Today, we ushered in a new era of American history. A new president, and the first African-American one at that. Hope and change are in the air. Can a smell it? I bet almost everyone can. But what if President-Elect Obama is just a victim of the hype?


Part 1: On the Mirror’s Edge
I’m sure most of Obama’s constituents first fell in love with him when he gave his “There are no blue states, there are no red states” keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in 2004. It was something fresh. Something new. It was a first glimpse into a promising future. Based on this one speech, the political world was abuzz.

Remember that 30-second concept trailer for Mirror’s Edge that caused murmurs of GotY across the web? Do ya? See any parallels?


Part 2: Working the system
Obama ran his campaign in a new way. He harnessed the power of the Internet. Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes was hired as a key component of his web development and the social networking on BarackObama.com brought thousands of supporters together. Fan videos such as “I Got a Crush… On Obama” garnered millions of hits.

Remember the Super Smash Bros. Dojo? Remember clamoring for the daily updates and fan tributes? Do ya? I’ll let it sink in…


Part 3: Different but the same
A lot of people were excited when Call of Duty: World at War was announced. It was running off of the same engine as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and it looked hella slick. The final product turned out to just be derivative. Copying CoD4’s multiplayer system but adding nothing new, and copying Halo’s game-modifying skulls in the form of death cards. It wasn’t terrible, but it was derivative. Many complained that it was just CoD4 reskinned.

Isn’t Barack Obama just the other Presidents but reskinned? Isn’t that just like a Mortal Kombat-esque palate swap?


Part 4: All aboard the hype train
Today, people cried during the inauguration. Aretha fucking Franklin performed. Projections estimated the turnout to be over 2 million people.

And Obama hasn’t done a single thing in office.


Barack Obama, just like Mirror’s Edge, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Call of Duty: World at War before him, cannot possibly live up to our lofty expectations. He is destined to the bargain bin, despite admirable 7/10 approval ratings from the press.