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Barack Obama’s Emotional State of Mind
Commentary Magazine ^ | August 12, 2011 | Peter Wehner

Posted on 08/14/2011 3:04:27 PM PDT by Second Amendment First

I’ve developed an interest in President Obama’s speeches not because they are eloquent or uplifting — they are neither — but because of what they reveal about his emotional state of mind. And Mr. Obama’s remarks in Holland, Michigan yesterday are helpful in that respect.

After once again blaming the economic slowdown on (among other things) the Arab Spring and the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, Mr. Obama said this:

Unfortunately, what we’ve seen in Washington the last few months has been the worst kind of partisanship, the worst kind of gridlock — and that gridlock has undermined public confidence and impeded our efforts to take the steps we need for our economy…. This downgrade you’ve been reading about could have been entirely avoided if there had been a willingness to compromise in Congress. See, it didn’t happen because we don’t have the capacity to pay our bills — it happened because Washington doesn’t have the capacity to come together and get things done. It was a self-inflicted wound. That’s why people are frustrated. Maybe you hear it in my voice — that’s why I’m frustrated. Because you deserve better. You guys deserve better.

Mr. Obama then added, “The only thing preventing these bills from being passed is the refusal of some folks in Congress to put the country ahead of party. There are some in Congress right now who would rather see their opponents lose than see America win.”

About these comments several things can be said, starting with this: There is something highly unusual in watching a president call attention to his own impotence. The president is declaring to the world that he is simply too weak to govern. Not only that, he wants all of America to know that he’s darn frustrated about it. You can even hear it in his voice. The president is frustrated that on his watch, and for the first time in history, America’s credit rating has been downgraded. He’s frustrated that the economy is getting worse rather than better. He’s frustrated taxes aren’t higher. He’s frustrated that his stewardship led to one of the worst mid-term election repudiations in history. And he’s frustrated that he’s overseeing what many people worry is the decline of the American empire.

The president, who is essentially admitting that he is unable to do anything about this, wants to make sure the country is keenly aware of the state of his emotions, the depth of his frustrations, the deep pain caused by his ineptness. But my guess is that the public isn’t particularly interested in Mr. Obama’s emotional exhibitionism. They care about jobs and growth; they don’t want to hear excuses or complaints, especially since Mr. Obama’s chief selling point in 2008 was that he alone would bring an end to partisanship and gridlock.

As for the president’s claim that some folks in Congress refuse to “put the country ahead of party” and that they would “rather see their opponents lose than see America win”: this repeats a nasty little Obama habit, which is not simply to disagree with his opponents but to impugn their character. The Tea Party and Republican Members of Congress can’t possibly believe that the federal government is too large, spending needs to be reduced, and taxes shouldn’t be raised. And they certainly can’t believe that the philosophy they hold and the policies they embrace are in the best interest of America. It’s easier to assume they are knaves and traitors to their country.

If there’s anything we have learned about Mr. Obama during the last two-and-a-half years, it is his obsessive need to advertise his moral superiority. He wants us to believe – he is desperate for us to believe – that his motivations are pure, that he is the only adult in Washington, that he is a champion for the national interest while his critics are champions of special interests. It is not enough for Obama to be president; he wants us to believe he’s Sir Galahad.

As Mr. Obama is increasingly overwhelmed by events, as he and his presidency shrink before our eyes, his worst tendencies are being exacerbated, his narcissism further exposed, his anger at an unaccommodating world more pronounced. A man of supreme self-regard is watching things crumble before his eyes. He is obviously not well equipped to process any of this. It is enough for one to feel, if only for a moment, some pity for Mr. Obama. These are not easy days for him, and certainly not for his country.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
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1 posted on 08/14/2011 3:04:36 PM PDT by Second Amendment First
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To: Second Amendment First

I feel no pity for this communist, black supremacist, muslim lying POS.


2 posted on 08/14/2011 3:08:42 PM PDT by beethovenfan (If Islam is the solution, the "problem" must be freedom.)
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To: Second Amendment First

Obummer is and always has been an effeminate loser.

3 posted on 08/14/2011 3:09:25 PM PDT by Lazlo in PA (Now living in a newly minted Red State.)
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To: beethovenfan

Nor those who bought the hopey changey BS.

Must post and run.


4 posted on 08/14/2011 3:10:31 PM PDT by Second Amendment First ("Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not..." - Thomas Jefferson.)
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To: Second Amendment First

Keep pushing, people!


5 posted on 08/14/2011 3:10:34 PM PDT by null and void (Day 934. The mob is decisive when the law is not.)
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To: Second Amendment First

I’ve suspected for a while that Obama’s Frustration Speech was going to be remembered as his version of Carter’s Malaise Speech, the speech that marked the effective end of his presidency.


6 posted on 08/14/2011 3:11:03 PM PDT by Publius
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To: Second Amendment First

What will this narcissistic punk do when it finally dawns on him that the gig’s up?


7 posted on 08/14/2011 3:11:08 PM PDT by paddles ("The more corrupt the state, the more it legislates." Tacitus)
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To: beethovenfan

Seems like everything he does is designed to stick it to Whitey.


8 posted on 08/14/2011 3:11:38 PM PDT by Farmer Dean (stop worrying about what they want to do to you,start thinking about what you want to do to them)
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To: Second Amendment First

He’s crazy. But then again, so was Hitler (who believed he was Germany’s savior). So don’t underestimate him.

People like that somehow find it very easy to get people to believe in them, and we can see in Bambi’s election how easy it was for him to do this. The left is particularly gullible because it loves authoritarian figures with answers to everything. Roosevelt’s leftist government members were always making excuses for Hitler, and many of them even thought he was doing a great job.


9 posted on 08/14/2011 3:12:31 PM PDT by livius
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To: Second Amendment First

“A man of supreme self-regard is watching things crumble before his eyes. He is obviously not well equipped to process any of this.”
_____________________________

This is what scares me. He’s lashing out and it will only worsen.


10 posted on 08/14/2011 3:12:47 PM PDT by whinecountry (Semper Ubi Sub Ubi)
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To: Second Amendment First

He’s not frustrated or inept. Everything is going like he planned. He’s destroying our country just like he said he would.


11 posted on 08/14/2011 3:14:57 PM PDT by beaversmom
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To: Second Amendment First
Two and a half centuries of credibility flushed away in two and a half years.

Quite the accomplishment.

12 posted on 08/14/2011 3:16:10 PM PDT by Glenn (iamtheresistance.org)
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To: Second Amendment First

Typical soundbites from a Democrat. Namely, blame the Republicans for doing what they do.

In this case Obama is blaming the Republicans for refusing to compromise, when it is the Democrats who refuse to put our house in fiscal order.


13 posted on 08/14/2011 3:18:38 PM PDT by Presbyterian Reporter
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To: Second Amendment First

14 posted on 08/14/2011 3:19:11 PM PDT by P.O.E. (Pray for America)
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To: Second Amendment First

“And he’s frustrated that he’s overseeing what many people worry is the decline of the American empire. “

Actually, he’s frustrated that his plan to destroy America is taking longer than he would like.


15 posted on 08/14/2011 3:20:38 PM PDT by waus (FUBO UFCMF, Just in case I stuttered, FUBO)
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To: Presbyterian Reporter

As I recall, BO said he would veto anything that passed, so who is he talking about?


16 posted on 08/14/2011 3:42:08 PM PDT by dandiegirl
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To: Second Amendment First
This article also talks about the MI speech.

When Obama Loses America Wins

..what better place to prepare for the three-day trip than at a “global diversified company in the building and automotive industries” that manufactures “complete lithium-ion battery cells and systems for hybrid and electric cars.” In other words, an automotive plant that makes batteries for electric cars that aren’t selling as briskly as overly optimistic analysts had originally predicted.

...Not coincidentally, Johnson Controls is the recipient of $300 million of Obama’s stimulus money as part of the administration’s focus on so-called “green” technology and jobs. Nowhere on the President’s Teleprompter was the part about the resulting “green” jobs costing about $2 million each.

17 posted on 08/14/2011 3:44:05 PM PDT by opentalk
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To: null and void

I remember when Nixon’s hands were tied by the democrats who were in charge in Congress. He signed a lot of bills he didn’t like. He just shrugged and said it was the best deal he could get. Obamy can’t believe he can’t have things his way. I don’t think he’s ever been in this position in his life. And he’s acting like the election (which he thinks will fix things for him) are in three months! he’s got a horrible road ahead of him.


18 posted on 08/14/2011 3:44:48 PM PDT by ExtremeUnction
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To: Second Amendment First

OBAMA INHERITED:

a AAA credit rating; $1.61 gas (as of 12/31/08); 5.4% unemployment; and an 8 trillion dollar debt (accumulated since 1776, that was called “devastating”). 2 and 1/2 years later, we have an AA credit rating, nearly tripled gas prices, 9-10% unemployment & the debt ceiling is 17 TRILLION. Some STILL say this is a good job! Not sure who is scarier Obama or his supporters. NUMBERS DON’T LIE!


19 posted on 08/14/2011 3:48:09 PM PDT by SF_Redux (Sarah stands for accountablility and personal responsiblity, democrats can't live with that)
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To: Second Amendment First

Does anyone believe he writes his own speeches? Or his own biography? Or for the Harvard Law Review?


20 posted on 08/14/2011 3:49:03 PM PDT by printhead (Standard & Poor - Poor is the new standard.)
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To: printhead

ping for later


21 posted on 08/14/2011 3:55:14 PM PDT by NewHampshireDuo
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To: Second Amendment First

Obama: “See, it {the credit rating downgrade] didn’t happen because we don’t have the capacity to pay our bills...”

If we had the capacity to pay our bills (better: *your* bills, since you’re the one who ran up the tab), we wouldn’t have to increase the debt ceiling level. It’s precisely because we *don’t* have the capacity to pay our bills that we had to extend our credit limit several trillion dollars.

Lord, the man is a total muppet.


22 posted on 08/14/2011 3:56:32 PM PDT by Stosh
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To: ExtremeUnction
he’s got a horrible road ahead of him.

Yeah....


23 posted on 08/14/2011 3:56:43 PM PDT by null and void (Day 934. The mob is decisive when the law is not.)
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To: paddles

Hide in his bunker and scream why Steiner’s Army is not liberating Washington D.C.?


24 posted on 08/14/2011 4:01:07 PM PDT by 353FMG (Liberalism is Satan's handiwork.)
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To: Lazlo in PA

DR. SEUSS 2011:
I do not like this Uncle Sam, I do not like his health care scam. I do not like these dirty crooks, or how they lie and cook the books. I do not like when Congress steals, I do not like their secret deals. I do not like ex-speaker Nan, I do not like their ‘YES, We Can.’ I do not like this spending spree, I’m smart, I know that nothings free. I do not like their smug replies when I complain about their lies. I do not like this kind of HOPE, I do not like it...nope, nope, nope


25 posted on 08/14/2011 4:01:25 PM PDT by pgkdan (Time for a Cain Mutiny!)
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To: Second Amendment First
Does anyone really think Obama writes his own speeches? He's not only too ignorant to write his own speeches, he's too dumb to hire a good speech writer.
26 posted on 08/14/2011 4:01:59 PM PDT by DJ Taylor (Once again our country is at war, and once again the Democrats have sided with our enemy.)
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To: Second Amendment First

resign.


27 posted on 08/14/2011 4:05:45 PM PDT by ichabod1 (Nuts; A house divided against itself cannot stand.)
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To: Second Amendment First
The clueless one needs....


28 posted on 08/14/2011 4:09:07 PM PDT by jy8z (From the next to last exit before the end of the internet.)
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To: ExtremeUnction

Seems to me Truman expressed the same frustration - something about giving an order and everyone salutes and says ‘yes sir!’ and then absolutely nothing gets done.


29 posted on 08/14/2011 4:09:36 PM PDT by ichabod1 (Nuts; A house divided against itself cannot stand.)
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To: livius

“So don’t underestimate him.”

Yep. And with something as cynical and stupid as ‘fast and furious’ on his resume expect trouble.


30 posted on 08/14/2011 4:11:19 PM PDT by TalBlack ( Evil doesn't have a day job.)
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To: DJ Taylor

Yep, remember his classic speeches about how “we will give jobs to the jobless, healthcare to the sick, stop the rise of the oceans, and allow the planet to heal”??

His speeches have always been full of pablum. Yet many swooned over him in 2008. I never understood his appeal, but maybe I’m just not liberal and enlightened enough to perceive it.


31 posted on 08/14/2011 4:11:40 PM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: Second Amendment First

That Michigan speech was so lame that CNBC cut away after 5 minutes and even Steve Liesman was complaining about it.


32 posted on 08/14/2011 4:13:03 PM PDT by nascarnation
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To: pgkdan

I intend to steal this.


33 posted on 08/14/2011 4:13:37 PM PDT by JusPasenThru (HEY UNION MEMBER: INVEST IN YOUR OWN DAMN INFRASTRUCTURE FOR A CHANGE!)
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To: Second Amendment First

I feel many things toward o-POS, pity is not one of those things.


34 posted on 08/14/2011 4:18:10 PM PDT by Sequoyah101 (Half the people are below average.)
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To: Second Amendment First

“It is enough for one to feel, if only for a moment, some pity for Mr. Obama.”

I didn’t choose to be his enemy, he chose to be mine. I have no pity for this courupt-lying-trator-white hating racist-bastard son of a hippy communist whore.

Obama has been deliberately wrecking our country and stealing our way of life and the futures of my children and grandchildren... he will get no pity from me, because I loathe, detest, despise, dislike and abhor that miserable lowlife.


35 posted on 08/14/2011 4:19:21 PM PDT by Gator113 (Palin 2012, period.....)
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To: pgkdan

Great job... LOL


36 posted on 08/14/2011 4:20:15 PM PDT by Gator113 (Palin 2012, period.....)
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To: Dilbert San Diego
Well its because you are a racist, bigoted, greedy, NAZI, traitor, terrorist that wants to kill old people and children...

And apparently so am I...

So they tell us...

37 posted on 08/14/2011 4:21:52 PM PDT by DB
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To: DJ Taylor
This thread claims one of his speech writers is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.

This is the most incredible talk that took place at a conference in Toronto.

38 posted on 08/14/2011 4:27:06 PM PDT by opentalk
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To: JusPasenThru

Go ahead...I stole it from my sister.


39 posted on 08/14/2011 4:27:38 PM PDT by pgkdan (Time for a Cain Mutiny!)
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To: Gator113

Tell me... what do you REALLY think about Obama? LOL!


40 posted on 08/14/2011 4:33:48 PM PDT by MayflowerMadam ("I know that God's tomorrow will be better than today!" A. H. Ackley)
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To: Second Amendment First
Dan 8:25 "Through his cunning He shall cause deceit to prosper under his rule; [fn] And he shall exalt [himself] in his heart. He shall destroy many in [their] prosperity. He shall even rise against the Prince of princes; But he shall be broken without [human] means. [fn]

Is this Obozo, is he that crafty?

41 posted on 08/14/2011 4:33:53 PM PDT by boomop1
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To: dandiegirl

And Reid refused to debate cut, cap, and balance passed by the House.


42 posted on 08/14/2011 4:35:56 PM PDT by Presbyterian Reporter
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To: Second Amendment First

I seriously doubt nobama writes his own speeches. He has a whole crew of speech writers to do that.

He reads from TOTUS words written by others.


43 posted on 08/14/2011 4:42:11 PM PDT by upchuck (Rerun: Think you know hardship? Wait till the dollar is no longer the world's reserve currency.)
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To: boomop1

It’s going to take a lot more than Blather 0bama to wreck my country.


44 posted on 08/14/2011 4:45:42 PM PDT by donhunt (I am sick and tired of those bastards insulting and lying to me.™)
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Day 45 and the Freepathon is still on. Please donate today.
Click it.

45 posted on 08/14/2011 4:53:45 PM PDT by RedMDer (Abolish FReepathons. Be a monthly donor.)
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To: Second Amendment First

The Impotent President. I like the way that sounds in regards to this one.


46 posted on 08/14/2011 4:55:20 PM PDT by MAKOTHEDOG
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To: waus

Destroying the American economy is also taking longer than Soros ordered.


47 posted on 08/14/2011 5:04:02 PM PDT by abclily
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To: paddles
What will this narcissistic punk do when it finally dawns on him that the gig’s up?

He'll do what every malignant narcissist does at that point: lash out at perceived enemies. Assuming Section 4 of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment does not get invoked, America will be at its most dangerous junction in history.

48 posted on 08/14/2011 5:05:43 PM PDT by COBOL2Java (Obama is the least qualified guy in whatever room he walks into.)
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To: MayflowerMadam

LOL... You should have seen the draft... I toned it down.


49 posted on 08/14/2011 5:06:20 PM PDT by Gator113 (Palin 2012, period.....)
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To: Second Amendment First

good article


50 posted on 08/14/2011 5:08:35 PM PDT by woofie
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