Obama, the self-styled “policy wonk”

One of the most transparent and juvenile things Barack Obama does, in an effort to elevate his station, is “offhandedly” list himself among people to which he’d like to be compared.  “Reagan wouldn’t sit here like this,” he haughtily snapped at the debt ceiling “negotiations.”

I encountered another scream this morning in this vein:  “Carter, Clinton and I all have sort of the disease of being policy wonks,” Obama is reported to claim in published excerpts of Ron Suskind’s new book.

Now can’t you just hear the nervous chuckle, and see the not-quite-subtle-enough glance around the room?  Can’t you see the wheels turning (“okay, did I get away with that?”)?  It’s kind of like a person, exactly on his/her 18th birthday, “casually” referring to himself/herself as an adult.  Funniest thing about it is that, as Karl Rove points out, he’s about as far from being a “policy wonk” as anyone who’s ever sat in the office.  He has no interest in it.  He throws it at someone, says “handle it,” and he’s off to make speeches.

And never mind the dazzling political instincts it takes to compare oneself to Jimmy Carter in the first place.  In a Mike Allen article on the same book (and the White House’s less-than-warm reaction to it), former Newsweek editor and presidential biographer Jon Meacham notes:

“For 30 years, fairly or no, ‘Carter’ has been political and cultural shorthand for an ineffectual and uninspiring president who is captive to, rather than captain of, events. To compare oneself to President Carter is kind of like Nixon evoking Harding.”

That’s our Barry.  Hammer down, Mr. President.  You’re doing fine.

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5 thoughts on “Obama, the self-styled “policy wonk””

  1. Well before the stinger, I thought, as I read that quote, “what sort of fool compares himself to Carter?” Perhaps it’s because he didn’t live through Carter, and Barry only knows him on paper. (Now I have to go look up some dates) If he did live here, he wasn’t paying attention.

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  2. It’s important that the double-barrel angle of it not be lost. He’s transparent enough to try this instant-credibility-by-association thing, but too dumb to realize that Carter shouldn’t be in the list.

    Reply

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