Barack Obama has often been accused of being too full of himself, of looking in the mirror and seeing not simply a future president but a profile for the next carving on Mount Rushmore.
His infatuation with himself, seemingly buying into the myth of Barack as The One, the new Messiah, has been fueled by rhetoric such as the unfortunate example I quoted recently (here), where, referring in a speech to his impending nomination, he stated that he was
absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick, and good jobs for the jobless. This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow, and our planet began to heal….
But now I wonder if there might not be more going on here than an individual ego on steroids. In his Saturday speech in Springfield, newly anointed veep candidate Joe Biden said that the next president will have
an incredible opportunity, incredible opportunity, not only to change the direction of America, but literally, literally to change the direction of the world.
Halting the rise of the oceans, healing the planet, “literally, literally [changing] the direction of the world”? I know political rhetoric is often inflated, promising more than can be delivered, and self-confidence is a good thing, but doesn’t seeing one’s self and one’s party as agents of a transformation approaching the Big Bang (or maybe another Ice Age) reflect a level of hubris that should cause us some concern?
ADDENDUM
This hubristic view that the Democrats are on a mission from God, or somewhere else, to save or at least redirect the planet is not limited to Obama and Biden but seems to pervade the party. Note this from ABC News yesterday:
ABC News’ Teddy Davis and Arnab Datta report: Speaking to reporters in Denver, Colo., House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defended Sen. Joe Biden’s Saturday crack about his wife having a doctorate degree.
“You know what,” said Pelosi “I’m going to tell you something: lighten up folks. We have a planet to save.”
“If Sen. Biden thinks that his wife is gorgeous, that’s a-okay with me,” she added.
Pelosi’s “lighten up” remark and statement of planetary purpose came in response to a reporter’s question about how some of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s disgruntled former female supporters would feel about Sen. Barack Obama’s new running mate jokingly referring to his wife’s advanced degree as “a problem.”
I would say that it’s Pelosi and her mission to save the planet from the evil Republicans who should lighten up, except that I’m not sure she can get any lighter.
All this speaks to the faithful, but not to most Americans. I’d say Obama’s biggest political limitation is that as an academic leftist he just doesn’t understand how few people agree with his positions.
Perhaps we can rename Obama & company “Captain Planet & the Affirmative Actioneers”!