The Pre-Carterization of Barack Obama
Even when they're trying to criticize him, some journalists can't quite bring themselves to say anything more negative than, essentially, "Barack Obama is too good to be president."
The problem, apparently, is that Obama just doesn't play the political game. Here, Jane Mayer in The New Yorker, says that Obama's achilles heel is, he doesn't schmooze billionaires:
Big donors were particularly offended by Obama’s reluctance to pose with them for photographs at the first White House Christmas and Hanukkah parties. Obama agreed to pose with members of the White House press corps, but not with donors, because, a former adviser says, “he didn’t want to have to stand there for fourteen parties in a row.” This decision continues to provoke disbelief from some Democratic fund-raisers.
Creating a sense of intimacy with the President is especially important with Democratic donors, a frustrated Obama fund-raiser argues: “Unlike Republicans, they have no business interest being furthered by the donation—they just like to be involved. So it makes them more needy. It’s like, ‘If you’re not going to deregulate my industry, or lower my taxes, can’t I at least get a picture?’ ”
Unlike Republicans, they have no self-interested reason to donate to Obama. But still, Obama is uncomfortable at fundraisers. He's too pure, you see:
In addition to being less of a glad-hander than most politicians, Obama is also the first President in a long time to have small children in the White House. Some Washingtonians have complained that Obama rarely goes out at night or socializes with members of Congress, preferring to spend time with his family. Jodi Kantor, in her book, points out that the President is unwilling to miss dinner with his family more than two nights a week. This doesn’t leave much time for strategic socializing.
A few big donors, such as Robert Wolf, a former top executive at UBS, have become genuine friends of Obama’s. But, for a politician, Obama is unusually self-contained. In this regard, some have likened him to Jimmy Carter. Gerald Rafshoon, who was Carter’s media adviser in the White House, agrees that Carter had little appetite for massaging donors or Washington power brokers. But, Rafshoon says, Robert Strauss, the former chairman of the Democratic Party, persuaded Carter to do it anyway: “Carter didn’t like fund-raising, but he did it. He also knew he had to have dinner with senators like Russell Long. We also had thirty dinners in the residence for the press. It paid off.” Perhaps, he suggests, Obama needs more advisers telling him, “This is necessary. Do it.”
And of course there's that famous campaign promise:
Obama sought the Presidency in part because he hoped to alter the relationship between powerful financial interests and those who govern. On his first day in office, he banned lobbyists from his Administration.
How'd that promise hold up? Not so well.
What we're seeing here is the Pre-Carterization of Barack Obama. He's too smart. He's too good. He's too pure. Politics is beneath him. We're not worthy.
Must be nice to live in the liberal cocoon. No matter what happens, you're always right.
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Jul '11
Re: The Pre-Carterization of Barack Obama
The media are taking sides and it is great to have them squirm around to find a comfortable place to sit on a bench of nails. Some are deluded progressives and they do not count but the rest of them have an unpleasant choice. They can either be lying partisan dividing hacks or tell the truth. What a dilemma.
Mar '11
Re: The Pre-Carterization of Barack Obama
I'm fairly certain that's my biggest flaw too.
Mar '11
Re: The Pre-Carterization of Barack Obama
Rob Long:
What we're seeing here is the Pre-Carterization of Barack Obama. He's too smart. He's too good. He's too pure. Politics is beneath him. We're not worthy.
I can live with that.
Aug '10
Re: The Pre-Carterization of Barack Obama
This is a desperate defense for a candidate who is going down in flames.
Jun '12
Re: The Pre-Carterization of Barack Obama
Monsieur Long, may I remind you of some advice from a long-dead Chinese philosopher?
If the media wants to paint Obama as some disconnected elite semi-godling with no idea of how real people live, let them. All that will do is turn people away from him.
Jul '11
Re: The Pre-Carterization of Barack Obama
ConservativeWanderer
Monsieur Long, may I remind you of some advice from a long-dead Chinese philosopher?
If the media wants to paint Obama as some disconnected elite semi-godling with no idea of how real people live, let them. All that will do is turn people away from him. · 0 minutes ago
Obama is pot committed and cannot change. Pointing out this issue, other than being Longesquingly funny, is more of a jab at the media idiots rather than a campaign hint.
I find it hilarious that aloofness, arrogance, laziness, Marxist ideology, and limited intelligence are confused with someone who too pure and above it all.
Edited on August 20, 2012 at 10:30pmAug '12
Re: The Pre-Carterization of Barack Obama
DocJay
Obama is pot committed...
I thought his "Choom Gang" days ended a long time ago.
May '11
Re: The Pre-Carterization of Barack Obama
Thanks a lot, Rob, for those quotes... I was eating breakfast.
When I was in Law School, I submitted a short story to the New Yorker just for fun. It got rejected (and probably rightly so). Now, in retrospect, I'm kind of happy about it.
May '11
Re: The Pre-Carterization of Barack Obama
Casey
I'm fairly certain that's my biggest flaw too. · 27 minutes ago
... although. If anyone knows a billionaire, please send him/her my way for some high-quality schmoozing. A phone call or email would suffice.
Sep '10
Re: The Pre-Carterization of Barack Obama
Must be nice to live in the liberal cocoon.
Because then you never know whether you're a moth or a butterfly.
Jan '11
Re: The Pre-Carterization of Barack Obama
I've continuously wondered when the MSM Praetorian Gaurd would turn on him. It's taken much longer than I ever thought, but this (along with the ET/FM Talker) kerfuffle may be the precurser.
The MSM Tiger-Beat like adoration has been infuriating to witness as a conservative but you'd think they would become embarassed at some point. They'll want to be 'journalists & pundits' long after Obama is gone. The sooner they grow out of this crush, the better for them professionally.
Mar '11
Re: The Pre-Carterization of Barack Obama
The funny/sad/scary thing about this quote is, I think they [Democrats] actually BELIEVE this.
Jan '11
Re: The Pre-Carterization of Barack Obama
Live by the media, die by the media. When you cross them, they retaliate.
Funny. He met with reporters today.
Coulda swore I heard him whisper "Yes, my master?"
Edited on August 20, 2012 at 8:01pmDec '11
Re: The Pre-Carterization of Barack Obama
This is proof that support for Obama is a religious exercise.
Some years back I started using the phrase "God gets all the breaks." To me this encapsulates a believer's faith that no matter what happens to them, good or bad, it is part of a Divine Plan because God is all powerful and all loving. Ergo, if it is good, God caused it. If it is bad, God has an unknowable reason to permit it.
Same with Obama supporters. Ergo, re-electing Obama is religious, not rational.
Jul '12
Re: The Pre-Carterization of Barack Obama
More evidence of the fact that we, the little people, are an ignorant bunch of ingrates, too benighted and infantile to realized that when the Colossus-who-bestrides-the-horizon that is Barack Obama stomps on us, it's actually a compliment.
Re: The Pre-Carterization of Barack Obama
At least Carter remained loyal to his wayward brother Billy; more than one can say about Obama and his brother.
May '10
Re: The Pre-Carterization of Barack Obama
This is a treasure:
“(Carter) also knew he had to have dinner with senators like Russell Long. We also had thirty dinners in the residence for the press. It paid off.”
Yeah, those press dinners really paid off and helped keep RI and Maryland squarely in Carter's corner in 1980.
Liberals love to paint themselves as pragmatic and "reality based" yet live in an absolute fantasy world when it comes to the nuts and bolts of politics. They believed that when Obama won the Republicans would abandon their principals, resign their offices and simply go away. And when they didn't, and when the Obamanistas refused to build the kind of personal relationships Reagan built with his loyal opposition, they are absolutely surprised by failure.
Rafshoon mentioned that Carter had dinner with Russell Long. So what? Long was Huey's son and a loyal Democrat. Keeping your own party in line is one thing. Building a Reaganesque coalition, which is what Obama promised, is something entirely different.
Edited on August 20, 2012 at 9:34pmDec '10
Re: The Pre-Carterization of Barack Obama
Rob, nobody enjoys admitting they made a mistake. You are simply witnessing the liberal equivalent of the cat who jumps on a table, lands with one paw in each of four cups of tea, and then nonchalantly steps out of them, shaking tea off each paw, with the attitude, "I MEANT to do that."
Sadly, we even see some "conservatives" who fell for Obama's schtick in 2008 and who still try to construct logical edifices to underpin their support. Not many of them have admitted outright, "I was fooled."
Jun '12
Re: The Pre-Carterization of Barack Obama
Isn't Carterization what you do to burn shut a vessel to stop blood loss ? That's the first step to helping America recover, as I see it.
Dec '10
Re: The Pre-Carterization of Barack Obama
I suppose it is hard to feel fraternal loyalty to a half-brother sired by a father who showed no paternal loyalty to baby Barack. George probably got a good deal more attention from their father than Barack did -- maybe the President feels George actually got the better end of the stick.