James Taranto of Best of the Web has a pretty good theory on what was behind Obama’s weird “War on Success” speech: Maybe Obama is resentful of people who actually earned their success.
Think about it. Obama got a lucrative deal for writing a memoir when he had never actually done anything in his life, he got a Senate seat in a race that was basically thrown, and then after interning in the Senate for a couple week, he was basically thrown into the presidential race as a novelty. And even after being president for three and a half years, the only accomplishment he has that people really like is his not actively stopping the Navy SEALs from killing bin Laden. So Obama has to know he’s done nothing to earn being where he is, and that must make him bitter to see people who actually earned their success and thus can sleep at night knowing they actually accomplished things.
Obviously, the solution is we need to help Obama have an actual achievement so he can feel better about himself. Like maybe find the easiest to assemble desk from IKEA and then someone in the White House can act like they can’t get it together and ask the president to do it instead. And then when he does it, we can pat Obama on the head and say, “What a good, hard working president. You really put that desk together. You should feel good about yourself.” And if he can’t put the desk together, maybe we can give him a Where’s Waldo book so he can try and find Waldo or something. We just have to do something to help his self-esteem.
Don’t forget a Nobel Peace Prize for flapping his gums (and not very much, to boot).
This reminds me of the whole “Obama deserves no credit for getting Bin Laden” argument. Oh wait, that was you guys who said that. Never mind.
Yes, because an entrepreneur who devises a new product or technology is *exactly* like a bureaucrat who hems and haws about making a decision, only to take full credit for it later. I see no difference.
Obama’s one “accomplishment” was that he finally gave in and allowed the military to take out bin laden after refusing to give the OK from October to May. That’s not really an accomplishment.
Good one!
Of course, even if he did get the desk together, Chief Spouting Bull Elizabeth Warren would swoop down and shout “You didn’t put that desk together yourself! Someone built that screwdriver and someone wrote those instructions…”
All socialist/communist/marxist/leninist/stalinist hate success. It terrifies them. If someone is successful that means they have to work harder and when your idea of working harder is to order more ketchup on your tofu burger, that’s threatening.
I like Taranto, but it seems he’s off on this one. Mebbe my sarcasm detector is off. Has Obama’s ego — now measured in units of solar mass — ever dipped below the common measure of ego size: the Benito Mussolini Unit?
I have a different theory, which runs in the opposite direction. If Obama’s records are released, as they may be, Obama needs to deflect criticism that he didn’t deserve his success, and he’s doing it by claiming the same of that Romney. I think my theory is wrong, but it entertains me.
Dalyrimple did an excellent piece on self-esteem vs. self-respect a few years ago. Obama is what happens when self-esteem is in measured in tons but self-respect has been earned in grams.
Bless his heart!
When you track Obama’s career like that, the whole “you didn’t build that” speech actually makes total sense.
The idea that an individual or company can become successful without government approval truly frightens these people.
What’s even more perplexing is when they (wrongly) believe that exactly what they want is happening (Halliburton) they don’t like it either.
“This reminds me of the whole “Obama deserves no credit for getting Bin Laden” argument. Oh wait, that was you guys who said that. Never mind.”
Explain Brakabama’s critical involvement in that event, jackass. Tell everyone how it wouldn’t have happened without him.
It must really suck to be a leftist these days. You know what a worthless sack of excrement he is, yet you still feel a slavish compulsion to lionize the worthless twerp. Say hello to hell.
Alucard, the reason he got the Nobel Peace Prize wasn’t for anything he said or did, it was because he wasn’t George Bush. It must kill him that it’s Bush’s fault he got the Nobel. 😀