If You Love Me…
[Posted by Karl]
Clingy. Desperate. That phrase is the sort of emotional extortion that usually prefaces a request for something you don’t really want to do, e.g., an odious household chore, an unusual sex act, etc.:
President Obama continued pushing his jobs bill in battleground states on Wednesday, telling a fired-up crowd of students at North Carolina State University that, “If you love me, you’ve got to help me pass this bill!”
The Artist Formerly Known As The One also would like to go on a dinner date with you… if you’re buying.
Mr. President, America’s just not that into you. Really. Your appeals to what remains of your cult of personality increasingly make you look like Sally Field’s character in Soapdish, running out to some mall in New Jersey for an ego boost from gullible fans while the ratings dwindle. People will start to talk.
–Karl
This gets us thru anger and denial and well into bargaining. Depression and acceptance to follow.
ras (be1e0d) — 9/14/2011 @ 2:32 pmCharles Johnson-I LOVE YOU BARACK.
DohBiden (d54602) — 9/14/2011 @ 2:46 pmThis does not sound like an appeal to reason.
Of course, in a sense, he’s taking the case for the bill for granted, and what he’s asking for here is people’s time – a “homework assignment” he semi-humorously or semi-flippantly called it.
The homework being contacting their Congressman, which he somehow thinks, misinterpreting or receiving faulty political advice, is a magic elixir.
Sammy Finkelman (d3daeb) — 9/14/2011 @ 2:49 pmnear far wherever you are Mr. Bumble
you
complete
me
happyfeet (a55ba0) — 9/14/2011 @ 2:51 pmClingy. Desperate. That phrase is the sort of emotional extortion that usually prefaces a request for something you don’t really want to do…
He reveals waaaayy too much about himself when he goes off teleprompter, doesn’t he? You’d think after three plus years of gaffes he’d have learned his lesson.
no one you know (325a59) — 9/14/2011 @ 3:01 pmI can say it no better than Dale Franks did:
Scott Jacobs (d027b8) — 9/14/2011 @ 3:22 pmHe’s just begging at this point.
NOYK is right. This is a desperate leap from the safety of his teleprompter.
‘Come on guys, I am giving these speeches and they aren’t helping! If you love me, you will do it. Come on. please?’
Dustin (b2fb78) — 9/14/2011 @ 3:24 pm“gaffe” my eye. He doesn’t care if you perceive it as a “gaffe”.
You nice people aren’t getting it.
King Bammy doesn’t care what you think. He isn’t talking to you (only *about* you), and he never will talk TO you.
To leftists, you nice people aren’t humans. You’re a faceless and subhuman enemy. Haven’t you ever studied the history of leftism?
The sooner you really understand that, really get it through your heads that they don’t disagree with you, they simply DESPISE you, the sooner we can come to a clearer, saner view of the landscape, and how to move forward realistically.
They’re at war with you, actual war, and they’ve been counting on you not to notice as they conduct operations in an indirect fashion.
d. in c. (ae55d7) — 9/14/2011 @ 3:24 pmCan I DIVORCE him?
gus (36e9a7) — 9/14/2011 @ 3:44 pmComment by d. in c. — 9/14/2011 @ 3:24 pm
Conservatives FTMP believe The Left is wrong;
Another Drew - Restore the Republic / Obama Sucks ! (3f66af) — 9/14/2011 @ 3:53 pmThe Left, with all its non-soul, believes Conservatives (and The Right) are EVIL!
If you love me … Coupled with attackwatch is just a goldmine of hilarity. If you love me … How freaking drunken fratboy is that?! Isn’t he supposed to be presidential?!
JD (ae55d7) — 9/14/2011 @ 3:55 pmThis isn’t about what you think, it’s about what you ARE: you’re the kulaks, the “whitebread” (why white bread and vanilla are supposed to be bad I’ll never know), the rednecks, the crackers, the breeders, the goyim, the gringos, the kaffir, the shiksas, the gaijin, the gweilo, the haole, the peckerwoods.
Reverse-trace every one of those insults to its hurler and you have, mirabile dictu, most of the constituency of the modern-day Democrat Party. (Except for a dwindling number of over-60 ethno-Catholic union members who haven’t yet guessed which cup the ball is under.)
Take a good hard look at the ranks and their fellow-travellers. It ain’t pretty, but you may as well see clearly.
d. in c. (ae55d7) — 9/14/2011 @ 4:21 pmI saw this on a headline earlier and thought it was a joke. He actually said this??? How childish. This is supposed to be a 50 year old man?
PatAZ (733ca9) — 9/14/2011 @ 4:22 pmI think his underlying message is: come on honey, just let me put it in a little bit.
PE (0609ab) — 9/14/2011 @ 4:23 pmThat is exactly what I first thought, PE. Just the tip. I promise.
JD (318f81) — 9/14/2011 @ 4:27 pm___________________________________________________
“If you love me
Sheesh.
Even for him — even by the standards of a very self-absorbed, narcissistic ultra-liberal — that sounds so pathetic and ridiculous, I’d swear he was doing a parody of a…self-absorbed, narcissistic ultra-liberal.
Mark (411533) — 9/14/2011 @ 4:52 pmFrom what I’ve gleaned around the news sites, this was totally an off-teleprompter muck up.
Instead of more reasonably yelling “you lie!”, a confuzzled person in the crowd called out, “I love you Barack!”. And instead of ignoring that audience member, the president chose to respond with his now infamous “if you love me”…line.
elissa (e2850e) — 9/14/2011 @ 5:02 pmIf you love me, you will touch it/kiss it/rub it.
Good allah, this is Teh One we were waiting for, Teh One who will make the oceans stop rising, Teh One that is so damn smart? TOTUS must have been worn out.
JD (17012e) — 9/14/2011 @ 5:15 pmNo wonder the Teleprompter is usually in charge.
S. Carter aka J-Z (8d652e) — 9/14/2011 @ 5:18 pmThis is something straight from the villain of an ABC Afterschool Special, or a Lifetime movie. It is pathetic.
JD (0b8a2b) — 9/14/2011 @ 5:19 pmJD – Will you respect me in the morning?
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/14/2011 @ 5:45 pmFor crap’s sake: the President is a bitchy spoiled teenaged girl.
It all makes sense now.
I gotta go report myself to Attackwatch now.
Jones (79d993) — 9/14/2011 @ 6:05 pmDaley – why do you assume I respected you before?!?!?!?!
JD (318f81) — 9/14/2011 @ 6:19 pm#23, Maybe you will respect him for what he does, as opposed respecting him for what he won’t do.
S. Carter aka J-Z (8d652e) — 9/14/2011 @ 6:49 pmClassic narcissism.
Barbara (Xerraire) (638c94) — 9/14/2011 @ 6:50 pm“If you love me…”
Yeah, only I don’t.
Not even a little.
Dave Surls (7dd434) — 9/14/2011 @ 7:18 pmJD – Whatever!!!!
Just stop poking me in the back with that thang!!!!!!!
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/14/2011 @ 7:22 pmIf I loved you Obama?
Screw you and the Don Imus you rode in on Barack.
DohBiden (d54602) — 9/14/2011 @ 7:28 pmWhenever anyone – and I mean anyone, including the POTUS – begins a sentence with “If you love me”, you can count on two things: You are being manipulated (check) and, if anything goes badly it will be entirely your fault (check). It doesn’t matter what the circumstance or the particulars are, it’s always the same game. For this to come from our president is really, really offensive.
OTOH, Karl’s People Will Start to Talk link above is cute,
He [Obama] has been maneuvered into an economic corner of 9%-plus unemployment by a relentlessly nihilistic Congress. His achievements—killing bin Laden, saving the auto industry at negligible cost—are written off as flukes. Plus all this 9/11 anniversary stuff!
Dana (4eca6e) — 9/14/2011 @ 7:36 pmObama the only one who loves you is that prancing dancing queer Chris Matthews.
DohBiden (d54602) — 9/14/2011 @ 7:38 pmits funny you use the term “clingy”. not too long ago people like me were called bitter clingers.
Aaron Worthing (73a7ea) — 9/14/2011 @ 7:45 pmObama is clingy he is bitterly clinging to Christina Fatthews and Kweef Olberhole.
DohBiden (d54602) — 9/14/2011 @ 7:51 pmPoor Barack, he’s become Frank Burns of MASH. So needy. wah
mcnorman (00a09d) — 9/14/2011 @ 8:35 pmI told my wife, “If you love me, you’d buy me a new red Corvette”.
She said “Good luck buster!”
Somehow I don’t think either Barack or the dear old Comanche Voter are going to get the love we need.
Comanche Voter (0e06a9) — 9/14/2011 @ 10:02 pmI went to a private school which was funded by private donations on one half and the DOE on the on the other half.
I’m still a conservative.
DohBiden (d54602) — 9/14/2011 @ 10:22 pmoh it is a private charter school sorry.
DohBiden (d54602) — 9/14/2011 @ 10:43 pmCan you say “Narcissistic Personality Disorder” boys a girls? … I knew you could!
Murgatroyd (e0d30c) — 9/15/2011 @ 12:10 amKarl’s . . . Most . . . Succinct . . . Post . . . Evah!
Icy Texan (924cea) — 9/15/2011 @ 1:16 amYes we love you dear leader. Obama thinks he is KIM Jong Il.
Richard (431325) — 9/15/2011 @ 5:18 amIf you love me, really love me …
[note: fished from spam filter. Duplicate deleted. –Stashiu]
Richard (431325) — 9/15/2011 @ 5:25 amHe is adept at emotional manipulation. Those who do not respond appropriately are racist.
Amphipolis (b120ce) — 9/15/2011 @ 6:49 amThese comments are hysterical.
Obama’s “If you love me” remark was not part of his prepared speech. It was an off-the-cuff remark to an audience member who shouted “We love you”.
No, not exactly the St. Crispin’s Day speech, I grant you. But the spin you all are putting on it (“emotional extortion”, “begging”, etc.) — well frankly, I think it says more about some of you than it does about Obama.
Kman (5576bf) — 9/15/2011 @ 7:31 amNote to The President:
Another Drew - Restore the Republic / Obama Sucks ! (a63c7d) — 9/15/2011 @ 7:41 amIf we loved you, would we mock you so?
You gotta be
Cruel to be kind
In the right measure
Cruel to be kind
Is a very good sign
Cruel to be kind
Means that I love you, Barry
Ya hafta be cruel to be kind
— Nick Lowe, I do believe
d. in c. (17012e) — 9/15/2011 @ 7:52 amGutsycatcall.com
Dustin (b2fb78) — 9/15/2011 @ 8:07 amWhat actually worries me is that POTUS is acting highly stressed out. Now I didn’t major in psychology and have never stayed in a Holiday Inn express; but it seems to me he is close to losing it. The job is tough enough as it is even for a stable personality.
BarSinister (5a3146) — 9/15/2011 @ 9:01 amI reported you all to Attackwatch.com.
DohBiden (d54602) — 9/15/2011 @ 9:28 amWait a minute! Do you mean that dinner invitation I got wasn’t real?
And Elaine already went out and bought herself a new dress. How am I supposed to break the news to her that we won’t be having dinner with our close pesonal friends, Barack and Michelle?
The disappointed Dana (3e4784) — 9/15/2011 @ 9:31 am______________________________________________
What actually worries me is that POTUS is acting highly stressed out.
But keep in mind that the guy sat in a church for almost 20 years listening to anti-US, goddamn-America, your-chickens-are-coming-home-to-roost rhetoric straight from the pulpit. Rhetoric that not only wasn’t rejected by the dude, but rhetoric that he apparently was so enamored of he made its promoter one of his original advisers—before controversy forced his hand.
So I don’t think I’m being overly flip or sarcastic to perceive Obama as actually feeling rather blase or indifferent about this society circling the drain. After all, its chickens are coming home to roost. However, I do admit that when it comes to his yearning to cling to power, his bloated ego will affect him negatively. But he’ll probably sooth it by going out and playing another round of golf.
Mark (411533) — 9/15/2011 @ 9:32 amDana, you’ll just have to take her out for a nutritious meal that meets Michelle’s nutrition guidelines:
Another Drew - Restore the Republic / Obama Sucks ! (a63c7d) — 9/15/2011 @ 9:35 amSomething along the lines of a “FatBurger”, with extra fries; and don’t forget the DoubleMalted!
DohBiden wrote:
He’s not the only one!
Andrew Sullivan (3e4784) — 9/15/2011 @ 9:35 amYou people are purposely dividing people, purposely playing politics, while Teh One tries to fix this national emergency that he created. I m reporting all of you to Attack Watch, and you should be ashamed of yourselves.
JD (318f81) — 9/15/2011 @ 9:36 am…hangs head…
Another Drew - Restore the Republic / Obama Sucks ! (a63c7d) — 9/15/2011 @ 9:41 amDrew, do you have any idea how much that dress cost? There’s no money left over for the Double Malted.
The impoverished Dana (3e4784) — 9/15/2011 @ 9:43 amThe left hates Dick Cheney and the Right so much they will gloat upon their death.
DohBiden (d54602) — 9/15/2011 @ 9:44 amWell, Dana, I’m sure you’ll enjoy your stay on the couch.
Another Drew - Restore the Republic / Obama Sucks ! (a63c7d) — 9/15/2011 @ 9:45 amUp until this, I hadn’t been taking seriously the suggestion that Obama suffers from clinical narcissism. However, the case for that diagnosis looks a lot more solid after this display. It’s just a flat out crazy thing for a President to be saying, to anybody but maybe his wife.
Brett Bellmore (6652c2) — 9/15/2011 @ 9:46 amYeah, that’s prob’ly where I’ll end up, as long as she at least lets me stay inside!
I was really, really looking forward to this, too. Great food, amazing conversation, Elaine in her size 6 dark red satin (tastefully understated, of course, but still awesome) dress, the black Christian Louboutin f*** me heels and a wild night in the Lincoln Bedroom.
All shot to Hell, gone, traded in for a thin blanket on the couch, assuming it’s not a sleeping bag in the back yard.
In the rain.
The very disappointed Dana (3e4784) — 9/15/2011 @ 9:51 amEven to one’s spouse, it’s an immature and manipulative way to ask for something serious. Something like enormous borrowing at a price of thousands per taxpayer (or really, their children) after it’s failed a couple times already, on the basis of love for Obama, is really a bit of a severe thing to be asking for in the first place.
Of course, Obama was just kidding around, but it’s still the case that he doesn’t seem to take spending money like this very seriously, and his commentary otherwise as a candidate was a lie.
He is not a serious man.
Dustin (b2fb78) — 9/15/2011 @ 9:53 amComment by The very disappointed Dana — 9/15/2011 @ 9:51 am
Well, we do get what we truly deserve.
Another Drew - Restore the Republic / Obama Sucks ! (a63c7d) — 9/15/2011 @ 10:02 amWhich, I guess, is why we have Obama.
_____________________________________________
Meanwhile…
^ BTW, La Raza is such a wonderful, sensible, non-radical, non-ultra-left organization.
Well, the guy in the White House at least was good about consulting Congress — good about at least respecting both the letter and the spirit (or at least one or the other) of the War Powers Act — when it came to Libya.
Yep. Uh-huh.
Mark (411533) — 9/15/2011 @ 10:39 amIf the crackup came in the form of his going catatonic and sitting in a corner drooling, I wouldn’t mind at all. If he became delusional and decided to emulate his hero, Hugo Chavez; then it be serious indeed.
BarSinister (5a3146) — 9/15/2011 @ 12:29 pmIf he goes all “Woodrow Wilson” on us, will Mochelle pull an “Edith”?
Another Drew - Restore the Republic / Obama Sucks ! (a63c7d) — 9/15/2011 @ 12:56 pmI would LOVE to vote Obama out of office. Does that count?
Icy Texan (924cea) — 9/15/2011 @ 3:26 pmA long time ago, I was a house parent at a children’s home. I would tell the teenage girls in my care to run far away and fast whenever a boy said to them, “if you love me, you’d ___________” because that boy was only thinking of himself and not of the girl’s well being.
Same goes with Obama.
anniebug (775ec3) — 9/15/2011 @ 4:32 pmI know this is a great line to have fun with, and it may well haunt him for the rest of his presidency, but I finally followed the link and saw the context in which he said that line, and suddenly it’s not creepy after all. In context it actually makes sense, and I can imagine anybody saying it.
Milhouse (ea66e3) — 9/16/2011 @ 1:34 amAnd conservatives FTMP are wrong. The left (FTMP) is evil.
Milhouse (ea66e3) — 9/16/2011 @ 1:35 amWell, that’s fair enough. I’ll gloat when Bill Ayers dies. And Al Sharpton. And Fred Phelps.
But if they’re waiting for the right to die, they’d better lay in supplies.
Milhouse (ea66e3) — 9/16/2011 @ 1:41 amGuess I’m going to have to check that out, because the only circumstance I can imagine those words crossing MY lips, would be if I were reading lines in a really cheesy play. Even my three year old is more subtle, coming up to us and hugging us while saying, “I really love you guys!” before making some outrageous demand, but not saying it outright.
Brett Bellmore (6652c2) — 9/16/2011 @ 3:46 amI know this is a great line to have fun with, and it may well haunt him for the rest of his presidency, but I finally followed the link and saw the context in which he said that line, and suddenly it’s not creepy after all. In context it actually makes sense, and I can imagine anybody saying it.
Comment by Milhouse — 9/16/2011 @ 1:34 am
It is true that something preceded his words; that is, someone saying “we love you.” However, someone not so focused on themselves (I can’t even imagine George Bush saying that, for example — I think he’d have chuckled in a genial but “WTH” way before politely replying and moving on to business) wouldn’t have automatically moved to “use” the expressed emotion to his own advantage.
That’s why I think it is creepy. Because the first thing he could think of was a desperately self-referential “then do this for meeee” instead of focusing on the American people? Very revealing – and not flattering.
That someone is actually saying that to a president is, of course, the creepiest thing of all. He’s a public servant, not a rock star surrounded by teenage girls. I wish he and his globetrotting wife would remember that more often.
no one you know (8c7f85) — 9/16/2011 @ 5:12 amWhat seemed creepy about it, out of context, is the presumption and narcissism inherent in his assumption that people love him; even if it’s true, it’s not for him to say it. But if he didn’t bring it up, if someone from the audience made a positive declaration of love, then it’s not creepy for him to acknowledge it. And what he asked was for the American people, not for himself; or at least that’s whom he’s pretending it’s for, and he could hardly break character now, could he?
And it’s not at all creepy that someone should say it to a president. Presidents are celebrities, and it’s natural for some people to love them. I loved Reagan, and I’m not ashamed to say so. I think I’d have loved Cheney, had he been president. For all his faults, I have a certain fondness for W Bush, and forgive him things I wouldn’t be so ready to forgive in other people.
Milhouse (ea66e3) — 9/18/2011 @ 12:53 pmDidn’t Harry Reid say he wasn’t going to submit the President’s jobs bill for a while? It would be nice if the Senate had to delay the bill for a couple of weeks or months, since it would be harder for Obama to blame the GOP if the the stumbling block to passing Obama’s bill is the Democratic-controlled Senate.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 9/18/2011 @ 4:11 pmHairy Reed must be racist. No other explanation.
JD (17012e) — 9/18/2011 @ 4:18 pm“He went to Massachusetts to campaign against Scott Brown; Brown is now a senator. He went to New Jersey to campaign against Chris Christie, who’s now governor. He went to Virginia to campaign against Bob McDonnell, who’s now governor. He campaigned for the health-care plan extensively, it became less popular. He campaigned in 2010 for the Democrats, they were shellacked. He began, in a sense, his presidency flying to Copenhagen to get Chicago the Olympics; Chicago was the first city eliminated. There is no evidence that the man has the rhetorical powers that he is relying on.”
— Columnist George F. Will, speaking on ABC’s This Week.
ColonelHaiku (601b0d) — 9/18/2011 @ 4:53 pmRick Perry is a hater of women because he opposes abortion or something.
DohBiden (d54602) — 9/18/2011 @ 5:06 pm