Posted on 11/22/2010 1:59:28 AM PST by Scanian
If United States Senator Al Franken -- it hurts to say that -- ever had a redeeming moment, it was in the role of Stuart Smalley, a character he created for "Saturday Night Live."
In the most memorable of Smalley's "Daily Affirmations," the lisping, wildly insecure psycho-babbler hosts Michael Jordan. After explaining to his audience that Jordan is "a basketball player for a professional basketball team," Smalley says to him, "You should be very proud of yourself."
"Well, thank you, Stuart," says Jordan, "I am."
Stunned by Jordan's self-assurance, Smalley blunders on:
"I can imagine that the night before a game, you must lie awake thinking, 'I'm not good enough. Everybody's better than me. I'm not going to score any points. I have no business playing this game'."
"Well," answers Jordan in perfect deadpan, "not really."
Not even Stuart Smalley would accuse Jordan of narcissism. In real life, as in the Smalley skit, Jordan simply exhibited the confidence that comes with being the world's best practitioner of his art.
From the beginning, too many "respectable" conservatives have thought of Barack Obama as a political Michael Jordan, the best and brightest the system had to offer. Jonathan Last works off this assumption in his current Weekly Standard article, "American Narcissus." Dinesh D'Souza did the same in his recent book, The Roots of Obama's Rage. So too did much of the respectable conservative media (RCM) in the months leading up to the 2008 election.
Whereas William Buckley would have challenged the assumption, son Christopher bought in. "I've read Obama's books, and they are first-rate," he wrote in endorsing Obama weeks before the election, "He is that rara avis, the politician who writes his own books. Imagine."
David Brooks, who graduated from the Weekly Standard to the New York Times in 2003, proved no more discerning. "I remember distinctly an image of -- we were sitting on his couches, and I was looking at his pant leg and his perfectly creased pant," Brooks wrote of Obama, "and I'm thinking, a) he's going to be president and b) he'll be a very good president."
No self-described conservative proved more effusive than columnist Kathleen Parker. In an article days before the 2008 election, she hailed Obama as "more Reaganesque than Reagan" and, in a corollary reflex, disowned Sarah Palin, "the winking wonderwoman of Wasilla."
Nothing in Obama, from the first time I became aware of him, ever suggested anything but an ordinary politician with a barely average intelligence. His speaking is simply ordinary but I suspect the racists on the left think it’s “pretty good for a black guy” or some such nonsense
“Media Malpractice”
That, combined with serial political and legislative malpractice has brought the country to the brink.
Geeze, uhm....Gag?
Obama was never more than a Carny Midway magician with second rate slight of hand.
As I recall, Bubba made a pretty strong impression on some of them. Impeachment wasn’t a popular course of action among that crowd.
But, I forget, Clinton was the first black president.
I agree.
Paul Ryan seems very strong in math.
He made Zer0 look positively flummoxed in Baltimore last year, picking apart Obamacare piece by piece.
So was Larry Sinclair.
“Nothing in Obama, from the first time I became aware of him, ever suggested anything but an ordinary politician with a barely average intelligence. His speaking is simply ordinary but I suspect the racists on the left think it’s “pretty good for a black guy” or some such nonsense”
They like the way he speaks off a teleprompter. He tries to sound like he’s some kind of MLK Jr. This sounds impressive compared to the speaking ability of most public-schooled politicians.
Rhetoric is part of the classical Trivium and should be mastered by all conservatives. If someone doesn’t know how to speak well, few will take him seriously.
Homos have been at the core of Huussein’s support from the beginning.
More needs to be said about the homosexual underpinnings of the radical left. The sexual preference of those people tends way to gay. In fact, I think it is one of the main things that causes resentment and bitchiness among lefties and creates the eternal unhappiness that so many of them seem to project.
But talking about sexual deviancy isn’t PC, is it?
“Paul Ryan seems very strong in math.
He made Zer0 look positively flummoxed in Baltimore last year, picking apart Obamacare piece by piece.”
That’s how he was able to win in WI. Blue states will vote for conservative Republicans if they are very educated and can win debates.
OBAMA IS A DEMOCRAT!
Not every Democrat is EVIL.
But being a Democrat at all is the first overt sign of POOR JUDGEMENT!
Interesting piece. The “respectable” “conservatives” who thought that 0bama was the political version of Michael Jordan (quite an insulting comparison, as Jordan was/is successful because he was an excellent athlete and businessman, not because he is black) are lamenting that they are no longer considered “respectable” nor “conservative.”
This is off-topic, but I just saw an interesting story on WND about an observation a CNN reporter made about Obama that he seemed “punchy” on the flight back from the EU summit. The story is at http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=231325 and seems to suggest that Obama may have some mental health issues.
Creases, not crease’s! Where did that apostrophe come from?!
However, had you noted that the term "crease's" was in the italicized portion of my posting -- denoting that it was quoted from skr's original post -- you might have more correctly addressed the correction to skr.
My error, if any, would have been to omit [sic] immediately after the incorrect form, to clearly mark for the reader a recognized error which was retained in order to remain true to the original flavor of the quoted material.
Not that my posts are perfect -- I quite commonly have a 'doh!' moment right after I've hit the "Post" button, or I have to execute a "headslap reset" right after I read material I have posted.
But in this case, I would have to forward the charges. ;{)
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