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Obama: I’m being vilified just like MLK, Jr.

Obama: I’m being vilified just like MLK, Jr.

James Taranto has a post The Great Deflation (via Instapundit) in which he writes that:

Like a leaky balloon, Barack Obama keeps getting smaller.

Taranto compares Obama’s lofty rhetoric during the 2008 campaign, when he grandly proclaimed that “this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal” to Obama’s more recent whiny complaining.

Obama may be shrinking, but everything is relative.  While Obama may no longer invoke messiah-like imagery, he still compares himself to the greats of history.

At a fundraiser in New York, Obama likened his efforts to reform government to those of Andrew Cuomo, but then Obama also compared what he was going through to the trials and tribulations of Martin Luther King, Jr. (via Sam Foster):

Before leaving, Obama likened himself to one more figure. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“I think that we forget when he was alive there was nobody who was more vilified, nobody who was more controversial, nobody who was more despairing at times,” he said.

Messiah to mere historic national hero.  Deflation indeed.

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Just an arrogant putz.

DINORightMarie | August 13, 2011 at 9:59 am

He already tried Lincoln, why not MLK Jr.? Obama the narcissist (redundant, I know) thinks people will buy the lie once again. These donors might – they paid for their ticket to hear this tripe, after all – but the voting public is wiser today than in 2008.

My fear is their Chicago-mob mentality – and tactics. We know they will pull Alinsky tactics. Been there, done that. They already are launching personal attacks on Romney and Perry. But how much farther will they go to take out their opponent(s)? Gangster mentality breeds violence. London is our most recent example. And, to thugs violence is a boon, a benefit, for their end game.

I believe nothing is too low, too vile for them. Nothing.

JimMtnViewCaUSA | August 13, 2011 at 10:01 am

A legend…in his own mind.

How does anyone paying $15,000 a plate dinner hear him rant about the ‘rich’ digest their food? Can’t they see he means them? Thatsa half-year salary in one meal for most americans and more than a year’s salary for quite a few.

I really don’t get how these people vote against their self-interest, If he declared that they should be hung and gave rope to each person would they tie the noose?

Corporate support I can dimly see, but personal support what are they thinking? As the Professor has said.. they go for the kulaks first.

DINORightMarie | August 13, 2011 at 10:20 am

@Steve – they don’t believe that they will be affected. He doesn’t mean them, just the yobs who aren’t smart enough to evade their taxes via overseas banking, creative accounting, etc.

Or, perhaps, they are just the epitome of “useful idiots” and lemmings. Have you read the old book Darkness at Noon? A vivid illustration of a “useful idiot” if there ever was one.

As to your question: personally, I believe some of them would gladly take that rope, and at least consider the possibility. They are that sold out to this narcissist.

He has always reminded me of Mussolini…

“Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power.”

“All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.”

“Let us have a dagger between our teeth, a bomb in our hands, and an infinite scorn in our hearts.”

“The keystone of the Fascist doctrine is its conception of the State, of its essence, its functions, and its aims. For Fascism the State is absolute, individuals and groups relative.”

“The mass, whether it be a crowd or an army, is vile.”

At this rate he will be likening himself to Gary Coleman by 2012.

WTF?
I have no words anymore. I have black relatives, I just sent them this link, they are livid beyond words at this ignorant assisine fool. Many of them voted for him, disgust is understatement that these relatives of mine are feeling.

I honestly feel horrible for the black community to see such a joke of a man be the first black president. Allen West, Mayor Nutter of Philly, Tim Scott, so many of these great americans would have made an eons of a president &leader for this country.

What we have now is an ignorant petulant child in the WH latching onto anyone of any significance, and taking no responsibility for his mistakes. He may say he wakes up thinking about jobs and goes to bed thinking about jobs, many fools may believe this lie, Independents like me 100% believe he has one job that thinks about all the time, his own reelection.

I was a lifelong democrat, a Hillary dem, and a Reagan dem in the 80’s, this lunatic party is absolutely unrecognizable at this point, it has gone far far left, in the marxist, redistributionist way of thinking.

And now the whiner-in-chief wants to whine some more, to compare himself to any genuine leader is a joke and an insult to that american leader.

“He already tried Lincoln, why not MLK Jr.?”

Is Obama a “fatalist” ?

Just like Clinton, some people aren’t worth a bullet.

[…] his attempts to blame everyone but himself over the S&P downgrade has his comparing himself to Martin Luther King “I think that we forget when he was alive there was nobody who was more vilified, nobody who was […]

To attempt to influence and reacquire people like Alex @ 11:04 a.m. Obama will jettison Biden and put Hillary on the ticket as VP. The contingency to Biden is that he will be the new Secretary of State if Obama wins re-election.

The question to Alex and people like him is would that tactic work?

This is very dangerous rhetoric indeed. The implication of those words is that he now senses that his only personal political redemption may be found in portraying an almost martyring image of himself . . . sacrificing himself for “the cause.”

Obama the politician is rapidly losing public confidence because his policies were, and are wrong for the country. And it is only likely to get politically worse for him as we get closer to the election, perhaps resulting in a significant electoral loss.

He may well feel the trap closing in on him. But, he and his Congress were the one who set it! Of course, he is incapable of addressing the fact that his public spending spree and overly intrusive policies were the primary causes for putting us where we are today. Therefore, in order to politically survive, he has to frame and identify the “real” culprits and the “real” reason for their mendacity.

His answer? An unhealthy mix of greed and racism. So, unfortunately, this is not the last of this kind of talk we’ll hear from him.

There is not now, nor should there be any legitimate parallel between his personal political fortunes in the coming national Presidential election, with the tragic personal outcome in 1968 for Dr. King. The bottom line point is that, completely contrary to the situation King and the Civil Rights movement were in at the time, Obama and the congressional Democrats had all of the power for two full years. And they blew it in an orgy of overreach.

Yet, Obama is now openly flirting with that inapt parallel. And in doing so, I believe he is subtly setting up the potential for open violence.

His untested and virtually unchallenged rhetoric at the time of the 2008 election held out the unrealistic “promise” for hope and change, which huge numbers of Americans uncritically bought into. Undeniably, in some ways things have actually gotten much worse for many of them, which means he can only survive politically if he can convincingly make his failure somehow attributable to others. The consequence of that would be for some to lash out at those who they believe somehow frustrated their rising expectations. Open violence.

So far, only a few disturbing violent incidents have occurred, which should tell him that he really needs to cool that rhetoric. At least few investigated incidents — in Philadelphia, the Milwaukee suburbs, East St. Louis, and in a few other places — now show that identifiable racial overtones have surfaced here in the United States. In England, the incidents are more closely connected to upheaval in the welfare state — where we will end up if we continue on the political trajectory Obama has put us on.

For the Obama campaign to intentionally adopt class warfare as an almost singular political tactic, is not only provocative, is irresponsibility on steroids.

But this is, after all, the community organizer doing what he does “best” . . . openly goading and provoking the crowd to confront “the man.”

Sadly for all of us, it really is the only way he really knows. He brought what he knew to the job. And as a result, we are all of us in for some very difficult times.

    LukeHandCool in reply to Trochilus. | August 13, 2011 at 1:16 pm

    He had a lot of things going for him at the right time:

    Nice looks/smile/voice/ability to read a teleprompter convincingly … a non-threatening mixture with the right pigmentation for the multicultural-mania of our time.

    That all gets you far in a campaign with voters eager to show they aren’t racist and a supportive press.

    But when the real work needs to be done … he’s shown he is a complete empty suit. He couldn’t negotiate his way out of a paper bag. He delegates … but he doesn’t know how to delegate well.

    His act is now old and it’s flop sweat time.

      sablegsd in reply to LukeHandCool. | August 13, 2011 at 2:36 pm

      “Nice looks/smile/voice/ability to read a teleprompter convincingly”…

      He never had those things. Too many people saw what they wanted to see, with the media’s help.

“The question to Alex and people like him is would that tactic work?”

No.

I voted for Hillary in the primary in 2008, I voted for Mccain/Palin in the general.
Actually, if Hillary herself were to run in 2012, I would not vote for her. I think she would have made a much better president than Messaih Obama, but she has shown herself to be more loyal to Obama than I can digest.

I would not vote for the Messaih Obama ticket, if I was named the VP. I’m not that much of a fan of Bachmann or Santorum (I’m socially more centerist/libetarian), I do like Rick Perry a lot, who was a conservative dem like me in the 80’s, and 90’s. And I find Rick Perry to be more fiscally and consitutionally conservative than Mitt Romney.

But 110% for certain, my Independent vote will NOT be going towards Messaih Barry or ANY democrat — it will be going to ABO(Anybody but Obama) as Palin says. I no longer recognize my former party. I identity more with the Tea Party principles of limited govt, fiscally responsible govt, I want a sustainable safety net, but not some welfare state, and reform to SS/Medicare is not destroying it as much as the DNC talking points scream, no bailouts to failed company.
So, it baffles me why the DNC keeps acting like the Tea Party is the fringe, sounds to me like the DNC & dems are now the fringe.

    LukeHandCool in reply to alex. | August 13, 2011 at 1:00 pm

    “I want a sustainable safety net, but not some welfare state, …”

    Exactly. I agree with what Dennis Miller often says, (paraphrasing here)

    “I’m all for helping the helpless … just don’t ask me to help the clueless.”

David R. Graham | August 13, 2011 at 1:31 pm

Good, I’m glad you caught the true gist of what he was saying! I just sent Reynolds this:

“For the last 2½ years. Is that not as explicit an acknowledgment of failure as has ever been heard from a sitting president?

Indeed.”

No, he’s setting up to run as a victim of Republicans, Congress and Courts. Sympathy for the guy who means so well and needs great help to turn the tables on the mass of bad guys aiming to harm voters. That’s what he’s doing. That’s not implying failure, that’s passive aggression as a blind for naked aggression, which is what he’s always doing and relishes doing all the harder starting 20JAN13.

“Yet, Obama is now openly flirting with that inapt parallel. And in doing so, I believe he is subtly setting up the potential for open violence.”

Concur. Suggest substitute “conditions” for “potential.”

Glad you and others here saw through this latest campaign gimmick, a jaw-droppingly arrogant one, but then, jaw-dropping arrogance is what it takes to believe what that guy believes. Messiah-hood and victim-hood are two faces of the same deformed personality.

[…] “Obama: I’m being vilified just like MLK, Jr.” And yet until actively campaigning for the presidency, he didn’t mind associating himself […]

No, mr. obama. You’re being vilified like Jimmy Carter.
Because:
You’re arrogant.
You’re ignorant.
You’re pedantic.
You’re self-righteous.
You’re selfish.
You’re divisive.
You’re petty.
You’re childish.
You’re hateful.
You’re racist.
You’re biased.
You’re lazy.
You’re a liar.
You’re unsympathetic.
You’re derogatory.
You’re pusillanimous.
You’re feckless.
You’re dilatory.
You’re Anti-American.
You’re a partisan hack.
You’re a puppet.

I didn’t know MLK personally but I watched him and read about him.

mr. Obama, you’re NOT MLK JR.

    WarEagle82 in reply to jakee308. | August 13, 2011 at 5:29 pm

    Hey, that’s a good start but surely you could have kept going…

    Shades of Lloyd Bentsen.

    soulstraww in reply to jakee308. | August 16, 2011 at 3:48 am

    What a digusting slime you are! I don’t care if you hate having them compared! I will not sit here and watch as you try to blame Obama for the damage people like you caused! Who on the left hoped obama would fail? how many left-wing racists attacked black people? how many left wing preacher prayed for Obama’s death? how many left wing hate groups were created after his election?

Likewise here as well by veteran White House reporter, Keith Koffler:

At least it wasn’t Jesus.

At a small, exclusive New York City fundraiser Thursday night featuring the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, Obama compared himself and his agenda to that of Martin Luther King Jr.

[partial transcript]

Mr. Obama, I knew Martin Luther King. Martin Luther King was a friend of mine . . . “

[…] only has the US credit rating been downgraded, it would appear so has Barack Obama has been downgraded as well. Remember the BS spewed below during the 2008 campaign when the Obamamessiah proclaimed […]

If MLK were alive he’ld punch the Comrade In Chief right in his face.

Once again we see the advantages of having nothing in circulation with your name on it: MLK Jr. was frequently guilty of plagiarism. Was Obama ever so charged? No way. So, no, BHO is not MLK. King left the evidence out there for people to examine. A PhD dissertation is pretty out there. Since King’s mission was so important, those rules were for the little people. (I’ve even found a web site explaining that what King did was important, so the plagiarism didn’t really matter.) This must be a hang-up we’ve inherited from our Judaic-Christian heritage: a person who can’t be trusted in little things can’t be trusted in big things. Telling lies to advance your cause undermines the cause. I guess maybe Barack and Martin are not so far apart after all.

    Crawford in reply to Milwaukee. | August 15, 2011 at 9:21 am

    “MLK Jr. was frequently guilty of plagiarism. Was Obama ever so charged?”

    Well, you’ve explained his choice of Biden for Veep. Makes more sense than anything except “life insurance”.

We need a dart board to shoot at to see who Barry compares himself to next. He’s like a drag queen or impersonator who blood sucks off of people who actually accomplished something in their own right. The inferiority complex that must exist in Barry would put the Grand Canyon to shame.

OK, I get that you all reeeeaaallly hate Obama, and that’s cool. It’s your prerogative, and the fact that he believes in a very different approach than you do is unarguable. What I don’t get–and this isn’t just a rhetorical remark used to try to make some opposing point–is how you can read this quote and claim he was “comparing himself to MLK.” Seriously, I don’t understand where you get that. He is clearly outlining what he saw as the political reality that MLK had to operate within, and I suspect that he WAS doing so in order to tell supporters that what is politically popular isn’t the same as what is right, and how a movement is seen today is not necessarily how i will be seen in the future. But where does he “compare himself” to King?

To be fair, I haven’t seen the context. Perhaps these remarks were part of a larger speech where Obama followed up this quote by saying something like “this is just like my administration has been attacked.” It’s also completely possible that he was responding to abquestion that made it obvious that these remarks were meant as a comparison between him and King.

…but… if all you include is this quote, then this quote is all we can assess. I just don’t know how you can call Obama’s summary of MLK’s struggle with those who opposed and demonized him anything like a “self-comparison.” But again, if the context shows otherwise, please share it.