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Former White House political czar Karl Rove has a history of referring to Barack Obama as "arrogant." As the race between the Democratic senator from Illinois and Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain geared up last year, Rove went out of his way to attach the scarlet A for arrogance to Obama. The man who managed George Bush into the White House -- with an assist from partisan Republicans on the Supreme Court -- said on Fox News last July: "I will say yes, I do think Barack Obama is arrogant." ABC News reported that he had told a Republican gathering...

While the American media paints Barack Obama’s European tour as a balm on strained relations with EU allies, Europeans have a much different reaction to Obama today. After Obama endorsed Turkey’s bid to enter the EU, the Continental grumbling has broken through in the media — and the political class. Der Spiegel reports that German and French officials have begun complaining about Obama’s arrogance in injecting himself into a European decision, including French President Nicolas Sarkozy:

STRASBOURG, France — President Obama, appearing on the eve of a NATO summit meeting here, told a cheering crowd of young people on Friday that “America is changing, but it cannot be America alone that changes.” The gathering resembled any of the countless, similar rallies held during his presidential campaign. But this one took place in the Alsatian border region of France and Germany, not in a gymnasium in Des Moines, and Mr. Obama seemed bent on repairing soured trans-Atlantic relations that began with the American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The charms of a wonderful woman and a beautiful city are hard to beat. So much so that Barack Obama will snub his hosts after arriving in Prague this evening in favour of a romantic Saturday night dinner with his wife, Michelle. The Czech Republic is a stopover on the US President's first tour of Europe because it currently holds the presidency of the European Union, which rotates every six months. But rather than meet the country's conservative leaders, with whom the President has little in common and who have been rather rude about the United States recently, the Obamas...

Oh Gordon, your smile! The Prime Minister, appearing alongside Barack Obama after breakfast today, stared at his American visitor and almost shattered the TV camera lenses with his moony grin. You could have played Jewish harp with his lower lip, it was stretched so twangy tight. Messrs Mills and Boon, when next looking for a book cover for one of their romantic novellas, when next seeking an illustration of doggy devotion, could do worse than use a photograph of the Prime Minister at the meeting. Mr Obama uttered a sentence. Mr Brown nodded. Mr Obama paused. Mr Brown froze, frowning....

Watching Obama is a psychiatrist's delight. Here we have a middle-aged man with no real-world accomplishments, but with truly astonishing grandiosity and a rock-star following that confirms his Jesus Christ Complex at every opportunity. Obama must have real, ingrained grandiosity, the kind that is anchored deep in the soul. He goes ‘way beyond the usual high-fallutin' rhetoric from presidential speech writers -- because he has just fired the President and CEO of General Motors, something no previous president, including FDR or JFK, would ever have imagined doing. That's not rhetoric, and it isn't just show. It's an political gamble unprecedented...

Demonization is just as symptom of something larger. It’s very much like the acquaintance you have that feels it’s necessary to cut down someone to make him/herself look better, of course that’s only in his or her eyes. Others see this person for what they are, and yet the perpetrator never sees his/her actions as objectionable. Everything comes in levels, and I’m sure every one of us has seen this behavior. Usually this behavior stems from insecurity. Demonization is something entirely different, it is clearly meant to do damage. We are seeing this behavior from our seated President. He sees...

Simon Cowell wants Obama to appear on ‘Idol’ But judge is unsure if presidential mention of him was a positive one March. 24, 2009 Simon Cowell and "American Idol" have the power and popularity to enlist plenty of big names to appear on the show. But can they pull in the biggest name of all — President Barack Obama? According to digitalspy.com, Cowell told Absolute Radio that "we're trying to get (Obama) to do a show at the moment." It didn't escape Cowell's notice that he received a mention from the commander in chief on the "Tonight Show" last week,...

I won't be watching but will follow in this thread for those who dare to actually watch..

Fans of American Idol might be disappointed that the show is being pre-empted for the prime time press conference President Barack Obama will be holding on Tuesday night, but most of us would probably rather hear more about the federal budget. That is, of course, what Obama will be speaking about before reporters start asking questions. The deficit, buying bad bank assets, and energy policies will likely be high on the list of issues he addresses. The press conference will be held Tuesday, March 24 at 5:00 p.m. PST / 8:00 p.m. EST in the East Room of the White...

NBC has announced that President Barack Obama will on Thursday become the first sitting president to sit on Jay Leno's couch, or that matter, any late-night TV show's couch.

President Obama is wearing out his welcome with America’s television networks. Especially at Fox, home of his harshest critics. The economy is struggling, advertising sales are dropping, ratings are sagging, and all the networks lose revenue Obama interrupts their regular primetime programming. But none are impacted as severly as Fox. Obama always requests primetime coverage on Tuesday, the one night of the week that does the most damage to Fox. Fox “owns” Tuesday nights thanks to its two-hour American Idol programming block. Next week the network will be forced to shift its line-up, pushing each of the regular “Idol” broadcasts...

Obama will be holding a townhall meeting on Wednesday in Orange County. Tickets are being given out starting at 10am on Tuesday, but the TV news showed that people were already waiting in line. So, you have to go *now*. The goal is to make him look bad by asking him this question: The stimulus bill will save or create millions of jobs. But, there will still be millions of unemployed Americans, right? Unfortunately, in the final bill, provisions to prevent illegal aliens from receiving jobs were stripped out. That means that every stimulus job that's taken by an illegal...

Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 at 8:03 pm “It’s always good to get out of Washington for a little while” The President just finished up in Costa Mesa, California holding a town hall with local residents, telling them "It’s always good to get out of Washington for a little while and come to places like Costa Mesa – because the climate’s a lot nicer and so is the conversation."He started off talking about the AIG bonuses that have been dominating the news: “I know a lot of you are outraged about this. I’m outraged, too. It’s hard to understand that a company that is relying on...

<p>President Obama will be making a guest appearance on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” on Thursday, a White House official said, in a rare personal visit by a commander in chief to late night television.</p> <p>Mr. Obama will swing by the Leno show as part of his trip to southern California. The White House official said that Mr. Obama plans to talk about the economy with Mr. Leno and said he will try to focus on substance, possibly a tall task given the show’s format.</p>

President Obama reminds me of the fellow who's off to save the world while he ignores the disaster in his own backyard. Instead of focusing on the urgent problems facing the country -- the credit crisis and the collapse of the housing market -- he's diverting scarce resources and attention to solving health care, reforming education, and stopping global climate change. Worse, his efforts to tackle these intractable issues involve fiscal policies that exacerbate the current financial crisis. He is not only driving the deficit up to unsustainable heights, his policies will amount to a huge tax on all Americans....

A narcissist is "a pond pretending to be an ocean."  Seeing President Obama at the Chicago Bulls game last night reminded me of Dr. Vaknin's assessment of The Occupant as narcissist last August. As I wasn't paying much attention to The Occupant that closely, I reread this very observant piece on Obama the Narcissist. If Dr. Vaknin's assessment is correct, we're in for one helluva struggle.

Perhaps it's just some Obama ally speaking out of school. But these are probably some of the most terrifying words to come from an unidentified source in some time: Sources close to the White House say Mr Obama and his staff have been "overwhelmed" by the economic meltdown and have voiced concerns that the new president is not getting enough rest. Allies of Mr Obama say his weary appearance in the Oval Office with Mr Brown illustrates the strain he is now under, and the president's surprise at the sheer volume of business that crosses his desk.A well-connected Washington figure,...

All we're getting is whispers from the press, of course, A raised eyebrow here, a sad shake of the head there. But the picture that is emerging of Barack Obama, the executive, is not very flattering if you look between the lines. Jennifer Rubin: Well, it's becoming obvious he's not really much of a manager, decider, legislation-craftsman, or supervisor. His vetting process is in shambles and key Treasury slots are still vacant. His Treasury Secretary is a classic under-performer and Obama encourages that tendency by talking about everything other than our immediate recovery needs. He lets Nancy Pelosi and Harry...

Barack Obama's offhand approach to Gordon Brown's Washington visit last week came about because the president has facing exhaustion over America's economic crisis and is unable to focus on foreign affairs, the Sunday Telegraph has been told. Sources close to the White House say Mr Obama and his staff have been "overwhelmed" by the economic meltdown and have voiced concerns that the new president is not getting enough rest. British officials, meanwhile, admit that the White House and US State Department staff were utterly bemused by complaints that the Prime Minister should have been granted full-blown press conference and a...