Monday, October 18, 2010

Obama to voters: Just give me time and everything will be fine, dumbasses

Somewhere within the coils and folds of the frontal lobe of his cerebral cortex, one assumes that there is a synaptic connection, however weak, that is trying to communicate to President Obama that he is, in fact, a mortal human being, and thus capable of normal human failings. It is only an assumption, however, and certainly not one based on empirical observation. To listen to Obama speak out there on the campaign trail – and when has he ever not been on the campaign trail? – one could be forgiven for concluding that here is a fellow who seems to be under the impression, not only that he was conceived without sin, but perhaps that he was never conceived at all - at least not in the mundane biological sense - that he simply popped out of the godhead as the personification of one of the almighty’s particularly good ideas. Given the atmosphere of triumphalism that surrounded Obama’s victory in the 2008 presidential election, there was a genuine need for some equivalent of the slave who stood behind the Roman conqueror whispering in his ears, “All glory is fleeting.” In this case, the old retainer seems to have fallen off the chariot, and our emperor has been permitted to pursue his gaudy course, absorbing the fulsome praise of his minions, and of his cheerleaders in the press, as if it were no more than his due.

I imagine most politicians suffer from an enlarged ego; Bill Clinton, in my view, was one of the most severely afflicted. But he is a shrinking violet, a self-despising flagellant, compared to Barack Obama, whose self-love - unlike his qualifications and job performance to date – is truly “awesome”.

How else to explain Obama’s hectoring of all voters in general (and Democratic voters in particular), his complaint that the woes of his party on the eve of the mid-term elections are due to the inchoate fears of the people, instead of to a rational examination of observable circumstances by an increasingly knowledgeable and well-informed public? In Obama’s world, there can be no ill-effect traceable to the agency of himself as cause. When things go wrong, it’s the fault of George Bush, or Karl Rove, or Rush Limbaugh or (unsubstantiated) foreign money, or perhaps even sunspots or a fatty diet.

Obama’s ego is titanic and, like the unhappy ship of that name, is in for some rough sailing.


"I summon the demons of projection, misinformation and fraud to salvage my legacy!"

7 comments:

JeffS said...

and when has he ever not been on the campaign trail?

When he has been on vacation. And even then, one has to wonder.....

cac said...

This will doubtless be an obscure reference even to such an Australian politics afficianado as you Paco, but bear with me. Obama is actually starting to remind me of Paul Keating. Both had some talents, although not as much as they thought they did, and were able to come from behind and win after most had written them off, due largely to their incredible self belief verging on delusion. The problem was that, having done the politically impossible, they then started to believe their own propaganda and refused to listen to anyone with a contradictory line, even those from their own party who were genuinely trying to assist them. Keating of course was written off with one of the largest political swings in Australian history. Obama, well the mid terms are only a few weeks away I believe, we'll see.

Two differences of course were that Keating a) actually did some useful stuff earlier in his political career and b) had a legendary line in foul mouthed political invective - I believe Obama had someone to do that for him in the person of his Chief of Staff.

Paco said...

cac: A fascinating exercise in parallel biographies; you are Plutarch!

bingbing said...

When he has been on vacation. And even then, one has to wonder.....

Or when he's playing golf?

Good parallels, cac. Agreed.

My Korean elementary school students still like Obama, though. He's handsome, you see.

Anyway, what's that old saying about pride?

Anonymous said...

bingbing, children may believe that. I've heard some American women believe that.

I think they must suffer some malady which contorts their eyesight so they see that which isn't really there.

I always thought he was a gangly, homely, dorky lookin' fella. So maybe it's me with the malady.

Anonymous said...

By the way, Paco, I linked this at PPII for any of my several readers who don't visit you regularly.

A magnificent post, thank you.

Paco said...

Thanks, PC!