Andrew Ferguson writing in the Weekly Standard:

What is unmistakable is the creepy kind of solipsism and the air of self-congratulation that clings to his campaign. “There is something happening,” he says in stump speeches. And what’s happening? “Change is happening.” How so? “The reason our campaign has been different is about what you, the people who love this country, can do to change it.” And the way to change it is to join the campaign, which, once you join it, will change America. Because this is our moment. The time is now. Now is the time. Yes, we can. We bring change to the campaign because the campaign is about change. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. Obama and his followers are perfecting postmodern reflexivity. It’s a campaign that’s about itself. The point of the campaign is the campaign…

On his website the videos of his most acclaimed speeches have proved much more popular than the transcripts. As a candidate he fits a public that prefers the sensation of words to the words themselves. His speeches are meant to be succumbed to rather than thought about.

But what if you do think about them?

That’s where Obama runs into a problem, I think.  His campaign isn’t about policy, it’s about emotion.  Republican or Democrat, I think we can all agree that the American public is pretty fed up with politicians in general.  Which primes them perfectly for a campaign about “change.” Unfortunately, not many of the people buying into that campaign are asking what “change” concept Obama is selling actually means in terms of policy.

But that’s almost par for the course with the American public in general these days.  It seems that far too often we as citizens feel things instead of think them.  For instance, we feel like “big oil” is ripping us off but the reality is that it’s big government’s taxes and regulations on the oil industry that are ripping us off.  We feel like the economy is tanking, but the truth is that we are as a nation more prosperous now than we’ve ever been.

The media and the politicians like to treat us like mushrooms: They feed us crap and keep us in the dark.  Which is perfect for them - all the better to manipulate us - but not so great for us.

Which is why we need to think and not feel.