Tuesday, September 21, 2010

It's Doctor Zero

Need I say more?

Probably not, but I will, anyway. The piece is too good to excerpt with respect to its main points, but I will just note a secondary observation that I think is important. The Doctor opens his essay with this sentence: "President Obama kicked off his town hall meeting in Washington D.C. on Monday with the usual dreary whining that has made him such a bore to listen to [emphasis mine]".

Exactly. Obama has become that dreadful thing, the overexposed bore. I have said it before, but it bears saying again. Great oratory is not just a function of a sonorous voice, careful modulation and good pacing. It is, first and foremost, about content. Obama has been reduced to speaking in cliches, and they're not even true cliches. His speeches are nothing more than a series of worn-out, mendacious bullet-points. It's like listening to a self-styled "investment adviser" talk about "How to Make Money in Real Estate with No Money Down"; the only thing missing is a PowerPoint presentation (and I bet we start seeing that next). Obama's speeches put me in mind of somebody playing chopsticks on a grand piano. Truthfully, I'd rather listen to Barney Frank preach class warfare in his Elmer Fudd voice - at least that's entertaining.

Obama has nothing left to say that anybody wants to hear, or that they'll believe if they're somehow compelled to listen to it. The ideas he brought with him to the White House were all useless or worse, and he has learned nothing in the last eighteen months. He is the paradigm of the Peter Principle, a Jimmy Carter for the 21st century, the First Putz. And now, a human tranquilizer.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

The ideas he brought with him to the White House were all useless or worse, and he has learned nothing in the last eighteen months.

I don't know if I agree with this. I think his ideas are working out exactly as he and his Weasels planned. And I don't for one moment believe he hasn't learned anything - I believe he refuses to USE anything he's learned because he either doesn't agree with it or it's too much work.

Anonymous said...

Oh drat, hit the button too soon.

OTHER than that small POSSIBLE difference of opinion, I'm with Bob Belvedere - GREAT post, Paco!

Paco said...

I beg to differ. I believe he thought his brand of extreme Keynesianism was actually going to produce positive economic results. I do not subscribe to the theory that he truly wants the economy to collapse in ruins, so that government will be the only thing left. There are more effective, incremental ways of achieving government control than taking the enormous risk of provoking an outright revolution that would destroy the whole long-term master plan.

Also, if one refuses to employ something one has learned, one hasn't really "learned" it in the sense that he sees its value.

Anonymous said...

Paco, you should get the popcorn contract if Obama tries to use Powerpoint. Tumbling Tongue, Part 2. More fun than Part 1!

I've been waiting for him to bring out the Alinsky presentation. Soon it'll be required reading in the schools. Little red books.

Deborah Leigh

Anonymous said...

Paco, you're probably right about his thinking he'd get positive results - after all, every economic policy-maker wants results to be positive. But I also think that once he saw what REALLY happened, it didn't bother him so much because in the end it means he got what he wanted. More and bigger Government.

His mistake is not being able to change the results he was getting by talking away the downturn. As you say, he hasn't learned anything, if that's the case. For such a SMART man, he sure is a dope.

Paco said...

PC: He is about the dumbest smart man I've ever seen.

RebeccaH said...

I'm kind of with Paco on this one. As the first black president, I think Obama wanted to fundamentally change America into some equal outcome utopia, showing all those old white dudes how much better and faster it's done by a black man. The fact that it's all crumbling around him never entered into his equation.

I've said before that America finally electing a black man to president was a good thing for the country. It's just a damn tragedy it had to be Barack Obama.