Premature Inauguration Syndrome?

As promised in an earlier post, I'm finally getting around to Obama's recent European jaunt. The title of this post is a phrase borrowed from a James Lewis posting over at The American Thinker, and it seems to fit the entire tone of Obama's campaign. It may be possible that a previous presidential candidate has done all of the little things that Obama's done to demonstrate his hubris -- the faux Presidential seal, complete with its own Latin motto; the seat on his campaign aircraft marked "President"; the attempts to dictate how all things Obama may be portrayed -- but if they did, they had the good sense to keep it to themselves and their inner circle of advisors.

Positive thinking is one thing, and it's certainly true that no one ever ran for the Presidency because of an ego deficiency. The Obamessiah (not original, but a strikingly accurate descriptor of how the man is portrayed and perceived by his diehard supporters) and his team have appropriated the power of positive thinking and taken it to a level from which it appears that Obama has already been elected. This jives well with the New Age entitlement mentality philosophy that says we begin to achieve our goals and acquire those things that we truly want when we act as though we have already achieved and acquired them. What it doesn't square with is the reality with which most of us live day-to-day: goals and things are real, and we must work hard and play by the rules to achieve and acquire them.

This hubris recently climaxed with The O's triumphant European tour, a jet-setting adventure that saw The O attempt at every opportunity to recast himself away from a freshman U.S. Senator with a painfully thin resume and a paucity of real, earned experience into The President of the World. He conscripted European monuments as backdrops for his inspiring oratory (which, coincidentally enough, borrowed imagery and text from his political polar opposite, Ronald Reagan, on at least one occasion). He arranged free concerts to ensure that the resulting photo ops portrayed adoring "fans" who hung on his every word. He even went so far as to stage a personal moment resulting in the "discovery" of a prayer (more like a task list for God jotted on hotel stationery) that he had placed in the Western Wall. You can find a copy of the note here, along with more detail on how it was discovered. (Interesting side note: Both sources that originally indicated they received the note in advance from The O's camp are now backtracking from that claim, although they're not giving another explanation other than the one offered by Camp O.)

Give the man credit: He's working like the dickens to make a mountain out of his molehill. It can't be easy jetting all around Europe trying to convince those folks, as well as the swing voters back across the pond, that there's more to The O than meets the eye, but he's willing to do it, as long as the MSM cameras follow and the taxpayers foot part of the bill. Thankfully, he's willing to put his foot down and protect himself by refusing to go where the cameras won't follow.

In the end, he may find that some folks tire of the barrage and decide they're willing to get on the bus with him. Hopefully, for them, it's not the one he threw his grandmother under.