I am humbled to have been awarded a Nobel Peace Prize this morning for “giving the world hope for a better future.” It is gratifying that the international community has finally acknowledged what previously only my mother understood. I hope that I can continue giving the world hope, because what could be more hopeful than that?

But seriously. Here is the test of whether Barack Obama and his senior advisers are in touch with the real world or whether they indeed have floated off into Neverland on an opium cloud of narcissism and self-regard. If Obama is capable of the slightest political sobriety, he will quickly reject the Prize, for all the obvious and sensible reasons — and for the political benefit of helping dispel the growing perception that he is out of touch with basic bourgeois modesty and is completely in love with himself. If he accepts it, the notion that Obama is arrogant and does not understand the fundamental difference between words and action, leadership and celebrity, competence and theater, will be given a tremendous boost.

del.icio.us

Google

Facebook

This entry was posted on Friday, October 9th, 2009 at 9:34 AM and is filed under Contentions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.