Yikes

The ladies take on Obama. And they aren't very nice.

Obama's admirers have loved his thoughtful thinkiness, his cerebreality. But that's getting old and cold.

Dither, dither, speech. Foreign trip, bow, reassure. Seminar, summit. Shoot a jump shot with the guys, throw out the first pitch in mom jeans. Compromise, concede, close the deal. Dither, dither, water down, news conference.....

Where is the animal fire inside the clammily cool Prez? Maureen wants to know. Was it ever really there?

The animating spirit that electrified his political movement has sputtered out.
The animating spirit...

Whose animating spirit provided the electricity back then? Did it come from him, or did we generate it from within as we looked at him and fell in love?

You know, I think what Obama seems to have become, he always was. Shake him all you want, Maureen, but you're like some Star Trek extra (in tights and a tunic) trying to coax heat out of the body of Mr. Spock. I'm afraid these earnest efforts are futile.

Should we face facts? Americans are sick of being hated by everyone around the world. And yes, we are hated. Why? Because the world is a bunch of assholes. Americans are tough, but like all people, want to be liked. And we're used to being liked. But something happened and I don't know when, some tide shifted shortly after the Cold War. There were always American haters, but this charge of "arrogance," caught on. A simple euphemism for resentment of power. It is charge we cannot refute and it is a charge not meant to be debated. The only thing that alleves the charge is becoming the victim. The only time the world felt sympathy for America was after 9/11 and it didn't last. The world hates being less powerful.

Now I'm going to make an opposite point - one that is factually true - whereas my above point is emotionally true: Most people don't hate America, but the ones who do, are highly motivated and therefore disproportionately loud and in some ways, powerful. Hate is highly, highly motivating. (see the number of my facebook and anti-Kobe posts). Hate and fear are incredible driving forces for human beings. And are preferable to powerlessness, futility, and exhaustion.

When you are hated, how do you react? How does a decent country react? They try to make themselves more likable. Which is why we voted for Obama. Because he is LIKABLE. Why is he likable? Because he was the underdog. He was the underdog because his profile was relatively low. His experience level relatively low. And because he was black. We want to be liked by the world and so we voted for a likable guy. We didn't care about his policies. Or who he was as a person, what he accomplished, or any of those things. We voted for him because we want to be liked.