Via Instapundit, Ed Driscoll reminds us of an old (in Internet time) article by Jim Treacher (@jtlol for those who like to follow snarkiness on Twitter) from ‘way back in September 2008. He has him pretty well pegged-
My initial reaction to Bacongate was, “Well, it’s just another gaffe. Obama couldn’t possibly be dumb and mean enough to call Palin a pig.” Yeah, she mocked him during her convention speech, but it was all about his record (or lack thereof) and soaring rhetoric. Which isn’t nice, perhaps, but that stuff is fair game in a political campaign. Could he really be so thin-skinned and self-serious that he’d start hitting back with personal insults?
Yes. He. Could.
At first I thought it was a mistake for the McCain camp to demand an apology. As I told my close personal friend Glenn Reynolds, I thought they should have said something like:
“We’re pleasantly surprised by Senator Obama’s newfound sense of humor, and look forward to watching it develop over the coming weeks and months.” You know, rise above it, while still reminding everybody that Obama is a stiff, humorless, gaffe-prone scold.
But now I’m having second thoughts. I think he meant exactly what the crowd obviously thought he meant, because it fits a clear pattern of behavior.
A pattern that has become blindingly apparent over the past four years, and especially over the past four months.
What was the Obama camp’s initial reaction to Palin’s announcement (of her candidacy- ed.)?
“Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency. Governor Palin shares John McCain’s commitment to overturning Roe v. Wade, the agenda of Big Oil and continuing George Bush’s failed economic policies — that’s not the change we need, it’s just more of the same.”
Yeowtch! And her palmprints on the podium were still warm. (Quite a contrast to McCain’s ad, less than 24 hours earlier, congratulating Obama on his achievement.) But then, later that same day, Obama walked it back:
“I think that… campaigns start getting these hair triggers and the statement that Joe and I put out reflects our sentiments,” he said, according to the pool report, apparently criticizing his staff for going overboard, as he did occasionally in the primary. So he’s not the hostile, panicky jackass. It was his staff’s fault.
Yes We Can… Pass the Buck!
Perceptive, that Treacher fella. Too bad more folks didn’t listen to him. I felt the same way, but then I felt like an asshole crying in the wilderness against Hope! and Change! The best outcome I could see was that somehow the Lightbringer’s election would bring us a new era of racial comity in this country. Guess that didn’t really work out, did it? In many ways I feel like I’ve been dragged back to the Sixties, and that is not an era I ever wished to repeat.
Read The Whole Thing™ and see if JT didn’t have the man absolutely pegged before he ever became The Preznit.