WASHINGTON - Arrogance is a common vice in presidential politics. A person must be more than a little self-important to wake up one day and say, "I belong in the Oval Office."
But there's a line smart politicians don't cross — somewhere between "I'm qualified to be president" and "I'm born to be president." Wherever it lies, Barack Obama better watch his step.
He's bordering on arrogance.
The dictionary defines the word as an "offensive display of superiority or self-importance; overbearing pride." Obama may not be offensive or overbearing, but he can be a bit too cocky for his own good.
The freshman senator told reporters in July that he would overcome Hillary Rodham Clinton's lead in the polls because "to know me is to love me."
A few months later, he said, "Every place is Barack Obama country once Barack Obama's been there."
True, there's a certain amount of tongue-in-cheekiness to such remarks — almost as if Obama doesn't want to take his adoring crowds and political ascent too seriously. He was surely kidding when he told supporters in January that by the time he was done speaking "a light will shine down from somewhere."
"It will light upon you," he continued. "You will experience an epiphany. And you will say to yourself, I have to vote for Barack. I have to do it."
But both Obama and his wife, Michelle, ooze a sense of entitlement.
"Barack is one of the smartest people you will ever encounter who will deign to enter this messy thing called politics," his wife said a few weeks ago, adding that Americans will get only one chance to elect him.
Forget the idiotic assumptions being made about Senator Obama based on his name or the equally idiotic lie going around about his being a Muslim or raised as one. Those don't even dignify a response from anyone who would claim to actually put thought into their vote.
Beyond the fact that he's really campaigned on little more than nice concepts and hasn't offered much by way of how he's actually going to govern, Senator Obama leaves plenty of room for criticism anyway, regardless of the hype machine now churning into overdrive on his behalf:
To wit, his environmental/energy proposals and anti-lobbying position smack of trying to appeal to conservatives and moderates (campaign down the middle, govern from the left--something his chief rival's husband turned into an art form); he's flip-flopped on the Israel-Palestine issue; he's flip-flopped on Iran; he said he wouldn't vote to cut funding to troops in Iraq but he has turned around and did exactly that (HR 2206); he's criticized President Bush for violating Iraq's sovereignty but he would do the exact same thing to Pakistan; Planned Parenthood gives him a 100 rating; and he not only voted against banning partial-birth abortions (at state and federal level), but would have condoms handed out to schools. Speaking of sex education, this one's a bit mind-boggling: Senator Obama supports sex ed beginning at kindergarten level, but he also opposed porn filters in schools and libraries.
So, in short, here's a candidate who carries around a sense of entitlement, panders, shamelessly adopts positions to garner support AND changes those positions when it's convenient (AKA flip-flopping, which is a whole lot worse to me than holding a position I personally disagree with), would address effect rather than cause with regards to teen sex, and not only doesn't seem to be bothered by the holocaust of babies going on in this country, but would support probably the worst form of murder upon babies.
And then there's the whole current flap about the former pastor of his church, his own spiritual mentor. Sure, I'll give the Senator the benefit of the doubt that he was never present at the times this "pastor" accused the US of holocaust and genocide, called for the damnation of the country, and accused the White Men in power in the "USKKKA" of planting the AIDS virus among minorities for population control. I'll give the Senator the benefit of the doubt that he would have in fact left that church if he had heard those comments in person.
But this? The mission statement of the church? This is the belief system that has shaped Senator Obama? And the entire country is supposed to look at this man as an agent of change who will bring about unity?
I hope I'm not the only one who sees the hypocrisy here. Faith may in fact be personal to most of us, but then again, most of us aren't running for President of the United States either, the single-most public of public service positions.
He's making a speech tomorrow that's supposed to be addressing the church issue and the race issue in general. It'll be interesting to see what he has to say. Hopefully it'll be more than flowery rhetoric full of soundbites.
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