The Obama effectKomel, Mirt (Avtor) Šterk, Karmen (Avtor) Theoretical psychoanalysis, as developed from Jacques Lacan to Slavoj Žižek, provides us with conceptual tools to rethink Obama's political rhetoric as a postmodern marketing discourse, which aims not at fulfilling consumers' needs and/or satisfying their demands but rather aims at a discursive entrapment of their desire and/or its phantasmatic scenario. The article analyses the 2008 and 2012 Obama presidential campaign, and his renown Cairo speech by demonstrating the three catchphrases Yes we can!, Hope, and Forward! as embodiment of the three unconscious scenarios of the American dream. The three sound bites are designated as master signifiers of Obama's empty speech, the Lacanian concept which enabled understanding the ups and downs of the zeal and the spell of the charismatic Obama Effect.20142016-09-15 03:36:35Delo ni kategorizirano85367sl