A rush to judgment
Bookworm on Nov 10 2008 at 7:05 pm | Filed under: Barack Obama
I’ve been fighting against Obama since he first appeared on the political scene as a presidential candidate for this election cycle. I didn’t like his lack of experience, I didn’t like his lack of a resume; I found creepy the way people projected their desires on him; I was repulsed by his friends, advisers and acquaintances; I was frightened by his strong-arm Chicago-style political tactics turned me off; and, as they slowly leaked out, I found his politics distasteful. I am not happy that a slight majority of the American people elected him president.
Having said all that, I’m in no rush to predict what Obama’s presidency will bring. Yes, we can make lots of guesses based on his political history, his associations and his speeches, but I’m not into reading crystal balls. My best guess before the election was that he would make a lousy president — which is why I opposed him — but now that he is president, I’m inclined to wait and see what he actually does.
I’m especially loath to predict his acts because of the thing about him that scares me the most: his narcissism. Narcissists do have principles but, when push comes to shove, the only principle that matters is self-preservation. A narcissist will never do something that runs counter to his own self-interest.
Because Obama’s ego requires him to succeed, he’ll do whatever it takes to maintain his popularity in the White House, and that may include governing to the center. He won’t ever get to the right of center, and probably won’t even hit dead center, but he may cling to some area just left of center to hold the great American middle. Now that he’s got the White House, he doesn’t need his fanatic base as much — instead, he needs to convince the American people that he’s safe.
So, while I have no doubt that he’ll drag the country Left, I’m not yet willing to predict how far Left that drag will be. I’m adopting a wait and see attitude, and will be an interested spectator for those first hundred days.
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Book,
I think you might be relying on Obama’s narcissicism to cause him to rely on his fundamental wisdom. Are you sure he has within him such a fundamental wisdom? Or that he can choose advisors who will have that wisdom?
What worries me is that he is an intellectual and an idealogue. That combination is always highly resistant to reality. He’s been thoroughly immersed in leftist ideology his entire life, even from birth… it completely forms his worldview.
For most of his youth, Obama appeared drifting and lost. Then he formed himself into a formidable intellectual, at exactly the same time he wholeheartedly adopted his extraordinarily far-left political worldview. I don’t see that changing due to narcissism. I don’t believe he is capable of it.
Perhaps his grandmother was pragmatic, but definitely not his mother nor his grandfather. We don’t know about his grandmother, and that’s not much to hang your hat on. The rest of his allies and associates are all either utterly corrupt power players (Chicago Daley) or simple far-left radicals.
I hope we fight, from this day forward. No wait and see for me!
John Hawkins at RightWingNews wrote an article today that expresses my hopes for conservatism, and where we have gone wrong with squishy conservatism. I’d like to know what everyone thinks.
http://rightwingnews.com/mt331/2008/11/gop_branding.php
I plan on fighting vigorously everything he does that is antithetical to core American/conservative values, Mike. It’s just that he hasn’t done anything yet. Or at least anything big. He’s shot his mouth off insulting Nancy Reagan. He’s appointed a Clintonite who doesn’t hate Israel to be chief of staff (talk about mixed blessings). He’s still refused to talk about his plans. There’s nothing to fight yet. The tea leaves are interesting, but they don’t enable one to make a real battle plan.
I am, however, still working on my idea to help strengthen conservatism in exile, and will soon go live with it, even if it’s in full Beta mode. I’ll need input from people, so I can’t keep in the shadows forever.
Bookworm-
I just want to say how much I appreciate the effort you put forth in developing coherent, thoughtful, and thought-provoking posts. I will look forward to reading your thoughts on strengthening conservatism.
Deana
Hello Bookworm,
I am also going into the “watch and wait” mode with respect to President-elect Obama. You have rightly pointed out that he hasn’t done anything yet, and there is no use in criticizing him for a job he hasn’t entered yet.
At the moment, I have the luxury of giving President-elect Obama the benefit of the doubt because (a) he’s going to be President anyway and because (b) I’m truly sick and disgusted with all the ugly intimations and innuendos the Left has done these past 8 years with President Bush.
I would not like to commit the same travesty of injustice toward President-elect Obama as the Left has consistently done to President Bush, especially because I bent over backwards to give President Bush the benefit of the doubt even as the circumstantial evidence against President-elect Obama is paltry in comparison to the circumstantial evidence against President Bush.
Besides, I don’t think the good Lord will rap my knuckles on Judgment Day for not being judgmental enough toward President-elect Obama… considering his injunctions against judgment in general anyway.
Thomas:
I must say your message confuses me.
On one hand you mention “all the ugly intimations and innuendos the Left has done these past 8 years with President Bush.”
Then you say, “I bent over backwards to give President Bush the benefit of the doubt even as the circumstantial evidence against President-elect Obama is paltry in comparison to the circumstantial evidence against President Bush.”
What circumstantial evidence? Evidence of what?
See the source of my confusion?
Then you say, “Besides, I don’t think the good Lord will rap my knuckles on Judgment Day for not being judgmental enough toward President-elect Obama… considering his injunctions against judgment in general anyway.”
What injunctions are those? I pray you’re not saying that Jesus lied when he said, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” I always took that to mean that we could finger the fruit (”judge”) and say, “Looks rotten to me.”
Please help me in my confusion.
Thanks.
Thomas seems to be a doubter…
And then there’s this:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122636726473415991.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Obama was very quick to discard public financing when it was expedient to do so, and to jettison Reverend Wright like so much ballast when that was in his interest to do so. We might find in the months to come that President Obama is willing to toss over his former antiwar and civil-liberties-for-terrorists allies too, while soothing them with a few gestures and a lot of soothing, high-sounding but ultimately empty words. Wishful thinking on my part? I don’t know. But there’s a gulf between getting elected and actually having to govern (or rule, as one of his staff termed it) and keep in mind one of President-Elect Obama’s first appointments was to make the Human Icepick his chief of staff.
I have one son who has the opinion that his former associates are not a problem. He considers Obama a narcissist, and seems to think that he used those who were more likely to help him climb to the top, and that none of his associates were conservatives because conservatives were vulnerable to the same idosyncracies that made him attractive to those on the left.
Maybe. I’m not sure that would be a good thing, but maybe. I doubt it, but maybe.
Others are already making their judgements, though.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/warner-todd-huston/2008/11/03/arab-paper-obama-s-historic-intifada-allows-islam-impose-its-poi
>>conservatives were vulnerable>>
conservatives were _not_ vulnerable…
sheesh.
The cause of conservatism in exile has actually received a boost from the recent election: we got rid of most of the worthless “moderates.” Except, of course Captain Maverick, who will continue to be as much of a problem as possible at all times. (I love the way he hasn’t said a word about his campaign’s trashing of Sarah Palin. This is a guy who arose in wrath any time someone on his own campaign mentioned Obama’s middle name; his association with Wright; his association with Ayers - but not a word about his own people’s trashing of his running mate? What kind of an a***hole is this man? John McCain needs to be sealed into a bottle and sent out with the Japanese Current.)
I don’t see there’s much to “wait and see” about. Look at the people Obama’s put in place around him for this transition. What price Bill Daley (brother of the Patrician of Chicago); Federico Pena? John Podesta? Rahm Emmanuel?
This isn’t a question of trying to read a crystal ball - we know exactly who these people are: switchblade-strapped-to-the-forearm political thugs, every one.
Reports are drifting out about this Oval Office meeting, too. Can’t give you a site, but apparently Obama got in there and started dictating to Bush what he “expected” him to do over the next two and half months.
Mike, #1 - he formed hiimself into a “formidable intellectual.” Really? I’ll grant you that he took on the appearance of an intellectual, but before I buy that one you’re going to have to cite me an example or two of “formidable intellect” at work. Beinig the first-ever editor of the Harvard Law Review to never write an actual word doesn’t qualify.
Tiresias (#10)
>>Mike, #1 - he formed hiimself into a “formidable intellectual.” Really? I’ll grant you that he took on the appearance of an intellectual, but before I buy that one you’re going to have to cite me an example or two >>
Tiresias, I agree. I took the fact that Obama comes from the tradition of University and I mistakenly translated that into “formidable intellectual”. I was actually thinking the same thing on my drive home from work - what evidence is there that the guy really is “intellectual”, beyond the fact that he carries himself that way and speaks calmly? There is no evidence of it.
>> Except, of course Captain Maverick, who will continue to be as much of a problem as possible at all times. (I love the way he hasn’t said a word about his campaign’s trashing of Sarah Palin. This is a guy who arose in wrath any time someone on his own campaign mentioned Obama’s middle name; his association with Wright; his association with Ayers - but not a word about his own people’s trashing of his running mate? What kind of an a***hole is this man? John McCain needs to be sealed into a bottle and sent out with the Japanese Current.) >>
I agree completely! And I’m glad to repeat your entire comment, because I like every single word. It’s shameful and inexplicable that McCain has said nothing.