The 'audacity of Barack Obama's arrogance'

The meek may inherit the earth, as Sam Elliott muttered through an immense mustache in one of his frontier westerns, but the meek ain't gonna inherit nuthin' west of Chicago.

Same for running for president. As our good friend Frank James writes over on the Swamp:

"Let's agree that anyone who runs for president of the U.S. must, by definition, have an ego that vastly outstrips that of most other mortals. To see oneself as the potential heir to an office once held by George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt, is beyond most people's ability.

"But maybe it's possible for a presidential candidate to regard himself or herself too highly. Washington Post op-ed columnist Charles Krauthammer certainly seems to think such a candidate is Sen. Barack Obama."

In Friday's column, titled "The Audacity of Vanity," Krauthammer writes: "Americans are beginning to notice Obama's elevated opinion of himself. There's nothing new about narcissism in politics. Every senator looks in the mirror and sees a president.

"Nonetheless, has there ever been a presidential nominee with a wider gap between his estimation of himself and the sum total of his lifetime achievements?

"Obama is a three-year senator without a single important legislative achievement to his name, a former Illinois state senator who voted "present" nearly 130 times. As president of the Harvard Law Review, as law professor and as legislator, has he ever produced a single notable piece of scholarship? Written a single memorable article? His most memorable work is a biography of his favorite subject: himself.

"It is a subject upon which he can dilate effortlessly. In his victory speech upon winning the nomination, Obama declared it a great turning point in history -- "generations from now we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment" -- when, among other wonders, 'the rise of the oceans began to slow.'

"As Hudson Institute economist Irwin Stelzer noted in his London Daily Telegraph column, 'Moses made the waters recede, but he had help.' Obama apparently works alone.

"Obama may think he's King Canute, but the good king ordered the tides to halt precisely to refute sycophantic aides who suggested that he had such power. Obama has no such modesty....

"For the first few months of the campaign, the question about Obama was: Who is he? The question now is: Who does he think he is?"

There's more, of course, in conservative Krauthammer's 800-word blast, but James uses the column to ruminate on the freshman senator's predicament, unknown to many Americans: he must sell himself, but it's a thin line to trudge for so long because Americans do not like arrogance at all.

The rest of James' thoughtful discussion on the balance is over here at the Swamp.

-- Andrew Malcolm

Photo credit: AP

Comments

[keith]

Even in his arrogance and narcissism, he's much better than that old kook RON PAUL, who is no longer a candidate and has very few mo-RON's left following him around posting idiotic stuff about how great a candidate he (no longer) is on blogs.

[frieda]

Krauthammer's article is right on!

I read both Obama's books and its amazing how the second one is written more carefully with an eye on the presidency.

You can clearly see Obama's arrogance in his first book. He is confused guy with many conflicting beliefs and wishy washy ideals. He is not ready for prime-time.

People made fun of Bush and intelligence but he never pretended what his not. Love him or hate him, he is comfortable in his own skin.

Not with Obama, he has the image of himself... remember his is speech,
"We are the people we've been waiting for"?

WE as royal I...it's just unbelievable that people are falling for this guy.

[madison]

a picture is worth a thousand words, except in this case

[08vote]

top of the ticket is hoping that enough articles about How Obama can't, won't, shouldn't win in November will really be that....top of the ticket's contribution in bringing down the presidency of Barack Obama

[Question]

You got it right. Arrogant, Barack Obama is. He is being advertised and sold to the american people. He is paraded around and told what to say. That's partly why he keeps changing his policies. Also, I think he doesn't remember what he said on other days past, because the words were not his on thinking.

[Question]

That picture of Barack Obama arriving in Afghanistan is horrible. Obama looks like he is in a drug daze, with a hatchet man standing behind him. If he get as tired and crazy looking as he appear in that picture now, how will he put in long hours , and meet with many cabinet members and foreigners, answer that red phone at 3am in the morning, plus do other duties as president, and give advise. Will he still have a clear thinking mind ? This is not the first time I've seen a tired looking Obama. Durning this election, I've never seen McCain look tired.

[Seni]

Obama will do nothing for you as your president. His big ego tells him that he is so worshiped and loved by the world, that all he has to do now and as president is just show up, make promises and break them, smile, make some faint, and do what makes him feel good, make speeches and talk about himself.

[James McDouglas]

Uh...

Malcolm has to be the most arrogant nut in the blogosphere if he thinks he can write an article on Obama's "arrogance" and not mention the most arrogant self-righteous jerk in government, more arrogant than either Bush or Cheney:

ie John McCain.

McCain never did anything on his own in life worthy of the office of the presidency, not one thing... and he treats his fellow Congressmen and heads of state like garbage... using profanity, threatening them physically... and now he has the audacity to think that he's earned the White House?

He's not competent to be president. Only his arrogance keeps him from that self-realization... and only Malcolm's arrogance keeps him from thinking he has to report on it.

[chadama]

Charles Krauthammer's article sounds like nothing more than the old southern comments that use to accompany everything African-Americans did, and frankly his reiterating these backwoods statements raises the same old shibboleths -- I believe he's using those code words and statements like so many conservatives tend to do when it comes to Obama. I simply hope people who can read, understand how sick and cheap this kind of baiting is.

[Tom J]

Charles Krauthammer is nothing but...Charles Krauthammer. That's all he's been, that's all he is, and that's all he ever will be.

I expect Krauthammer, Coulter, O'Reilly and Limbaugh will all retire on Inauguration Day because they just won't be able to cope with the thought of President Obama. Their loss.

[Jacque]

Speaking of Arrogance, read all of your own, self-inflating comments. People who believe have the insight to know what is and what is not. When will you rise above it.