The Unbearable Lightness of Being Shallow

 

I love all of the hand-wringing, thoughtful analysis, speculation and prognostication surrounding Obama's public addresses.

Though the ADHD American public seems to little notice or be bothered by the lack of consistency or coherence to our president's policies on just about everything, pundits lately seem preoccupied with getting to the bottom of his erratic pronouncements. You know, those policy statements which seem often at odds with the best interests of the country, and even more baffling, at odds with themselves.

I hate to sabotage the good work all of the talking heads and pundits do. Moreover, I understand that they have to keep up the illusion they're doing something invaluable __ after all, we're talking job security. But this whole business of trying to find coherence in Obama's policies is a waste of everyone's time.

There never has been any consistency or sense to it. What can we expect? When he's talking to his "base", he spews progressive platitudes. When he deals with plutocrats, he morphs into the plutocrat he really is. When he pontificates about Mother Earth, now he's the great shepherd guardian of the environment. When he speaks at West Point, Obama becomes the mighty conquering hero, leader of the exceptionalist empire.

It comes down to this. Obama has no core principles, no political philosophy. Most of the time you can just, as they say, "follow the money". Of course, in our enlightened times, money is free speech. So sometimes it's about power and its manipulation. But there's always a "payoff" down the road __ voter support so he can continue wreaking havoc on what's left of egalitarianism and transferring the nation's wealth to his friends in the 1%.

Lately, there's been all of these noble attempts at analyzing why Obama is so hostile to Russia and Putin. The obvious answer is that he now fully subscribes to the nefarious vision of American hegemony embodied in Zbigniew Brzezinski's Grand Chessboard.

That may be true. But at the very core of Obama's Russophobic animosity . . . it's personal.
He hates Vlad the Impaler for upstaging him, not just aspiring to the higher moral ground __ shrewdly making some modest gains on the international stage __ but by Mr. Putin's actually achieving it in the eyes of the world. Putin's ratings soar. Obama's plummet.

Snowden . . . Syria . . . Ukraine.  There you have it, my puzzled pundits.

Obama now has a big chip on his shoulder and a very wounded ego. 

Despite a lot of lying, calculating and ruthless propaganda, posing, strutting, bullying, muscle-flexing, employing all of the exceptionalist weapons of the tallest, baddest bully pulpit on the planet, Obama has and continues to make a total fool of himself. And it's such a blow to his hyper-inflated ego that Vladimir Putin won't bow before his childish barbs, Obama simply can't handle it. Poor wittle boy!

We have seen in his State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress, then his speech before the U.N., and just recently his remarks to the G-7 __ using these extremely visible and internationally honored forums __ our President leveling vituperative taunts and personal insults at the leader of a great world power.
Personal insults!

This is our Nobel Peace Prize President.

This is our "don't do stupid stuff" President.

My eyes were opened to how shallow this man is during a recent interview. I had always been in awe of Obama's vast talents as an orator, delivering noble and moving sentiments, always putting himself in the best possible light, such that many believe him to be a truly great and noble man, a president who cares about the world, the people, world peace. What a shock it was to see the man in the stark personification of a self-absorbed sociopath who evidently has now lost perspective on his own public persona.

He was asked what it's like being President of the United States.

The first words out of Obama's mouth and I quote:  "It's a fun job."

Do I have to break this down for you? Let's just ignore how blatantly arrogant that remark was. The President has vast responsibilities and powers. His decisions affect everyone on our planet. He literally has life-or-death power over millions of people.

And he thinks it's a fun job.

As if we give a flying fuck whether he's having fun or not.

Obama has kept up a good front for longer than I would have expected. Many would have buckled under so much constant attention and adoration. But for seven years, he managed to fool a lot of people, even the people who are now suffering under his catastrophic lack of vision and leadership.

Obama may be a sharp guy. But it always seems that in the end, good judgment inevitably snaps under the dogged badgering of closeted narcissism. And now we have it, though it might have taken a little longer this time around. 

If talk is cheap, and the preferred use of the bully pulpit is self-congratulation over the greater good of the country __ or even an occasional nod to reality __ then the rumors of this President's greatness for the history books are grossly exaggerated, and will inevitably blow away like mere belches of hot air.

Just what the already overheating planet needs . . . more hot air.



[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

The Bully Pulpit vs. American Idol

I have long criticized Obama for not using the bully pulpit. When he had the vast majority of the country at his feet after his election in 2008, instead of laying out a positive vision for the country and leading the charge for rebuilding the nation, he embarked on a charm offensive directed at Wall Street, big banks, neoconservative empire builders, and became the Appeaser-In-Chief towards those responsible for the Afghanistan and Iraq disasters, a wink-and-nod apologist for the criminal bankers who crashed the economy in 2008, and a card-carrying member of the inside circle who continue to inflict our country with the fraudulent War on Terror.

It was all in the name of love __ the cuddly love Obama craved from the oligarchs, whose approval was more important to him than the enormous groundswell of support he had from the people. Remember them? The ones who have to work to make ends meet, the ones who see their kids off to school in the morning __ the same ones who flocked to the polls and elected our first black president, duped into thinking he was one of them, a man of the people with their best interests at heart.

In a fascinating analysis of Obama's presidency that appeared in Truthdig, author David Bromwich
discusses what a shallow and self-serving enterprise it has proved to be.

What an understatement.

There is no coherency to this president's policies. In a clear attempt to promote image as a substitute for substance and apparently with an insatiable desire to be loved by everyone, President Obama often fashions positions totally at odds with one another.

Protect the environment vs. drill baby drill.

World peace vs. bomb bomb bomb.

Individual freedom vs. the NDAA.

Jobs for Americans vs. TPP and TTIP.

To add insult to confusion, in critical areas of leadership, we see policies diametrically opposite to the high sounding and noble words of Obama's breathtaking rhetoric and crafted public image, offering inconsistencies, even outright hypocrisy and treachery.

You've got a Nobel Peace Prize winner who has become a drone assassin.

You've got an putative constitutional scholar who using his phenomenal intellectual gifts to trample on the Constitution, squashing dissent, and openly harassing journalists and undermining freedom of the press.

You've got a president who spoke eloquently during his first campaign about inclusive democracy and transparency in government __ promising to change the way Washington DC does business __ who has built upon the worst aspects of Bush's nascent police state and now oversees a vast growing domestic surveillance complex spying on its own citizens, who is classifying record volumes of government documents, restricting citizen access to the inner workings of our government, conducting questionable military adventures often in secret, fostering aggression against the express will of the American citizenry who are sick of war and the self-defeating politics of confrontation, and prosecuting well-meaning whistleblowers at an unprecedented rate.

You got the self-declared "environmental president" who refuses to even attend the Kyoto summits, who is promoting risky East Coast and Arctic drilling, nuclear power, fracking for natural gas, so called “clean coal”, and now boasts about America being the number one oil and gas producer in the world __ so much for concern about climate change.

You've got a man who offered the world the outstretched hand of peace in the first months of his presidency, who has since bombed his way into creating more enemies and hatred for America than ever before in our history.

But we get what we pay for. Obama is just another brand, like Cheerios and StarKist Tuna.

We wanted a great president. We got a rock star.

We desperately needed leadership. We got self-aggrandizement.

I will say this. Obama talks a good game. He is incredibly articulate. Charming. Funny. Always gives an Oscar level performance at all of his public outings.

And he is beautiful . . . his wife is beautiful . . . his family is beautiful!

But when presidential elections are run as beauty pageants, talent contest spectacles, when making history is just more reality TV, we can't expect real leadership. We can only expect a president who struts and works the audience, plays the judges, postures and poses for his fan base, puts on dazzling, crowd-pleasing shows, and soaks up the all the love he can get. We certainly can't expect thoughtful, principled stands on the vital issues, responding to the greater needs of the country and serving the general welfare of the public.

There's no business like show business.

And politics has become American Idol.

We no longer look for results. We look for good ratings.

What an epic disappointment. We certainly had high hopes, didn't we?

There is one thing I will concede. Who can deny it? . . .

He sure looks great in a suit and tie!


[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]