Been busy lately, turned fifty, partied, couple a camping trips with the family and a not so minor home construction project, do-it-yourself of course, building a pergola. Since everyone I tell I am a building a pergola asks, "what's a pergola?" heres a picture.  Sorta like a square gazebo without a roof...sits where the fish pond used to be.  Almost finished ... this isn't the actual, my corner posts aren't so spindly.  I'll post a photo when finished.

Anyway,  watching the Presidential race with sort of detatched bemusement and must say I am pretty happy with the course of events.  People seem to be picking up on some of the Obama traits I wrote about earlier and the corresponding lack of elevation in his poll numbers seem to show we aren't really buying what he has to sell.  Maybe the Republican "our guy doesn't suck as much" strategy will actually work. 

A few words come to mind as we watch this campaign progress... 

hubris

/hyoobriss/

  • noun excessive pride or self-confidence.

Example: "I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions."

-- B. Hussein Obama

Further reading: About That Quote - Obama Ego Unbound, Part 2 
and
President Obama Continues Victory Tour  
More reading: Ala Krauthammer The Audacity of Vanity - washingtonpost.com 

tidbit: ....Americans are beginning to notice Obama's elevated opinion of himself. There's nothing new about narcissism in politics. Every senator looks in the mirror and sees a president. Nonetheless, has there ever been a presidential nominee with a wider gap between his estimation of himself and the sum total of his lifetime achievements?

with a big finish....

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.

callow

  • adjective (of a young person) inexperienced and immature.

Example in a sentence:
Sen. Barack Obama is a callow, highly ambitious political prodigy who is asking voters to "roll the dice" and elect him president. 
 - - Former President Bill Clinton, Dec. 2007.

obstinate

  • adjective 1 stubbornly refusing to change one’s opinion or chosen course of action. 2 hard to deal with or overcome: an obstinate problem.

Example: Couric: Do you think the level of security in Iraq …

Obama: Yes. 

… would exist today without the surge?

Obama: Katie, I have no idea what would have happened had we applied my approach, which was to put more pressure on the Iraqis to arrive at a political reconciliation.
 
Further reading: Obama's incredible response to the unchallengeable truth that the surge has worked is analyzed by Pete Wehner:

experience

  • noun 1 practical contact with and observation of facts or events. 2 knowledge or skill acquired over time.

Example: on qualifications to be a tenured professor at University of Chicago....He would be given tenure upon his hiring-not a bad deal-and certainly almost unheard of in the world of academia. The unusual nature of this offer arises from the fact that Barack Obama had not one piece of legal writing associated with him - no signed papers, no legal opinions, no law review article, and no previous experience as a teacher. Nothing.
Ed Laskey - American Thinker

and Dr Krauthammer weighs in:
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.


So, if what you are looking for in a President callow, hubristic, and obstinate, without much experience, here's your guy.

In a way though, he really is the perfect representative of the Democrat party, so he's got THAT going for him....