BUYER'S REMORSE – AT 11:16 A.M. ET:  Reader Tom Wharton refers us to a superb piece, from the excellent American Thinker site, by Robert Weissberg, professor of political science, emeritus, at the University of Illinois.

Weissberg reflects on the buyer's remorse felt toward Barack Obama:

In a nutshell, the American public was lead astray by conflating outward appearances -- "he seems so smart" -- with underlying substance -- "he is so smart." What we saw wasn't what we got.

Having spent four decades in top research universities, I questioned Obama's alleged stellar intellectual abilities from the beginning; he is smart, I said, but not that smart. Let me explain. These forty years of teaching and research has taught me that outward appearances do not necessarily signify exceptional intellectual talent. An "A" should never be given to students who just seem smart and faculty accomplishment is certified only by original research defended before knowledgeable peers. These are tough standards and professors regularly encounter seemingly promising students and job candidates who just can't get beyond clever glibness. Happily for over-matched students, however, tutoring or professorial kindness can push them toward a diploma, and when combined with their fine rhetorical skills, the diploma easily impresses non-expert outsiders.

Very well said.

...being a "brilliant speaker" is only one talent of many, and not necessarily critical. It is also a gift that is one of the easiest to acquire via repeated practice, skilled video editing, relying on Teleprompters plus Hollywood-style props. Accomplishment, however, is more difficult to produce. I fondly recall Casey Stengel, "da Old Professa" who between 1949 and 1960 managed the Yankees to seven world championships plus two American League pennants and was famous for 30 minute press conference often consisting of a single rambling incoherent sentence. But try creating that baseball reputation with a Teleprompter.

Ah, Case, we remember him well.  Results, results.

Perhaps the most important lesson about America's buyer's remorse is to recognize the ease of seduction. This is the secret of successful con men: find out what the target craves, and supply it. Obama, or perhaps his advisors, grasped that the American people were tired of George W. Bush's awkward cadences and hungered after a spellbinder bedecked with elite credentials. In a sense, this resembles how Americans rushed to replace Tricky "I am not a crook" Dick Nixon with simple-but-honest Jimmy Carter. As is so often the case in consumer choices, this on-the-rebound emotion-driven embrace of opposites guarantees remorse. Next time, we can hope, the American public will look a little deeper.

COMMENT:  Exellent article, highly recommended, and the best analysis of Barack Obama's superficial appeal that I've read.  Thanks to reader Wharton.

May 14, 2010