A member of the Clampett family on “The Beverly Hillbillies” TV series, Jethro styled himself a highly sophisticated and clever sort because of his sixth grade education. His attempts to demonstrate this inevitably resulted in disaster and led his exasperated Uncle Jed to say “I'm gonna have to have a loooooong talk with that boy.”
The Jethro Bodine moment for the Obama campaign came when The New Yorker's cover depicted Barack Obama as a Muslim and his wife as a machine gun-toting militant standing in the Oval Office with a picture of Osama bin Laden on the wall and an American flag burning in the fireplace. A very liberal magazine, The New Yorker's intention was to satirize rumors spread by the Right that Obama is a Muslim, his wife an America-hating radical, etc. The magazine was attempting to help Obama with a subtle dig at his worst enemies that would burnish its credentials as a sophisticated publication of the Left.
Rather than being praised for its subtlety and sophistication The New Yorker was savaged by the Obama campaign and many others for repeating what are considered by politicially correct society to be scurrilous rumors and innuendo.
Why did the Obama campaign and so many others - especially on the Left - take offense at a magazine cover? After all, these rumors failed to prevent Obama from beating Hillary Clinton and the rest of the Democrats running for their party's nomination. They have not prevented him from taking and holding the lead in the polls over John McCain and - barring anything unforeseen - are unlikely to prevent him from winning in November.
Because the cover and what it sought to satirize attacks the image Obama has carefully cultivated and that could be disastrous for his presidential ambitions. No politician in my lifetime has been more dependent on their image than Obama. His record as a state legislator and U.S. Senator is meager at best and almost non-existent at worst. His years in office have been distinguished primarily by his efforts to promote his favorite cause - himself. That's not unusual for a politician, but Obama has little beyond the image he's promoted over the past four years to offer the American people.
Obama's first burst into the national consciousness with his speech at the 2004 Democratic convention in which he brought a message of hope of an America more united than divided. That speech and subsequent variations made Obama the first truly inspiring political figure in the Democratic party since John F. Kennedy.
Another boost for Obama was his Christmas message which featured him, his wife, and their two daughters wishing everyone a traditional “Merry Christmas” and a politically correct “Happy Holidays.” It was warm, charming and far more endearing than Clinton's crass government programs under the tree commercial. Where Obama was seen as a loving and devoted family man, Clinton came off as hack politician panhandling for votes. The contrast was stunning and helped shape voters attitudes in the month that followed.
This brings us to Obama's third strength - he isn't Hillary Clinton. For a lot of people that was justification enough to give him the Democratic nomination.
These three images - or perhaps we should say two images and one incontrovertible fact - have carried Obama quite far. They have also helped blunt the impact of the rumors and innuendo that continue to swirl around him. The New Yorker's attempt at (half) wit helped give those rumors and innuendo a new lease on life, however short-lived it may be.
Even worse from the Obama campaign's perspective, however, is that the cover is a reminder that we know little about who Obama is beyond the image of the last four years. What we've learned about the politician behind the image of the charismatic uniter and reformer suggests that he may not be as insipring and inspirational as we'd hoped.
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