King Obama
25th October 2013
Charlie Cooke has a great column today making a very similar point to what I had intended to start the G-File with: Obama’s not a dictator; he’s a king. And when I say he’s a king, I don’t mean the dictatorial kind of an absolute monarchy. I mean he’s like the king in a parliamentary democracy where the prime minister has all of the power and the monarch is supposed to mug for postcards and inspire elementary-school children. He’s less Longshanks and more King Ralph. At least whenever he’s expected to take responsibility, he becomes a figurehead who gives voice to the public’s outrage over the problems he himself created. “Nobody is angrier,” Obama routinely insists, about the crap people should be angry at him about. As Charlie puts it, “Obama is less Julius Caesar than he is a tribune of the plebs — an Oprahfied avatar that has been custom-designed both to indulge and guide the public sentiment like so many Bill Clintons feeling your pain.”
— Jonah Goldberg, G-File, 10/25/2013
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