The self pity Presidency of Barack Obama

Michael Goodwin:

Say this for President Obama: He’s got an uncanny ability to block out distractions and keep his eye on the ball.

Facing a horrific expansion of terrorism in the Mideast, a meltdown of public support at home and major rebukes by the Supreme Court, the president remains fixated on No. 1.

“I’m finding lately I just want to say what’s on my mind,” he told a Minneapolis audience Friday, and then ticked off a series of complaints about — surprise — Republicans.

“They don’t do anything, except block me and call me names,” he said. “If they were more interested in growing the economy for you and the issues that you are talking about instead of trying to mess with me, we would be doing a lot better.”

He wasn’t finished: “The critics, the cynics in Washington, they’ve written me off more times than I can count. But cynicism doesn’t invent the Internet. Cynicism doesn’t give women the right to vote.”

There you have it: the presidential mind in Year 6. Don’t cry for Argentina — cry for me!

Self-pity is never admirable in a public figure, but it seems to be Obama’s default emotion when the going gets tough. Because everything is about him, the whole world is personal.

He is a victim of a vast conspiracy that includes everything from global upheaval to a domestic mood going from simmer to boil. If only everybody would just shut up and do what he says, all would be well.

Alas, Obama is right about one thing. His presidency and the country are at a crossroads. The problem is that his response — woe is me — means things almost certainly will get worse before they get better.
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He is eager to blame others for the failures of his policies and would rather whine and complain than find a way to work with the other people in Washington who are not liberals, but have a say in how things get done.  The country is going to have to go into survival mode for the next two and a half years to deal with his inept leadership and policy preferences.  His main accomplishment to date is to prove that liberalism is not the answer to our problems.