Those Things He Does

President Obama has – in RedStateVT’s view – a very curious personality trait. Obama acts at times in an almost defiant way toward the public. We could cite his push for his version of health care reform notwithstanding obvious and significant public opposition. But let’s put aside the political and cite two other examples. On opening day for the Washington Nationals, Obama steps out to the mound and promptly whips out a Chicago White Sox hat. Why? It was such an odd and unpresidential gesture that it cannot be explained in any rational way. What audience is Obama playing to….White Sox supporters who already know that he is a fan? For this, he is willing to antagonize Nationals fans, to what end? The second example is Obama’s response to the question of race on his census form. With a black father and a white mother Obama checks off “African American” instead of the obvious choice “mixed race.” Again, what is the rationale? Does Obama think that he has to show his ‘bona fides’ to African Americans? We’ll resist the temptation to play amateur psychologist any more than we have here, but there is another term that comes to mind…..narcissism. Leave it at that for now.

More Unpresidential
While it takes two to tangle, we think the hyper-polarization owes more than a little to Mr. Obama's own rhetorical habits. More than any President in memory, Mr. Obama has a tendency to vilify his opponents in personal terms and assail their arguments as dishonest, illegitimate or motivated by bad faith.

If the President and his advisers are wondering why his approval ratings are falling even as the economy is recovering, they might look to his own divisive conduct and the contempt he too often shows for anyone who disagrees with him. (WSJ, 4/22/10)

But will he give the $1M back?
Addressing leaders of New York’s financial giants, including Goldman Sachs, Mr. Obama described himself as a champion of change battling “battalions of financial industry lobbyists” and the “withering forces” of the economic elite. (NYT, 4/22/10)