2/7/10: Obama Fails at Storytelling
This is a few days late, but it's a duesy!
President Obama attempted to wow an audience chock full of die-hard supporters by recounting an anecdote about a campaign supporter who recently lost her battle with cancer. The video below begins with the anecdote. Take a look:
This is an epic failure. Here's why:
- The overriding problem with the anecdote is the continued theme of Ego-Terrorism. This man's ego is simply off the charts, as pointed out by Byron York:
Many observers have noted that the president often seems extraordinarily self-referential. It's all about him, they say. But even those critics might be a little taken aback by the "buried in an Obama t-shirt" remark. Is it really that much about him?
Source: Washington Examiner - He can't remember the woman's name. Again, this is pure Ego-Terrorism - this woman's name isn't important. What IS important is that she supported HIM.
- The president is so disconnected from reality that he can't even deliver a line without awkward laughter. Nobody could figure out if the "buried in an Obama T-shirt" comment was a joke because, well, it was a bizarre attempt to connect Obama's grand self-image to the struggles of an average citizen. Keep in mind, the audience was stacked with Obama supporters and his speech was laid out before him on a teleprompter. Even in that kind of protected environment, he STILL fails to connect with his audience.
- As Tom Macguire of JustOneMinute points out, the unnamed woman had health insurance.
- On a slightly more "technical" note, the woman - whose name was Melanie Shouse, in case YOU, unlike the president, care about such details - was cremated, not buried. She was, however, wearing an Obama T-shirt. So he got one detail correct - not surprisingly, it was a detail concerning his own image.
This latest failure is painfully reminiscent of Obama's State of the Union address, when Congress laughed at the president after his "spending freeze" comment.
