I’m a gal ahead of my time when it comes to Obama

On December 12, 2006, I wrote the following:

My personal feeling is that, while Obama may one day turn into a something, right now he’s pretty much a nothing: a very intelligent, but as yet untried man, with limited experience, and superficial views. What I’m gathering, though, is that on the Left, this very blankness is what makes him so appealing. He becomes a projection of everyone’s beliefs, hopes and desires. He’s a charming, smart, living version of Jerzy Kosinksi’s Chance the Gardener, in Being There. (Emphasis added.)

On February8, 2008, Joel Stein got a big column in the LA Times to write a pop culture laden critique of the increasingly creepy Obamamania, which includes this observation:

My mom, a passionate Hillary Clinton supporter, immediately attacked Obamamania. “Some part of me wants to say, ‘People wake up. He has no plans.’ I get frustrated listening to his speeches after awhile,” she said. She also said that the new vacation house in Key West is really great and her vertigo hasn’t been acting up.

I started to feel a little more grounded again. Did I want to be some dreamer hippie loser, or a person who understands that change emerges from hard work and conflict? “People are projecting an awful lot onto him,” Mom said. “Almost like what was that movie with, oh, the movie, oh God. That English actor, he practically said nothing. Oh shoot. He was the butler and everybody loved him and what he was thinking and feeling. Do you know the movie I’m talking about? You don’t.” Hers, of course, is the demographic most likely to vote.

But she’s right. Obama is Peter Sellers in “Being There.” (Emphasis added.)

I’m patting my own back at my prescience in recognizing Obama’s charm for the average, self-involved Democratic voter: they project on him their own desires. He’s the ultimate candidate for the narcissistic voter.