Blogs For Victory

Victor Davis Hanson nails it:

Unchecked hubris always incurs nemesis that leads to atê or destruction. In Obama’s case, we are witnessing such a sequence. His hope and change speeches are no more empty of substance than they ever were. But now the studied accentuation and Rev. Wright inculcated cadences are shopworn, the allusions tired and transparently the work of twenty-something speechwriters who ran out of clichés around March. The blame Bush continues, but it now is monotonous and sounds like the proverbial three-year-old’s sob.

NPR and the blogs use to ridicule Bush’s “nuclar,” but at least Bush joked about his own problematic philology. In contrast, does one believe Obama even recognizes that 300 million Americans wince when he says, “Let me be perfectly clear…” or “ Make no mistake about it” or repeats “I” or “me” or “my team” for the 30th time in his speeches?

If Obama gives yet another press conference or interview, and references himself as a nontraditional minority landmark figure who is not only a testament to our own moral progress, but also a reminder of how bad we were in the past, well, we are at the point where most will either snooze or laugh.

How quickly has President Obama become “old”. We’re alternately bored or irritated with him – its like he’s already hung around too long. The guest that wouldn’t leave.

Think of it – just 14 months ago the world was at Obama’s feet. The GOP was is disarray – he could easily have co-opted a lot of our people. Suppose he had named John McCain to be point man on health care reform? McCain would not have refused – and while the resultant bill would still have been bad (any sort of government intervention in health care is always bad news), it wouldn’t be the horror it is now. And it would have already passed, with genuine bipartisan majorities – and we GOPers would be hoping to just pick up a couple House and Senate seats this November, rather than eagerly getting ready for what might be an earth shaking political tsunami. All it would have taken is a bit of sense.

And that is just what Obama lacks – good sense. Why? Because he never had to show any grit while rising to the very top. Up to and including his election, he never failed – but, then again, up to and including his election he was never really challenged on the fundamentals. Goodness: he set himself up like Roman emperor for his acceptance speech, and no one immediately moved to kick him off the ticket! That, had it been properly framed, should have cost Obama the election. But he was allowed to coast on by on charm and good looks and good intentions…and now, he’s in office, and charm and good looks and good intentions don’t matter. He needs to be a President – but you can only command if you have learned to serve, and you can only command successfully if you’ve suffered genuine setbacks.

It is time for President Obama to understand that he has been beaten – on health care, global warming and the conduct of the war, President Obama has lost the confidence of the American people. If he can sit back and absorb this, he’ll be the better man and better President for it. Unfortunately, it looks as though hubris really has taken over – that President Obama cannot conceive of his own defeat, and thus ignores any indications that he has been. It might take a bit more defeat before Obama wakes up – and if he doesn’t ever wake up, then the next three years will be very dangerous for the United States.

UPDATE: Not a vote of confidence in Obama’s remarks today on terrorism.