Triumph of the Will

Come Tuesday, we will find if the American Constitution can withstand another wave of progressive liberal politics. The First Reich of progressive liberalism would have to be the administration of FDR and his New Deal. The Second Reich would be LBJ and his Great Society. The Third Reich is likely to be ushered in by a Barack Obama presidency. Indeed the campaign of Barack Obama has had many haunting similarities to Hitler’s own rise to power. I didn’t make this connection until I started hearing about the documercial that Barack Obama had paid for last week. I expect politicians to be megalomaniacal (especially presidential candidates), but only few politicians have had the egocentric gall to make a fully produced film about themselves that could be described as “a highly competent, professional, virtuoso performance.” This description comes from ABC’s George Stephanopoulos used to describe Obama’s ode to himself.

The following passage comes from the wikipedia entry on Triumph of the Will:

“[Triumph of the Will is] the supreme visualisation in cinematic form of the Nazi political religion. Its artistry, reinforced by the grandeur and power of the Nuremberg decor, is designed to sweep us into empathetic identification with Hitler as a kind of human deity. The massive spectacle of regimentation, unity and loyalty to the Führer powerfully conveys the message that the Nazi movement was the living symbol of the reborn German nation.” — Professor Robert Wistrich

Compare professor Wistrich’s description of Hitler’s movie to Stephanopoulos’ praise for Obama’s movie:

“It was all designed to get voters comfortable with the idea of Barack Obama in the Oval Office, that he is embedded in the lives of average Americans, and knows exactly what they’re going through.

Obama even appeared in a facsimile of the White House Oval Office during the infomercial. Every single line during that 30 minutes was something that the campaign knows works and appeals to those undecided voters.

What you saw here was a highly competent, professional, virtuoso performance. The fact that they could go 28 minutes in and hit live to a campaign rally in Florida and right down to the final Obama Biden logo even showed a rising sun. One of the things the campaign knows is that the most optimistic presidential candidate always wins.”

Of course, Triumph of the Will is the highly controversial film by Leni Riefenstahl that became one of the key pieces of propaganda responsible for Hitler’s rise to power.  Obama’s movie was directed by one of our day’s greatest propogandists, Davis Guggenheim.  You would probably recognize his name from An Inconvenient Truth, if Al Gore had taken all the possible credit available for the production of that piece of propoganda.

Yes We Can

The irony is that although both Obama and Hitler used similar tactics to come to power, the respective ideologies that they personify are polar negatives of each other:

-Hitler’s movie was called Triumph of the Will and was a Nitszchean call to arms announcing the need of national sacrifice.

Obama’s movie should be called Triumph of Passivity. Obama’s candidacy idealizes the act of not taking a stand on anything. Although Hitler and Obama come from completely different ideological places, their ideas end up at the same philosophical conclusion: Both Hitler’s and Obama’s political agendas suggest that we give up our independence and individuality and become servile members of a paternalistic state government.

-Triumph of the Will is in many regards a messianic text. Obama’s campaign has certainly been guilty of blatant, unadulterated messianism.

-One of the great symbols in Triumph of the Will is Hitler campaigning around Germany in his airplane as part of his Hitler Over Germany campaign:

Hitler over Germany

Of course the media has been sure to provide us with plenty of footage of Obama campaigning across the world in O-Force One.

O-force One

-Triumph of the Will is filled with Hitler’s speeches about national purification (i.e. establishment of Aryan racial superiority). Obama’s campaign has been filled with speeches about national purification (i.e. idealization and establishment of the equally racist tenets of progressive multiculturalism).

-the ending of both films are hauntingly familiar with images of large crowds enraptured beyond reason.

Ultimately, I recognize that Obama and Hitler are completely different politicians. However, the way that each rose to power provides discomforting similarities. I also don’t think you can blame Obama or Hitler for acquiescing to the worship of their faithful acolytes. However, the knowledge that so much power is in the hands of those who have been blinded by idealism is a troubling development.

Another blog coming to the same conclusion