Can President Obama Lead a "Re-Birth" of the U.S.?

At the end of the day, human nature prevails over lofty ideas, vainglorious notions and religious fervor. Do people intend to go back on their word and show themselves hypocritical? They wouldn't see it that way, because they feel angelic about their sense of human nature or dare I say "delusion" about who they really are. President Obama's call for rolling up our sleeves and taking personal responsibility for the "rebirth" of the United States is ideal, but I wonder if he even believes the feasibility of what he proposes. After all, as a community activist in Chicago, there had to be frustration on his part as to the effectiveness of people who have less "skin in the game" transforming and permanently encouraging the "Have-Nots." I suspect that he opted to become a beacon of hope as an easier means of contributing rather than subject himself and his family to the long, arduous, sacrificial requirements activism often calls for. In the cold dawn of reality, President Obama discovered that he couldn't redeem the people he wanted to serve; they had to redeem themselves. What's different about his role as activist versus his role as president is that he occupies a "win-win" position. If the American people don't do the heavy lifting for their own good, the Obamas won't face the plight of many activists who grow old and delusional from fighting the good fight. With one masterstroke, President Obama has sealed the future fate of generations of Obamas. President Obama opted to do "good and well"--simultaneously. This is the subtext the American people should follow.

Related: Charisma

Has President-Elect Obama Dismantled the Clinton Political Machine?

The fact that the new Obama Administration is attempting to dismantle the Clinton Political Machine, shows how formidable the Clinton Political Machine has become. For the last 30-plus years, the Clintons have successfully created their own political dynasty from the ground up with nothing, but pure idealism and persistency. Collectively, they ruled the Democratic Party in ways that caused rancor inside and outside of the Party. President Clinton's willingness to become more transparent is part of the second act of continuing the Clinton Dynasty. Even if Senator Clinton couldn't become president, her role as Secretary of State, keeps the global relationships President Clinton created over the years alive and well. In a global economy, the perpetuity of dynasties aren't any longer limited to domestic influence, but have international implications. Does decentralizing the Clinton Political Machine make the Clintons stronger or weaker? Like any force to be reckoned with, you can't stop it, you can only contain it. President-elect Obama realizes he can't stop the Clinton Machine, but only contain it long enough to achieve his own goals and aspirations. Will we see an Obama Political Machine emerge? That's exactly what he's doing by layering his Administration with past and present powerful people. Obama is not a visionary in a sense. He is more Machiavellian. Like a crafty fox, he uses cunning to control the ferociousness of lions. His is a story of truncated power, where you use powerful people to shorten the necessary years it generally takes to build empires. Obama is a Pop Culture President where you don't create new ideas, but "remix" and "sample" the originals. After all, if there isn't anything new under the sun, why innovate? Theorists have postulated that whatever has worked in the past will work in the future with a little tweaking.
Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, not only continues the Clinton Dynasty, but also ties Obama's success or failure to her own. Down the line, she can't say, "I was only following orders." With so much riding on any future political aspirations she might have, it behooves her to promote the Obama Administration. For those who are taking careful notes, you are witnessing a new brand of politics and the acquisition of power.

Related: Charisma

Barack Obama: Is He The Messiah?

There is no doubt that President-elect Barack Obama's ascension on the world stage is unique and incredible, but to look for past omens as if his birth was the "Immaculate Conception " is a stretch. Obama's opportunities definitely aren't reminiscent for what's typical of a one-parent household in the United States. To be schooled in Hawaii and Indonesia aren't the experiences of upper class Whites in America, let alone one with African blood coursing through his veins.

It was these experiences less the baggage of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton that encouraged 61% of the votes by Whites cast for Obama . There was nothing in Jackson's or Sharpton's past that suggests they could claim to be a "President for All Americans" with a straight face. When Obama claimed egalitarianism, his DNA was proof positive of his position. He used his mixed race parentage, in what would be typically a negative in Black and White Communities, as an asset. The genius of Obama's presidential campaign was that he turned all the negatives into positives. The Civil Rights campaign for the last 40 years had worked in ways Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. couldn't have dreamed. Obama is a combination of extraordinary parenting, post-Civil Rights activism and a changed society, not to mention a frustrated one under the Bush Administration.

Let's not look into the stars for some miracle within President Obama. Miracles and supernatural beliefs tend to taint the idea of human potential. Looking to celestial matter for human potential robs us of full responsibility and participation from what manifests through our hearts and mind. Shakespeare's dictum, "The fault of men lies not in our stars…but in ourselves," goes for our greatness as well as our shortcomings.

Related: Charisma

Is Barack Obama A Cult Figure?

There are various factors that may occur that set forth the conditions best suited for charismatic leadership. First, people have to be fearful and hopeless about current conditions. Secondly, the solutions to the social ills have to correlate with the populous' experience and optimistic feelings about itself. The solution should tap more into the emotional rather than logical region of the psyche. It is at this point where details don't matter. The leader must tap into the emotional heartstrings of adherents and create the logic as they go along. Philosopher Thomas Carlyle noted that people seemed to be hard-wired for "Hero Worship." In this instance, Obama's ascension is a bit different than the normal development of cults. Normally, cults transform paradigms by: Isolating the individual, disorienting him through confusion or fear, retraining through reframing thoughts and experiences to correlate with a new paradigm and reinforcement by gathering old adherents with the new charge. The zeal within Obama adherents is more of what was already there as opposed to what was put there. The Obama craze is a reflection of economic upheaval, America's lackluster position in the world, two major concurrent wars and a pessimism about civilization as it currently exists. If anything, the Obama Camp has done as excellent job of identifying the visceral feelings of Americans and created a campaign to cure what hurts them emotionally and psychically.

Related: Charisma