Didn't You Mean Uppity, Massa?

Wire Services are not known for parody, so the piece about Barack Obama's "arrogance" today by Ron Fournier, who "has covered politics for The Associated Press for nearly 20 years," must be meant to be taken seriously.

"Barack Obama better watch his step," Fournier writes, "He's bordering on arrogance. The dictionary defines the word as an 'offensive display of superiority or self-importance; overbearing pride.' Obama may not be offensive or overbearing, but he can be a bit too cocky for his own good."

The indictment cites such statement as "To know me is to love me" and "Every place is Barack Obama country once Barack Obama's been there."

"True," Fournier concedes, "there's a certain amount of tongue-in-cheekiness to such remarks--almost as if Obama doesn't want to take his adoring crowds and political ascent too seriously. He was surely kidding when he told supporters in January that by the time he was done speaking "'a light will shine down from somewhere.'"

Nonetheless, "both Obama and his wife, Michelle, ooze a sense of entitlement," according to the AP's resident character analyist, who concludes:

"As he told 7,000 supporters at a rally last month, 'I am an imperfect vessel for your hopes and dreams.'

"Nobody expects Obama to be perfect. But he better never forget that he isn't."

The Associated Press might want to consider that having the clueless and irony-impaired calling African-Americans "uppity" is not the best strategy for a wire service in the 21st century.

Maybe Obama will explain it to them when he makes his speech about race tomorrow.

Hillary: The Case for Humility

The other day, Andrew Sullivan distilled his and America's '08 dilemma into a choice "between fear and loathing. I loathe Clinton; I fear Giuliani."

The Rudy side of the equation is easily quantified (see below), but the hatred of Hillary Clinton, not only Sullivan's, but that, if polls are to be believed, of close to half of all Americans, is more complicated.

A visitor from another planet might see her as a former First Lady of undoubted intelligence who stood by her husband in a pre-election sex scandal, was later victimized by another in the White House and then went on to an independent political career and the brink of nomination for president. As they used to say on Seinfeld, "Not that there's anything wrong with that."

Critics call her cold, calculating and ruthless but, in some political circles, those are qualities deemed vital in a president. Among the less sophisticated, there is a resentment over exploiting her spousal status that overlooks George W. Bush's leveraging of his filial tie into the White House.

But underneath all that, I would suggest, is a vague rage at her sense of entitlement, the unquestioning attitude toward her right to be President, the confidence she projects of having somehow earned it by claiming her White House years as executive "experience."

That Achilles' heel has, in recent days, been exploited by her opposition, as in Barack Obama's observation, “My understanding was that she wasn’t Treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, so I don’t know exactly what experiences she’s claiming.”

In some ways, Sen. Clinton may have damaged her own campaign narrative by framing the choice as experience vs. change. Some of those experiences are turnoffs for voters, who might be impressed by strong stands on issues that concern them but see her waffling only as reinforcement for the feeling that she takes her succession for granted.

Humility is not high on the list of qualities the electorate wants in a president, but modesty could go a long way in offsetting the arrogance Hillary Clinton projects and, in a general election, it might serve her well against Rudy Giuliani, who is over-endowed with it to the point of frightening Andrew Sullivan:

"His obsessive loyalty to aides, his reflexive defense of the security and police forces, his discomfort with any argument smacking of civil liberties, his mean streak, his desire to extend his own term of office as New York City mayor, his authoritarian, meddling instincts, and his frequent, hotheaded outbursts: all this make giving him the Cheney-style presidency a huge risk."

Hillary haters and supporters, take note.