Well, Barack Obama has done it again: pushed his conceit that Democrats are an independent-minded bunch, unlike those of us in the bad old conformist GOP. You may remember what he told a group of his New York donors last year: “Democrats are an opinionated bunch. You know, the other side, they just kinda sometimes do what they’re told. Democrats, y’all thinkin’ for yourselves.”
And now he has said, “One of the strengths of Democrats is that we don’t march lockstep. We like to have internal arguments, and we’re very self-critical. We tend to look at the glass as half empty. And that makes us better. But that’s also a weakness, particularly four weeks before an election.” Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I have written about this matter before: the stupid, stupid conceit that Democrats are a free-thinking, free-wheeling group, while Republicans march along in their herd. If you’d like to read some of my fuming commentary, go here and here. I will say again: One of the reasons I crossed over to the Republicans, long ago, is that the Democrats were the herd. And I didn’t want to baa along with them.
Has Obama noticed the bruising battles in the Republican primaries this year? How upstarts and renegades have knocked off sitting senators in Utah and Alaska? How they have knocked off heirs apparent in Florida and Delaware? Has Obama noticed that the Republican party has been criticized for not marching in lockstep? For allowing unwashed, unofficial, unapproved candidates to grab nominations?
Where have the bruising Democratic primaries been, by the way? I haven’t noticed.
Okay, I’ll stop fuming (for now). But among the very worst traits of Obama & Co. is their vainglory.