"Obama the Great - if he does say so himself" Dana Milbank

"It took President Obama fewer than 50 days to go from shellacking to swashbuckling."  Milbank

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I like Milbank's work.  The picture is particularly "cuddly" and does not imply that I take him lightly.  He has a fine eye for nonsense.

Several SSTers with psychological credentials are of the opinion that Obama suffers from some sort of incapacity involving narcissism.  That could be.  I am not qualified to judge except by having worked for several massively narcissistic people who, nevertheless, rewarded me for my work with money, rank and decorations.  Ain't life grand?  But, all good things come to an end.

Even Thaddeus Stevens Matthews, scourge of the South, expressed the thought the other day that the president's triumphal presser was not a good idea.  I watched the press conference.  it looked worrisome to me.  The body language, the haughtiness, the "I am the answer" spirit of the thing were all troubling.

There will be a lot more Republicans in the next Congress.  A lot of them will be confused but earnest tea partyers.  Does he really think that he will be the answer for them as well?  This performance of his will stir up even more Republican resistance to him than might have been the case.

Still, he may well be re-elected.  The Republican possibilities for candidate range from the lunatic to the uninteresting.  There are a few who might make a good president, i.e., one who will do little, but the Left is going to "knee cap" anyone who looks like serious opposition.  Man's (or woman's) nature is such that everyone has a few skeletons in the closet.  Once found they can be used to generate a "crippling" disqualification in the idiot media.  The "discovery" of Haley Barbour's "racism" last week was an example.  He wasn't going to be president anyway, but...

We are going for an exciting ride...  Milbank should start wearing a Victorian coachman's get up.  pl 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/22/AR2010122204868.html

Comments

[Cal]

I cannot think of a single democrat I would vote for or a single republican..except maybe Chuck Hagle.
I wrote Hagel's name in in the last election because I couldn't go along with either Obama or McCain.
Our choices get worse and worse.

[BT]

I always find these comments that Obama is egotistical and has a messiah complex to be a little funny.

ANYONE who would want to be president would need large doses of those characteristics to want the job and then to survive the constant stabbings that are delivered by friend and foe alike. This is true for a politician from any party.

You simply need a 10-ft. ego to be able to do certain things in life.

The real issue is what do you want to do while you are in charge. Think about how far america fell during 8 years with G W Bush and shudder.

[BillWade]

BT, I think that free-fall with Bush has continued on with Obama, what's really changed? Not a whole lot.

[Reks]

Milbank's article just reinforces your perception of Obama as arrogant. You see what you want you want to see.

Regardless of whether that perception is accurate or not, Obama's election will hinge on the shape of the economy in 2012.

[alnval]

Col. Lang:

So Dana Milbank doesn't like the president. What else is new. Milbank's theme (meme?) is always the same. Whatever Obama does there is always something wrong with it. One wonders what the poor man would have to do to turn that around? On the other hand, I'm glad he doesn't seem to be spending a lot of time worrying about it. If that makes him a narcissist then so be it.

I really don't think that the legislation that's been passed in the last two years is the product of the legislation fairy. But if you really have to have someone to blame for it I suppose Obama is as good a choice as any. Imagine what Milbank would be saying about him if he had just stood at the press conference and kept saying, "Aw shucks."

[Patrick Lang]

alnval

"the poor man?" pl

[Patrick Lang]

Reks

"your perception of Obama as arrogant." Yes. pl

[BT]

Bill Wade, I know. Things are still in pretty bad shape. I know.

But then, after 2 years of GW Bush, things were still in pretty good shape. W had only just finished passing his tax cut program to turn a budget surplus into record deficits. And Iraq was just a glorious, glorious glimmer on the horizon.

[alnval]

Col. Lang:

re "the poor man"

Irony alert!

Would that that had been the tone in Milbank's piece instead of the raw ad hominum nit-picking.

[hillstation328]

This evening on the radio was a piece about Obama's recovery from his "shellacking" with a burst of bipartisan deal making. The point was made that this was less likely when the new Congress takes office in Jan 2011.

I wondered if there is a contingency strategy on the part of establishment Republicans to put the knife in the Tea Party as "obstructionists" in 2012 in case Obama's gamble on QE pays off and the economy improves to the point the electorate is able to be swayed by a non-economical argument in 2012

[Fred]

Obama traded a trillion dollars and social security solvency for a short term unemployment extension and START? Both could have been accomplished by having an actual legislative fight. But, to para-phrase the the last 'achievement': Don't Ask, we can't tell what Obama will cave in on next: Pollard's release, war with Iran, you name it.

Have a Merry 'terrorist threat level yellow' Christmas, since THAT hasn't change after two wars or two years of Obama the Great.

[Stephen Jones]

The thing about arrogance is that sometimes there is a foundation in a person's life that lends some legitimacy to their perceived arrogance. Usually it will be a record of accomplishment or a demonstration of determination and staying power against the odds, etc. that stretches out over an extended period of time. (Think Lance Armstrong, for instance.)

This doesn'tmean such arrogance is always appealing or appropriate, but it does differentiate it from the shallow self-glorification and the thin-skinned petulance that characterizes the typical person afflicted with narcissitic personality disorder.

It seems pretty clear that the president has an abundance of arrogance, but it also seems, to me at least, that much of that arrogance is not yet justified. It's still too early in the game for such 'I am the answer' displays. Had Obama's actual presidency reflected more of the soaring rhetoric and awareness of the campaign, he might very well be working on establishing the sort of real-world credibility which could then support the arrogance. As it is while he has demonstrated a bit of cleverness it seems to me too much capitulation to the demands of the 'right' have so diluted the real effectiveness of his so-called signature accomplishments, (e.g. health care and financial reform), that these things may prove to be failures anyway. Celebrating the passing of legislation as the primary accomplishment rather than standing firm in support of the benefits such legislation was originally intended to provide, this is hardly a foundation upon which to crow.

And of course following bad advice from the foreign policy people and economic wizards he's surrounded himself with doesn't help either.

It's amazing how even a little bit of excess hubris, when poorly exercised, can often cause so much trouble and chaos.

[Roy G]

Hard to blame the media for ol' Haley's 'Macaca moment,' when it came from his mouth during that hagiographic puff piece in the right wing Weekly Standard.

The problem isn't the skeleton in the closet, it's when the owner of the closet claims the skeleton is really a doll.

ps. I don't disagree with that characterization of Obama. Indeed, it has become a prerequisite for the position, as it has been redefined.

pps. The Village Jester is still a Villager.

[Mark Logan]

I agree. Will posit a guess as to why he is so tone deaf.

The man didn't work his way through the "mill" and his skills are superficial.

He did a wonderful impression of a preacher who could fill the pews during the campaign, and got the job, but has yet to find a style, his own style, as a leader. He let his irritation show in this one. Wrong audience for that.

Phil Jackson said something about NBA rookies last week: "Oh, we like them as people. It's just that they are inexperienced, and have no purpose on earth."

Does Obama remind us how important it is not to promote people too fast?

[different clue]

Obama very sneakily allowed himself to be seen as a clean break with Bush rather than the kinder gentler consolidation of Bush which he has turned out to be. He is clearly committed to the same destruction of Social Security which Bush was committed to, and Obama will pursue it much more sneakily so that many Democrats and many citizens will "just can't believe it".

He is committed to breaking the national budget in order to destroy Social Security that way and also, in my tinfoil opinion, to destroy the dollar thoroughly enough to force the United States into recievership to the International Monetary Fund so as to facilitate a forced Yeltsin-Russia style selloff of all valuable public wealth to private buyers. He represents the entire "inner government" in this goal, in my tinfoil opinion. That is why he worked so hard to extend the "Bush's Base" tax cuts while pretending to oppose them to keep us off guard.
His intention is that the next Congress will help him make them permanent in order to reach Grover Norquist's goal of "starve the beast".

Sometimes "art" can reveal the inner reality of something better than "analysis" can, especially in the hands of a
lay-observer non-analyst like myself. So I will offer an old rock video which captures the inner essence of Obama the man, so far as I am concerned. It is "Liar" by Henry Rollins.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vgQalXaIxs
Perhaps if enough people see this video with these referrences and feel somehow
"reached" by it, they might spread it around to where it goes viral on Obama's ass
(if I am permitted to use such language on this blog).

And the worst thing about all this is that if the Republicans nominate Palin or Huckabee or Judge Roy Moore or some such thing, I will vote for Obama again to spare us what the Darby Rapture wing of the Republican Party wants to bring us. Imagine the rage and hate I feel to find myself facing that future. Am I the only one?

[Stephanie]

The preening is in character, alas. I wanted to slap him.

Obama's fondness for the "I" word goes beyond the politicians' norm, as even some of his more fervent fans are now conceding.

[walrus]

I think Grouchos Marx's comment is accurate:"I would not wish to be a member of any club that would elect the likes of me."

I cannot imagine there is anyone in the United States Of America who would want to be President for the right reasons of service to the nation and community.

..And with an earnest prayer that such a person exists and may prevail, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

[matt]

re: Haley Barbour......Most of the uproar over Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour’s comment, “I just don’t remember it as being that bad,” misses the point entirely. When the potential 2012 Republican presidential candidate made the remark to Andrew Ferguson in an interview for The Weekly Standard, speaking in defense of racist Citizens Councils that ruled the South before and during the civil rights era, it was no mere slip of the tongue. Barbour was simply playing the “Southern Strategy” card

He's a pretty good politician if you ask me!

[Charles I]

Imagine the rage and hate I feel to find myself facing that future. Am I the only one?

Not to worry different clue, you're not alone. I don't even live in your country, no vote, I'm mad as hell. And it could be worse - you could be moved to vote for Palin!

However,after a deep breath and Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama, what's to be done? The two wings of the Money/Aipac Party are manifest as one organism and now seem set on bankrupting your country and befuddling your citizenry as a prelude to some kinda nutty fearful resentful religious fascism. I'm not sure how the perpetual war thingy is funded, tho I have a theory involving a 201i-12 crash and the need for order at home. The Dow will return to 5000. Inflation will come. 9% unemployment will be the good old days.

Hard to be mad at them for behaving as they are. Leaves me with your voters, who i just declared have no real choice.

Wikileaks DADT are bread and circuses. Pharmacare, health reform all they did was pander to enforced industry pricing or offer up an expanded insurance market - complete with government sanctions - to fatten those worthies rather than produce the most affordable care for the most people.

[Stephen Jones]

Walrus said;

"I cannot imagine there is anyone in the United States Of America who would want to be President for the right reasons of service to the nation and community."

I'm reminded of a remark made by someone a while back who observed, (Not an exact quote);

"The very fact someone wants to be a judge should disqualify them from becoming one."

This dictum seems to apply more and more to an ever widening range of electoral offices.

Note; This is not intended to single out Obama specifically. He just happened to be the one who won the presidency last time around. Were any of the other aspirants any better suited for the job? I think not.

[walrus]

Narcissism is a natural and essential component of our personality. The problem comes, in my opinion, when other components are missing, most importantly the ability to empathise with others. Speculation is that the cause of this crippling character defect is childhood emotional trauma around the Age of Five or Six.

One female narcissist I know recalls with no emotion entering her mothers room as a Six year old and finding her having sex with another man. She says with a perfectly level voice that her mother threw a telephone at her and told her to ring her father. The fact that she will even recount this to anyone who asks her, and does it with no emotion is telling I think.

When we look at Obama, what do we find? His mother remarries an Indonesian when he is Six years old and he is dragged out of his Honolulu school and down to Indonesia where he is "incarcerated" in an Indonesian school. That sounds traumatic enough for me, and I observe that Obama describes what must have been a frightening ordeal with no emotion which I think is also telling.

My opinion, and it's just an untutored opinion, is that Obamas handlers are playing him like a violin. The method is familiar to anyone familiar with Australians negotiating with the Japanese over coal or iron ore prices in the Sixties. Telling someone that their goal is totally unreachable, then letting them achieve a quarter of it, and they confuse that with "success"; ie: "You told me that the Japanese were going to screw us, well Mr. Fujiyama took me to his home to meet his wife and said I was the nicest Australian he had ever met, and I accepted an offer of a 6% price increase because the steel business is so bad!" and everyone around the Board table shakes their head in disbelief since the target was a 20% price increase.

To put it another way, I dread to think about what President Obamas "achievements" will be in 2011. Social security will be privatised and gutted - "I saved the social security system!", Medicare likewise - "I've made Medicare sustainable!", Iran bombed - "I've removed a threat to world peace!".

The one thing you can absolutely count on is that Obama will do something that is monumentally stupid before the end of his Presidency, so stupid that ordinary people will say to themselves "What could he have possibly been thinking?"

[arbogast]

The difference between Bush and Obama is at the level of deception. Bush was always Bush. The Bush that was elected was the Bush who came to office.

Not so Obama. I voted for him, and what I got was so very, very different from what I voted for.

Obama's magnum opus: Larry Summers. A completely discredited loser. Narcissistic? He handed out dollar bills at Harvard with his signature on them when he was Treasury Secretary or the like.

I want Obama out. All hominem all the way. He invites it. He's got it.

[BillWade]

Because of Obama (she voted for him) my left-leaning girlfriend will never vote again for any candidate, she's made up her mind.

DC, the Rollin's song, you got that right.

I'd bet dollars to donuts that the Rev Jeramiah Wright kicks himself in the butt every day for guaranteeing Obama the African-American vote. Wait, that should be donuts to dollars.

The economy might improve and help Obama get reelected, but what's money compared to freedom?

I watched a couple of short videos of people storming malls to get a pair of the latest sneakers. In the meantime, coalition troops in Afghanistan are living a nightmare.

[different clue]

Arbogast,

I have thought of a way which might possibly get Obama out if enough people think it makes sense and then works at it.

Obama probably won't be primaried by anybody "credible" or deemed
"able to win" by the MSM. So Obama will be the DemPrez nominee in 2012 unless he resigns from that election.

The Republican field will be very crowded. The nomination seekers will range from the unbearable (Palin/Huckabee/Judge Roy Moore/ etc.) to the barely bearable ( Barbour/Romney/etc.) If we are lucky, some acceptably tolerable Republicans will also offer themselves.. like
Hagel/Voinovich/etc. (And of course the evil and sinister, like Jeb Bush and so forth).

If I see one of the Republican nomination-seekers as being a President
I could bear to stand to endure for 4 years, I will switch my party registration to Republican so I can vote in their primary for someone I could live with as President. If that person actually became the Republican nominee, I would feel set free to vote for the Third Party choice of my dreams, because if subtracting my vote from Obama would cause the Republican to win; it will be a Republican I can live with.

If enough millions of other disaffected Democrats For NObama were to do the very same thing, we might actually GET a Republican we could live with if we had to. That would set millions of us free to vote Third Party.

(All that said, if the Republicans still nominate a Darby-Rapture or other Political Christianist ticket, then I will vote for Obama. So Charles I should have no worries on that score.)

[stickler]

Arbogast:

"Bush was always Bush. The Bush that was elected was the Bush who came to office."

Pardon me? Bush campaigned on "compassionate conservatism," fiscal discipline, and promises not to send our military on "nation building" missions. Remember the 2000 campaign?

Now I realize that every President ends up being, um, flexible about sticking to his campaign promises. But Bush's campaign sold this country a pig in a poke, given how he ended up "governing."

And yes, the demands on modern Presidents very nearly require delusions of grandeur on the part of politicians. We should count ourselves lucky that we haven't had more narcissistic madmen in the Oval Office.