Back during campaign 2008 it seemed to me that Senator Barrack Obama was an empty suit. I found claims of his lofty rhetoric and oratorical skills failed to match the evidence of my own eyes and ears. Unusually amongst the electorate which subsequently elevated this man devoid of accomplishment to the highest elective office in the United States, I went with the evidence of my own eyes, ears, and research.
Three years too late, more and more of the electorate seem to be arriving at the conclusions I reached in 2008.
America Tunes Out
Why is Obama such a bore? One historian blames Reagan.
By James Taranto | Best of the Web Today, The Wall Street Journal
Michael Goodwin of the New York Post “listened intently” to President Obama’s Monday press conference, but only “for 15 minutes or so.” That’s 15 minutes or so longer than the duration of our own intentness, but we did listen falteringly to the whole thing. By contrast, as the president “droned on,” Goodwin reveals that he “did something I never did before during an Obama appearance: I turned off the TV.”
“Enough,” writes Goodwin. “He is the Man Who Won’t Listen to Anybody, so why should anybody listen to him? . . . I will leave that unhappy duty to others. I am tired of Barack Obama. There’s nothing new there. His speeches are like ‘Groundhog Day.’ ”
Goodwin is dead wrong about that last point, and he owes Bill Murray an apology. “Groundhog Day” was a terrific movie. Apart from that quibble, though, we feel Goodwin’s pain, and we suspect most Americans do. The World’s Greatest Orator is almost always uninspiring, condescending, self-aggrandizing, peevish and grim.
While I’m gratified to find that it’s not just me that reaches for the remote control whenever Obama appears on screen, I have to wonder why it has taken so long for so many to trust the evidence of their own eyes and ears.
One must make a crucial distinction here. People, even well-informed people, strongly dislike the idea of authorizing more debt. Obama is surely right to suggest that most would dislike even more the disruption he claims would result from failing to raise the ceiling. But that reinforces our point, and Goodwin’s. “The public is not paying close attention,” as Obama concedes, and even the segment that is, doesn’t believe what he’s saying. America has tuned this guy out.
What say you, Wizbang readers?
