Saturday, May 28, 2011

Wafted

I have often marveled at Obama’s effortless ascension to the White House. As usual, Mark Steyn puts it best (from the transcript of a conversation with Hugh Hewitt on the latter’s radio program):
I think if you look at Obama, he was wafted upwards, basically, through Columbia, Harvard Law, the Harvard Law Journal, community organizing, the Illinois legislature, the United States Senate, without ever lingering in those jobs long enough to have to do anything. He basically was someone who was kind of just wafted upwards through the system until he became the beneficiary of the ultimate waft, into the Oval Office. And for the first time, for the first time in his life, the words he says, and the actions he takes have consequences. For the first time ever. This is a guy who is, you know, as far as I know, has never had a paper round. This is the first time what he does has consequences…I mean, what I find fascinating, thinking about this 1967 border stuff, is whether he intended it as a conscious shift in U.S. policy that would alarm the Israeli government, or whether with the casual arrogance of his half-wit 12 year old speechwriters, it just somehow got in there, and he finds himself standing up there saying it.

6 comments:

JeffS said...

"Wafted".

A perfect description. And it describes a lot of senior leaders and officers I've known over the years.

richard mcenroe said...

"I mean, what I find fascinating, thinking about this 1967 border stuff, is whether he intended it as a conscious shift in U.S. policy that would alarm the Israeli government, or whether with the casual arrogance of his half-wit 12 year old speechwriters, it just somehow got in there, and he finds himself standing up there saying it."

Yes.

rinardman said...

Reminds me of how a large dust devil can suddenly appear and pick up a small bit of debris, and carry it to great heights.

Then it dissipates, and the debris falls back to earth.

*

JorgXMcKie said...

This is a familiar pattern in too many bureaucratic situations. Some individual is overly fitted to the system in some way and advances ever upward until they actually have to produce. If they haven't been truly tested before, they're very likely to fail even small tests when they finally are.

It doesn't help that he tends to surround himself as much as possible with ideologues.

RebeccaH said...

Isn't "wafting" what lightweights usually do?

Paco said...

Haw!