November 25, 2008

H.O.P.E.

I'm finding myself hating the Office of the President Elect.

Why?

Not because of policy issues.

Or staffing issues.

It's because of this f-ing arrogance.

I see this sign and my blood pressure rises.

Never before in American history have we had something like this.

Hillbuzz:

Will this cult of personality stuff end on January 20th, or will the makers of smurf blood blue paint be on easy street for the next 4 years?

This stuff just doesn’t feel “American” to us. It’s not the way past leaders have behaved, it’s not the way they conducted themselves.

It seems childish and naive, and that does not give us an ounce of confidence in this man’s abilities to magically solve all of our problems and keep us from crashing into the Second Great Depression.

Obama Administration Posted by AlexC at November 25, 2008 6:11 PM

I still have a seal. I want an office now.

Posted by: jk at November 25, 2008 6:29 PM

Arrogant? I guess I just don't see it. What's really the problem with it?

Posted by: Jeremy at November 25, 2008 10:21 PM

It's not the seal intrinsically, Jeremy, but it's demonstrative of Obama's attitude. His followers worship him, and he really does believe he's some messianic figure come to save the country.

If you don't already see it, you likely never will.

Posted by: Perry Eidelbus at November 26, 2008 9:06 AM

Jeremy -- a couple things. The arrogance is that Senator Obama claimed the mantle of power prematurely with "the seal." Now the seal adorns a special "Office of the President Elect" sign.

On one level, this is funny. It plays into the celebrity-messianic figure that Obama established for himself. I'm guessing none of the others had an "Office of the President-Elect" sign made to make the podium look more presidential. (The Greek columns, one suspects, were in the wash that day.)

On a more serious note, many 'round these parts are concerned that his candidacy was much more about him than his ideas. This could continue into a personal presidency, where the country is asked to accept many supra-Constitutional ideas because they emanate from our historic President. That's banana republic policy, not Madisonian.

Posted by: jk at November 26, 2008 11:40 AM

I'll defend it (the "office" business, not the seal) although I still agree that he's arrogant.

Creating an "office of the president elect" demonstrates that he is organized and prepared on inauguration day, possibly giving less encouragement to several of America's many enemies to engage in mischief.

But you want to talk arrogance? How about, "We can't sustain a system that bleeds billions of taxpayer dollars on programs that have outlived their usefulness or exist soley because of the power of politicians, lobbyists or interest groups." How many presidents-elect have NOT made this pledge to "scour wasteful spending from the federal budget?"

Fat chance but good luck to you, mister president-elect.

Posted by: johngalt at November 26, 2008 1:00 PM | What do you think? [5]