Dean Barnett -- Narcissism doesn't help

We watched the speeches from last night this morning. Three things are evident.

First, John McCain is in full campaign mode as he took Obama to the woodshed last night in his remarks.

Second, Hillary is going nowhere, and no one should count her out. (We warned you guys she wasn't leaving. Expect this comedy routine to go right up to the August convention in Denver.) Memo to the media, no matter how many times you try to throw her under the bus, she'll bounce right back up. "Weebles wobble but they don't fall down".

Third, Barack Obama's narcissism knows no bounds:

Near the kick-off of his victory speech last night, Barack Obama commented, “Thank you to my grandmother who helped raise me and is sitting in Hawaii somewhere right now because she can’t travel but who poured everything she had into me and who helped make me the man I am today.”

You remember Obama’s grandmother, right? She was the one he cavalierly tossed under the campaign bus when he initiated our national conversation on race a few months ago, comparing her to Jeremiah Wright. (By the way, how’s the national conversation on race going, anyway? Any progress?)

What was odd about this impromptu tribute wasn’t Obama’s decision to pay tribute to his grandmother. Anyone who has read “Dreams from My Father” knows Obama had a very special relationship with his maternal grandparents. I would even wager that he felt guilty about holding her up as an exemplar of white racism, and didn’t realize the words regarding her in his ballyhooed racial reconciliation speech would come out the way they did.

The oddity last night was the way Obama delivered props to himself at the end of his comments about his grandmother. He could have concluded the sentiment with “she poured everything she had into me” and that would have been touching. But he had to add that her efforts turned out a magnificent man. While his swooning acolytes no doubt share his conclusion, there’s something unbecoming and rather odd about talking up your own wonderfulness. Need I add that this part of the speech was ad-libbed and not on the teleprompter?

Speaking of Obama’s swooning acolytes, Andrew Sullivan wrote of this passage, “I thought I even saw some suggestions of tears as he remembered his grandmother.” I’m not sure what the locution “some suggestion of tears” is precisely supposed to mean, but for what it’s worth, I thought I even saw some suggestion of the ghost of Abraham Lincoln genuflecting before Obama about halfway through the speech.

It's bad enough that his supporters swoon over him. It's bad enough all they can do is cite his "hope" and "change" (the Boss calls it "chope" for short). It's bad enough that the know-nothings supporting him just don't get the fact that his lack of specifics would make any common sense individual a little dubious of trusting him to run this country. But to start patting yourself on the back, and commenting on how wonderful you are as a person reminds us of someone who has had a tad too much boosts to his self-esteem in his life, but can't give anyone anything of substance. "Vote for me because I'm such a magnificent bastich!"

You know, that really doesn't help him much. (Of course Hillary on hold doesn't help him either, but it's still fun to watch.) He had better get specific and drop the platitudes real quick. John McCain isn't playing games. He went after him last night on his vision of America, and he slapped him around a bit today over his flip-flop before AIPAC today.

Is this really significant? No, I'm just chewing up scenery here, but I find it in really bad taste to hype up how great one is. He shouldn't have to do that. His accomplishments should speak for themselves, but given the fact there is so little accomplishment on that resume, maybe he does need to remind his lemmings how "magnificent" he is. "Remember Barack, wash, rinse, and repeat, and they'll follow you into the Hell you're promising to create in America."

Publius II