In my last post, I suggested that the phrase decline by design could be used in the upcoming presidential campaign to describe Obama’s economic policies. Another useful phrase for repeated emphasis could be:
He Really Doesn’t Like Us Very Much
…backed up by clips/quotes of Jeremiah Wright’s “God damn America” line, Obama’s crack about “bitter clingers,” Obama’s repeated assertions of his own superior brilliance, etc etc.
I also posted this and the previous post at Richochet (members section–not publicly available unless it gets promoted to the main page) and someone suggested an alternate phrasing might be he’s just not that into us.
Also, we should not forget Michelle Obama’s assertion that America is a “just plain mean country.”
The breadth of negative feelings toward America and Americans among Obama’s inner circle suggests that maybe the phrase should be “*they* really don’t like us very much,” or “*they’re* just not that into us.”
Obama has the curious combination of being arrogant and incompetent. When he has problems its anyone’s fault but his. I will have to agree with one thing – his voters and supporters were just plain stupid ;-)
A column from Shelby Steele this morning which makes the connection between Obama’s dislike of America and his policies of declinism.
via Stuart Schneiderman
“Not that into us” — I’d say that he and his closest confidants and senior members of his administration are nakedly contemptious of the great bulk of us in flyover country, but that’s just me.
Obama reminds me a bit of Otto in A Fish Called Wanda–an arrogant and stupid man who is convinced of his own genius.
A couple of years ago I wrote a post titled he’s just not that into us which develops two metaphors for Obama’s attitude toward the American people and contrasts his view of us with the way George Orwell thought about his British countrymen.
“He’s just not into U.S.”
… is more like it. He holds the U.S. accountable for all the evils of the world because of hubris, and gives no credence to the belief that the U.S. is a genuinely benign, sometimes bumblingly incompetent, force for GOOD.
At least that is what *I* believe, for the most part.
tom
One additional piece of evidence for you argument: Early in his career Obama was openly contemptuous of the suburbs — which is where the majority of Americans have chosen to live.
And a more general argument: It’s been a while since I have seen the poll, but a pollster have found that about half of Democrats (and almost no Republicans) think that the US is not good country. Obama has been in that half all his adult life.
One thing that I have been thinking about is BO’s desire to campaign against the Do Nothing Congress. That was Truman’s campaign in 1948. Of course Truman’s famous desk sign was “The Buck Stops Here”. BO always passes the Buck, and blames Republicans, Earthquakes, George Bush, and the stars for his problems. How about “No Buckpasser”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckpasser
It has always seemed to me that leftists and leftist intellectuals in particular, have the curious penchant of loving humanity in the abstract while holding real, concrete people in utter disdain. Obama, as several of his pronouncements make clear, is one of these types of “thinkers”. If you think about it it makes sense because it’s the real people who always seem to be throwing wrenches into their plans for us. How dare we fail to show the proper appreciation for their genius.
And it might just be me but I have this feeling when reading or listening to folks like Obama that they think we should remember our place in the hierarchy and shut the hell up.