Thanks for your thoughtful reply, Bill. I've compiled a bunch of counter-references, some statistical, some rhetorical, some anecdotal. If you have the patience to skim it, you might be interested.
Bill: Public opinion polling confirms that support for Pres. Obama [is] still posting numbers double his predecessor's, but not exactly evidence of a growing cult of personality.
Which poll? Double his predecessor at the same point of their term? Not so.
_____Poll: Obama Seen as Greater Failure than Bush Friday, August 7, 2009 2:57 PM A new CNN poll shows that more Americans consider the first six months of President Barack Obama’s administration worse than the same time period of his predecessor, former President George Bush. When asked whether they thought the first six months of Obama’s tenure in office has been a success or a failure, 37 percent responding to the poll released Friday said they believe it was a failure. After Bush’s first six months in office, a similar CNN poll from August of 2001 showed only 32 percent considered it to be a failure. http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/obama_failure_poll/2009/08/07/245354.html
_____ August 6th, 2009After 6 Months, More View Obama's Presidency as a 'Failure' Than Bush's A rather surprising finding from the newly released CNN poll. Question three on the national survey of 1,136 adults (which includes an oversample of African-Americans) asks, "Do you consider the first six months of the Obama administration to be a success or a failure?" Thirty-seven percent (37%) said they believe the Obama administration is a "failure," while 51% consider it a "success" and 11% say it's still "too soon to tell." An identical question was asked of the Bush administration in an August 2001 CNN/Gallup/USA Today survey. At the time, 56% said the Bush administration was a "success" while only 32% considered it a "failure." http://realclearpolitics.blogs.time.com/2009/08/06/after-6-months-more-view-obamas-presidency-as-a-failure-than-bushs/
____Gallup polls say the same thing at : http://www.gallup.com/poll/116479/Barack-Obama-Presidential-Job-Approval.aspx
_____Bill: Of course, polling also tells us something about those who believe that the Obama Administration [insane partisan anti-Obama nonsense]
On the other hand, "the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 31% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty percent (40%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -9 (see trends)." http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll
Bill: how might one measure such things as "there is a growing fear"?
____Similarly, "Sixty-seven percent (67%) of voters nationwide believe Washington politics is likely to become more partisan over the coming year. That figure is up sharply from 55% a month ago and from 40% when President Barack Obama first took office." http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/partisan_politics
_____An advertising age correspondent noticed the cult tendency early in the campaign:
Wheaton: Barack Obama Building a Cult?I've said it before, and I'll say it again: When it comes to building a brand, Obama and his team are leaving the competition in the dust. (And to be clear, I've also said before I'm not an Obama supporter.) But there's a fine line between establishing a corps of brand ambassadors and building a cult. And there's something exceedingly *creepy* [emphasis mine -EY] about Obama's growing fan base. Say what you will about John McCain's followers, but people aren't building shrines, producing slick videos or giving the candidate a free pass for changing his mind on issues by which he defined himself. (McCain's taken as much heat from disgruntled Republicans as he has from Democrats.)
http://adage.com/campaigntrail/post?article_id=129487 _____ Then there's The Obama cult http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14082968IN JANUARY 2007 Mike Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas, said he was running for president to revive “our national soul”. He was not alone in taking an expansive view of presidential responsibilities. With the exception of Ron Paul, all the serious candidates waxed grandiloquent about their aims. John McCain said he modelled himself on Teddy Roosevelt, a man who “nourished the soul of a great nation”. Hillary Clinton lamented that America had no goals, and offered to supply some. And let us not forget the man they all sought to replace, George Bush, who promised, among other things, to “rid the world of evil”. Appalled by such hubris, a libertarian scholar called Gene Healy wrote “The Cult of the Presidency”, a book decrying the unrealistic expectations Americans have of their presidents. The book was written while Barack Obama’s career was still on the launch pad, yet it describes with uncanny prescience the atmosphere that allowed him to soar.
_____For laughs, there is the extremist lefty DailyKos offering
What would Barack Obama do? http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/24/607178/-What-would-Barack-Obama-do _____This site collects PR images of Obama to show the not-so-subtle associations:
http://obamamessiah.blogspot.com/ _____ This right-wing site compiles examples of Obama cult: Beware the Cult of Obama http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10082 ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
