Sanchez: Woods, Obama talk no more than claptrap

By Mary Sanchez

In their weighty meditations on the year that was, many pundits have latched onto a coincidence they endow with much significance: Two of the nation's most respected men of color, both talented superstars who were able to inspire the adulation of millions, have turned out to be not quite who they seemed, and have in fact profoundly disenchanted their erstwhile worshippers and sullied their own “brands” forevermore.

Of course, the most striking thing about the travails of Tiger Woods and of President Barack Obama is that they share literally nothing in common - other than the fact that the protagonist in each case is a media-savvy, congenial biracial man.

Nonetheless, here is conservative writer Lisa Schiffren on AmericanThinker.com: “If I were watching the public's disgust with the newly revealed Tiger Woods from an office in the West Wing, I'd be concerned. Because Barack Obama is about as completely manufactured a political character as this nation has seen. His meteoric rise, without the inconvenience of a public record or accomplishments, and the public's willing suspension of critical evaluation of his resume allowed his handlers and the media to project whatever they wanted to on his unfurrowed brow.”

This specious kind of zeitgeist journalism sadly is not limited to the president's conservative detractors. More recently, New York Times columnist Frank Rich noted that liberals and conservatives seem to be “coalescing around the suspicion that Obama's brilliant presidential campaign was as hollow as Tiger's public image - a marketing scam designed to camouflage either his covert anti-American radicalism (as the right sees it) or spineless timidity (as the left sees it).”

As for Woods, what can be said that hasn't been said already in the tabloids and by the late-night comedians? There is nothing the slightest bit tragic about his fall from grace - which is in reality merely a fall in advertising income. Whatever becomes of his family, Woods will soon enough unceremoniously rejoin the golf tour and re-enter the world of ad pitching (albeit with a twist on his now besmirched image). Bank on it.

As for the president - seriously, people, get some new material. Didn't we get our fill of this Messiah/Manchurian Candidate malarkey during the campaign? Even the birthers finally have given up.

Is Obama's drop in popularity polls really that alarming? Conservative leaders in and out of government made it clear early in his presidency that they were hoping for his failure, spoiling to give him his “Waterloo.” And what has happened? They have put their words into action.

Obama campaigned on change, not easy fixes. Consider the health care legislation that, as of this writing, is only barely likely to squeak past a Republican filibuster. Is it conceivable that the Republican Senate minority - plus the handful of Democratic and independent prima donnas who have been their handmaidens - would have greeted a bill dictated by the administration any more cordially?

No. And expect the same drama to be played out when it comes time for the Senate to address bank regulation reform and immigration reform and any other legislation of consequence.

If any voter actually believed Obama could banish racism from existence, end two wars, pull the economy from recession, find every under- and unemployed person a job, solve global warming, calm Iran and arrange a romantic date with the wife every Friday night - will that Pollyanna voter please stand up? Science might develop a vaccine for your unstable condition.

There are 100 elected officials who hold the power to enact the political reforms this country badly needs - or to stand in the way and perpetuate gridlock. They are the members of the United States Senate. As long as they empower a minority to block the majority's legislation, no president will ever be able to live up to his or her campaign promises. Bank on it.

n Comments: msanchez@kcstar.com