Posted on 09/22/2010 11:40:10 AM PDT by neverdem
This heartfelt comment and question the first one President Obama received at a CNBC town hall gathering yesterday, may well become emblematic of the first half (at least) of the Obama presidency.
Ms. Velma Hart — middle class, a wife and the mother of two, a veteran, and an African-American Obama supporter — said this:
Quite frankly, I'm exhausted – I'm exhausted of defending you, defending your administration, defending the mantle of change that I voted for, and deeply disappointed with where we are right now. I have been told that I voted for a man who said was going to change things in a meaningful way for the middle class. I'm one of those people and I'm waiting, sir. I'm waiting. I don't feel it yet. And I thought while it wouldn't be in great measure, I'd feel it in some small measure. I have two children in private school and the financial recession has taken an enormous toll on my family. My husband and I have joked for years that we thought we were well beyond the hot dogs and beans era of our lives, but, quite frankly, it's starting to knock on our door and ring true that that might be where we're headed again, and, quite frankly, Mr. President, I need you to answer this honestly. Is this my new reality?
This was a very bad moment for the Obama presidency because it was such an honest and representative one.
Velma Hart is obviously no Tea Party activist. The town hall audience was undoubtedly vetted by the White House in advance of the event. So for Ms. Hart to frame the question she did, in the manner she did, was fairly extraordinary. And she was not the only person who asked searching questions of Mr. Obama. A recent law school graduate, Ted Brassfield, told Mr. Obama that he had hoped to pursue a career in public service, like Obama himself, but said he could barely pay the interest on his student loans, let alone think of getting married or starting a family. "I was really inspired by you and your campaign and the message you brought," Brassfield said, "and that inspiration is dying away. And I really want to know, is the American dream dead for me?"
Having worked in the White House, I can assure you this is not what Obama and his team of advisers wanted to hear — certainly not from a hand-picked audience at an economic town hall forum that is being broadcast on television six weeks before a crucial midterm election.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a contributor to CONTENTIONS wrote this cautionary note regarding the new president-elect:
Sooner than he might imagine, and certainly sooner than he might wish, the responsibility for how America is performing will fall to him and his Democratic colleagues in the House and the Senate. A year from now, it won't be enough to blame the problems on others. He and other Democrats ran and won on the promise that they would turn things around, and do so quickly. Those promises can't be reeled back. Obama in particular has set a very high bar. Indeed, the expectations for "change"-in policies, in performance, even in the way we conduct our politics-is as high as I can recall … For understandable reasons, many people are being swept up in this remarkable American moment. But reality will intrude soon enough, and Barack Obama will face the same standards that every other President has faced. Incantations of "hope" and "change" can work in a campaign. They are virtually useless when it comes to governing. Barack Obama is about to enter the crucible. We'll see how he performs.
President Obama has, so far at least, performed rather dismally. He set super-human expectations for himself — including his pledge to slow the rise of the oceans and begin to heal the planet, his commitment to resist the temptation to "fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long," and to "transform" America at what he called a "defining moment."
In some respects, of course, President Obama has transformed America — but in ways many American find alarming. What we are seeing all across our land is an extraordinary, organic movement rising up against Obamaism. If you go to the heart of this effort, beyond even the policy differences themselves, what you will find is an effort to restore America. It is a direct, energetic, and sometimes rambunctious response to the president's transformational project, to his effort to remake America in his own liberal image and conforming to his own liberal views and values.
As we saw yesterday, at the economic town hall meeting, the hope and promise of Obama has collided with, and is being shattered by, reality.
Barack Obama is, right now, the architect of a failing presidency and, soon, a broken party.
Click here to print.
I'm not a psychologist, much less a psychiatrist. But I have studied the subject and more to the point, I've observed how people behave in various situations for a few decades now. So I'm just going to postulate something and leave it for others more qualified to judge its merits.
Obama's response may have seemed discordant; inconsistent with how a "normal" person ought to respond when offered mild criticism, a note of personal connection, and a plea for help.
I suspect, however, that it is quite the "norm" for a malignant narcissist to behave precisely in that way: to laugh reflexively at another's suffering when one has been even mildly implicated in causing it; perhaps as a defense mechanism and also as a means of emotionally distancing one's self so as to maintain a superior self-image.
I have seen Obama do this before, as I have seen others do the same, and I'm curious as to whether my layman's observations might contain any scientific validity.
Yeah, that chit-eating grin will make a mighty fine campaign commercial for the GOP candidate for Pres in 2012.
I believe you're correct, though my focus was more on him than anything.
How can Obama laugh and continue to function rationally in the White House when his economic policies are so obviously failing in flyover America?
I think that the people of Washington DC with its low (what, 5%?) unemployment live in a bubble, and the people working for the White House live in a bubble inside that bubble. Not only do they have no clue, they continue to drink the Obama Kool Aid.
Obama lives in a bubble in a bubble in a bubble. He makes the Kool Aid.
Michelle must be a pressure point. I’m sure there are plenty of Velma friends of hers calling her up on her private Crackberry and giving her an earful of reality. What I imagine she does with that reality is go to her quiet place and try to subsume it, since obviously it would not please her hubby to talk about it with him or anyone else.
What does she tell the kids? If she were honest, “Your Daddy is borrowing trillions from your generation and setting our country — YOUR country — up for massive economic failure that YOU BOTH will experience firsthand in YOUR generation.”
Or can mothers lie to their kids?
Michelle is the chink in Obama’s bullshit political armor. Obama ratcheted up the pressure by involving her in political bandwagons in the next several months. She has a needle with which she can pop those concentric bubbles in a heartbeat if she chose to. Watch this space...
And as any person at the eye of a hurricane would, Michelle undoubtedly at some level knows to avoid helicopters and planes whenever possible...
This goes far deeper than most Americans can even imagine. If you read the woman’s lament, it is the lament of every black woman to a shiftless, drunken, irresponsible husband: “I’m Quite frankly, I’m exhausted – I’m exhausted of defending you ... Is this my new reality?”
In short, Obama has become an embarrassment to his own matriarchal culture. That’s why he did the giggle, shuck, and jive. I’ve seen it a million times in negro neighborhoods. All that was missing is him rubbing his head and saying, “Now, you don’t means dat.”
That’s the thing that got me, too. He was laughing. He wasn’t even taking her seriously. The level of contempt and condescension was unbelievable. I think you’re right. It spoke volumes about him.
Obama has been given a lot of goodwill and leeway because he is black. If a white guy had ruined this country so fast, the Democratic power brokers would have removed him.
Now that we've hired the first black president, we're finding out how hard it is to fire the first black president.
I’ll leave the term “malignant” to others with more insight. But he’s for sure a narcissist in my estimation, and I too saw his reaction as an attempt to portray her concerns in a minimal fashion. “Oh, it’s not all that bad now, is it?”. Think of the patronizing attitude something like this originates from.
It was a defensive mechanism, I’ll agree. But, I’ll posture, not one coming from his embarrassment but from his desire to tone the message.
I think that's further reflective of the fact that he's an idiot.
He's been coached to react with that derisive smirk and snicker when asked hostile or antagonistic questions. It would usually have the effect of making the questioner look unreasonable while he looks like he's above their hostility.
But when the questioner is a sincere and polite supporter, he looks like an arrogant and dismissive douchebag.
SUCK-ER. Maybe once Brassfield field gets a few more years behind him he'll learn the lesson about trusting emotion-playing, self-aggrandizing liberal politicians and the truth about nanny government theory.
In short, Obama has become an embarrassment to his own matriarchal culture. That’s why he did the giggle, shuck, and jive. I’ve seen it a million times in negro neighborhoods. All that was missing is him rubbing his head and saying, “Now, you don’t means dat.”
Now that's about as cogent as any statement I've seen. He's the epitome of "Sugar Daddy" for every struggling Black woman that's out there. Great analogy.
Thank you. As I say, I’ve seen it a million times.
Well, that much is true...though, seeing as how Globull Warming was, and is, still the greatest fraud in history, he can't claim credit for fixing something that wasn't broken to begin with.
...
If you go to the heart of this effort, beyond even the policy differences themselves, what you will find is an effort to restore America
And, isn't it sad that Obama and his cronies oppose the restoration of this once-proud country?
Barack Obama is, right now, the architect of a failing presidency and, soon, a broken party.
Isn't the old political maxim of "if your political opponent is busy committing political suicide, the best tactic is to simply stay out of his way"?
In that case..."Mr." Obama...
...keep up the good work!
I disagree completely. The man is no idiot. Far from it. His problems, and the image he gives has nothing to do with idiocy or anything of the kind. Sure, he's coached, but he acts that way because it suits him. He's above the fray. He's incapable of understanding the natural feelings and concerns of others.
...he looks like an arrogant and dismissive douchebag.
That's because that's exactly what he is. But he's no idiot...
His laughter was like premature ejaculation of self adoration. He then ignored the rest of her words because he, in his mind, is perfection.
Potentially devastating if true.
It may be worth checking black support for Zero in the next few polls to see if the needle dips below 98%.
I think that big grin and laugh was defensive on his part. It showed he was surprised and confused by the statement he just heard from this black woman and he used the very wide grin and laugh to mask his annoyance.
You may not see much movement in polling. They won’t say what’s on their mind. But we may see it in voter turnout...
unbelieveably, I still see them on mercedes and lexus driven by white liberal numb skulls
That could be, and frankly, it was my first reaction. But I quickly realized he didn’t appear annoyed, just dismissive. And that’s what I was left with.
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