PrintJuly 2, 2008
The Lighter Side of Obama
More than halfway through one of the grimmest elections in the history of the US presidency, we gratefully snatch at any source of innocent merriment we can find. Fortunately, there is something intrinsically ridiculous about Obama's retinue of starstruck devotees. Even "Saturday Night Live", hardly a bastion of conservatism, has snickered at the slavish pandering of the media. And the hyperbolic praise of his devoted adherents verges on, or even wallows in, silliness. Younger critics may liken Obama and his followers to a rock star surrounded by groupies. But I'm inclined to hark back to Victorian models of esthetic gurus, such as Oscar Wilde, with their bevies of gushingly adoring females. These were parodied in Gilbert and Sullivan's "Patience", wherein Bunthorne the poet has his entourage of "twenty love-sick maidens". If you think I'm exaggerating the resemblance , consider Bunthorne's soliloquy (wherein I've changed only two...(Read Full Article)
