"Your narrative has become tiresome."
Posted on 03/25/2009 2:16:35 AM PDT by ComputerGuy
Well, that was fast.
On March 20, only two months after the cosmic anointing, Vanity Fair, of all people, unloaded on Barack Obama, in the terms it had reserved for the past four or five years for the likes of George W. Bush.
Well, not the whole magazine, but one of its writers, media writer Michael Wolff, took an axe to the president, in a posting beginning “Sheesh, the guy is Jimmy Carter,” ending “This guy is leaden and this show is in trouble,” and titled “Barack Obama is a Terrible Bore.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
It was D.O.A.
ex-fan Peggy Noonan called him “insubstantial and weightless...not fully focused...jumping from issue to issue and venue to venue from day to day.”
ouch, especially coming from Peggy Noonan
So what does that make Peggy?
With apologies to Michael Corleone.
"Your narrative has become tiresome."
abb, this is exactly the way Isee the frumpy Noonan, Peggy, you’re nothing to me now.
You’re not a sister,
you’re not a friend.
There are several “conservative opinion leaders” to whom such a speech should be read. They have not served us well. New leadership is going to have to come from us at the grass roots.
http://www.newser.com/off-the-grid/post/99/barack-obama-is-a-terrible-bore.html
“”Barack Obama Is a Terrible Bore by Michael Wolff
Sheesh, the guy is Jimmy Carter.
That homespun bowling crap on Jay Leno, followed by the turgid, teachy fiscal policy lecture, together with the hurt defensiveness (and bad script for it) that everybody in Washington “is Simon Cowell… Everybody’s got an opinion,” is pure I’m-in-over-my-head stuff. Even the idea of having to go on Jay Leno to rescue yourself from the AIG mess is lame. Be a man, man.
The guy just doesn’t know what to say. He can’t connect. Emotions are here, he’s over there. He can’t get the words to match the situation.
This began, I’d argue, from the first moment. He punted on the inaugural. Everybody ran around like crazy trying to praise it because if Barack Obama couldn’t give a speech then what?
But now, at week 11, we’re face-to-face with the reality, the man can’t talk worth a damn.
You can see the fundamental mistake he’s making. Having been so successfully elected, he’s acting like people actually want to hear what he thinks. He’s the great earnest bore at the dinner party. Instead of singing for his supper, he’s just talking—and going on at length. The real job of making people part of the story you’re telling, of having them hang on your every word, of getting the tone and detail right, the hard job of holding a conversation, he ain’t doing.
He’s cold; he’s prickly; he’s uncomfortable; he’s not funny; and he’s getting awfully tedious.
He thinks it’s all about him. That we want him for himself—that he doesn’t have to seduce, charm, surprise, show some skin.
So Jimmy.
It’s instructive and humorous to remember that Carter ran a brilliant campaign that succeeded largely because his voice was new. Simple, direct, basic, human. And then, of course, he turned into a sad-sack twit.
What happens when you move into the White House?
Well, shit, of course. The true secret of the power of language is in quickness. Barack Obama can’t keep up. He evidently needs too much preparation. And then there’s the organization. He’s undoubtedly got too many people debating what he should say. That’s the other secret of language: You’ve got to just go for it. Can’t think too much about it. It’s like hitting the ball. And then there’s knowing who you want to be—which is different than knowing who you are. You’re on the stage. You’re acting. You’ve got to make yourself believable, cleverly make yourself up as you go along.
This guy is leaden and this show is in trouble. “”
I use some profanity as much as the next person, but i dont understand why the writer was compelled to include a four letter word at the end of that piece. It spoiled it.
ping for l8r
It's embarassing hearing the President kvetch like this....
And then there’s knowing who you want to be—which is different than knowing who you are.
I don't believe he has any idea who he is.... Makes me appreciate President Bush more every day.
It was never a dream.
It was always a nightmare.
It is not ending.
It is just beginning . . .
It’s not something that one puts on a resume, but I have more than a little experience locking up hos (nappy-headed and otherwise) on and around 14th Street in DC. 0bama reminds me of a pimp. He can shuck and jive, and that’s about all.
That last big paragraph says more than I think Wolff intended. I infer he’s trying to say that the way to be successful in managing perceptions of yourself when you’re trying to lead is to have those smooth reaction times that make it look like you are right on the beat, just when you need to be. That’s fine, so far as it goes, but it doesn’t go anywhere near far enough.
Let’s just focus on the ballplayer with the sweet swing. Mark McGwire didn’t become a great hitter on the hop but by long years of intense and repetitive practice. He got into the sweet zone by going to the closest place he could get to the sweet zone and working to cross those final crucial fractions of a second that make the difference between a .200 hitter and a .300 one. It takes a lot of time, no matter who you are.
Obama, no matter where you stand on what he professes to believe, and setting aside that he keeps moving where he stands, has not had much time, nor has he devoted much practice, to getting into any kind of political sweet zone. He has not labored on the back benches, hammering out the details of complex legislation for any length of time, nor has he actually governed in situations of any real diversity, whether of accidental condition or of political stripe. It’s to be expected he won’t know how to really speak to people about issues that actually matter for longer than a cocktail party. Krauthammer got that and said so back in Feb 2008.
The real question now is whether professional Democrats are going to allow the mistakes to continue to accumulate or will they undermine and perhsps dethrone him. I don’t doubt that Democratic leaders are sufficiently venal and self-interested, I just doubt whether they perceive the time line to be short enough from Obama blunder to consequence that personally impacts Democratic leaders for them to act. It’s sobering to consider, but our best hope right now is that the effects do happen quickly. That will hurt us more than our Democratic rulers, but unless it does hurt them, they’ll cooperate in their own downfall happily, content in thinking they’re enjoying themselves on the way down.
If you knew that Michael Wolff is a leftist, you would not be so surprised. I posted his essay to show that even the left is having regrets about Obama.
Michael Wolff:
http://cityfile.com/dailyfile/4743
I miss W. I wonder if the crowd that made the new Reagan documentary are planning one for Bush? It needs to be done before the academics crucify him.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.