January 31, 2012

Jodi Kantor's "The Obamas"

I've got another column in Taki's Magazine this week, a review of New York Times White House correspondent Jodi Kantor's seemingly perky but actually insidiously subversive book on Barack and Michelle's life together in the White House. 

Kantor has done some good reporting on Obama over the years. For example, she published a story in the NYT in March 2007 on Rev. Wright, eleven months before the rest of the press paid much attention to that fascinating figure. 

However, Kantor's reporting on Obama has had little impact because it's so carefully understated that nice people are oblivious to her almost imperceptible sharp edges. With Kantor on Obama, you have to read very carefully to notice the interesting stuff. I'm pretty good at reading carefully, so my review gives you the good stuff in her book.
Much of The Obamas’ focus is psychological, and rightly so. History is often made by those whose positive moods are timed right. For example, at the last possible moment in South Carolina to head off a Mitt Romney cakewalk to the GOP nomination, Newt Gingrich—whose mother was bipolar—turned into a ball of fire. (As I write, Newt’s promising a moon colony by his second term and is proudly accepting the label “grandiose.”) 
Kantor is struck by the less flagrant but still marked swings in Obama’s mood and energy level. ... Oddly, Obama’s down spells never seem to undermine his ego, which in Kantor’s telling remains bizarrely expansive for such an otherwise rational individual.

Please read the whole thing there.

57 comments:

articles said...

"In contrast to Bill Clinton, who exploited the Lincoln Bedroom to make cool new friends such as Bono, the president has retreated emotionally to a tiny inner circle of two wealthy Chicago black couples godmothered by his adviser Valerie Jarrett, whose vapidity drives his white aides to distraction."

You're back! Where have you been, Sailer? You were gone so long I thought maybe you were dead or else an MI 6 agent called back to the good ol UK.

Reg Cæsar said...

... Oddly, Obama’s down spells never seem to undermine his ego, which in Kantor’s telling remains bizarrely expansive for such an otherwise rational individual.

Are we forgetting he's half-African? Nothing odd at all here, let alone bizarre.

Drunk Idiot said...

The linked article is written well and its subject matter is most interesting. But ends almost as abruptly as the original Gospel of Mark. Just when it starts to paint a psychological profile of FLOTUS ... Boom! Article over.

Oh well, in show business, they always say it's better to leave the audience wanting more ...

Reg Cæsar said...

It's hard to take anyone named 'Jodi' seriously. What were her parents thinking? And how did such people raise her?

'Jody' used to be short for things like 'Joseph' and 'Josiah', and never used in formal situations.

But 'Jodi'-- that's like showing up to a press conference in Bermuda shorts.

Anonymous said...

There was a view that John John was not JFK's son but rather the son of Gianni Agnelli. I never thought JFK Jr. looked at all like JFK.

dearieme said...

"Michelle is organized, conscientious, disciplined, deeply maternal, materialistic, disagreeable, self-pitying, and modestly intelligent."

Sounds like good cheerleader material.

Anonymous said...

You've made mention of his ego many times before, what bothers you so much about a man with an inflated sense of self? Is that not "healthy?"

Anonymous said...

I'm really looking forward to the inevitable "insider" memoirs of this admin that always come out afterwards. The Clintons and Obamas are fascinating in a way both Bushes never were.

Anonymous said...

Obama's expansive ego is the one thing that recalls his father's personality.

-meh

jody said...

never take me seriously.

(checks clothes, is indeed wearing shorts.)

Anonymous said...

OT I think it should be called "Out of North Africa", not "Out of Africa". Most people associate Africa with subsaharan blacks. The 'Africans' who trekked out of 'Africa' were North Africans who had significantly evolved away from blackness even before they left.

Anonymous said...

my guess is, like the MLK myth there's a lot left out here.

That's just my guess, sweetheart.

Lucius said...

The "materialism" is what's telling against Michelle; and, insofar as Barack perhaps doesn't share, or at least doesn't manifest so directly, that particular vice, that makes him seem like a man who, in Jane Austen terms, did not marry as well as he might've.

In terms of fitness of pairing, they might be a bit like the Westons in "Emma" with the genders reversed. But the Westons are undoubtedly much in love, even if we learn to get a bit irritated with Mr. Weston's genial superficiality, whereas the Obamas' marriage clearly has a bit more sour to it than that.

Actually, I think we're still underselling the bizarreness of Michelle's conceit that she could stay in Chicago.

Really, the Chicago fixation is almost Joycean. Barack has made that town his destiny, and all by intention. It swallows his fate entire.

I hate to see "The Cosby Show" dragged into this. I loved it in high school, and the few episodes I've caught on Nick at Nite (like Cliff's escapade at the book club) lead me to hope the show is as non-anodyne as I fondly recall it.

Rainforest Giant said...

Great article,

Obama wants to play ball with pros? I always thought he was foolish, I had no clue he was an idiot.

It's not like Teddy Roosevelt practicing jujitsu with everyone he could dragoon into it. At least Teddy was an athlete who knew what he was doing.

Obama's hubris in something so small does not speak well of his judgment.

Matt said...

I think that anyone who could pursue and win the presidency is going to be 98th or 99th percentile nationally in narcissism. The only interesting thing is the difference in manifestations: for Bush, a certain shame accompanied it, as is often the case for people born elite, for Clinton, there was sufficient folksiness to mask it, at least partially.

For Obama, it's out in the open. This is one of the few criticisms of the man that actually makes me sympathise with him, just because you can't fault somebody for filling a job description.

A self-abnegator can't win high office. Not in today's America.

DCThrowback said...

I completely agree with Drunk Idiot. Please check to make sure the article Taki received still has your last two or three paragraphs still attached.

Lucius said...

Come to think of it, Barack Obama is quite a bit like Frank Churchill, with the United States as his Jane Fairfax doomed to live as a penurious ward.

Anonymous said...

Heh, but when are you going to do a review of Red Tails?

Whiskey said...

The Moon Colony stuff was a pander to Florida's space coast which has been hit hard by Obama's NASA cutbacks. It was nothing serious, just more pandering.

Moreover, Michelle Obama is a terribly polarizing figure. Her "don't be fat" initiatives are undermined by: A. Having the biggest ASS of any non-clinically obese woman; B. eating Kobe Beef sliders and lobsters.

Michelle Obama shut down Agent Provocateur for hours and dropped $50K on lingerie. So the Daily Mail tells me (the #1 online newspaper -- IN THE US!). Her big junket holidays (without Obama) have been off-putting. She's Marie Antoinette without the charm.

beowulf said...

You were gone so long I thought maybe you were dead or else an MI 6 agent called back to the good ol UK.
Shhh, that's for British Eyes Only
:o)
http://youtu.be/h7t52KkmOMA

Doug1 said...

Kantor’s Michelle is organized, conscientious, disciplined, deeply maternal, materialistic, disagreeable, self-pitying, and modestly intelligent.

I’ve never been able to stand the woman.

Anonymous said...

Please write more on:
1. the "driving his white aides" to distraction part. who? why? etc.
and
2. who are the 2 rich blk friends

Anonymous said...

For example, at the last possible moment in South Carolina to head off a Mitt Romney cakewalk to the GOP nomination, Newt Gingrich—whose mother was bipolar—turned into a ball of fire.

Shades of Larry Eagleton.

Kylie said...

"'Jody' used to be short for things like 'Joseph' and 'Josiah', and never used in formal situations.

But 'Jodi'-- that's like showing up to a press conference in Bermuda shorts."


Still, it's not as bad as being FLOTUS and descending the steps of Air Force One in short shorts and tennis shoes.

Apparently both the Obamas have so much pride that there's no room left for any dignity.

Anonymous said...

But Michelle spends money like she's part of the Deluxtables.

Anonymous said...

Barack and Michelle...

it's like Tiger Woods married to one of the Venus sisters.

rob said...

Whiskey said...
The Moon Colony stuff was a pander to Florida's space coast which has been hit hard by Obama's NASA cutbacks. It was nothing serious, just more pandering.


Gee, why is Whiskey sticking up for Gingrich? Oh yeah, (almost?) all his superPAC money comes from Sheldon Adelson a casino billionaire who cares deeply about the future of Israel and its people. America, I mean!

Anonymous said...

O/T, but apparently homeschooling isn't quite so evil anymore, at least not now that it's being practiced by the Scots-Irish:


Why Urban, Educated Parents Are Turning to DIY Education
By Linda MacPerlstein
Jan 30, 2012 12:00 AM EST
NEWSWEEK via thedailybeast.com

They raise chickens. They grow vegetables. They knit. Now a new generation of urban parents is even teaching their own kids...

Tera and Eric MacSchreiber...

Laurie Block MacSpigel...

Brian MacRay...

Wendy MacMogel...




Heck, give 'em a few years for the historical revisionism to kick in, and, before you know it, the Scots-Irish will have INVENTED homeschooling.

Anonymous said...

"who are the 2 rich blk friends"

From this NYT article:

"With him are his closest outside-the-Beltway-friends, including Eric Whitaker, a Chicago doctor, and two of Mr. Obama’s Hawaii friends from Punahou School: Mike Ramos, a businessman, and Robert Titcomb, a commercial fisherman whom Mr. Obama has stuck by despite his arrest in April on suspicion of soliciting a prostitute."

"The Moon Colony stuff was a pander to Florida's space coast which has been hit hard by Obama's NASA cutbacks."

OMG, Whiskey. Newt's a nerd. Unlike you, he also happens to be smart. Smart nerds tend to find space exploration endlessly fascinating. Newt has been enthusiastic about space for as long as I've been following his career (since the early 90s). I bet he was already enthusiastic about it in middle school.

Anonymous said...

OK, I just looked these people up. Titcomb is white. Dr. Whitaker is a light-skinned black guy. Mike Ramos indeed looks Hispanic.

On the one hand the image of Barry regularly hanging out with no-name guys whom he's known since high school is humanizing. On the other hand, this is how he spends his time while the economy is going to hell?

"He typically golfs with a trio of mid- to low-level staff members little known outside the West Wing. "

"His social life runs toward evenings playing Taboo with old friends and their families, Wii video games with his wife and daughters or basketball with Robert Wolf, a banker and the rare new best friend Mr. Obama has acquired since entering politics."

"Said Mr. Love, who has probably spent more time with Mr. Obama in recent years than anyone other than the first lady: “The president would prefer to watch the Bears, White Sox or Bulls, or any sports matchup, instead of watching MSNBC or watching 13 Republican presidential debates.”

Anonymous said...

http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/31783-u-mad

Difference Maker said...

You've made mention of his ego many times before, what bothers you so much about a man with an inflated sense of self? Is that not "healthy?"

He has not the confidence, assertiveness, life and death responsibility of a man. Only preening, petulant effeminacy

Svigor said...

The linked article is written well and its subject matter is most interesting. But ends almost as abruptly as the original Gospel of Mark. Just when it starts to paint a psychological profile of FLOTUS ... Boom! Article over.

I was going to keep that to myself but since you said it first...

Just when the piece gets rolling, it ends.

Svigor said...

Apparently both the Obamas have so much pride that there's no room left for any dignity.

Oof. Nice one. I'm going to steal that one and use it, I think.

Svigor said...

But Michelle spends money like she's part of the Deluxtables.

I LOL-hurt-myself-a-bit at that one.

it's like Tiger Woods married to one of the Venus sisters.

OOF! Oh, man. That's gonna leave a mark. Wow, tough room! I hurt for the man after that one.


OMG, Whiskey. Newt's a nerd. Unlike you, he also happens to be smart. Smart nerds tend to find space exploration endlessly fascinating. Newt has been enthusiastic about space for as long as I've been following his career (since the early 90s). I bet he was already enthusiastic about it in middle school.

Personally, I like the idea. WE'RE GOING TO PISS AMERICA'S FUTURE AWAY ANYWAY.

Might as well spend some of it on cool stuff. He'll, it'd be worth it just to keep the subject in discussion.

Anonymous said...

"You've made mention of his ego many times before, what bothers you so much about a man with an inflated sense of self? Is that not 'healthy?' "

I can only speak for myself. Many people with a healthy ego have actually done something, accomplished something...this man hasn't, not on any level I can think of.

The same can be said of Bush 2. However, I think Bush 2 as a human being is probably much better company. Like to have fun!

TGGP said...

Calvin Coolidge was "smaller than life". Doesn't sound so bad.

If I were president and I could shoot hoops with NBA players, no doubt I would. And I don't even like basketball.

Sometimes Whiskey says bizarre things to further an argument, and sometimes he just seems incredibly ignorant. I'm not sure where to slot moon colony=pandering.

Steve Sailer said...

1. the "driving his white aides" to distraction part. who? why? etc.

Chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel and press secretary Robert Gibbs.


and
2. who are the 2 rich blk friends?

The Nesbitts and the Whitakers.

Anonymous said...

The pros?

He ducked MA Sen. Scott Brown, a pretty good basketball player. Brown offered the Weenie-in-Chief a 1-on-1 or a 2-on-2 with Brown and his daughter Ayla, a former college hoop player.

Anonymous said...

I'd rather spend a couple hundred billion dollars on moon colonies than another worthless war. It's all for the same military complex anyway.

What do you think the purpose of humanity is all about?

Anonymous said...


I can only speak for myself. Many people with a healthy ego have actually done something, accomplished something...this man hasn't, not on any level I can think of.

oh just wait, liberals will make him out to be the greatest president of... well, all time...

The Anti-Gnostic said...

"Said Mr. Love, who has probably spent more time with Mr. Obama in recent years than anyone other than the first lady: “The president would prefer to watch the Bears, White Sox or Bulls, or any sports matchup, instead of watching MSNBC or watching 13 Republican presidential debates.”

Good for Barack. Now he just needs to ditch his angry wife, fire his staff and marry the girl from New Hampshire. It'll be the Reagan White House all over again.

Just think, if he had stayed out of politics and applied himself just a teensy bit, he'd be an amiable, rainmaking partner at a Chicago investment bank or law firm. Season tickets to the Bulls and the Sox. Golf whenever he felt like it.

Instead he has to deal with all these Jews and a bunch of menopausal white women yammering at him about Libya and Syria. No wonder he looked over at Defense and Intelligence and told all the white guys just to keep their jobs.

Anonymous said...

OMG, Whiskey. Newt's a nerd. Unlike you, he also happens to be smart. Smart nerds tend to find space exploration endlessly fascinating. Newt has been enthusiastic about space for as long as I've been following his career (since the early 90s).



I think that there is a place in life for smart nerds and their fascination with space exploration. I just don't think that their place is in the WH.

Provo Canyon School said...


I can only speak for myself. Many people with a healthy ego have actually done something, accomplished something...this man hasn't, not on any level I can think of.

The same can be said of Bush 2.


Yes, Obama is the Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton of POTUS - famous for being famous.

According to many of his supporters at the time of Obama's election, his greatest achievement that qualified him to be POTUS was getting elected itself.

ven that was done primarily by his handlers, the MSM and DEM/GOP opponents like McCain who refused to attack Obama on issues like Rev. Wright.

It's worrisome when bubble people like Obama are elected to public office when they have so little contact or understanding of life as led by 99% of the people.

That sort of stuff works better for reality shows on Bravo.

Anonymous said...

Barack and Lady Obama sure know American pop culture, though, good for re-election.

Barack singin' Al Green, Lady O dancin' and doin' push-ups with Ellen...got to assume these abilities are necessary for good governance and policy formation.

The hetero ladies were ooo-in' and ahhh-in' at the Apollo; the lebians were ooo-in' and ahh'ing in Ellen's audience. Guess they like Lady O's trapezius muscles and biceps.

Funny, most guys are know are turned off by most things like that. Guess they figure the women's vote will still put them over the top. However, lots of women I know are pretty upset their college-educated kids don't have good jobs.

Anonymous said...

Barack and Lady Obama sure know American pop culture, though, good for re-election.

Barack singin' Al Green, Lady O dancin' and doin' push-ups with Ellen...got to assume these abilities are necessary for good governance and policy formation.

The hetero ladies were ooo-in' and ahhh-in' at the Apollo; the lebians were ooo-in' and ahh'ing in Ellen's audience. Guess they like Lady O's trapezius muscles and biceps.

Funny, most guys are know are turned off by most things like that. Guess they figure the women's vote will still put them over the top. However, lots of women I know are pretty upset their college-educated kids don't have good jobs.

Anonymous said...

Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill are who Emma "should" have been about, in that they're interesting, witty, and accomplished, something like the Elizabeth and Mr Darcy from P&P. The actual characters picked as the protagonists are more deeply flawed, which is probably why Austen wanted to write about them.

Obama is more of a Mr Collins from P&P. "not a sensible man, and the deficiency of nature had been but little assisted by education or society." Maybe minus the obsequious character trait.

beowulf said...

I can only speak for myself. Many people with a healthy ego have actually done something, accomplished something...this man hasn't, not on any level I can think of.

Seriously? The guy got himself elected President of the Unite States. I believe that can be filed under "accomplished something".

I don't really see the value added of picking on Mrs. Obama. She seems like a decent enough person. Its not her fault that her husband isn't a very good president.

Paul Mendez said...

Brown offered the Weenie-in-Chief a 1-on-1 or a 2-on-2 with Brown and his daughter Ayla, a former college hoop player.

My fantasy since 2008 is a nationally televised charity event with Sarah Palin & Barack Obama playing Horse.

Truth said...

"Barack singin' Al Green, Lady O dancin' and doin' push-ups with Ellen...

Well, it got you talking about them.

Anonymous said...

"The president would prefer to watch the Bears, White Sox or Bulls, or any sports matchup, instead of watching MSNBC or watching 13 Republican presidential debates.”

Nope, no way this is true, as any baseball fan would know. During one of those "folksy" interviews he gave during first few months in office, with someone like Bob Costas (I can't quite recall the broadcaster), I heard Obama say, when asked about his sports' likes, "Well, you know, I come from the South Side so I've been to Cominsky Field many, many times."

Yep, not one word wrong, but two.

Ain't no lover of baseball or the White Sox gonna say they played at a place called Cominsky Field.

I could buy that as a politician he was lying about liking baseball, but it was harder to believe that a guy with at least an IQ of 120 couldn't at least memorize the correct name of the baseball park he was supposed to have visited many times.

Fraud.

Anonymous said...

"According to many of his supporters at the time of Obama's election, his greatest achievement that qualified him to be POTUS was getting elected itself."

Several friends at the time claimed when I asked them, "Tell me what he's accomplished" came up with, "Well, wasn't he the editor of the Harvard Law Review?"

"Yes," I'd say, "But it's so odd that as such he never seemed to have done any writing. Why do you suppose that is?"

Came forth blank stares.

Anonymous said...

Beowulf,

As for his accomplishments, I believe most of us are questioning what ever accomplished before becoming an office holder.

Anonymous said...

Truth said,

"Barack singin' Al Green, Lady O dancin' and doin' push-ups with Ellen...

Well, it got you talking about them.

***************************

Nope, Truth, because I talk about them quite a bit, and not in kind terms.

The Al Green song, which has, as I understand it, increased in popularity since the Prez issued forth that breathy performance, has always been one of my favorites. Suffice it to say, the Prez has now ruined it for me.

I'd rather not "stay together" with him.

Truth said...

"Nope, Truth, because I talk about them quite a bit, and not in kind terms."

With all due respect, my friend, I think you have a fundamental misunderstanding regarding publicity...

I don't care what they say about me, just make sure they spell my name right!
P.T. Barnum,

Kylie said...

"Seriously? The guy got himself elected President of the Unite[sic] States. I believe that can be filed under 'accomplished something'."

Seriously? The guy got himself elected of the United States? No. Your belief system is faulty.

The former community organizer whose big accomplishment was getting some asbestos removed in Chicago did not get himself elected POTUS. His handlers, backers and skin color (not necessarily in that order) did that.

"I don't really see the value added of picking on Mrs. Obama. She seems like a decent enough person. Its not her fault that her husband isn't a very good president."

Sure, she seems like a decent enough person, if you overlook her grievance mongering and complaining. She's a lifelong beneficiary of AA who complains that people in this country are mean and it's only after her husband's nomination that she says she feels proud of her country for the first time.

She's certainly decent in the sense of not being a criminal but graciousness and gratitude ("class") are elements conspicuously lacking in her.

I would certainly ignore Michelle if I could; unfortunately, she doesn't make that easy to do.

Anonymous said...

Did I give the link?

http://www.alternativeright.com/main/blogs/hbd-human-biodiversity/the-detroit-destiny/