Obama's Soft Remarks: More Finger-Pointing From The Blame-Shifting President

Krauthammer said of Obama's statement: Obama compounded condescension, incompetence, and narcissism all into one sentence.

But I think Byron York is a little bit more right, in putting this statement into the context of Obama's constant blame-shifting for his own failures.

Look at Obama's speeches in the last couple of months, and he has repeatedly scolded audiences for not working hard enough and for not sacrificing enough to achieve the goals he has set for his administration. He's done it with both supporters and with adversaries. With friends, his message has been: Nobody told you this would be easy, and you've got to worker harder to enact my agenda. With adversaries, his message is: You've had it too easy, and you've got to make sacrifices to enact my agenda. Obama's "gotten a little soft" remark fits into that theme: A soft America is one that is insufficiently willing to work and sacrifice to enact the Obama agenda.

...

Quit complaining. Stop grumbling. Get to work. Sacrifice. Obama is constantly telling Americans they need to shape up and snap to it, all for the purpose of making the Obama agenda a reality. Lately, with the economy worsening and his approval ratings falling, he's been having a hard time bending Washington, and the country, to his will. Is it any surprise that he's now telling Americans they've gotten soft?

I cut out the supporting evidence for York's thesis, the examples of Obama telling people they had to work harder, and sacrifice more, for his glory.

It's the ultimate blame-shifting, isn't it? Blaming Bush wasn't doing the trick, so now he's... just blaming the peons he governs.

It's our fault. We all share in this failure.

Not Obama so much, but the rest of us. The ones letting the team down.

posted by Ace at 12:13 PM

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