Encha\u00eenant sur notre pr\u00e9c\u00e9dente Br\u00e8ves de crise<\/em> concernant Dick Cheney (ce m\u00eame 11 mars 2014<\/a>), voici une autre personnalit\u00e9 dont l’action et le caract\u00e8re sont int\u00e9ressants \u00e0 observer comme compl\u00e9mentaires<\/strong> \u00e0 l’autre extr\u00eame du m\u00eame Cheney. Il s’agit du pr\u00e9sident Barack Hussein Obama, dans toute sa majest\u00e9. Invit\u00e9 par Tom Engelhardt sur son site TomDispatch.com<\/em>, le commentateur et auteur David Browich fait un portrait d’Obama sous un titre sybillin, \u00abThe Voice : How Obama Became a Publicist for His Presidency (Rather Than the President)<\/em>\u00bb (le 10 mars 2014<\/a>), et que Engelhardt pr\u00e9sente de cette fa\u00e7on, apr\u00e8s avoir \u00e9voqu\u00e9 son action en Ukraine : \u00abHere, too, for all the sound and fury signifying little, Obama seems to have been trumped by Putin. The president’s inability to get much of significance done, no matter the topic, has become legendary. In this, he may be the perfect symbol of our age. His is a presidency in a time of decline…<\/em>\u00bb<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \tBrowich fait d’Obama une sorte de roi sans investissement, sans la moindre implication r\u00e9elle, sans la moindre responsabilit\u00e9, adepte de la fonction et \u00e9tranger \u00e0 la charge, bref, une sorte de roi avec divertissement, pour paraphraser le titre du livre de Giono, dont le divertissement se r\u00e9sumerait \u00e0 jouir de la pompe et du d\u00e9corum de la fonction, et rien d’autre… Voici le d\u00e9but du texte de Browich dont le reste consiste \u00e0 d\u00e9montrer d’une fa\u00e7on convaincante la th\u00e8se qu’il a ainsi expos\u00e9e.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00abLike many days, March 3rd saw the delivery of a stern opinion by President Obama. To judge by recent developments in Ukraine, he said, Russia was putting itself on the wrong side of history. This might seem a surprising thing for an American president to say. The fate of Soviet Communism taught many people to be wary of invoking History as if it were one’s special friend or teammate. But Obama doubtless felt comfortable because he was quoting himself. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, he said in his 2009 inaugural address, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist. In January 2009 and again in March 2014, Obama was speaking to the world as its uncrowned leader.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbFor some time now, observers a surprisingly wide range of them — have been saying that Barack Obama seems more like a king than a president. Leave aside the fanatics who think he is a tyrant of unparalleled powers and malignant purpose. Notions of that sort come easily to those who look for them; they are predigested and can safely be dismissed. But the germ of a similar conclusion may be found in a perception shared by many others. Obama, it is said, takes himself to be something like a benevolent monarch — a king in a mixed constitutional system, where the duties of the crown are largely ceremonial. He sees himself, in short, as the holder of a dignified office to whom Americans and others may feel naturally attuned.<\/em>\u00bb<\/p>\n<\/p>\n