Did you fall for Obama's Cult of Personality?

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

No... I appreciate the fact that he tried to speak to a higher level (and I certainly liked hearing it), but that also I knew that he'd have an incredibly hard time getting anything done. This is part of the reason I supported Clinton until it was clear Obama had won. I thought she would have been a more formidable fighter.

But I NEVER considered McCain, I liked him in 2000, but he sucked up to the religious right and chose a train-wreck of a running mate.

[Hatman 🍁]

Never.

Shocking.

[Alcon]

In retrospect, I was a little too optimistic about the possibility for a rational, technocratic administration.  In part, that was because the only administration I'd seen as an adult was the Bush administration.  I've come to appreciate more that effective politics is about leverage.

I don't really remember 'falling' for the hope-and-change stuff, but that didn't really excite me, because I was kind of a boring, clinical 18-year-old.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

No, but I fell for another person's cult of personality in 2008.

Ron Paul?

[opebo]

I can only comment on this from a European perspective but my view was that Obama was considered a pop star, a celebrity, a messiah-like figure who almost made his supporters faint whenever he opened his mouth.

I never met anyone like that, Zuwo.  I suppose you might have mistaken the racial aspect for this.  Even people like my father (since deceased), who grew up in times of absolute racism and discrimination, and was a life-long 'country club Republican', had a warm feeling about voting for Obama.  Basically it just feels good to counteract in some small way with your vote the many generations of horrific abuse which is America.

People voted Obama with their heads because of the way the Republicans had destroyed the country, but with their hearts because of this warm feeling that it was a positive step to vote in someone from one of the subject races.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

I can only comment on this from a European perspective but my view was that Obama was considered a pop star, a celebrity, a messiah-like figure who almost made his supporters faint whenever he opened his mouth.

I never met anyone like that, Zuwo.  I suppose you might have mistaken the racial aspect for this.  Even people like my father (since deceased), who grew up in times of absolute racism and discrimination, and was a life-long 'country club Republican', had a warm feeling about voting for Obama.  Basically it just feels good to counteract in some small way with your vote the many generations of horrific abuse which is America.

People voted Obama with their heads because of the way the Republicans had destroyed the country, but with their hearts because of this warm feeling that it was a positive step to vote in someone from one of the subject races.

I'm gonna be the tool who bumps an old topic, but I just want to mirror ZuWo's sentiments here. In my circles, his description is exactly what it was like. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it was this cult of personality that turned me off of Obama. I was prepared to endorse the guy in the summer of 2007 until I actually watched a debate and realized he was going to lead a bunch of blind folks off a cliff. Not saying anyone here is blind, but I think a lot of non-politicos gave Obama their support without really looking past the charismatic exterior.

[DC Al Fine]

I was/am a Ron Paul supporter, so no.

[Indy Texas 🇺🇦🇵🇸]

No. I had been supporting McCain since after he won the New Hampshire primary. Three things led to me being unable to vote for him:
1. His bizarre behavior following the financial crisis, when he demanded that President Bush meet with him and Senator Obama and then basically contributed nothing to the meeting and didn't even seem to have prepared for it.
2. His picking of Palin. I tried to overlook it but after the Katie Couric interview I couldn't. It wasn't so much the possibility that she'd become president if he died, but the lack of judgment that he showed in picking her. If he made that bad of a choice of his running mate, what kind of people would he have put in his Cabinet or on the Supreme Court?
3. I eventually realized that his entire foreign policy was just warmed-over neoconservatism, and by the final debate I felt like Obama better exemplified realist foreign policy.

[traininthedistance]

Man, I loathe that song.

"Yeah, all leaders suck.  Gandhi is just another smooth-talkin' charlatan, exactly like Joseph Stalin.

No leaders, that's what I say.  Power to the people.  Now pass that joint and don't forget that only Ron Paul can bring us real liberty, man."

...

Anyway.  No.  I actually supported Bill Richardson way back at the beginning of primary season, then switched my allegiance to Obama when he dropped out.  But it was because I thought he was better than the realistic alternatives, not because I thought he was going to magic'n'rainbows fix everything, or have exactly my views, or anything like that.

[Oak Hills]

No, I saw him as a moderate Democratic politician the whole time, and I didn't even decide I preferred him to McCain until the last debate.  I probably would have voted for him if I could have (I was thirteen at the time), but its not like he was the only candidate I was considering even in November. (Actually, I considered candidates ranging from McCain to the Socialist Party's Brian Moore, who ended up being my second choice.)  It wasn't like last year, when I had lost all respect for Romney by June, and was enthusiastic about a third-party candidate (Rocky Anderson).

Also, I couldn't disagree more with the characterization of politicians in the OP.  They are different from each other, and call me naive, but I still think that the majority of them, including both Obama and McCain, are well-intentioned.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

No.  I supported Edwards at first, thought I would vote for Hillary in the primaries, then changed my mind in the voting booth because I thought Obama represented a liberal, progressive direction for the country and I wanted to be part of it.  I voted for him because of his policies... not his personality. 

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Anyone who remembers me in 2008 on the forum knows the answer.

I don't regret it though. Obamania of 2008 was a phenomenon, it was one of those things my generation will always have and that will bind us together. When I voted in 2008 I had to wait in line for 2 1/2 hours, and I've always said it's worth it. The young people in front of me brought up the election and candidates briefly (illegally yes) and it seemed we were all for Obama. So was everyone in my apartment. There was so much solidarity and unity. I'll never forget the time at my caucus too when the vote count tally was announced and Obama's crushing landslide, over 86% of the votes there. Or all the people voting for the first time just to vote for Obama, and being into elections being cool now.

In 2012 as I've said, I waited in line behind the cutest girl present there. I don't think there's much doubt how a hipster looking girl who apparently worked on campus at the university we were voting at and carried a MacBook with a Hello Kitty sticker on it voted for, especially in an 86% Obama precinct. Even though we observed the law this time (though I did give kind of a coded message that I was voting no on the marriage amendment, and got an approving nod in return) we both sort of knew and as we walked out the door together I realized this was a bit of solidarity my generation will always have. I went back to my apartment and a girl was leaving, I asked if she was going to vote, she was, and I also knew she was voting for Obama. I ran by the McDonald's near me and when leaving noticed some blacks in the parking lot with "I VOTED" stickers. I yelled out "OBAMA!" and they all cheered in response. This is a cultural phenomena for my generation that will always be part of what defines us. That silly Lena Dunham ad is actually rather poignant.

[DC Al Fine]

The whole falling in love with a politician is scary on it own. Take BRTD's story for example. All sorts of countries have had that sense of unity, knowing that back in the day they all came together and... voted for Hitler/Mussolini/Orban/Putin etc. There's nothing special or good about it.

[Blackacre]

Loaded question. Not worth answering

[opebo]

I can only comment on this from a European perspective but my view was that Obama was considered a pop star, a celebrity, a messiah-like figure who almost made his supporters faint whenever he opened his mouth.

I never met anyone like that, Zuwo.  I suppose you might have mistaken the racial aspect for this.  Even people like my father (since deceased), who grew up in times of absolute racism and discrimination, and was a life-long 'country club Republican', had a warm feeling about voting for Obama.  Basically it just feels good to counteract in some small way with your vote the many generations of horrific abuse which is America.

People voted Obama with their heads because of the way the Republicans had destroyed the country, but with their hearts because of this warm feeling that it was a positive step to vote in someone from one of the subject races.

I'm gonna be the tool who bumps an old topic, but I just want to mirror ZuWo's sentiments here. In my circles, his description is exactly what it was like. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it was this cult of personality that turned me off of Obama.

What 'cult of personality'?  He was just a nice looking young black man in a suit.  What people had the warm feeling about was that he was black, not him specifically.

I would say, the emotional side of the pro-Obama vote was 90% atonement and 10% 'magical negro'.  Virtually none of it had anything to do with Obama as an individual.

[nolesfan2011]

nope, I didn't trust him back in the primary days.. always felt like a fake to me, and I was right