Is President Obama Sort of A Grumpy Snob?

Oh no not another Obama post!!!

Contentions hits on something in two different posts from two different political orientations that is worth looking at.

First they look at a WSJ piece at Not Measuring Up

Ajami also picks up on a tonal failing that can be deadly for a president. FDR, Ronald Reagan, and, yes, Bill Clinton shared an outward cheeriness about America and a much remarked upon optimism. They liked America and Americans and generally avoided (with the exception of that horrid, finger-wagging moment by Clinton—”I did not have . . .”) chewing out the voters or blaming them for their own inability to achieve all their political aims. Not so with Obama.

Obama’s tone—and yes temperament—now reeks of haughtiness and irritation. The rubes don’t get it: it’s time to reinvent America! Ajami again:

There is joylessness in Mr. Obama. He is a scold, the “Yes we can!” mantra is shallow, and at any rate, it is about the coming to power of a man, and a political class, invested in its own sense of smarts and wisdom, and its right to alter the social contract of the land. In this view, the country had lost its way and the new leader and the political class arrayed around him will bring it back to the right path.

Thus the moment of crisis would become an opportunity to push through a political economy of redistribution and a foreign policy of American penance. The independent voters were the first to break ranks. They hadn’t underwritten this fundamental change in the American polity when they cast their votes for Mr. Obama.

Forget effective—is Obama even likable any more? When he’s not condescending to us on race or chastising activists or making up tales of tonsil-stealing docs, he’s apologizing for America and hanging out with cultural elites who harbor a similarly dim view of their fellow citizens. Maybe the real question is: does he like us? Certainly not the segment of us that shows up at town-hall meetings or that likes America pretty much the way it is. Certainly not that segment of Americans that defended the rest of us during the darkest days after 9/11.
No wonder Obama seems so grumpy lately—we just aren’t living up to his expectations.

Now I think a ton of people still like Obama. But maybe they are catching on. What is curious about this is that someone that should be on Obama's side is well picking this up as well .From What Happens When the Cult Ends?

Richard Cohen is disappointed. Obama isn’t making use of his “teachable” moments. What—the grand teacher, the magnificent orator, isn’t imparting wisdom to us or convincing us on racial-profiling or health care or much of anything else? Not really. Cohen doesn’t say a lot about the content of Obama’s messages, but he sure has plenty to say about Obama himself—such as “his distinct coolness [and] an above-the-fray mien that does not communicate empathy.” I think he means Obama is a snob.

Cohen can’t quite bring himself to put it in those terms, but he does concede that “the country needs health-care reform and success in Afghanistan, and both efforts are going in the wrong direction. The message needs to be fixed, and so, with some tough introspection, does the man.”

The irony here is great. Obama won an election campaign conducted to a greater degree than any in recent memory based on a cult of personality. John McCain tried to ridicule it, but it remained the central focus of the election. Obama the reformer! Obama the heralder of New Politics! Obama was going to stem the rise of the oceans (or was it part the sea?). Columnists cooed about his temperament. Pundits marveled at his rhetoric. The iconography was creepy and it was omnipresent.

But what happens when the cult ends and the personality at the center of it becomes off-putting? Cohen essentially concedes that Obama has failed to communicate and, moreover, failed to bond with the American people. So now what?

Ironically, conservatives, who were never much enamored with Obama’s frothy rhetoric, didn’t swoon then and don’t put much stock in his charisma-deficit now. They, unlike Obama’s fans, tend to focus on what Obama is selling, not on how he’s selling it. For them it’s about the reality of Obama’s agenda sinking in and not the allure of the man wearing off.

There is a measure of truth to both perceptions. Obama has become ill-tempered and increasingly irritated as his agenda has faltered. His gaffe quotient is going up and is more regularly reported. It turns out he’s not that grand a persuader or explainer after all. But at bottom, he suffers from a disconnect with the public on the merits of his ideas. It seems that the public isn’t up for a leftward lurch.

Obama can try to fix his persona or fix his agenda—or both. But a “sort of God” isn’t inclined, as Cohen hopes, for that tough introspection. As long as Obama is convinced the problem lies with Republicans or cranky citizens or “special interests,” he’s not likely to fix anything.

And People said McCain was the grumpy one!!!

I had a interesting conversation with a person that has been around the political game and is pretty highly educated. This person said Obama hates the military and does not like White people.

Now I am not sure that is true at all.

But this person was white and has lifetime affiliations with the military. In other words she looks up and says this man does not like me and does not seem to care what I think. The whole white and military thing is just a part of her and thus what Obama must not like. I think that is a personality thing on President Obama's part he has got to correct.

Again is this because Obama is so young he has never been humbled? Bill Clinton kinda of came off as young know it all in his first term as Governor. The voters booted him out. Clinton learned his lesson and was reelected the next time up and never lost an election again. But he had a major defeat and like they says for a politician the defeats one has are sometimes way more important than the wins.

One final point. Does this not show the media really goofed!! Usually when a person runs for President they write a book about their life and views. Now the book is noted but most media knows such things needless to say are a tad biased. Obama writes a book like this and it is like the Gospels that are read at Mass. The image of Obama and what makes him tick was taken as just well truth and no spin. An absurd notion and standard that is applied to no one else. I knew we were in trouble when a journalist on TV said Obama was inspiring because he raised himself from the "streets" of Hawaii. What? His grandmother that raised him a Bank executive and Obama when to a pretty nice private school. In essence we knew little about the man that was were electing and the media did not help matters.