Hobbes's Leviathan and the 2008 Obama presidential election

Election Results - President Barak Obama

Hobbes makes an interesting claim in his work, Leviathan. Discussing the imperfections of man as social creatures and the government that may best give rise to mankind's benefit, he says, "The only way to erect such a common power...and thereby to secure them in such sort as that by their own industry and by the fruits of the earth they may nourish themselves and live contentedly, is to confer all their power and strength upon one man" (Hobbes, 3). To some degree, this occurred during the elections this past Tuesday. McCain still won a sizeable portion of the vote, so it is not as though the entire country threw itself behind one man, i.e. The victor of the Presidential race, Barak Obama. Many of Obama's supporters, however, seem to have done just that. Their belief in him as the candidate of change seems almost fanatic; though the hope they display is very tempting, it dos not seem likely that one man could actually affect as much change as Hobbes -- and Obama's supporters -- seem to think.

MSNBC's coverage of the announcement at Obama's rally in Chicago underlined this near-fanaticism. In a many-minutes-long hiatus from commentary, cameras panned away from the their lead anchor for the evening, Keith Olbermann, to cover the massive crowd -- nearly one million people, by some estimates -- cheering, hugging, laughing, and crying at the success they felt a part of in electing Obama president (MSNBC). Joy at a victory is not particularly remarkable, but the volume -- in size and decibels -- of the crowd, and the length of time MSNBC devoted to its coverage, indicates more the kind of "all-in" trust that Hobbes describes than the support of the masses for a political candidate in a healthy democracy.