first of all why would i, serb i south africa, care about barack obama. there are few reasons:

it is super scary that people are so obsessed with one individual. never in the history of the humanity has one individual had such scary super organized media access to billions world wide. it really is scary. such uniformity, such design, such calculation. and most scary is that people worldwide, of course, react to it.

after having a one idiot after another (clinton who fucked up my part of the world, and than bush who fucked another part of the world) i can not really blame anyone to be in love with barack obama. he is like a fresh lemonade after 8 years of headache. few billion people have been so disappointed by past usa president’s general lack of humanity, basic education and wish to understand anything beyond temporary profits, that anyone seeming human must be super loved.

but it is dangerous that one guy is so loved.

who is this guy anyway – barack obama. all i can see is a well organize campaign. obviously great branding and advertising project. he is a natural with media and such stuff, he knows what to say and when to smile, he is likable and says the right things. above described situation makes it easy for him.

however he deals with super abstract terms like hope and good and change. these words mean nothing in reality but i can just see some branding / ad / pr guy thinking it all up, how people will react to it.

barack obama is a good marketing campaign, and unlike detergents and soft drinks, he has no competition, so he can pretty much take it as far as he wants.

but, as i was reading the latest economist, he is starting to fuck up. standards set by uncontrolled marketing and probably not possible to reach.

it is my impression that within next one or two years it will be clear that there is a big difference between his marketing and reality. after all usa presidents are usa presidents – they are politicians with very clear goals which have not changed for centuries. one should not expect a wolf to be a sheep or sheep to be a wolf.

i have nothing against politics, usa or presidents, but i am always scared by huge centralization of emotional focus on one individual. whoever controls that one individual has the power.