Obama & the Bangalore rhetoric

Its almost nauseating to see the likes of Joe Klein fawning over President Obama. Listen to this, 'Perhaps Obama's most dramatic departure from the recent past is his public presence: cool where George W. Bush seemed hot, fluent where Bush seemed tongue-tied, palliative rather than hortative.'

Yeah, Obama's got a glib tongue. When was that a hallmark of leadership? Note that its that very glib tongue that utters such irresponsible statements as the one he made on Bangalore, (quote on US' current taxation system), "It's a tax code that says you should pay lower taxes if you create a job in Bangalore, India, than if you create one in Buffalo, New York."

What have been the reactions to the Obama rhetoric? Note Atulya Sarin, a professor of finance at Santa Clara University. "It's a bad idea from the word go," said Sarin, who has consulted with the Internal Revenue Service and with Fortune 100 companies on international tax issues. "Increasing these taxes will reduce after-tax profits, which will reduce incentives. Right now, the administration should be helping Silicon Valley maintain its competitive edge, not making it less so. I hope saner minds will prevail."

Saner minds won't prevail because the Obama presidency is about rhetorical popularity contests. What Joe Klein terms as 'cool' is actually a demonstration of a desire to be popular. That's not what leaders are made of. The contrast in this context is President Bush, the very man Joe Klein riles. I am not surprised at what I hear in the mainstream media about Obama, both in the US. and in India. After all, they too have never been capable of objective analysis, just like the one they fawn over.