Brand X

Daniel Greenfield of Sultan Knish has penned another insightful article.  This time it's about how the election in 2008 demonstrated that our current electorate was swayed not by issues but by a 'brand:'

Obama did not have an aspirational candidacy, he had an aspirational brand. A brand that people wanted to be a part of, because it made them feel good about themselves. And so we learned that there is indeed something worse than Bread and Circuses. An electorate that votes on that is at least somewhat capable of using self-interest to make judgments, but one that votes for the brand that feels good has abandoned even the vestiges of reason and self-interest. Such people are no longer exercising their power over government, instead they have become customers, buying a product that they have no say in how it gets made or what goes in there. Not because they need it, but because they have been programmed to feel good when buying it.

Read the entire article here. And then ask yourself if the past four years will have been enough of a reality check to keep people from buying Brand X again.