The Crowd Mentality

Obama does draw crowds.
In in the US, political crowds are evocative of Third World countries or the Arab street.

"In these kinds of societies, the crowd comes forth to affirm its faith in a redeemer: a man who would set the world right."

At a time of American distress, Obama's crowds equalize everyone.

"The political genius of the man is that he is a blank slate. The devotees can project onto him what they wish. The coalition that has propelled his quest -- African-Americans and affluent white liberals -- has no economic coherence. But for the moment, there is the illusion of a common undertaking...equality within the crowd. The day after, the crowd will of course discover its own fissures."

"The affluent will have to pay for the programs promised the poor. The redistribution agenda that runs through Mr. Obama's vision is anathema to the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and the hedge-fund managers now smitten with him. Their ethos is one of competition and the justice of the rewards that come with risk and effort."

"All this is shelved, as the devotees sustain the candidacy of a man whose public career has been a steady advocacy of reining in the market and organizing those who believe in entitlement and redistribution."

"There was grudge and a desire for retribution in the crowd to begin with...this election has at its core a desire to settle the unfinished account of the presidential election eight years ago. George W. Bush's presidency remained, for his countless critics and detractors, a tale of usurpation. He had gotten what was not his due..."

"...those vast Obama crowds, though, have recalled for me the politics of charisma that wrecked Arab and Muslim societies. A leader does not have to say much, or be much. The crowd is left to its most powerful possession -- its imagination."