Self Righteous and the Selfie

The one talent any American should feel proud about our president is his ability to give speeches. At times he can conjure up memories of “The Great Communicator,” Ronald Reagan; or John Kennedy. There are times when I hear the florid phrases that roll off the president’s tongue and I think of Ted Sorensen, JFK’s brilliant speechwriter and aide-de-camp.

The one difference among the three orators, besides, style, is the message. Presidents Reagan and Kennedy espoused American Exceptionalism.  Obama adheres to the theory that we’re just as ordinary as everyone else and, moreover, we  are guilty of taking advantage of those less fortunate. After all we didn’t build the country or the great industrial  machine that created the middle class  as he so foolishly said in the run up to the 2012 election until, one assumes, focus groups dissuaded him from doing so.

At the memorial service for Nelson Mandela he was his predictable self, praising Mandela for reconciling with and forgiving his oppressors. But interspersed were lines from his usual script, usurping the spotlight for himself with his diatribe of rampant inequality, injustice and the  intransigence of his Republican opposition at home.

This played well with the South African audience much like it does when President Obama does his domestic tours. And I wonder, is it the same audience that follows him around university campii and other democrat strongholds who wildly applause as if an applause light goes off at the venue. They stand there as an attentive backdrop like a pack of trained seals waiting for a mackerel to be thrown their way.

The president spends too much time in his comfort zone. Whether it’s with the well heeled Hollywood crowd who can’t thank him enough for being our president or the likes of “Hardball” journalist, Chris Matthews who toughest question for our chief executive is along the lines of what he had for dinner the previous night. Even when the president is seen doing something inappropriate like taking a “selfie” at the Mandela memorial, some journalists  equated that to his being “just like us.”

How sophomoric was that picture of President Obama with Prime Minister David Cameron of Great Britain and Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt? The Danish Prime Minister looked like a high school cheerleader captivated by her team’s quarterback. While PM Cameron looked like the equipment manager straining his neck for inclusion in the picture. The only adult in the photo was Michelle Obama who didn't look like she was going to be invited to the malt shop afterwards.

And I wouldn’t be surprised by the  expression on the first lady’s face if there was another Obama speech in South Africa – this one by Ms. Obama.