Obama the cool morphs into Obama the cold
In discussions on this blog and others about the Fort Hood shooting, quite a few people have noted Obama’s lack of appropriate affect in his remarks right afterwards, as well as in his introduction to those remarks (a light-hearted “shout out” to certain members of the audience, for example).
Here’s a description of the latter:
But instead of a somber chief executive offering reassuring words and expressions of sympathy and compassion, viewers saw a wildly disconnected and inappropriately light president making introductory remarks. At the event, a Tribal Nations Conference hosted by the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Indian affairs, the president thanked various staffers and offered a “shout-out” to “Dr. Joe Medicine Crow — that Congressional Medal of Honor winner.” Three minutes in, the president spoke about the shooting, in measured and appropriate terms. Who is advising him?
Anyone at home aware of the major news story of the previous hours had to have been stunned.
I didn’t see or hear the banter, but I did hear his official remarks. I say “hear” because I was in my car at the time and missed the video. Nevertheless, even without the oddness of the introduction, I found his tone strange. It’s hard to describe, but the best I can do is to call it inappropriately flat.
I’m not expecting a president to emote; they all don’t sound like Reagan, who was, after all, an actor. But I cannot escape the impression that there is something missing in the emotional department with Obama. I don’t think this extends to all parts of his personal life (for example, he seems to be a good and loving father). But I feel a coldness in him that is fairly global, a chill that goes pretty deep.
I try to be honest with myself and ask whether it’s because I don’t like his policies that I view him as a cold man, and the answer is no, as best I can tell. In fact, there’s nothing that precludes emotional intensity in an opponent (”the worst are full of passionate intensity“). Take a look at Hitler’s speeches and you’ll see a frightening amount of it, for example.
I think Peggy Noonan nailed it best. She was an early Obama admirer, remember, and in some ways still is. But back in September she wrote this WSJ piece, in which she observed:
I watched with great interest much of Teddy Kennedy’s wake and funeral, and saw in a clearer way than I had in the past a big cultural difference between the elites of the two parties, or rather the Democratic and Republican establishments. Pretty much the entire Democratic establishment was at the Kennedy services, and the level of shown affection among those in the pews and the audience was striking—laughing, hugging, telling stories, admitting weaknesses, weeping. It was Irish, and old-time…
The president walked into the funeral and moved toward the front pews nodding, shaking hands. He hugged Mrs. Kennedy, nodded some more, shook more hands. He was dignified and contained, he was utterly appropriate, and he was cold.
He is cold, like someone who is contained not because he’s disciplined and successfully restrains his emotions, but because there’s not that much to restrain. This is the dark side of cool. One wonders if this will play well with the American people. Long-term it is hard to get people to trust your policies if they think you’re coolly operating on some intellectual or ideological abstractions.
I don't think this comes across to most people ... at least not so far. But there are other tells ... like the "pain pill" remark, the votes against babies who survive abortion attempts (why be more pro-abortion than the abortion lobby?)/
Cold is the dark side of cool. Obama was cold yesterday when speaking about the Fort Hood massacre, but it was not a special case. He is cold in general.
During the campaign this was interpreted by supporters as a good thing; having a cool head in a crisis, for example, and being able to think calmly. It was also an excellent foil to John McCain’s far more emotional style, exemplified in McCain’s suspending his campaign and racing down to Washington to manage the financial crisis, versus Obama’s non-engagement.
But even some of Obama’s previous supporters can’t help but see now that Obama’s coolness is not mere calm; it is an indication that something important is missing. And that should trouble us all.
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