I think that having people "project their best thoughts and hopes" was rather the point of the campaign. More accurately, it was to have people believe that Mr. Obama stood for whatever they wanted him to stand for (thus the enthusiasm that Arnold says any candidate requires, which to those who disagree appears to be demagogy.

I take something less negative from the article as a whole -- I see more a sense of wonder at one's own past from these people, not anger and not really regret. It is like what happens once you grow older than movie stars -- they cease to be hazy magical people (Boagart, Bacall) and are simply kids who won a different kind of lottery (DiCaprio? , Damon, Affleck). You don't think less of them (and I didn't read people as thinking less of Obama). But you do realize that destinies are not set in stone, and within the frameworks that have been imposed upon us, we have made choices.

-- AndrewCase - 11 Feb 2009