Amused Cynic

…has just been discovered by the fawning press corps. It was pretty obvious to those of us not in the celebutard media (to borrow Andrea Peyser’s new book title), but this is the kind of stuff they are finding out for the first time:

“Ahh, see,” he said, “I came down here to visit. See this is what happens. I can’t end up visiting with you guys and shaking hands if I’m going to get grilled every time I come down here.”

Pressed further by the Politico reporter about his Pentagon nominee, William J. Lynn III, Obama turned more serious, putting his hand on the reporter’s shoulder and staring him in the eye.

Of course Obama telegraphed this characteristic way back last summer:

“Come on! I just answered, like, eight questions,” Obama, looking surprised, told shouting reporters as he fled the room. “We’re running late.”

And now, here’s the MSM channeling Gomer Pyle….”Surprise, surprise, surprise…”

The Anchoress is already saying “Welcome back Carter.” I can agree, but imagine Jimmy Carter with a cult following, Jimmy Carter on steroids. Much scarier.

Neo-neocon notes that Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS) has given way to Obama Besottedness Syndrome (OBS.) My stock answer now when anyone asks me what I think of this presidency: “Ridiculous. It is ridiculous that Barack Obama is the president of the United States. Only in America.”
Neo quotes Tina Brown here:

…all day [Obama] was surrounded with astonishing poetic symbolism…[such as] the helicopter bearing away the ills of his predecessor in democracy’s spell-breaking moment of regenerative wizardry…[He is] the first president who has seemed to be in charge from the day he was elected, not, like other presidents from the day he was sworn in. The rest of the world, of course, elected him a year ago and have just been waiting to see their longing ratified…

[O]ur relief exploded yesterday into national outpourings of relief…

I was struck by how much less casual Obama looks behind the big, world beating smile. He exudes purpose and authority now. I told him my husband still has the contract he signed as president of Random House when their imprint Times Books acquired Dreams from My Father. “Worth something now, huh?” he told me, as he draped a long arm to gather me in between himself and his even taller vice president and easefully lit up for the camera. I felt safer and calmer than I have for eight years.

Just plain ridiculous. At least I don’t hate him, though. I refuse to be anything worse than an amused cynic, at this point.

Also via Neo’s site, this extraordinary analysis from Dr. Sanity:

[The intense feeling of Obama supporters] is not normal excitement or enthusiasm over an inauguration–even a very special or historic one. This is not even normal relief that now things are somehow going to be different. This is emotional excess that disguises a severe, disabling anxiety; an anxiety that has been tenously held in check by the psychological denial that came before. It is as if the bizarre national depression the media have been hyping for the last eight years suddenly flipped into a full-blown mania–with all the euphoria, grandiose ideas and plans, delusions of grandeur, wildly impulsive spending, irritability and inappropriateness one sees in an acute manic episode….

They will even go so far as to erase any evidence of events that have transpired since the beginning of the millennium when Bush took office and including 9/11–especially 9/11–so as to pretend they never happened.

They will simply ‘undo’ the last 8 years; rewrite the history and take us across the bridge back to the 20th century.]