Reconsidering My Sky-Is-Falling Last Post

This would be reassuring, as it's cynical, manipulative, irresponsible, and stupid, but wouldn't necessarily be a sign of mental infirmity:

Seriously. It's all he knows. He doesn't know what to do, so he pretends that there isn't a problem, and hopes that everyone else will just...go along.

-- liberty weeps

It might just be that, Obama deciding that bad news won't affect him politically if he just pretends it doesn't exist at all.

Although I am still shaken by the president's strange general disconnect from reality, I'm now thinking I got a little over-excitable myself.

At the current moment, this is a plane crash. Americans are dead, but a plane crash itself is not a reason to hit the panic button. There are suspicions of a shoot-down, but suspicions are only suspicions, and the Ukranians have an interest in suggesting Russian culpability.

So while I still think it is deeply weird that this Neroesque buffoon continues on his The Bear Is Loose tour (sponsored by Budweiser, special appearance by Winger), I think I got way too excitable in demanding he drop everything to rush back to the White House as if there were an actual confirmed Act of War.

It's not that. It may turn out to be that, but it's not that yet, and the president shouldn't signal that it is that.

He shouldn't sound the alarms until he's sure we should be alarmed. (Though I have my doubts he'll sound them even then; witness his nothing-to-see-here-folks posture on the border crisis.)

Still... this whole Bear Is Loose tour. That is itself strange. Even his defenders say things like "He needs to recharge, he needs to draw energy from the Common People."

Which is itself weird, and a sign of fragile personality type.

It's the word "need" that bothers me, and the President himself keeps saying it, and his mouthpieces keep repeating it.

The word "need" in this context indicates psychic distress. I mean, when you skip out of work and say "I need to get out," you're implying that your emotional state will not be up to snuff without this need being satisfied.

And his mouthpieces all repeat it, stressing that need: "The president needs to 'recharge.'"

A few weeks ago I took a four day weekend. Before doing so, I told the cobloggers, "Guys, I need some time off."

This was probably received as I intended it to be: Guys, I'm losing it, I'm going stir-crazy with cabin fever, I need a few Mental Health Days off."

And what is alarming, then, is that this need of the president is not some thing that can be fixed with a couple of days off, or his 183rd game of golf.

No, apparently this need will continue to be first and foremost on the President's schedule throughout the summer, and, many suspect, throughout the next two and a half years of his term in office.

It's not reassuring when someone who is supposed to be a figure of strength and reassurance keeps telling you that he has needs that need to be appeased to keep him working properly.

Busy, Busy, Busy:

Repeated for emphasis:

@markknoller

AF-1 wheels up from Delaware. Pres Obama en route to NYC for two Dem fundraisers. Both closed to press coverage.

-- weft-cut loop

What's additionally alarming here is that we used to speak of Clinton's "Permanent Campaign." He never stopped campaigning, even while governing.

But Obama is permanently campaigning not in addition to governing, but in lieu of governing.

There's an aspect of the job he likes, and an aspect he doesn't, and he's decided he's just going to play to his fancies from this point on.

posted by Ace at 03:04 PM

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