Glenn Harlan Reynolds aka Instapundit likens Barack Obama to fictional Spinal Tap guitarist, Nigel Tufnel in his latest Examiner column. The comparison is humorous and on point; unfortunately, there's a deeper, far more damaging aspect to it with implications for what's commonly called the Free World
But I have a different character in mind. The more I watch this administration at work, the more I think we're seeing the first Nigel Tufnel presidency.
Nigel Tufnel, many will remember, was the fictitious heavy metal guitarist in the fictional "rockumentary" "This Is Spinal Tap." In a classic scene, he displays his guitar collection and his special amplifier that -- unlike all other amplifiers in existence -- has knobs that go all the way up to 11, instead of just 10.
Obama was elevated to high office as something of an allegedly talented soloist of the orchestrated Left. In some ways, it was an advancement of the false premise that popular entertainers, be they musicians, actors, or actresses, or whatever, somehow possess skills, knowledge, insight and abilities far beyond their expertise. Ultimately, his appeal really was more rock star, than statesmen-like, was it not? It sure did play well at colleges, where students, like other demographics, have since largely abandoned him. But where does that leave America and the world, now? In some ways, I'm afraid it leaves said Free World looking a bit leaderless in perilous times.
But here's where the analogy fails. In the movie, Tufnel's career was ultimately, saved by a surge of popularity in Japan. Obama, on the other hand, has pursued policies that seem to make America likely to suffer Japan's fate, a decade or more of economic stagnation coupled with massive growth in government debt.
For Spinal Tap, luck produced a happy ending to a humorous story of ineptitude and decline. Can Obama expect similar luck? Sadly, such happy endings are far easier for Hollywood than for Washington.
Unfortunately, I fear this phenomenon is as much cultural, as it is, political. Today at Big Hollywood and with help from the Washington Post, I took Sean Penn to task for his ficticious handling of the Valerie Plame affair in Fair Game - an allegedly major motion picture.
Nigel Tufnel is a fictional character. Barack Obama's suitability for high office may have been, but the man himself is not - nor are the consequences of his having been elected. It will take more than simply ratcheting back the volume of big government to get America back once again humming the traditional individual liberty-inspired melody of genuinely free market capitalism and democracy that has served to make it so great. And it will take more than elections.
Whether or not the tough times we now face result in America and Americans putting aside a soft sort of bread and circuses fiction to face sometimes unpleasant facts and realities so as to take responsibility for what we've traditionally been, have become and may yet want to be in the future is unclear. But at least, thanks in large part to new media with its new voices being elevated above the fray, I thank God there is at least a chance.
