The Atlantic - Latest Comments in The arrogance of Barack Obama

Re: The arrogance of Barack Obama

Trizzle — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:26:26 -0000

Saw this on WaPo - I think the Fix:

"Of his job interview with the Illinois Senator, Gaspard [incoming WH political director] recalled Obama saying: 'I think that I'm a better speechwriter than my speechwriters. I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I'll tell you right now that I'm gonna think I'm a better political director than my political director.'"

Arrogance? Maybe, but from his track record, it seems likely that he might actualy be better than his advisers. I can live with the best at the top, trusting his own judgment, rather than that of his VP or his advisers.

Re: The arrogance of Barack Obama

Joe Klein's conscience — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 09:18:53 -0000

Politico is a right-wing rag. Why do you think some of us call it Drudgico? Also, look at the money behind it. A family with a history of contributions to nutters(Glennzilla did a full take down a while back). They aren't going anywhere. They are like Roll Call or is itThe Hill? They survive, just barely, because they give freebies out to all of Capitol Hill, so advertisers will pay for it. They don't make money, but they don't lose a ton(unlike the Washington Times). So yes, you can say it is a form of wingnut welfare.

Re: The arrogance of Barack Obama

Mason — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 01:54:29 -0000

Jonathan Martin and Ben Smith have been pissin' me off since last January.

Whatever they have in the way of contacts and understanding they more than lose in pompous attitude and sensationalism.

The person who said they were mapping out David Broder's brain made me chuckle. *high five*

Re: The arrogance of Barack Obama

J.C. — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 00:17:43 -0000

Anna,

---The only time PE Obama should worry about a "Black tax" is if he or anyone in his administration starts worrying about a "Black tax."---

Yeah...sadly? It doesn't work that way. This isn't one of those "if you go searching for it, you'll get it" type of things. I do agree with the rest of your comment, though.

Re: The arrogance of Barack Obama

JonathanU — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 00:04:24 -0000

This is such a rehash of the old "Obama is an aloof celebrity/uppity negro" myth with just the slightest variation. They had to dig this one out of the garbage...

So Obama has a role model. For arrogance, look to the Bush administration.

Re: The arrogance of Barack Obama

DougEMI — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 23:37:35 -0000

This isn't the first time Obama has gotten crap for supposedly comparing himself to a Republican President. During the campaign, Clinton, Edwards as well as leading lefty bloggers accused Obama of praising Reagan and his ideas when in fact Obama was saying something different.

Re: The arrogance of Barack Obama

TRW — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 22:15:04 -0000

@htp: That James Dobson reference/quote made my week.

Re: The arrogance of Barack Obama

htp — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 21:33:13 -0000

Shorter Politico: Waaaah! Only Republicans can mention Lincoln! And only when they're trying to get the black vote!!

Sad.

I used to call Politico a print blog*, but then I started reading blogs, so now I just call it colorful ass-wipe.

the Politico piece is stupid. Imagine the story if Obama quotes the Bible.

Posted by Maineiac | December 15, 2008 5:25 PM

Well McCain did run that weird commercial that compared Obama to Moses. However, I predict that if Obama does quote the Bible 666 TalEvangicals will leap out of James Dobson's ass and screech "The Devil can quote scripture for his own ends!"

Whatever. In one corner we'll have a bunch of cretins yapping about irrelevant shit, chewing on the ropes and punching themselves in the face. In the other we'll have Team Obama getting things done.

That's a TKO you can believe in.

*Sorry, it was snotty journalist thing but now I'm cured.

Re: The arrogance of Barack Obama

PeterGuillam — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 21:02:34 -0000

"Prediction: the Politico will be gone in two years."

I doubt it. Politico is teaming up with Reuters. Now all newspapers can reprint crappy stories from Politico.

Re: The arrogance of Barack Obama

Roq — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 20:54:40 -0000

I'm too lazy to read the comments above, so sorry if this is a repeat, but... wasn't the 60 minutes question something like 'have you been reading about any past presidents for guidance?'

What's he supposed to do? Meditate on the crappy presidents? Oh yes... I've been reading all about Buchanan. No no... Filmore. That's the ticket.

*eyes roll out of head*

Re: The arrogance of Barack Obama

rikyrah — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 20:17:43 -0000

Sean Wilentz is a HATER. Plain and simple. Politico is useless.

Re: The arrogance of Barack Obama

anna perez — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:51:23 -0000

The only time PE Obama should worry about a "Black tax" is if he or anyone in his administration starts worrying about a "Black tax." Those who want to will throw undeserved stones, rhetorical and otherwise, no matter what he does. As for the media, once you identify yourself as food for the beast, you don't get to decide when to ring the dinner bell.

Re: The arrogance of Barack Obama

Jiovanni — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:49:03 -0000

This is a stretch and a half. They (the general media) is trying to find anything to put another Black man down but it's not going to work this time. I mean he is confident and to some insecure eyes, that means he is arrogant. Got it all wrong.

Re: The arrogance of Barack Obama

paxr55 — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:42:28 -0000

Hackety hack-hack is right.

I don't read Politico but recall its smarmy origins. I recall thinking at the time that maybe Jim VandeHei and John Harris, the cofounders, got a little punch-drunk from very spirited media criticism of their work at the Post. That was back when VandeHei was called Pool Boy. Question is: who funded them?

Does anyone remember that Bush press conference maybe three years ago when he actually winked at Mike Allen, then rising to ask him a question? He smirkily invited Allen to advertise his new digs at a new news outlet--Politico. Allen obliged, smirkingly. It was revolting. News as an inside joke. Heh. heh.

Re: The arrogance of Barack Obama

DB Cooper — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:10:31 -0000

Hack, hack, hackety hack.

Politico has some good reporters. What it lacks is any editorial discipline. Some days they're the post-modern NYT. Others, they're Drudge on stilts.

As for Lincoln and BarryO, the real similarity is in their understanding of the power of words. Read Lincoln's Sword while you remember Obama's speeches.

Re: The arrogance of Barack Obama

Warren Terra — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:01:52 -0000

I was unaware anyone still gave a flying fornication what Sean Wilentz thought about anything. The idea that someone thought he might have anything rational to say about Obama, given Wilentz's history of writing about Obama, is particularly absurd.

Re: The arrogance of Barack Obama

Col. Mike — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:49:41 -0000

Politico is a hothouse for inside-the-Beltway conventional wisdom, as if David Broder's brain were mapped and programmed for cyberspace by Rove/Drudge acolytes. This is the Web site, after all, that is breathlessly chronicling how Obama skips church to shoot some hoops. Straw man, indeed.

They do break news on occasion, however. If only their insight were as deep as their contacts.

Re: The arrogance of Barack Obama

TRW — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:45:12 -0000

This piece was ridiculous. The Republicans nearly worked themselves into a stupor trying to out-Reagan each other by invoking him over every single thing, but Obama talks about his admiration for Lincoln and somehow that makes him presumptuous? GTFOH.

The whole thing just makes me uncomfortable--there are obvious parallels between Obama and Lincoln--they both are lawyers, they both got their start in the Illinois legislature, and they were both elected President with *relatively* little experience. Maybe I should be arrested for pointing this out. The fact that Obama, gasp, shock, horror may mention some of these parallels in the same breath that he expresses his admiration for Abe doesn't make him presumptuous.

Between this and the Southerners article, Politico really pissed me off today.

Re: The arrogance of Barack Obama

Maineiac — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:25:57 -0000

the Politico piece is stupid. Imagine the story if Obama quotes the Bible.

Re: The arrogance of Barack Obama

Jaybird — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:24:45 -0000

I was hoping the neo-confederationists would have shown up by now.

"Humility? LINCOLN??? He started a war over whether The South would have the right to self-determine!"

Now that I think about it, they probably don't show up much except in libertarian circles...

Re: The arrogance of Barack Obama

Wrye — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:09:58 -0000

Jackassery.

When Obama was elected, Darryl Cagle's Professional Cartoonists Index had a whole section of political cartoons pairing Lincoln and Obama. It's still there if anyone wants to look - "Lincoln Likes Obama" and "Obama Wins" on www.cagle.com) They'd probably make an interesting essay subject themselves, some are playful, some reverent, some with Lincoln and Obama giving each other the thumbs up, some pairing Lincoln and MLK, many playing with the iconography of the Lincoln Memorial. (One even has the memorial empty, with someone saying Lincoln isn't back from Chicago yet). So, yeah, unless Politico wants to argue that Political cartoonists are on the Obama payroll, this is just silly.

I'm sure the last laugh will be on us, though-- Politico can easily defuse our criticism by giving some examples of the many presidents who didn't admire Lincoln.

Re: The arrogance of Barack Obama

rutherfurd — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:40:38 -0000

The "black tax" pretty much applies to anyone not of the majority in a certain cultural setting. Be it gay people, women, or a host of other designations.

Re: The arrogance of Barack Obama

Blue Moon — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:35:06 -0000

And to invoke Sean Wilentz as proof that Obama is risking a "Lincoln backlash." Wilentz elevated disingenuousness to an art form in his defense of Hillary! against the brown hoardes voting for Obama - especially his "Bill didn't play the race card, Barrack did" essay in the spring. Slow news day over at Politico apparently.

Re: The arrogance of Barack Obama

Andrea — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:33:52 -0000

"Obama's frequent invocations of Abraham Lincoln -- a man enshrined in myth and marble with his own temple on the National Mall -- would not at first blush say much about his own instincts for modesty or self-effacement."

First of all, he makes it sound like Lincoln himself constructed the statue on the National Mall, or it was his idea. Second, Whatever!? Talk about making a mountain out of a mole hill.

Re: The arrogance of Barack Obama

deva — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:32:37 -0000

I thought the article was really weird and it's position as the lead story on The Politico is truly bizarre. I mean, in what sense is speculation about the possible inaccuracy of the equivalence -- and the implied arrogance of an alleged self-comparisson -- between Obama and Lincoln a lead story in these times? I think the MSM is going nuts right now. They are desperate, DESPERATE, to poke a hole in O's utter self-possession and reassuring competence. I mean, that stuff's so boooring, right?

Boggles the mind.