L'homme du Destin
W Scott ThompsonPublished: Nov 11, 2008 4:27 AM | Updated: Nov 11, 2008 4:29 AM
What do all men (and women-allowing for Joan of Arc) have in common when they successfully hear the call of destiny?
I say successfully because every day in America, for example, nuts arise from the fringe claiming to having had a special communication from on high-only to fold shortly on lack of confirmatory signs from behind the clouds.
I see three things.
What do all men (and women-allowing for Joan of Arc) have in common when they successfully hear the call of destiny?
I say successfully because every day in America, for example, nuts arise from the fringe claiming to having had a special communication from on high-only to fold shortly on lack of confirmatory signs from behind the clouds.
I see three things.
Firstly, a mundane one. It goes without saying that they have stupendous self-confidence to withstand the period of questioning, when no one believes in their vision, except a few equally self-appointed few.
Secondly, they see a highly specific quality within themselves that can identify an overpowering need among their people and that can heal, fulfil or manifest that problem or need.
Thirdly, their people themselves-and here is the only one over which the appointed person has no control-they see in this leader a way of projecting their own needs, not just resolving their problems, onto the national (or international) stage.
Let's not look at the obvious examples of the founders of all the major religions, so that I don't wander into quicksand.
Just look at General Charles de Gaulle. He towered over his contemporaries from the start.
When Winston Churchill courageously flew into the as-yes unoccupied part of France in 1940 to consult with the rump leadership of the supine once-great country, he wrote at the time that only one man impressed him, the hitherto utterly unknown under secretary of Defense, yes, Brigadier de Gaulle, who was soon to fly in a small plane to London to rally his country; Francais et Francaise, he was to repeat over and over, ‘we can overcome'
The miracle called Obama
He saw how he could insert himself into the leadership vacuum and restore the national consciousness of greatness. When France liberated itself (ah, yes, with some little help of the allies, in the greatest operation in the history of mankind, the Normandy invasion), it needed someone to restore faith in itself and did so through the absolute certainty and bull-headedness of de Gaulle.
It was essential that de Gaulle annoy, pester, and drive to distraction those allied leaders, as the emergent leader tried to show that France had done it all itself. France projected its manifest needs onto the towering General.
Now, of course we come to the obvious. Barack Obama it is obvious had long realized his exceptionality.
From the moment he licked the opposition for the editorship of the Harvard Law Review-the turning point-he knew he could achieve anything.
But did he have some Enlightenment from on high to take on the mountains themselves-the Clinton machine, the Republican Party, the nation as a whole?
He didn't need it. He saw precisely what he could supply that no one else even dreamed of. How could anyone other than a black offer the guarantee to the massive change the country yearned for?
Because only the astonishment of the election of a black could bring in its train the momentum of change of the magnitude everyone (except the handful of beneficiaries from the pitiful status quo) knew was required to right a nation turned upside down.
It's almost tautological-his own election guaranteed the results he (and the country) sought. And he was smart enough to find precisely the electoral strategy through the primaries and national election to get on a juggernaut to victory.
And now the third part. Everyone is pinching himself. Could it be this good? My my, even John McCain all but admitted Obama's victory was necessary for the national soul.
It's all just too beautiful
Sarah is retreating behind the Alaskan Elk in utter shame. She only has her wardrobe as fig leaf. Africa is a country? Hahahaha.
The world is celebrating. Barack Obama has in one fell swoop erased the Bush humiliation. Yes, it's happening. The nation is projecting its needs on to one man. He's the miracle worker.
Everyone now shares in the jubilation, even hard-core Republicans. Because it's a miracle. Well, a miracle that we can easily disaggregate and explain, almost scientifically.
So the new world hero, someone the whole world can project its needs onto, walks deftly without misstep. Was he born in a manger? No, remember we said here a long time ago that he smokes.
And oh yes, he makes a whopper of a grammatical mistake in his first press conference.
He told how President Bush had invited ‘Michelle and I' to the White House.
For shame, national saviour. Go back to third grade English. He can write a transcendent memoir and blow the object of a verb.
I haven't yet heard even a single nagging criticism. It's all just too beautiful -and Barack Obama turns out to be very human indeed.
PROF W SCOTT THOMPSON is a national security expert who served four American Presidents and is a professor emeritus at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He is the author or editor of 13 books on world political issues and resides in Washington, Bali and Manila "
I say successfully because every day in America, for example, nuts arise from the fringe claiming to having had a special communication from on high-only to fold shortly on lack of confirmatory signs from behind the clouds.
I see three things.
Firstly, a mundane one. It goes without saying that they have stupendous self-confidence to withstand the period of questioning, when no one believes in their vision, except a few equally self-appointed few.
Secondly, they see a highly specific quality within themselves that can identify an overpowering need among their people and that can heal, fulfil or manifest that problem or need.
Thirdly, their people themselves-and here is the only one over which the appointed person has no control-they see in this leader a way of projecting their own needs, not just resolving their problems, onto the national (or international) stage.
Let's not look at the obvious examples of the founders of all the major religions, so that I don't wander into quicksand.
Just look at General Charles de Gaulle. He towered over his contemporaries from the start.
When Winston Churchill courageously flew into the as-yes unoccupied part of France in 1940 to consult with the rump leadership of the supine once-great country, he wrote at the time that only one man impressed him, the hitherto utterly unknown under secretary of Defense, yes, Brigadier de Gaulle, who was soon to fly in a small plane to London to rally his country; Francais et Francaise, he was to repeat over and over, ‘we can overcome'
The miracle called Obama
He saw how he could insert himself into the leadership vacuum and restore the national consciousness of greatness. When France liberated itself (ah, yes, with some little help of the allies, in the greatest operation in the history of mankind, the Normandy invasion), it needed someone to restore faith in itself and did so through the absolute certainty and bull-headedness of de Gaulle.
It was essential that de Gaulle annoy, pester, and drive to distraction those allied leaders, as the emergent leader tried to show that France had done it all itself. France projected its manifest needs onto the towering General.
Now, of course we come to the obvious. Barack Obama it is obvious had long realized his exceptionality.From the moment he licked the opposition for the editorship of the Harvard Law Review-the turning point-he knew he could achieve anything.
But did he have some Enlightenment from on high to take on the mountains themselves-the Clinton machine, the Republican Party, the nation as a whole?
He didn't need it. He saw precisely what he could supply that no one else even dreamed of. How could anyone other than a black offer the guarantee to the massive change the country yearned for?
Because only the astonishment of the election of a black could bring in its train the momentum of change of the magnitude everyone (except the handful of beneficiaries from the pitiful status quo) knew was required to right a nation turned upside down.
It's almost tautological-his own election guaranteed the results he (and the country) sought. And he was smart enough to find precisely the electoral strategy through the primaries and national election to get on a juggernaut to victory.
And now the third part. Everyone is pinching himself. Could it be this good? My my, even John McCain all but admitted Obama's victory was necessary for the national soul.
It's all just too beautiful
Sarah is retreating behind the Alaskan Elk in utter shame. She only has her wardrobe as fig leaf. Africa is a country? Hahahaha.
The world is celebrating. Barack Obama has in one fell swoop erased the Bush humiliation. Yes, it's happening. The nation is projecting its needs on to one man. He's the miracle worker.
Everyone now shares in the jubilation, even hard-core Republicans. Because it's a miracle. Well, a miracle that we can easily disaggregate and explain, almost scientifically.
So the new world hero, someone the whole world can project its needs onto, walks deftly without misstep. Was he born in a manger? No, remember we said here a long time ago that he smokes.
And oh yes, he makes a whopper of a grammatical mistake in his first press conference.
He told how President Bush had invited ‘Michelle and I' to the White House.
For shame, national saviour. Go back to third grade English. He can write a transcendent memoir and blow the object of a verb.
I haven't yet heard even a single nagging criticism. It's all just too beautiful -and Barack Obama turns out to be very human indeed.
PROF W SCOTT THOMPSON is a national security expert who served four American Presidents and is a professor emeritus at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He is the author or editor of 13 books on world political issues and resides in Washington, Bali and Manila "
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