So, it turns out that the cool cat billed as "No Drama Obama" by his sycophants is actually quite the drama queen. While the White House publicly pretends to ignore conservative detractors of his administration, Chief Touchy-Touchy seems to be personally consumed by our critiques. Yes, mine included.
On Wednesday, the president had himself a mini-"Toddlers and Tiaras"-style meltdown with Arizona GOP Gov. Jan Brewer after landing in Phoenix for a post-State of the Union dog-and-pony show. As Brewer told pool reporters on the scene, Obama took umbrage at Brewer's recent memoir. She minced no words on the cover: "Scorpions for Breakfast: My Fight Against Special Interests, Liberal Media, and Cynical Politicos to Secure America's Border."
And she minced no words describing her impressions of Obama as they sparred over her state's tough immigration enforcement law, which is now the subject of a Justice Department witch-hunt. Brewer called Obama "patronizing" and "condescending." I'd say she was excruciatingly polite.
According to Brewer, "He was a little disturbed about my book. ... I said to him that I have all the respect in the world for the office of the president. The book is what the book is. I asked him if he read the book. He said he read (an) excerpt." In the shadow of Air Force One, Obama complained that Brewer hadn't "treated him cordially" and then stalked off while she was responding mid-sentence.
Photogs captured the fracas on film. The civility police gasped at Brewer's "disrespectful" finger-pointing. On cue, one progressive commentator insinuated the gesture was a "racist" jab tantamount to lynching.
The president was singing a more laid-back tune last summer. As debate on Capitol Hill over the debt ceiling and spending sizzled, Obama bragged to reporters: "I'm not trying to poke at you guys. ... I generally don't watch what is said about me on cable. I generally don't read what's said about me even in The Hill (newspaper), so part of this job is having a thick skin and understanding that a lot of this stuff is not personal."
Uh-huh. At least two other Republican governors — Rick Perry of Texas and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana — have recounted similar presidential snit fits on the tarmac. He sulked over a letter Jindal wrote to the administration about food stamps for Gulf oil spill victims; he bolted after a half-minute meeting with Perry at an Austin airport over border security issues.
You know those "petty grievances" of "Washington politics" that Obama has long condemned? Now it can be told: He knows whereof he squawks.
As New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor's new book, "The Obamas," reveals, the president and his inner circle spent even more time carping about conservative influence on public opinion.
"He wanted the media to be more of a referee; to put unfair Republican charges to rest," Kantor discovered. "He could brush off the wildest, most baseless attacks themselves, he told (senior adviser and Chicago pal) Valerie Jarrett, along with (campaign finance bundler and treasurer) Marty Nesbitt and (bundler and finance mogul) John Rogers, at lunch in the little dining room next to the Oval Office."
But what "galled him," the book observed, "was when they gained mainstream credibility despite distortions of truth."
Kantor then dutifully served as a pro-Obama referee:
"Rogers had just noticed a new book by the conservative columnist Michelle Malkin called 'Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks and Cronies.' Among many other allegations, Malkin wrote that Michelle Obama — the president's 'bitter half' — was secretly running the country in Lady Macbeth-like fashion. Malkin even took a hatchet to long-dead Fraser Robinson (Mrs. Obama's father), arguing with no evidence that his job at a water plant made him part of the 'Chicago political corruptocracy.' The book debuted at number one on The New York Times nonfiction bestseller list and stayed there for weeks."
The facts? It was a former alderman in Chicago, Leon Depres, who provided evidence that Robinson's job in the city water department was a reward for loyalty to the Daley political faction.
It was Washington Post writer Liza Mundy who reported that the department was "a renowned repository of patronage jobs."
It's the Illinois press that has long documented Mrs. Obama's ties to the Chicago machine. It's Kantor herself who spotlighted the first lady's internecine warfare with her husband's Cabinet. And from her meddling in everything from the AmeriCorps inspector general firing case to her aggressive, Big Labor-backed push for a publicly subsidized food police corps, Michelle Obama has been openly expanding her East Wing fiefdom in Marie Antoinette-like fashion.
How long before we see a FLOTUS tarmac tantrum? We did get two divas for the price of one. As longtime observers of the royal Obamas have long observed: Mr. and Mrs. Cranky Pants' problem has never been the color of their skin. It's the thinness.
Michelle Malkin is the author of "Culture of Corruption: Obama and his Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks & Cronies" (Regnery 2010). Her e-mail address is malkinblog@gmail.com.
COPYRIGHT 2012 CREATORS.COM
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Wow, and this is supposed to be a Conservative author? Forgive me for thinking that conservative should be as the word means. Instead it seems to refer to what can be conserved for those who consider themselves Conservatives.
"And she minced no words describing her impressions of Obama as they sparred over her state's tough immigration enforcement law, which is now the subject of a Justice Department witch-hunt. Brewer called Obama "patronizing" and "condescending." I'd say she was excruciatingly polite.
According to Brewer, "He was a little disturbed about my book. ... I said to him that I have all the respect in the world for the office of the president. The book is what the book is. I asked him if he read the book. He said he read (an) excerpt." In the shadow of Air Force One, Obama complained that Brewer hadn't "treated him cordially" and then stalked off while she was responding mid-sentence."
If Brewer respected the Office of the President, "Conservatively" she would have observed there is a time and a place for such a conversation.
I wonder how 'conservatively' Miss Michelle could express to HER boss that she just slammed him publically and wanted to step over and physically just about shove her 'thumb' in his nose to prove her point. I wonder if Miss Michelle's boss would have been so dignified and simply walked away from her public crass rudeness or would Miss Michelle's boss been more demonstrative.
Seriously, anyone can author anything:
"It's the Illinois press that has long documented Mrs. Obama's ties to the Chicago machine. It's Kantor herself who spotlighted the first lady's internecine warfare with her husband's Cabinet. And from her meddling in everything from the AmeriCorps inspector general firing case to her aggressive, Big Labor-backed push for a publicly subsidized food police corps, Michelle Obama has been openly expanding her East Wing fiefdom in Marie Antoinette-like fashion." Says YOU! bunch of damn exaggerated hearsay.
Blah Blah Blah...do you take a breath when you write this crap? Or do you get paid by the slam? Honestly, Where the hell do you come from that you are 'So out of Touch' with real people in this country? This country has to change a lot of things and your droll rantings are old, sister. Get over yourself, PUHLEEZ!
Spare yourself any further embarassment for your children and grandchildren for the crap that you have spewed.
Bless your heart, honey, you need it.
Comment: #1
Posted by: Mary in Michigan
Thu Jan 26, 2012 5:26 PM
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To the extent any of this latest in the usual series of tirades is coherent, I would say the question to be asked is why in the world should someone being disrespected hang around for more abuse?
Is having a full and complete opportunity to harangue supposed to be some kind of constitutional right for those who want to go off on their president? I sure wouldn't want to hang around if someone was having a hissy fit at me and trying to wag her finger in my face for a grande photo op. Sayonara mid-sentence was the right way to go--the sentence didn't deserve to be completed.
Comment: #2
Posted by: Masako
Thu Jan 26, 2012 6:22 PM
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--Could Malkin PLEASE take up the unfolding final act of the
Bush Sr/Clinton/ Bush Jr/ BAR-Rockefeller Obama RED China handover
--TREASON and EUGENICS OP?
----Afterall, it is 2012.
---THANKS!
Comment: #3
Posted by: Mus ANon
Fri Jan 27, 2012 7:27 AM
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Ms. Malkin;
What you write and the style with which you deliver it is refreshing, invigorating and just plain great.
After reading your piece on this couple at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue I felt compelled to comment with an excerpt from my novel Nikita. A key character in Nikita is a less than stellar President of the United States, ‘Sorosh Saji', who is the puppet of really bad guys looking to sell Nukes to Iran. Sorosh resembles a spoiled brat far more than that of a senior statesman.
A single passage really synopsizes that aspect of his (and his wife's) character;
By the time the First Lady got to the master bedroom Sorosh Saji, the President of the United States, was lying face down diagonally across the king sized bed, his tuxedo still on.
“Are you sobbing Sorosh?” asked Lucile Saji, the President's wife, not really surprised.
“That party was a disaster,” shouted the sobbing President kicking his feet. “I don't want to have any more of them. Those people are all ungrateful and worse than that, they are all disrespectful.”
“Well,” said the First Lady, “the food was great, the wine even better and the entertainment was absolutely out of this world. As for the guests, fortunately, being First Lady, doesn't stop boozed up actors, musicians and millionaires from flirting.”
I don't know whether my fiction is imitating reality or visa-versa
Comment: #4
Posted by: G. Hugh Bodell
Fri Jan 27, 2012 9:23 AM
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Dear Ms Malkin,
I continue to applaud your no-nonsense approach to honest journalism; refreshing to say the least.
However, I do sense some tongue biting with respect to the title of your recent book. Personally, I'd just go with "The Sad Saga of the Soulless, Self-Serving, Vote Pandering Pukes" Unfortunately, it's not exactly PC and really doesn't apply to any particular party these days. Still, it does have a ring to it.
Comment: #5
Posted by: Citizen D.
Fri Jan 27, 2012 4:39 PM
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According to everyone there (except Brewer), Obama was calm and polite while she harangued him and wagged her finger in his face. How does reflect badly on Obama? Google it.
Comment: #6
Posted by: Jonathan Goodman
Sat Jan 28, 2012 1:17 PM
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Hi Michelle,
Your facts are refreshingly FACTUAL! Thanks.
Now can the WASHINGTON D.C. CONGRESS & PRESIDENT GET TO WORK!
If they won't pass a BUDGET in 1000 days, I would think that OBAMA/Pelosi/Reid/McConnell/Boehner/all highly paid
CONGRESSMEN/WOMEN/OBAMA/CABINET ADMIN/STAFFS would at least go grocery shopping for all the old and new recipients of FOOD STAMPS! FREE DELIVERY by Congressional POLITICIANS & OBAMA himself!
The DC POLITICIANS HAVE PLENTY OF FREE TIME!
We have a new culture of POVERTY. Or haven't they noticed?!
American 1st.
Comment: #7
Posted by: carol hayden
Sat Jan 28, 2012 4:05 PM
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Re: G. Hugh Bodell: Yep, it's all about fiction. You got that right about this particular columnist.
Comment: #8
Posted by: Masako
Sat Jan 28, 2012 7:18 PM
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Re: Mary in Michigan
One of the concepts that liberals seem to have great difficulty grasping is the relationship between the states and the federal government under our system. President Obama is not Governor Brewer's "boss" in any sense of the term. There was absolutely no reason for her to stand there quietly and allow Obama to berate her as though she were his employee.
As far as respect goes, it is something that must be earned, not demanded. Had your hero ever held a real job prior to becoming president, he might understand this.
Comment: #9
Posted by: Jeff Gunn
Sat Jan 28, 2012 11:40 PM
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Obama was probably calm, as he surely can be. He calmly allows the country and his office to sink to levels of almost disbelief. That's a compliment? Coming off Air Force One and immediately, mentioning the book, tells more of what President Obama really is. Pitiful.
I live in Texas, born in El Paso. Someone else wouldn't notice, perhaps the few minutes he spent in El Paso, poking his kind of fun at Texas border issues. Running for office and while being President and campaigning, this year, he has basically, considered our states, provincial. While we are policing other countries, and i am taking off my shoes at the airport, he is allowing all kinds of border crossings, not only latin Americans. He is just infuriating and a wag of the finger, whether animated, inadvertent or meant, is positively accepted for the conditions in which we live, today. (no, president obama it is not still President Bush's fault).
I can't get enough of your insight on Fox News or your blogs. I find your writings refreshing, to the point, clever and to be taken seriously.
You are my favorite commentator,writer, blogger.
We see through him. Even if he didn't have such thin skin.
Comment: #10
Posted by: jan stewart
Mon Jan 30, 2012 8:14 PM
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