Today, video from an interview with President Barack Obama was released in which he personally endorsed gay marriage, while reserving that it should be up to the states to make any laws regarding marriage. In other words, the President said nothing, though I will discuss the gay marriage issue and what I believe was indicated today in another post. The only shocking thing about the announcement (other than his position sounds awful libertarian, which means it's not his actual position and I fully believe he thinks it is a civil right which the courts should protect under the Constitution) was how he referred to the gay troops "fighting on his behalf". And here I thought they fought for the country.
Now at first blush, this might seem a bit overly critical or nitpicking. However, viewed in President Obama's own historical context, it is just one more example of the massive ego carried by our President. Let me first note that most politicians when speaking in the context of the military or law enforcement intentionally tries to avoid using "I" in lieu of giving credit to the guys on the ground. Police, military and firefighters are incredibly sympathetic figures. As such, any slight, perceived or otherwise, which tends to remove credit from them in favor of focusing the attention on the politician is typically seen by the public in a highly negative light.
President Obama routinely uses the first person singular when referring to military accomplishments. In a recent ad released by the Obama campaign to attack Republican candidate Mitt Romney, none other than former President (and all around stand up serial rapist) Clinton remarks about how brave the decision to kill Osama Bin Laden was, noting specifically that if the Navy Seals had been captured or killed, the downside for President Obama "would have been horrible for him". I kid you not. Luckily capture and confinement by thuggish regimes usually works out well for our military. Just ask John McCain. Don't ask him to raise his arm above shoulder level when you do it, though. What incredible hubris that a man is so self-obsessed (and the people around him so worshiping) that they don't notice this is the egomania of a tyrant-king. And then the ad has the nerve to suggest that Mitt Romney would have somehow chosen differently.
But again, even this second slip is not an isolated incident. In fact, his references to how he killed Bin Laden (must have been a hell of a shot all the way from the White House safe room) are so ubiquitous that Saturday Night Live had a skit about it that was dropped before the show went live this week. This is not a show particularly noted for making fun of liberal presidents.
The President's tendency to take direct credit for the actions of others is a sign of his massive ego and sense of self-entitlement. It's a personality trait I noted early on in his campaign for President and even at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. It's a result of what I believe to be a life directed by others towards the goal of being President one day. It's how a mediocre student becomes the President of the Harvard Law Review. How an unknown who lost his first run for the state legislature goes from a first term state legislature with a record of voting "present" to a United States Senator who spends his entire time in office campaigning for President to the surprise Democratic nominee to the first European socialist to hold the office.
Carly Simon, warm up those pipes, I've got a song in mind.
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