“I Have Become a Symbol”
Dana Milbank of The Washington Post has a great piece on how Obama has gone from the “presumptive [Democratic] nominee to [the] presumptuous nominee.”
Campaigns always wind up being about who can build the stronger narrative about the other candidate. This year, it seems, all Democrats are saying about John McCain is that he’s old and “Bush III.” Creative. They’re swiping at him any way they can without really staying on message. Maybe that’s why J-Mac has been gaining in this poll, and in this poll, and in this poll…
It’s especially important because John McCain is a relative known entity to voters. Come September, October, and November voters won’t have to be introduced to John McCain - just reminded.
The story is different for Obama: Nobody knows who Obama is. And Obama doesn’t even seem to know. The man is clearly confused. Hey, maybe he’s the one that’s too old to serve. He’s clearly got dementia (thinks he’s President), he wanders places (Europe), and just the other day he hurt his hip… Who’s the geriatric now?
As Milbank points out, Obama’s recent campaigning has been more about grand-standing and not about talking to voters, clarifying policy positions (which isn’t even going over well in his own party, enter Mario Cuomo), or staking a clear vision for the future. All we hear about is how great Senator President Obama is. Just listen to this crap:
Inside, according to a witness, he told the House members, “This is the moment . . . that the world is waiting for,” adding: “I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions.”
Milbank hits it on the nose, when he says:
Obama’s biggest challenger may not be Republican John McCain but rather his own hubris.
And you know there’s a problem when the members of the Fourth Estate are starting to feel like the ugly girl at prom around King Obama.
In the latest issue of the New Republic, Gabriel Sherman found reporters complaining that Obama’s campaign was “acting like the Prom Queen” and being more secretive than Bush. The magazine quoted the New York Times‘ Adam Nagourney’s reaction to the Obama campaign’s memo attacking one of his stories: “I’ve never had an experience like this, with this campaign or others.” Then came Obama’s overseas trip and the campaign’s selection of which news organizations could come aboard. Among those excluded: the New Yorker magazine, which had just published a satirical cover about Obama that offended the campaign.
Imagine the media fiasco that would presumably ensue if John McCain excluded a prominent newspaper or magazine on the basis of being offended.
Well, President Obama, even you have to be elected.
You “have become a symbol” of overwhelming hubris, Senator Obama.
Categories: Politics
Finally, someone is seeing what an empty Marxist suit this guy is…. with his vast experience he certainly is in a position to tell us all how we are going to live under his regime. Vast experience includes voting “present” more than 130 times on Illinois state legislature issues, and in this 143 days in the US Senate, as chair of the foreign relations comittee, never called a meeting…. but he is EXPERIENCED at gladhanding and associating with terrorists.
Full quote in Washington Post, from another witness:
“It has become increasingly clear in my travel, the campaign — that the crowds, the enthusiasm, 200,000 people in Berlin, is not about me at all. It’s about America. I have just become a symbol.”
Not quite the same thiing.
I don’t know. I’m not sure one quote is any better than the other. I still think it’s presumptuous for anyone to purport to be a symbol for America (or any part of America) without ever having done anything.
And we can debate whether he is or isn’t a symbol all you want…the gall of him calling himself a symbol is shocking regardless.
“I still think it’s presumptuous for anyone to purport to be a symbol”
Well it’s less presumptuous than believing you are good enough to be the leader of the free world. All Presidential candidates are hyper-ambitious and egotistical. They have to be, in order to run for that particular office.
With regards to that quote, I think the intent was for him to try and explain why he’s getting so much attention overseas. He is acknowledging that he is popular because the people have made him a symbol, rather than for the things he has actually done. There is a certain humility in that statement.
But I agree with your overall assessment, the campaign is geared around the ‘greatness of Obama’ which really wasn’t the case during the primaries. They need to go back to the more humble yet effective strategy of being a ‘movement’ candidate.
I’m gonna have to disagree with you. Being the leader of the free world is still, at least nominally, first and foremost the servant of the American People.
I don’t care how large their egos are in reality; their rhetoric should match the duty of the office.
It’s preserve, protect, and defend - not symbolize.
[...] yesterday, I commented on how important narratives are in Presidential campaigns. Well, it looks like Obama’s [...]
It’s sad to see this inaccurate quote reported all over the place. So many bloggers like yourself have been played for fools. The worst part is that even after a commenter pointed out that the quote was inaccurate, you still didn’t back down.
Obama *is* a symbol to the rest of the world. It’s not his doing, that’s just the way it is. No American leader has ever drawn crowds like that internationally. And why do you think that is? It’s because the rest of the world is desperately hoping that tools like yourself, who can be gleefully and unwittingly led to war or used to spread propaganda, are not the lasting legacy of America.