The Great Destroyer: Barack Obama's War on the Republic (45 page)

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Authors: David Limbaugh

BOOK: The Great Destroyer: Barack Obama's War on the Republic
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But that’s probably not any more revealing of his self-absorption than Obama’s choice of children’s book to read to second-graders in Arlington, Virginia:
Of Thee I Sing
, written by… Barack Obama.
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“ALL HE DID WAS SIGN OFF ON INITIATIVES OTHER, BETTER MEN HAD ORIGINATED”
After Obama gave a speech in Tucson to memorialize the victims of the Jared Loughner shootings, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told the media that Obama felt good after the speech—as if Obama’s feelings were the issue. Continuing with his post-mortem on Obama’s performance, Gibbs said, “I think he’s gone through thinking about this as somebody who knew the congresswoman. And I think he’s gone through this, as I’m sure many of you guys have, as a parent or a sibling might—if you read some of the stories that—about the victims that are still very, very hard to read. And I think he’s been thinking about this on a lot of different levels.”
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Yes, the agony of that speech must have been unbearable for Obama. But not to worry, because any hardship he may have endured was cured with a little self-help during his State of the Union speech a few weeks later, when he referred to himself some fifty-five times, proving that he was still master of the art of self-reference.
But nowhere was the stoutness of Obama’s narcissism on clearer display than in his exuberance at the death of Osama bin Laden. It quickly became clear he would parlay the bin Laden killing to remake his image as a kick-butt commander in chief. He promptly embarked on what some described as a “bragging tour,” in which he repeatedly took credit for bin Laden’s death. As he related the events, Obama often recited some of the history leading up to the raid on bin Laden’s compound, describing actions that occurred during the Bush administration with the collective “we,” without mentioning, much less crediting, Bush for any of it. When he arrived at the point in the narrative where he became president, he conveniently switched to the first person, as if to suggest he personally brought bin Laden to justice.
Novelist Stephen Hunter had choice words to describe Obama’s grotesquely self-congratulatory remarks:
Any joy one might feel in the intelligence of our analysts and the bravery of our door kickers was significantly diminished by Obama’s malignant narcissism…. Then there were his tasteless claims of personal leadership, his over-emphasis on
“I” and “at my direction.” Clearly, all he did was sign off on initiatives other, better men had originated. He was ungenerous to Bush, who had to deal with this thing in real time under more pressure than any president has faced since Pearl Harbor and wasn’t helped by the treachery of the Democratic Party, as exemplified by then Senator Obama. Clearly, we staged from Afghanistan. We were able to stage from Afghanistan because of Bush and the intel that led to the kill was just as obviously developed over years of effort, begun by Bush.
33
“AN ISOLATED MAN TRAPPED IN A COLLAPSING PRESIDENCY”
But the president’s triumphalism over the bin Laden raid didn’t defuse criticism that he was failing to show leadership in the budget negotiations. Obama said he was “amused” by the charge, adding, “Let me tell you something: right after we finished dealing with the government shutdown, averting a government shutdown, I called the leaders here together. I said we have to get this done”—as if he can just issue an edict, snap his fingers, and decree a deal into existence, reminiscent of his memorable order concerning the Gulf oil spill: “Just plug the damn hole.”
35
Meanwhile, he applied a wholly different standard to congressional leaders, saying a deal was up to them and “they need to do their job…. Now’s the time to go ahead and make the tough choices, that’s why they’re called leaders.”
36
This Obama dog and pony show was bizarre considering that, in other contexts, Obama had said the exact opposite. “There is nothing wrong with our country,” he said during a speech at a plant in Holland, Michigan. “There is something wrong with our politics. The last thing we need is Congress spending more time arguing in D.C. What I figure is they need to spend more time out here listening to you and hearing how fed up you are. That’s why I’m here.”
37
Obama’s chiding was even more ludicrous in light of his own arrogant detachment in dealing with the specifics of the economy, budgets, and the national debt. Even Democrats were appalled when Obama chose not to attend a White House meeting with members of his own debt commission, whom he had convened in an insincere political stunt, and whose recommendations he largely ignored. “He should have at least dropped by,” said one Democratic member of the commission. A Democratic aide said that panel members were miffed and privately believed Obama opted out of the meeting to avoid embarrassment because he’d just endorsed $900 billion more in deficit spending.
38
As his term progressed, more and more people began to notice how isolated Obama was even from his own staff. As columnist Michael Goodwin wrote, “President Obama has become a lone wolf, a stranger to his own government. He talks mostly, and sometimes only, to friend and adviser Valerie Jarrett and to David Axelrod, his political strategist.” Everyone else, according to Goodwin, including Obama’s cabinet members, has little face time with Obama except for brief meetings disguised as photo-ops. Additionally, quite contrary to his projected public image, Obama is said to have short workdays, knocking off around 4:00 p.m. Goodwin says, “If the reports are accurate, and I believe they are, they paint a picture of an isolated man trapped in a collapsing presidency.”
39
OBAMA PLAYED MORE GOLF IN TWO YEARS THAN BUSH DID IN EIGHT
Obama seems indifferent to his hypocrisy, the stark contrast between his constant finger-wagging against the “rich” and his own luxurious exploits. It’s as though he has granted himself a personal exemption, a sort of presidential immunity concerning his taxpayer-subsidized lifestyle. So long as he rails against achievers, it doesn’t matter that he is one or that he lives a life every bit as lavish as the wealthiest of those he derides—except that he doesn’t do it with his own money.
While Obama is berating America’s fat-cat bankers and corporatist raiders, his White House sends out photos of a casually dressed Obama with his feet propped high on the people’s desk, seemingly unconcerned about the cratering economy and staggering debt. While he directs public money into failed green energy ventures that wouldn’t get the first investment dime from the free market and lectures Americans about conservation, he gallivants about in a near twenty-car motorcade of gas-guzzling SUVs and limousines, stopping traffic wherever he goes and subjecting everyone to his aversion to punctuality.
He seems utterly oblivious to the disastrous optics of playing golf the day after he voiced his deep empathy for the victims of the tsunami in Japan, and getting in another round on the links instead of honoring his commitment to attend the Polish president’s funeral. He obviously saw nothing untoward in the first lady’s sojourn to Europe with her buds while he exhorted Americans to spend their vacations in the oil-spilled Gulf, presumably to help fool others into believing there was nothing to see there, that his policies hadn’t made a mess of things, and that all was back to normal.
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It’s his world, which is why he didn’t have to consult Congress before initiating military strikes against Libya or bother to fill the people in on his action, while his entire family and some friends left on yet another junket—this time to South America. It’s his world, which is why, after an Easter event at the White House in 2011, the administration released a single photo of Obama watching a child play a game with an egg, but released a slew of pictures spotlighting Obama dribbling a basketball for fawning onlookers.
43
It’s his world, which is why the following Easter, he played basketball with NBA players and members of the Harlem Globetrotters using a basketball emblazoned with his own portrait.
44
It would be one thing for Obama to indulge himself occasionally on the taxpayer dime, but every other week we read about his personal profligacy. How many times did he or Michelle and company fly back to Chicago and elsewhere, or hop a flight to New York City for dinner? How many times did they fly to Martha’s Vineyard and live like royalty?
45
This is a man who played golf eight times in the first eleven weeks of the Gulf oil spill. The aloof, tone-deaf White House staff praised this indolence, with Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton declaring that Obama’s golf outings do “us all good as American citizens. I don’t think that there’s a person in this country that doesn’t think that their president ought to have a little time to clear his mind.” A little time? During his first seventeen months in office, Obama played golf thirty-nine times. In other words, he played almost every weekend that it was warm enough to play in Washington or whichever exotic location he happened to be in at the time.
46
By October 2010, Obama had played fifty-two rounds of golf.
47
While the Left relentlessly ridiculed President George W. Bush for ignoring his job responsibilities in favor of golf, they have barely mentioned Obama’s trips to the links. Yet Obama played more golf in less than two years in office than Bush did during his entire eight years.
48
Whereas the press depicted Bush as derelict in his duties, Obama was making judicious use of his downtime to refuel and equip himself to utilize the brain that Joe Biden said was too big for his skull. Nor was Bush credited for ultimately foregoing golf in order to show respect for the families of wounded and fallen soldiers. Obama, by contrast, rarely lets a tragedy get between him and the course.
BO GETS HIS OWN JET
While Obama is unsparing in his vacationing, no one takes a backseat to the first lady when it comes to taxpayer-funded junkets. At a time when congressional Democrats refused to fund visits of Republican congressmen to tour the Gulf oil spill,
49
Obama dispatched Michelle to the scene, though she had no official position and no authority to do anything in connection with the disaster.
50
When she arrived—after stopping in Kansas City to speak to the NAACP about Americans’ eating habits and racial problems—she donned her hat as Gulf tour director, saying, “There are still thousands of miles of beaches not touched by the spill. There are still opportunities to experience these beautiful beaches.”
51
Meanwhile, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was caught flat-footed when CBS’s Chip Reid asked him why the Obamas were not vacationing “down there if they are encouraging others to do so.” A floundering Gibbs responded, “I think the First Lady’s message is that the Gulf is a beautiful place.”
52
A few days later, the Obamas jetted to the plush Mount Desert Island, which has been described as “a coastal haven in Maine for old-money Republicans” and “the summer playground for the Astors, the Rockefellers and the Morgans,” to see the sights and eat lobster.
53
According to a local paper, the Obamas flew their dog to Maine separately in a small jet.
54
Apparently in response to criticism, the Obamas decided to take their next vacation on the Gulf Coast, in Panama City. Michelle announced, “One of the best ways that fellow Americans can help is to come on down here and spend some money.” (She didn’t offer any advice as to where they might find that money in this economy.) This would be just the latest vacation since the oil spill, the others being in Asheville, Chicago, and Bar Harbor.
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