhythm and intonation of the Baptist Preacher in President Elect Obama’s rhetoric. He has the sing-song, repetitive form that is the hallmark of that oratorical tradition. It is clear that he has been influenced by the late Martin Luther King Jr. and his former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright. However, King and Wright were raised with the legacy of soaring speech and it became an integral part of them. For Obama, it is an acquired talent which he puts on as an actor dons a costume for a play.

We just watched Obama’s first of many Presidential press conferences and we were struck by the contrast in his rhetoric between his prepared remarks and his extemporaneous answers to the press’ questions. While delivering the prepared remarks he appeared cooler than the last four iterations of James Bond (No one can approach the benchmark coolness of Sean Connery’s Bond). However, he quickly dissolved into a verbal flop sweat while taking questions. He punctuating every third word with an “um” or “uh” while blinking like a drunk staring into a traffic cop’s flashlight. Contrast this with the performance handed us by Rev. Wright at the National Press Club breakfast. Offensive as it was, it was genuine and powerful. What we take from this is Barack Obama is an actor. His public appearances during the campaign have been performances, well written, well rehearsed, well directed, well produced, theatrical events.

The question is who is Barack Obama really? We always thought it remarkable that African Americans identified so closely with Obama. Apart from his genetics, he shares none of the common experience of Black Americans. He was raised in a white, upper middle class home. He attended the a prestigious white prep school in Hawaii. He started college at an elite private liberal arts school and completed his studies at two Ivy league institutions capped by graduation from the Nation’s most exclusive old boys’club, Harvard Law School. In fairness, he has taken great pains to join the African American community since graduation. Through his work as a community organizer and association with Trinity United Church of Christ he has immersed himself in the African American experience, albeit from a comfortable upper middle class distance.

As much as we believe we have not been introduced to the real Barack Obama as of yet, we are equally certain that his true persona shall not remain hidden for long. There are few more scrutinized homes than the White House and few confidants more willing to leak items to the Press than Rahm Emanuel , the man Obama has chosen as his White House Chief of Staff. In the end Obama’s legendary cool will be stripped from him. After all, we understand that Sean Connery really isn't very nice in person.