When Arrogance Rules A Nation: When Government Feels Untouchable/The Ego Monster
They Suddenly Get Touched/You Are What You Eat
I love the movie the ‘Untouchables’ with Kevin Costner and Robert De Niro. De Niro and Sean Connery carried that film, and just added on to what was otherwise a very solid outing by Brian De Palma who by the way never gets the proper just due he deserves. I mean Mission Impossible was a great film and usually I’ve not been the biggest fan of Tom Cruise’s work, but he killed it in that movie. Carlito’s Way was alright, Sean Penn looked weird in that movie.
But anyway, you know often times when one obtains power one feels untouchable. It’s an age old epidemic that creeps into governments, empires, kingdoms, dynasties, crime families, and street gangs. From the most powerful king to the rebellious and brutal drug lords, the feeling of being untouchable compels men to do foolish things. Throughout history feeling “untouchable” has gotten many a man in power touched. As a long time fan of Mafia documentaries and documentaries on organized crime in general, I’ve learned about the end game for these urban emperors in expense suits: Death or jail, no in between; unless of course they become a rat.
But a majority of these guys are either buried in the cemetery or doing years in the hundreds. In government the outcome isn’t nearly as concrete. President Obama and his administration is under the gun right now having to deal with three scandals at the same time, in the same week, in the same month. Though scandals aren’t unique to American presidents in their second term, President Obama and his loyal fans are surely acting as those this couldn’t have possibly happened to him; after all he’s the one we’ve been waiting for. President Obama was the change agent, the one who would make us feel better about being human beings, the one who, despite our flaws would highlight our positive qualities by virtue of his very perfected essence.
However, if Mr. Obama was perfect to begin with he would have no need for this feeling of being untouchable, because only men thirsty for power feel untouchable when they get it, and a lot of men throughout history who have graced the halls of powerful position have been plagued by some sort of insecurity, which in the end played a role in their downfall.
So what was it about President Obama that made him feel like he couldn’t be touched? It was the power of the office of the presidency coupled with having gone his whole life without someone being critical of him. When everyone around you your whole professional life tells you how great you are it feeds an ego that becomes a monster, which in turn will eat you.
The monster inside the president fed off praise and protection from an adoring media, it fed off rubbing shoulders with Hollywood celebrities and elites who stuffed the pockets of Mr. Obama at high dollar dinners in Malibu. The president’s ego fed off the self congratulatory pats on the back from manufactured accomplishments. The death of Osama Bin Laden, and winning reelection made for an all you can eat buffet dinner for the president’s ego.
Like Freddy Krueger said to Greta in ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child’: “You are what you eat”
President Obama must have known history, given he’s a man of history and one who made history himself. Surely he must have known the road leading from power usually finds the traveler headed toward a deep dark abyss below. For power is something more dangerous than a nuclear bomb, because well if one has the power to use a nuclear bomb who’s to say they won’t?
When arrogance rules a nation it makes you feel like you’re above the law, like you’re invincible. President Obama is starting to find out what happens when the law returns as the bounty man, coming to collect.
Erick Erickson had it correct in his piece, President Obama did bring back the politics of personal destruction. That’s what feeling untouchable does to you, it makes you feel like you can do whatever you want and not face any consequence because who dare steps up and challenges what you’re doing right?
Well, the AP stepped up, Darrell Issa and Congressional Republicans are stepping up, Brian Terry’s parents stepped up when he was killed because of Fast and Furious, the Tea Party stepped up in 2009 when Democrats tried to force feed Obamacare to the American people. But most intriguing to me is how the media is suddenly turning against their boss. Ever slightly but it’s there.
But that’s usually how it ends up with the bosses you know? Someone inside, someone close to them starts to get ideas of their own, or they get fed up with the way the boss is running things so they get bold, and well, just look at how John Gotti came to power or how he ended up in jail. When folks you think are loyal to you suddenly turn, at that point you’re in a world of heat my friend.
The moment they learned of Eric Holder and the Justice Department’s little “I spy” game, secretly obtaining the phone records of journalists working for the Associated Press, the media finally started to see where this was headed. I hope they finally understand and accept this hard fact: At what point do you stop being the loyal protector of this president and start being just another thing he seeks to control like everything else; or worse, a perceived enemy?
No one is above the law, not even those who sign them into existence.
Mentioned: A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, The Untouchables, Brian De Palma, Erick Erickson, Carlito’s Way, Mission Impossible, Tom Cruise, Sean Penn, Kevin Costner, John Gotti, Sean Connery, Robert De Niro, Freddy Krueger