He’s not bordering on arrogant, he is arrogant
Bookworm on Mar 17 2008 at 8:39 am | Filed under: Uncategorized
When I was in junior high school, there was a girl at school whom everyone liked — well, everyone but me. I’d constantly hear that she was “so sweet” and ” so nice” and just as constantly I’d say that she wasn’t nice at all. I had an advantage, of course, when it come to this special knowledge. Since I was a geek, she didn’t waste her niceness on me, and I got to see the unvarnished nastiness behind the social-climbing suck-up. Years later, in high school, I was vindicated as her facade cracked, and more and more people realized that she wasn’t nice at all, just sneaky and vicious. It’s often the case that, if you’re not directly on the receiving end of someone’s charm, you have a more objective view of their genuine virtues.
As you know, I’ve disliked Obama from the get-go. Since I’ve always read his speeches, rather than listened to them, I haven’t been carried away by his rhetorical style and have been able to focus on the absolutely lack of substance. It’s for that reason, I think, that I was not charmed by Obama’s “wit” Hillary spoke self-deprecating of the attacks on her niceness, and Obama’s riposte, in a languid tone was “You’re likable enough, Hillary.” I didn’t think that was funny. I thought it was one of the meanest, snidest, most condescending put-downs I’ve heard in a long, long time. It put Obama as the arbiter of what’s nice and what’s not, and had him telling her, and America, that according to His Highness, she just squeaked by.
Just as my old school mate could keep up the charade of niceness for only so long, so too does Obama seem to be cracking under the strain of projecting non-stop charm:
Arrogance is a common vice in presidential politics. A person must be more than a little self-important to wake up one day and say, “I belong in the Oval Office.”
But there’s a line smart politicians don’t cross — somewhere between “I’m qualified to be president” and “I’m born to be president.” Wherever it lies, Barack Obama better watch his step.
He’s bordering on arrogance.
The dictionary defines the word as an “offensive display of superiority or self-importance; overbearing pride.” Obama may not be offensive or overbearing, but he can be a bit too cocky for his own good.
The freshman senator told reporters in July that he would overcome Hillary Rodham Clinton’s lead in the polls because “to know me is to love me.”
A few months later, he said, “Every place is Barack Obama country once Barack Obama’s been there.”
True, there’s a certain amount of tongue-in-cheekiness to such remarks — almost as if Obama doesn’t want to take his adoring crowds and political ascent too seriously. He was surely kidding when he told supporters in January that by the time he was done speaking “a light will shine down from somewhere.”
“It will light upon you,” he continued. “You will experience an epiphany. And you will say to yourself, I have to vote for Barack. I have to do it.”
But both Obama and his wife, Michelle, ooze a sense of entitlement.
Believe it or not, this anti-Obama screed comes from the AP. You should read it all — and there’s lots, lots more — here. By the way, the article mentions that same Hillary put-down that was yet another clue to me that Obama’s not nice, but he is condescending and manipulative.
Hat tip: American Thinker
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9 Responses to “He’s not bordering on arrogant, he is arrogant”
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Interesting Book. I have looked askance at those who continually refer to Obama as nice. My wife is quick to point out that I don’t know him, and I don’t listen to him for more than 30 seconds at a time. But, since his image has been ubiquitous on the TV (I started referring to Fox as the Obama Campaign Network, and I am sure others are worse) I have had ample opportunity to observe his body language, expression and posture, even when his voice was muted. What I observed was Arrogance with a capital A.
Of course it is easy to write me off as a Southern born, white boy, racist.
Still, it is fascinating to watch the Media dynamic now that there is a drop of blood or two in the water. They just can’t help themselves; sharks will be sharks.
Given people’s views of Obama the empty headed, it would be better to call it conceit, not arrogance.
Ymarsakar,
I have never heard him referred to as empty headed. I don’t think selling empty rhetoric to the masses necessarily indicates that the seller himself is empty headed. I suspect that his head is full of calculations; and he tries very hard to obscure those calculations from the suckers, err I mean primary voters.
I think, perhaps, that Obama is missing a few of the smiley faces that Bookworm suggested we use to clarify.
eh?
BO has a smiley face; at least when he is on camera. The question is: What is behind the smile?
I really can’t fault Obama for making Hillary “put-downs”. I think that I will go and make myself some more pop-corn.
I remember that exchange. Hillary’s “Well, that hurts me” moment, winning but fake. Obama’s “You’re nice enough” moment, snarky but fake. It certainly was condescending, but the way I read it at the time was that these two candidates had already built up a large dislike for each other, and Obama simply couldn’t lie convincingly.
If you think they didn’t like each other THEN, can you imagine what the true feelings are NOW?
As Danny L. said above, make yourself some popcorn, folks, and enjoy the show!
What with Florida proving itself incapable yet again of participating in a democracy… and with Rev. Al Sharpton ready with his court case and his impassioned (and justified) rhetoric if Democrat leadership tries to seat the Florida delegates from the non-vote in January…
Michigan might or might not succeed in holding a revote. It’s case is clearer, with neither Edwards nor Obama on the ballot. A case for a revote to avoid disenfranchisement can easily be supported there by all concerned.
Obama’s lead in delegates and Hillary’s potential lead by June 3rd in popular vote… an intense struggle for the pocketbooks - er, I mean, the hearts and minds - of superdelegates… The Party That Can’t Shoot Straight may be in the process of losing an election that should have been a slam dunk.
I was angry at Rush Limbaugh and others for urging conservatives to vote for Senator Clinton, since I fear the Clinton Corruption Machine far more than Obama’s smugness and naivete, but they have every right to vote in any legal way allowed, and who knows, in ensuring that this frenzied battle extends deep into June, their strategy may be the right one.
Obama’s going to use the first nuke on a city since Truman, I say.
I suspect that his head is full of calculations;
I suppose when I say empty headed, I really was thinking of how obama’s head is empty of anything that could be good to human beings.