Obama: Con Man?
I'd sooner compare him to Repo Man, but I'm not swinging for the rhetorical fences like Newt Gingrich -- who has just riffed heavily off of Dinesh D'Souza's recent profile of the President:
“This is a person who is fundamentally out of touch with how the world works, who happened to have played a wonderful con, as a result of which he is now president,” Gingrich tells [National Review].
“I think he worked very hard at being a person who is normal, reasonable, moderate, bipartisan, transparent, accommodating — none of which was true,” Gingrich continues. “In the Alinksy tradition, he was being the person he needed to be in order to achieve the position he needed to achieve . . . He was authentically dishonest.”
Gingrich is getting press for declaring that you can only see the real Obama through Kenya-colored glasses, but the truth is, what Obama's achieved only makes sense as an American story:
“[Obama] is in the great tradition of Edison, Ford, the Wright Brothers, Bill Gates — he saw his opportunity and he took it,” Gingrich says.
It's true that Americans have never had the corner on seizing the biggest and baddest of opportunities. In America, equality has a pretty distinctive character, but Obama reminds us that Nietzsche was right about democratic life in general when he said, at the close of the 19th century, "Genius is perhaps not so rare after all -- but the five hundred hands it requires to tyrannize the kairos, 'the right time,' seizing chance by its forelock." Still, only his Americanness enabled Obama to seize his very peculiar and fleeting 'right time'. Maybe his supporters were so sick of the Bush years that they'd have welcomed an alien abduction. But not very many people voted for Obama, I'm guessing, because they wanted an alien to abduct them from America. Remember the thrill that ran up your leg when Obama inspired a sea of Democrats to chant "USA! USA!"...?
Right after the aphorism above, Nietzsche wrote, "Anyone who does not want to see what is lofty in a man looks that much more keenly for what is low in him and mere foreground -- and thus betrays himself." If you detect a hint of the con in Obama, look not overseas. Look deeper into America -- beginning, perhaps, with America's master of fiction Herman Melville. After all, Melville crowned his career as a writer with a novel concerning a character he called The Confidence-Man...
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May '10
Re: Obama: Con Man?
Newt is grandstanding. The way Obama was elected was perfectly normal for American politics. Obama tried to refrain from publicizing his more controversial views, just like every other politician on both sides of the aisle does in every election.
Obama is a constant liar. But he didn't con the American people. The American people lied to themselves about who he was. Obama's radical beliefs have always been clear. It was clear in campaign speeches that the America he loves is the one in his head.
Jun '10
Re: Obama: Con Man?
The proof is, Obama didn't just take the Oval Office's bust of Churchill, a gift from Great Britain, and send it to the White House basement where he didn't have to look at it. He sent it back to Britain, to make a statement. I think that illustrates that he's never forgiven Great Britain for colonizing Kenya and wants everybody to know it. In that case, he put his personal feelings (grudges) ahead of our national interest. That's not the most important reason to worry about Obama's state of mind, but a significant one.
Re: Obama: Con Man?
What a strange comparison. All those men worked with in the private sector to either innovate, or in some cases, exploit the innovations of others to create great forward momentum in human history. NO politician since the founding fathers have be able to do that. What a weird double twist he performed to make that point.
Sep '10
Re: Obama: Con Man?
That's as close to the Truth as anyone is ever likely to get. Many of Obama's voters (especially guilty white liberals) projected onto him an idealized image of whatever they desperately wanted him to be, in spite of all evidence to the contrary.
Jul '10
Re: Obama: Con Man?
Denise Moss
What a strange comparison. All those men worked with in the private sector to either innovate, or in some cases, exploit the innovations of others to create great forward momentum in human history. NO politician since the founding fathers have be able to do that. What a weird double twist he performed to make that point. · Sep 12 at 12:56pm
Yes. For a guy so good with words, that's just bizarre.
Jul '10
Re: Obama: Con Man?
Most con jobs have one thing in common: the "mark" has to want to believe.
Another thing they often have in common is that one member of the con team distracts the mark while the other executes the con.
In the case of the Obama election, a lot of people wanted to believe; the media did the distraction and Obama's political team executed the con.
Re: Obama: Con Man?
Kenneth
Denise Moss
What a strange comparison. All those men worked with in the private sector to either innovate, or in some cases, exploit the innovations of others to create great forward momentum in human history. NO politician since the founding fathers have be able to do that. What a weird double twist he performed to make that point. · Sep 12 at 12:56pm
Yes. For a guy so good with words, that's just bizarre. · Sep 12 at 4:19pm
Well said, Denise... but I wonder if that points up how deeper the problem runs than Obama himself. Obama's conviction that the leader of government creates the 'great forward momentum in human history' resonated.
Re: Obama: Con Man?
Okay, now you've executed a double back somersault with a pike to make that point...but I understand. And whether it's deeper than Obama, could be. But one thing for sure HE believes government is where things get done! How could be think otherwise. He knows nothing else.
Aug '10
Re: Obama: Con Man?
Obama scores an F.
Aug '10
Re: Obama: Con Man?
He's a classic Flim Flam man who pulled off a masterful con. Yes, Americans fell for it because of their weaknesses, but Obama is guilty of great evil. The consequences of his and his minions' deeds will haunt us far into the future.
May '10
Re: Obama: Con Man?
James -- Your pal Dave Weigel is having a massive hissy fit over Gingrich's comments and D'souza's article. He seems to be both trying to refute D'souza's points and insist that they don't matter at the same time. What do you make of the MSM reaction to the Forbe's piece?
Jun '10
Re: Obama: Con Man?
Trace, can you post the link on Weigel going all Rumpelstiltskin
Jun '10
Re: Obama: Con Man?
Denise Moss
What a strange comparison. ... What a weird double twist he performed to make that point. · Sep 12 at 12:56pm
Equally true of Al Capone, Bernie Madoff, Bonnie and Clyde, etc
Re: Obama: Con Man?
Exactly right. To add another wrinkle in this discussion: in a larger sense, the government has been conning us for years and years -- telling us we can have things, big fat entitlements, and that there will be money to pay for all of it, and a low-tax environment. We believed it, even though deep down we knew it was too good to be true. We looked at the growth of Medicare and other programs -- and combined them with the ruinous demographic trends -- and thought, Oh well, the gang in Washington will figure this all out. Which of course they can't.
As the saying goes: you can't con an honest man.
May '10
Re: Obama: Con Man?
Mitch! Mitch! Mitch!
May '10
Re: Obama: Con Man?
Series of Tweets over the weekend and continuing and (at least) two posts on Slate. The URL doesn't want to paste but if you Google: "Weigel, d'Souza" you'll get the whole histrionic collection.