Obama's Dour Vision

Wall Street Journal Opinion ^ | 11/6/08 | DANIEL HENNINGER

[KosmicKitty]

Barack Obama's victory speech Tuesday night had grace notes. He wants to pull away from the "partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long." Well past due on that one.

[snip]

That said, it might be useful to ask at this early stage what, precisely, is President-elect Obama's understanding of the American idea? What I take away from the victory speech is that his vision of America is fairly depressing, a lot more dour than my sense of America in 2008.

Throughout the campaign, Barack Obama ran against the "failed" presidency of George Bush -- his "failed" economic policies, his "failed" war in Iraq and so on. In his victory speech, though, Mr. Obama appears to be describing a generalized failure of America itself.

[snip]

Mr. Obama's messianism may be setting him up for a fall. It might make sense between now and his Inaugural Address for the president-elect to lower his flight path. Among the images evoked by Greek columns is the myth of Icarus. The Founding Fathers' idea of "change" was in fact more modest than Mr. Obama's, a reality worth pondering lest he take his followers on a ride toward the sun.

[KosmicKitty]

A good read

I wonder how much of Obama's overly miserable vision of our country's comes from those he has chosen to associate himself with.

He certainly appears to have lofty goals and an overblown sense of self worth. But hey, we already knew that. Love the comparison to Icarus!

[yldstrk]

Change for change sake

[txzman]

Trust NOTHING from this racist anti-american socialist. Everything is a potential Trojan horse.

[autumnraine]

Yeah, so hiring a hater as Chief of Staff is a good start. Right?

[fortheDeclaration]

He will totally disregard the Republican Party as did Clinton.

That is the Democrat view of 'bipartisan' politics when they are in control.

[Rummyfan]

He wants to pull away from the "partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long."

So is B Hussein Obama going to rein in Pelosi? Reid? Schumer? Durbin?

Yes all that nasty partisanship.....

And who says partisanship is a bad thing? Why if we do away with partisanship we may as well just go to a one-party system. It worked so well for the Soviet Union, and continues to work so well in Cuba... and North Korea... and Venezuela... and.....

Don't know about the rest of my fellow Freepers, but I want to see some serious partisanship coming from the Republicans in Congress, in order to stop B Hussein and his colleagues from detroying our country!

[pabianice]

It’s our turn to use the courts to tie in knots every Obama law that comes out of DC. Welcome to The Revenge of Lawfare.

[RexBeach]

Reminds me somewhat of Jimmy Carter’s “malaise” speech. When I heard it, I wondered which country he meant.

Mr. Obama has a full plate with the difficulties we face right now - without everything he plans to do.

I should think that his stff will try very hard to find some way to lower his supporters’ expectations.

That will not be easy.

I feel that many people who supported him will be disappointed in the next six to eight months. And the media(his own defenders), will hang him up to dry in a cold wind.

[NCjim]

From what I have seen, he is already working on lowering expectations. I guess that my free gasoline and house will be delayed. :-)

[KosmicKitty]

Read the article

The point is, where in the heck is BO getting this idea about our country being in such miserable shape that it needs to be totally rebuilt (by him, of course)

And, where does BO come off thinking that he is can do MORE than our founding fathers.

The author implies that BO may be heading for a big fall - like Icarus.

[STONEWALLS]

good editorial!...first Obama and the MSM tell you how terrible everything is to try and bring you down....then they offer the messiah as your only hope to make things better....that Jedi mind trick worked on way too many voters.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

"Mr. Obama's messianism may be setting him up for a fall. It might make sense between now and his Inaugural Address for the president-elect to lower his flight path. Among the images evoked by Greek columns is the myth of Icarus. The Founding Fathers' idea of "change" was in fact more modest than Mr. Obama's, a reality worth pondering lest he take his followers on a ride toward the sun."

They better have their Coppertone and Hawaiian Tropic ready.
But Obama's flight path may be to the Moon or Mars.

[ari-freedom]

He wants to pull away from the “partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.”

that’s why he picked Rahm Emmanuel of course!

[RexBeach]

Thanks, Kitty. I did read the piece.

One thing that really concerns me about BO: He has, apparently, no sense of humor(unless he’s making fun of someone); and he has an exceedingly high opinion of himself.

Think about that, now. How many people have you known in your life who are as serious as a heart attack, and think they are the smartest person in the room? They probably weren’t fun to work for or with, nor hang around at a party.

[LottieDah]

“...first Obama and the MSM tell you how terrible everything is to try and bring you down....then they offer the messiah as your only hope to make things better....that Jedi mind trick worked on way too many voters.”

The media as all Obama all the time. Today the NY Daily News had pages on how Michelle Obama was just like us because she shops online and she goes to Disneyland...talk about a triple bagger.

[KosmicKitty]

How many people have you known in your life who are as serious as a heart attack, and think they are the smartest person in the room? They probably weren’t fun to work for or with, nor hang around at a party.

Man, does that describe BO. Exactly what my first impressions were.

There's something wrong with an individual who won't admit they have flaws & can laugh at themselves.

[SusaninOhio]

And toss into the mix his cheerful, friendly & outgoing wife Michelle - what a great atmosphere!

[Raster Man]

When we start hearing the media speculation that the lovely Michelle could be the country’s first woman President?

[RexBeach]

Yup. Me, too.

Puts me in mind of...Jimmy Carter. Ugh.

Which reminds me, how would you like to work for Joe Biden?

The White House and the Old Executive Office Building are going to have a lot of revolving doors. Staff people will run screaming out into the streets, waving their hands above their heads.

OMG.

[Paleo Conservative]

Obama's Dour Vision

Mourning in America?