Something is Wrong.

Within the Internet community, it is called the "Piped Piper" effect.  Effective mass communication has always had the "Hanging Sword of Damocles" over its head.

Used correctly, the Wisdom of the Crowds will offer extraordinary benefits..."large groups of people are smarter than an elite few, no matter how brilliant—better at solving problems, fostering innovation, coming to wise decisions, even predicting the future. " James Surowiecki.   Used incorrectly, justifying the acts of a single leader in the name of the wisdom of the crowds, the "Piped Piper effect would ensue.

What you are sensing is the fear that Obama is going to turn out to be a Piped Piper rather than actually allowing his 13-million member strong Internet organization to actually have its own voice, to actually speak and to be accurately heard in a transparent and verifiable manner -- a frightening prospect, indeed.

ex animo

davidfarrar

Have you already forgotten 1980? 

Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, But to be young was very heaven!

This is the first time since then that we've had a transfer of presidentical power from one party to the other wherein the newcomer had a clear mandate. Then as now, the national mood is one of discontent with the situation at home and abroad, with the conviction that the blame for heading off on the wrong course lies squarely with the outgoing president. And, then as now, there is also a conviction that the newcomer will be on the side of the common man, and that is what is needed to right the ship of state.

Good points, NRN.  I see the same parallels.  I also don't see any great harm in anticipation of new beginnings and IIRC with Reagan, we did in fact move into a better time. 

Another possible factor:  the overwhelming presence of the media and 24-hour 'news' shows that drive the need to identify and sensationalize just about anything and everything to keep people coming back -- to me it seems that bad news is always in our faces these days.  It's easy for people to think today's problems are more serious or prevalent than in the past because they're relentlessly ever-present.  Back in the day (dating myself here!), when a broadcast network interrupted programming with 'breaking news' it was generally to report an extraordinary event. Now, people are getting 'breaking news' alerts all day, everyday.  I wonder if that contributes to a generalized sense of anxiety and 'sky is falling' thinking?  My mother is 82 and lived through some very difficult times -- the Depression, loss of friends and family during WWII -- and even she falls prey to today's media's hyping of every last local crime and lurking 'danger'.  I tell her not to watch so much TV and to remember that the very fact they consider it 'news' is because it is something that doesn't happen to most people or very often.  If all this travail and tragedy were happening to almost all of us, most of the time, it wouldn't be 'news', right?  I think younger people are also more susceptible to the fearmongering from all sides -- they lack the perpsective to put it in context and, often, the personal experience of going through hard times and living to tell about it.  But they are hopeful by nature (and need), so I'm not surprised the Obama message resonated strongly with them, in the same way Reagan's did.

What has he done to warrant this frenzied exaltation, other than to simply exist?

Give a bunch of speeches, and that's it.  At least Reagan was governor of a state for 8 years.  The truly scary part is that given all of this pure idolatry that's going on here, Obama could be the next Mussolini if he wanted to.  I fear for my country.  I really do.

Bright guys, those Founding Fathers

I'm not sure this isn;t just uber stupid celebrity groupthink at work.   It's like the Joe McCarthy era where outside Hollywood everyone was trying to outdo one another with how patriotic and anti-communist they were; the irony the show biz types can't see is they are going to whip themselves into the same frenzy.