I am awesome!!!

When I think of what Barack Obama has become, the term amour propre comes to mind. I first encountered the phrase when reading Francois de La Rouchefoucauld's Maximes (Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales). Basically, it means 'self-love', i.e. having an excessive sense of pride in oneself. Needless to say, it ain't exactly a good thing.

Charles Krauthammer, and a growing number of Americans, are also coming to the same conclusion: that Barack Obama's greatest admirer is Barack Obama himself. This conclusion from Krauthammer comes as Obama plans his European unveiling in front of the Brandenburg Gate:

What Obama does not seem to understand is that the Brandenburg Gate is something you earn. President Reagan earned the right to speak there because his relentless pressure had brought the Soviet empire to its knees and he was demanding its final "tear down this wall" liquidation. When President Kennedy visited the Brandenburg Gate on the day of his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech, he was representing a country that was prepared to go to the brink of nuclear war to defend West Berlin.

Who is Obama representing? And what exactly has he done in his lifetime to merit appropriating the Brandenburg Gate as a campaign prop?

_____

Obama is a three-year senator without a single important legislative achievement to his name, a former Illinois state senator who voted "present" nearly 130 times. As president of the Harvard Law Review, as law professor and as legislator, has he ever produced a single notable piece of scholarship? Written a single memorable article? His most memorable work is a biography of his favorite subject: himself.

_____

For the first few months of the campaign, the question about Obama was: Who is he? The question now is: Who does he think he is?

We are getting to know. Redeemer of our uninvolved, uninformed lives. Lord of the seas. And more. As he said on victory night, his rise marks the moment when "our planet began to heal." As I recall -- I'm no expert on this -- Jesus practiced his healing just on the sick. Obama operates on a larger canvas.

Yeah, it's all getting a little absurd. Anyone so consumed by their own hype and purpose abetted with the power of the Presidency is a danger to the world.