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The Audacity Of Ego

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Clay

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Jul 20, 2008, 10:26:08 AM7/20/08
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By Joan Vennochi
July 20, 2008

Just like the Obama girl, Obama has a crush on Obama.

Barack Obama always was a larger-than-life candidate with a healthy
ego. Now he's turning into the A-Rod of politics. It's all about him.

He's giving his opponent something other than issues to attack him on:
narcissism.

A convention hall isn't good enough for the presumptive Democratic
nominee. He plans to deliver his acceptance speech in the 75,000 seat
stadium where the Denver Broncos play. Before a vote is cast, he's
embarking on a foreign policy tour that will use cheering Europeans -
and America's top news anchors - as extras in his campaign. What do
you expect from a candidate who already auditioned a quasi-
presidential seal with the Latin inscription, "Vero possumus" - "Yes,
we can"?

Obama finds criticism of his wife "infuriating" and doesn't want
either of them to be the target of satire. Tell that to the Carters,
the Reagans, the Clintons, and the Bushes, father and son.

There's no such thing as a humble politician. But when Obama looks
into the mirror, he doesn't just see a president; he sees JFK.

In 1960, John F. Kennedy accepted his party's nomination with an
outdoor speech at the Los Angeles Coliseum. But he waited until he was
elected before going to Germany to declare "Ich bin ein Berliner."

The fashionistas have already noted Michelle Obama's affinity for
chanelling Jackie. And it's hard to watch the Obama daughters "Access
Hollywood" interview and not think about Caroline and John F. Kennedy
Jr. back in the days of Camelot.

So far, Dad is only promising to get the kids a dog, not a pony named
Macaroni.

Republican John McCain has the opposite challenge. As a candidate,
he's shrinking, thanks to a series of gaffes, stumbles, and generally
uninspiring speeches.

But McCain has one thing going for him: the appearance of modesty.

Part of it is physical. McCain is stiff and awkward, the result of age
and injuries from his years as a prisoner of war. That, too, is a
contrast to Obama's sleek physique, the consequence of youth and a
George W. Bush-like passion for working out.

But with McCain, there's also the sense of a man who made mistakes in
life and acknowledges them.

McCain's humility comes through in his book, "Faith of my Fathers,"
which he wrote at age 63, after completing a career in the US Navy and
moving onto politics. Obama wrote the more self-reverential "Dreams
from My Father," after he was elected president of the Harvard Law
Review.

The McCain campaign is beginning to jump on the ego issue. "I don't
know that people in Missouri are going to like seeing tens of
thousands of Europeans screaming for The One," a McCain aide quipped
in response to Obama's upcoming visit abroad.

The conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh regularly ridicules "The
Messiah also known as Obama." And "The Audacity of Obama" is turning
into a ready-made take-off on the title of the Democrat's second book,
"The Audacity of Hope."

The downside for Obama is how much his ego stands to resonate beyond
the political right.

Last January, the online Slate Magazine debuted "The Obama Messiah
Watch."

In February, a blogger for the left-embracing Mother Jones commented
on his uneasiness over the candidate's messianic complex: "Does this
post play unhelpfully into the pernicious and growing Obamaism-as-
cult . . . that we'll likely see repeated over and over by the right
wing if Obama gets the nomination?" blogged Jonathan Stein.

"It does. Sorry. But Obama's rhetoric makes an undeniable suggestion:
that his election, not an eight-year administration that successfully
implements his vision for America, would represent a moment in America
of the grandest, most transformative kind. And that's a bit much,"
Stein wrote.

When the Obama Girl video first surfaced, Obama told the Associated
Press, "You do wish people would think about what impact their actions
have on kids and families."

That's good advice. He should think more about the impact of his ego
on voters.

A presidential candidate is supposed to get bigger on the national
stage. That doesn't mean his head should, too.

---------

-C-

Ron

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Jul 20, 2008, 11:21:12 AM7/20/08
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On Jul 20, 9:26 am, Clay <clays0nl...@gmail.com> wrote:
> By Joan Vennochi
> July 20, 2008
>
> Just like the Obama girl, Obama has a crush on Obama.
>
> Barack Obama always was a larger-than-life candidate with a healthy
> ego. Now he's turning into the A-Rod of politics. It's all about him.
>

(SNIPPED)

>
> When the Obama Girl video first surfaced, Obama told the Associated
> Press, "You do wish people would think about what impact their actions
> have on kids and families."
>
> That's good advice. He should think more about the impact of his ego
> on voters.
>
> A presidential candidate is supposed to get bigger on the national
> stage. That doesn't mean his head should, too.
>
> ---------
>
> -C-

.
.
The author of this commentary has a very short memory. Take a look at
the photo and remarks on:

http://www.bushwatch.com/ego.htm

RO

mar...@earthlink.net

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Jul 20, 2008, 4:35:25 PM7/20/08
to

So you're saying that electing Obama would be like re-electing GWB for
a third term? That's the logic of your false equivalence argument.

Clay

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Jul 20, 2008, 5:00:16 PM7/20/08
to
On Jul 20, 11:21 am, Ron stays true to his "dimbulb" reputation:
...

> On Jul 20, 9:26 am, Clay <clays0nl...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > By Joan Vennochi
> > July 20, 2008
>
> > Just like the Obama girl, Obama has a crush on Obama.
>
> > Barack Obama always was a larger-than-life candidate with a healthy
> > ego. Now he's turning into the A-Rod of politics. It's all about him.
>
> (SNIPPED)
>
> > When the Obama Girl video first surfaced, Obama told the Associated
> > Press, "You do wish people would think about what impact their actions
> > have on kids and families."
>
> > That's good advice. He should think more about the impact of his ego
> > on voters.
>
> > A presidential candidate is supposed to get bigger on the national
> > stage. That doesn't mean his head should, too.
>
> > ---------
>
> > -C-
>

> The author of this commentary has a very short memory.  Take a look at
> the photo and remarks on:
>
> http://www.bushwatch.com/ego.htm

As per your usual dimbulb nature, Ron... your analogy is non-existent.

Please try again.

-C-

Ron

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Jul 20, 2008, 6:22:31 PM7/20/08
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> -C-- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
.
.
Clay....you are hung up on your OWN definition of an analogy, whatever
that might be.

http://www.sil.org/lingualinks/literacy/ReferenceMaterials/glossaryofliteracyterms/WhatIsAnAnalogy.htm

"An analogy is a comparison of CERTAIN SIMILARITIES between things
which are otherwise unlike."

Your original post was critical of Obama's ego. Bush has an ego as
well, which is demonstrated in the photo.

QED

RO


Ron

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Jul 20, 2008, 6:35:36 PM7/20/08
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On Jul 20, 3:35 pm, "marc...@earthlink.net" <marc...@earthlink.net>
wrote:
> a third term? That's the logic of your false equivalence  argument.- Hide quoted text -

>
> - Show quoted text -
.
.
Re: So you're saying that electing Obama would be like re-electing GWB
for a third term?

Mother of Pearl! I said NOTHING about the "re-election" of Bush. The
words 'election' and 're-election' are nowhere on the referenced
page. The PHOTO demonstrates the ego of Bush with the words on the
aircraft "George W. Bush - Commander in Chief". Just as Clay's
original post claims the existence of Obama's ego. Does Bush think we
have to be REMINDED that he is CIC?

Where the Hell did you learn to read? To think? Were the toughest 3
years of your life spent in Second grade?

RO

mar...@earthlink.net

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Jul 20, 2008, 6:59:44 PM7/20/08
to

Lettering on the side of a single aircraft? THAT's your big
equivalance argument? Yeah, that compares with Obama's acceptance-
speech-at-a-stadium, faux Presidential seal, and aborted stump speech
at the Berlin Wall.

The point about equivalence is that you're defending Obama because
he's a BIGGER egomaniac than GWB ever thought of being. I'm sorry I
didn't make that clearer for you. I'll fill in the alphabet for you
next time.

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