Obama: 2012, naivety and the all-saying 'I'

The return of President Obama's repetitious "I" usage when speaking to us (his subjects) suggests he is fully back into campaign mode.

I am not exactly sure when he stopped campaigning, but I do recall a break in the last eight months or so. Somewhere. Maybe it was only spotty moments across months.

Obama's first 18 months or so in office proved that he is not quite a chief executive but, as I've been calling him since 2008 (in anticipation, originally), the "campaigner-in-chief". Having not done much in the private sector and otherwise being a professional politician, it was clear to me, in 2008, how he got where he was: slick campaigning.

In 2008, I felt he was campaigning on pie in the sky, and gloating rhetoric. "Change We Can Believe In." "Hope" under a graphic of Obama's face! We learned that lots of people liked that airborne pie. That, and lots of people didn't like giving the Republicans the White House again, under a more experienced career politician (it seems shockingly few thought it mattered he was also a war vet and POW).

A fairly small majority of actual voters seemed to have made their choice without much homework at all. It was as if they had never, ever read fine print on anything. They didn't appreciate the nuance of ad campaigns versus real-life functioning. And they did not know of the vast evidence of gross disappointments of those believing in fairy tales in a world that lacks much like fairy tale, in reality.

We saw, through the notable mishaps and back-seat driving of his administration from 2009 to 2011, that he sold that pie in the sky because he believed in it, too. He was as out of touch with many burdens of reality as his fan base. Remember "Obama Girl"? How about "Obama is my Homeboy" and other goofy t-shirts?

It was telling that, during Seth Myers' comments at the 2011 White House Correspondents' Dinner, that Obama nodded and grinned, KNOWINGLY, when Myers said that "2008 Barack Obama" had entered the Oval Office in 2009 with naivety.

Naivety is great in a college grad entering the workforce, or a well-meaning activist against child abuse or such tragedies. Not great in the Leader of the Free World. Not SO MUCH naivety, of the kind seen since 2009!

I wish that the same dolts who were at the Correspondents' Dinner in April 2011 would trap that one brief moment in their memories. But they apparently are too naive themselves to appreciate that they, and other dumdums in the media, assured this amateur leader and full-time campaign personality would become the most naive POTUS in history. With the exception of Warren G. Harding, perhaps. A passable job of being personable beats serious and effective change. That's the low bar we've set.

So what's those contrary to Obama's cult of personality, and government-centered economics, need to do to? Well, taking the White House in 2012 would be nice. But we can make fun of him as the narcissist that he's proven to be from now until 2016, if we must. I really hope not, but I also know that the USA, as it now stands, can survive him, as despite wannabe socialists and nanny state do-nothings, this country still enjoys much rampant individualism.

With that in mind, here's some pithy phrases I plan to utilize referring to Obama:

- The all-saying I.
- The I has it.
- Taking the I train.
- When Obama glares at a reporter who asks a challenging question, it is called his I beam.
- I is married to Me-chele.

- Isn't it a shame that his family name isn't Ibama?


When not handled in low fashion, wisecracks and well-placed nicknames get a valid point across. And for a change, in 2012 Obama will be running on a very obvious record, not on sales of pie in the sky. That pie's been burned for enough Americans that a genuinely charismatic, or just streetsmart, GOP alternative can win in 2012. Who will that be?

Whoever it is, they will be running against the admittedly naive, narcissistic All-saying "I".

The return of I

When Barrack Obama won then entered the White House, there were many unable to ignore the way in which he talked. He used references to himself more than was comfortable. It seemed the country had chosen a ego-filled narcissist as POTUS. The "I" counts were high in each of his speeches.

With the recent death of Usama bin Laden, in his statement to the world it seemed Obama returned to the many, many self-references that had put off many people in his first year or so in office. Perhaps it is because he is a narcissist, not unheard of among politicians. But perhaps it is out of a larger arrogance, a self-absorbtion that is found in the worst leaders of history.

Likely, whatever else it is, it is evidence, after only a short respite if any at all, of the president's return to campaign mode. The campaigner-in-chief is back.

Brace yourselves. And if you know anything good about relevant jobs creation and economic revival, hope for a very strong, principled, and equally driven GOP candidate for 2012.


- jR

Bin Laden raid noises described on Twitter - UPI.com

Bin Laden raid noises described on Twitter

 
"Go away helicopter - before I take out my giant swatter :-/," he messaged before the attack began.

Within minutes, he posted, "A huge window-shaking bang here in Abbottabad Cantt. I hope its not the start of something nasty :-S."

Eventually, Athar resent a post from Munzir Naqvi: "I think the helicopter crash in Abbottabad, Pakistan and the President Obama breaking news address are connected."

Shortly thereafter, another Twitter user confirmed the news, the Journal reported.
 
On Monday, the IT consultant wrote, "Uh oh, now I'm the guy who liveblogged the Osama raid without knowing it."
 
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The mass media pooped all over the facts on this one, early on. Too bad they weren't watching activity on Twitter, the reports all would not have claimed that: 1. The death happened the week prior to the actual event; 2., happened due to a drone -- or other -- bombing. Again, a week prior.
 
They might have reserved their knee-jerk speculation for more important things, like Trump's shots at Obama's secret college records, Trump's views and character defects, or the next time he takes a shot at the Most Transparent Presidency Ever.