Obama’s Strengths (Updated)
[Guest post by DRJ]
John Hinderaker at PowerLine compares the cerebral, non-emotional qualities of Dick Cheney to Barack Obama:
“I think I finally understand what Obama’s supporters have meant all this time when they call him “cerebral.” He just doesn’t do emotion well. I’m sympathetic to him on that one, as I was to Cheney. But Americans, unfortunately, have come to expect emotional resonance from their presidents. The lack of it could prove a significant liability to Obama.”
It’s a jarring comparison but it makes sense when you read the whole thing. Like Cheney, Obama has a calm, cool, cerebral demeanor — although Clarice Feldman questions whether he’s really that smart or well-educated.
To put in terms my 1970s brethren understand, Obama may be like Spock without the smarts.
— DRJ
UPDATE: Dana Milbank was not impressed with President Obama’s lack of strength at his Oil Spill press conference:
“In a sense, it’s refreshing to have a president who is candid about shortcomings. Yet Obama’s news conference may have been the weakest hour of his presidency.
As I sat in the fourth row on Thursday, I was struck by the weirdly passive figure before me. He delivered lawyerly phrases and spoke of his anger about the oil spill but showed none in his voice or on his face. He was, presumably, there to show how aggressively he has handled the disaster, but he seemed cool, almost bloodless.”
Bloodless? Hmmm. Maybe Milbank thinks Obama is Spock, too.
Cheney inspires confidence though. He’s a very solid guy.
happyfeet (c8caab) — 5/29/2010 @ 2:16 pmCheney is one of the most underrated individuals in politics today but history, especially with the helpful contrast of Obama will do him justice.
Mike K (67e8ce) — 5/29/2010 @ 2:18 pmbelow is the exhaustive list of Ear Leader’s strengths, in no particular order:
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 5/29/2010 @ 2:20 pmi hope you all found the above list informative, as i did. 😀
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 5/29/2010 @ 2:21 pmIt’s ironic that a great portion of the public loathed Cheney because of his lack of visible emotion and was subsequently labeled heartless, cold, indifferent, ghoulish, etc. but Obama, who is equally visibly unemotional instead gets the cerebral label by the press and public, hence a much kinder treatment as well as a pass…because he, unlike Cheney is just deep, a real thinker, analytical. The R & D after name determines so much in life.
Dana (1e5ad4) — 5/29/2010 @ 3:55 pmI do take issue with some of Feldman’s examples – foot in mouth gaffes or stumbling over one’s words really has little to do with smarts or education. It would be difficult to speak publicly as much as a president does and not get periodically tongue-tied. His misuse of words is also something I can give him a pass on. Two words: George Bush.
It’s his lack of understanding constitutional issues and law that are troubling, as well as his habitual fibbing. Better the president be of average intelligence and education, yet honest rather than an Ivy League education, whip smart but a liar. (My impression from Feldman’s article is that at best, Obama was in great part, a lazy student.)
Dana (1e5ad4) — 5/29/2010 @ 4:08 pmIs VP Biden really a brain damaged alcoholic or a senile at birth whore for the insurance industry?
highpockets (cf4a2b) — 5/29/2010 @ 5:00 pmBarry is smart. He spends millions to suppress a document that only cost 10 dollars for a copy. Millions upon millions to save $10.00 dollars on a document available in Hawaii. Super duper Reid and Pelosi economics.
highpockets (cf4a2b) — 5/29/2010 @ 5:07 pmSince Obama is a classic narcissist, it is all about him. He shows no real emotion – or empathy – unless it specifically involves him… not on the periphery, but centers on him. And when he’s criticized, that is when he becomes truly animated. One can tell that he is not accustomed to being criticized… even slightly. There’s no such thing as “constructive criticism” when he is the one being criticized.
He has been fawned over and told how wonderful he is for his entire life. And now that he has left the university lecture halls and the Senate chamber and – as POTUS for Chrissakes – finally discovered that in the real world, people expect results and true leadership, he flounders, prevaricates, casts aspersions, points fingers of blame and assumes the victim position, his followers now profess surprise and disappointment?
All I am left to conclude is that there is an epidemic of drug abuse on the Left, as no rational, clear-thinking individuals could ever be that delusional.
GeneralMalaise (67df13) — 5/29/2010 @ 5:31 pmLots of Updates tonight, including the one I just added to this post.
DRJ (d43dcd) — 5/29/2010 @ 7:53 pmI’m all for bashing Dear Leader, but I will stop well short of taking him to task because he doesn’t bite his lower lip, or tear up, or exude that self-aggrandizing “the weight of the whole world is on my shoulders” posture. Of course he is a Grade A narcissist; it’s just that his narcissism doesn’t manifest itself in exuding that phony “I feel your pain” shitck. To my way of thinking, that lack of fake empathy is one of Obama’s more admirable qualities.
JVW (36eb17) — 5/29/2010 @ 10:07 pmmethinks she misspelled “brainless”: i’ve got cats that are more situationally aware than Ear Leader and who have more empathy to boot, and one of them is a Persian.
Brain Dead Barry is the poster child for social promotion, pushed ahead because it was politically expedient to do so, and yet fundamentally incapable of even the simplest task.
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 5/29/2010 @ 10:32 pmThe most amount of emotion he ever evinced was in that diner in PA when he asked if he could just eat his waffle.
AD - RtR/OS! (36a650) — 5/29/2010 @ 11:40 pmThis will not end well.
No emotion? Hey that means we get Spock
Jack (e383ed) — 5/30/2010 @ 3:49 amwithout the brains.
The Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act of 2009 (“PACT Act”) (S.1147) has now been signed by
President Obama. The bill takes effect June 30th 2010. This legislation contains a provision which will make ALL cigarettes, RYO, MYO and smokeless tobacco products nonmailable.
Though the term Trafficking today, carries a sinister connotation, “trade in some specific commodity or service, often of an illegal nature: the vast traffic in narcotics. ” it’s nothing but a term to describe commerce or even conversation. “communication, dealings, or contact between persons or groups: traffic between the Democrats and the Republicans. ”
Is our congress able to understand the term?
What needs to be outlawed is “Committees To Re- Elect”!
Reality Check for Citizens of the USA! Today it’s Tobacco, tomorrow it will be french fries! THIS IS TOTALLY UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND OUR ELECTED PASSED THIS SHIT?!!
Remember 2010 simple…. RE-ELECT NO ONE!!!
RRR (0b9ca4) — 5/30/2010 @ 4:11 amI’m no fan of Obama, and I see the contradiction, too. But his problem is more than a lack of emotional depth: despite his memoirs, I get the distinct sense that he’s never really had to work hard or desperately for anything, and that he’s consequently never had to find out who he really is or what he cares about. We shoul at least try to separate our feelings about a President’s mannerisms from hi seffectiveness, but I think both are going to hinder Obama. Some of his outbursts imply a man who really has never had to deal wiht significant opposition, or even significant inernal factions before. He quite literally doesn’t understand the meat and bones of politics: interpersonal relationships, factionism, and the daily grind of meeting, discussing, and trying to workt towards a goal.
Note how he takes some credit for things he likes, but that his actual actions have been distinctly back-seat driving at best. He makes grand announcements, but doesn’t actually follow-up or do much about them.
Patrick (cf0cbe) — 5/30/2010 @ 5:27 amSpot on, Patrick.
GeneralMalaise (67df13) — 5/30/2010 @ 7:17 amIt’s his lack of understanding constitutional issues and law that are troubling, as well as his habitual fibbing.
I think he understands constitutional law well enough – he just chooses to ignore it when it suits his purposes.
Dmac (3d61d9) — 5/30/2010 @ 8:48 am