A couple months ago I asked whether or not Barack Obama’s sonorous voice resembled the Voice of Saruman in its power to enthrall and persuade. (You can get the full geek here.) But now geektastic reader B.G. sends in a note wondering if Obama’s latest bitter/cling problems don’t also have an eerie parallel with the Saruman we see after the Battle of Orthanc:
After Saruman was imprisoned in Orthanc, his only remaining power lay in his Voice, but it was his undoing to have to use that power in front of a wider audience. He would direct the power of his Voice first to one listener and then to another, with varying degrees of success, but others who witnessed his conversation saw through the trick and were unswayed. Here’s Gandalf speaking with Merry about the encounter: “He will have guessed, surely?” said Merry. “Were they likely to end any other way?” “Not likely,” answered Gandalf, “though they came to the balance of a hair. But I had reasons for trying; some merciful and some less so. First Saruman was shown that the power of his voice was waning. He cannot be both tyrant and counselor. When the plot is ripe it remains no longer secret. Yet he fell into the trap, and tried to deal with his victims piece-meal, while others listened.” Now Obama has fallen into the same trap as Saruman–speaking to an audience in San Francisco, belittling rubes in fly-over country. Unfortunately, for him, others listened.
Is there anything Dungeons & Dragons can’t teach us?
