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Noemie Emery: Barack Obama is so last season
By: Noemie Emery
Examiner Columnist
December 2, 2009

For Barack Obama, the magic is gone. He's here, but the glamour has vanished. He still talks, but few people appear to be listening. ...

The base remained loyal, but three other subgroups had become disenchanted. "The thrill is gone," said E.J. Dionne, who seemed at a loss as to where it had gone to. In the interests of clarity, and of diagnosis, let us attempt to explain.

There was one group that fell for Obama the Moderate, the man who kept his head (or appeared to) in the financial meltdown last autumn, the temperamental conservative who seemed incremental, the one David Brooks would call "Burkean." Unfortunately, the temperamental conservative turned out to be an ideological radical, intent on ramming through on a narrow majority (and against the wishes of most of the country) a massive redo of the health care delivery system, an immense stack of paper that no one has read.

There was a second that fell for Obama the Story, the half-African waif, whose rise to the leadership of a powerful, once-slave-holding nation was the matter of legend, and tears. He was Reaganesque, he was JFK Redux, a figure of glamour and eloquence.

But Reagan and Kennedy saw themselves as temporary custodians of a tradition older and bigger than they were, and thought they were lucky to serve it. Obama seems to think he is doing the country a favor by gracing it. ...

Then there's the third group, perhaps the most painful, which is the young voters, who fell for Obama the Fad. ...

Obama was sold less as a pol than a fashion accessory, which is how the young bought him. It didn't hurt that he looked like the models in catalogs. He was so young and so hip, and so trendy and slender. ...

Well, quite a lot. As any fashionista will tell you, the problem with being this year's "in" fashion is that sooner or later, you're out. ...

Everyone knows what happens to fashions that go out of style: They get shoved on a rack to the back of the closet, and slide in a heap to the floor.