White House Helpfully Issues Guide on How to Behave on 9/11

It's all about The O.

After weeks of internal debate, White House officials adopted the communications documents to shape public events and official statements, and they sought to strike a delicate balance between messages designed for these two very important but very different audiences on a day when the world’s attention will be focused on President Obama, his leadership team and his nation.

Wait, what? The world will be focused on Obama? Really? His leadership team? Huh? What leadership? His nation? What, does he own the United States or something?

Copies of the internal documents were provided to The New York Times by officials in several agencies involved in planning the anniversary commemorations. “The important theme is to show the world how much we realize that 9/11 — the attacks themselves and violent extremism writ large — is not ‘just about us,’ ” said one official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal White House planning.

It's not about us, it's just about Obama, his leadership team and his nation.

Remember, it's now his nation. Not our nation.

Expects some revisions to this drivel once the excrement hits the fan today.

'I Know We Can’t Be Stopped'

He seems awfully arrogant, doesn't he? Some people in his position would be a bit more humble, but I guess when you're the biggest megalomaniac on the planet, humility isn't one of your strong suits.

President Barack Obama left the heated partisan atmosphere in Washington on Wednesday for an overly warm hometown 50th Birthday Party with 2,400 fans and donors packing the historic Aragon Ballroom in Uptown.

“It doesn’t matter how tough a week I have in Washington, because I know you’ve got me — you’ve got my back,” President Obama told the crowd. “When I come to Chicago, when I travel across the country, I know we can’t be stopped.”

I I I I I. Only five times in one sentence. Dude is slipping.

Taking a slap at Republicans who refused to agree to any higher taxes on the wealthy as negotiations went right up to deadline in the debt-ceiling negotiations, Obama told the Chicago crowd, “I hope we can avoid another self-inflicted wound like we just saw over the last couple of weeks. Because we don’t have time to play these partisan games. We’ve got too much work to do ... It is going to continue to be challenging every step of the way.”

Partisan games? Um, like having your flunkies, including your vice president, call Republicans terrorists every day?

So if somebody asks about taxes, he told one supporter, “what they want to know is our campaign stands for a fair, just approach to the tax code that says everybody has to chip in. And it’s not right if a hedge fund manager is being taxed at a lower rate than his or her secretary. That’s a values issue.”

A hedge fund manager? Like your boss George Soros?

It would be nice if the 47% of the population who pays no taxes started chipping in. Then those who are paying for you to fly around to parties might get some relief.

Obama: My Role in the Debt Issue is Like Lincoln Freeing the Slaves or Something

Goodness, can you get any more crazy that this?

Via Breitbart.

Obama: Public Is Sold on Tax Increases or Something

You know, it's almost as if he believes his own lies.

President Obama on Friday kept up the pressure on Republicans to agree to revenue increases in a deal to raise the debt ceiling, claiming 80 percent of the public supports Democrats' demand for tax increases.

"The American people are sold," he said. "The problem is members of Congress are dug in ideologically."

Obama said 80 percent of Americans are on his side in the debate over what to include in the debt package. Voters are paying attention to "who seems to be trying to get something done," the president said. "It's going to be in the interests of everybody who wants to serve in this town to make sure they are on the right side of that impression."

The man is insane.

A poll releases Thursday said 34% of the public supports a tax increase while 55% oppose. So where does this lunatic come up with 80%?

More Shared Sacrifice: Obama Birthday Fundraising Bash Costing Up to $35,800 Per Couple

No wonder Obama needs to get a debt ceiling agreement done by August 2. He's got a big party for himself on August 3.

President Obama returns to Chicago on Aug. 3 to mark his 50th birthday with fund-raisers at the Aragon Ballroom, with tickets ranging from $50 a person to $35,800 per couple, which includes VIP seating at a "Birthday Concert" where celebs will be performing and a dinner with the president.

The fundraiser at the Aragon, the historic ballroom in Uptown, will be one of the biggest third quarter events, expected to draw in national supporters. Obama's 50th birthday is Aug. 4.

The Obama team on Wednesday reported collecting more than $86 million in second quarter fund-raising over $47 million directly for the Obama 2012 campaign and more than $38 million for the Democratic National Committee.

On Wednesday night, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Obama 2012 campaign chairman Jim Messina headlined a $44 per person event at the East Bank Club.

Obama's birthday bash at the Aragon was first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times Stella Foster.

The event is multi-tiered: There is a concert at 4 p.m.--Foster said songstress Jennifer Hudson may perform--for the basic $50 contribution, of which there is supposed to be "limited availability."

For $10,000, a person gets a souvenir photo with Obama at a reception and preferred seating at the concert. For $1,000 a person gets seated in a "premium section" with a "hosted bar." A general admission ticket is $200.

I guess you need to sacrifice some more and dig into your pocket some more if you want cocktails with that measly $200 contribution.

Charming TV Host Mysteriously Having Trouble Finding People to Work for Him: 'Everyone is Laughing'

Hard to believe such a people person like Keith Olbermann can't find anyone to work with him. The clowns at Current TV should have considered what a nasty SOB he is before hiring him.

Gasbag Keith Olbermann can't seem to wrangle staff for his Current TV show, "Countdown." Still in need of an executive producer and other staff, famously difficult Olbermann has crawled back to his contacts at MSNBC, many of whom he offended while there, to beg for staff. "Everyone is laughing," said a source. "They would never leave the network to work for him."

These folks are happy to work for a low-rated cable network rather than suffer with this megalomaniac. Who can blame them?

Update: From the nerve center of the vast Olbermann media empire:

NY Post has today deliberately run a false piece implying no MSNBC staffers have joined me on new show. 5 have plus 12 contributors - so far

He sniffed further.

Post Page Six "reporter" Tara Palmeri told of her inaccuracies, printed anyway, lied "his rep didn't get back to us," mocked my broken foot

Aww. The tantrum continues with his famed humility.

No, I don't expect the Post to tell the truth. I wanted to correct in a venue that has 40% of the Post's circulation: my Twitter followers!

Serious newsman has it all figured out now.

It's Rupert Murdoch. The paper loses money and is solely there to discredit people who threaten his asshole's worldview

Aw, how special.

Thanks to Ed Driscoll for the Instalanche; thanks also to Hot Air for the link.

Delusional Obama: 'We Have Made Extraordinary Progress Over These Last Two Years'

Not just progress, folks. Extraordinary progress. If his measuring stick is an economy teetering on the brink, an impotent foreign policy and an overall cluelessness, indeed, his progress is extraordinary. Two years in and the guy's a punchline, reduced almost to fulltime status as a sports fan with a high profile. Wow, we can all relate to the guy. He's so cool!

He's in over his head and we're left to suffer.

President Obama boldly proclaimed Wednesday that he had fulfilled his most daring but abstract 2008 campaign pledge: "Change we can believe in."

Obama told a gathering of top donors and Democratic officials that, while his work is not finished, "we have made extraordinary progress over these last two years."

"When you look back at the track record of work that we've done over the last two years, I think it's fair to say the promise we made to the American people has been kept, that we have delivered in change that we can believe in," Obama said.

So according to this man-child, his most significant achievement has been a campaign slogan. I dread to see the day in 2015 when he's declared he's won the future.

Meanwhile, all the change, golf and basketball is taking a toll on the poor guy.

The president acknowledged that the presidency is exhausting, but he said he is enjoying the job.

"There are times where Michelle reminds me that I volunteered for this job," Obama said to laughs. "Because she looks at me and I looked tired. But I'm telling you, I am having an extraordinary time, because there aren’t many moments in our lives where we know that we’re making a difference. And this is one of those moments."

Oh, he's making a difference all right. Problem is it's all negative.

A fifth of the public think we're heading on the right track and he thinks he's making a difference? And now the exhausted man will jet off to Rio to relax a bit. Hope he works some golf in and is able to keep up to date with his NCAA brackets.

'Spitzer Thinks She's Holding Him Back'; Update: Parker Out

Obviously a major talent like Eliot Spitzer realizes there'd be no ceiling for him if it weren't for this faux conservative woman holding him back. That and the fact he works for low-rated CNN. And in that true gentlemanly fashion of his, he sneakily throws her under the steamroller.

Stay classy, Client No. 9

Eliot Spitzer is telling friends his CNN co-host Kathleen Parker "will be gone within a week." Relations between the ex-gov, who once called himself a "[bleep]ing steamroller," and his conservative co-host are at an all-time low. A source said, "Spitzer thinks she's holding him back. The ratings surged when she was out sick, and he anchored alone during the turmoil in Egypt. Only very few anchors have the power to wipe out a co-host, and Spitzer thinks he has it. CNN bosses are high on Spitzer, and he might get his own show. Kathleen has been weighing her options. There's this sense of dread among middle management." We've reported that Parker, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, could be dumped due to lack of chemistry with Spitzer. But our source said, "She's putting up a fight."

Update: She's gone.

Kathleen Parker, the co-host of "Parker Spitzer," CNN's four-month-old, ratings-challenged primetime show, is being dropped from the program, according to sources inside the CNN newsroom. Eliot Spitzer, her co-host, will remain.

Maybe she can get a gig at Current TV.

Great News: Colonel Obama Assembling Cultish 'Army of Community Organizers'

Well, it seems as if Obama's troops are doing such a fine job of winning the future in Wisconsin, so why not make it a nationwide movement?

Oh joy.

The community organizer who became president has launched a massive pre-reelection year campaign to assemble and train an army of new community organizers to carry Obama's "movement forward for years to come."

Strengthening "our democracy" presumably has something to do with reelecting the revered leader in 2012.

However, the recruiting message says nothing about politics or election campaigns and strangely talks in military terms of "a grassroots program that aims to put boots on the ground and help foster a new generation of leaders -- not just to help win elections but to strengthen our democracy in communities across the country."

The message about what it calls the "Summer Organizing Fellowship" adds: "Effective organizing doesn't happen in a vacuum. It takes commitment, time, and hard work to build a movement around a cause." It does not specify what the "cause" is, other than promoting Obama and his agenda.

I can't be the only one thinking of the word cult here. Very creepy.

Think the atmosphere driven by the left the past couple of months has been ugly? It's only a warm-up.

News of the community organizer drive went out in an e-mail to millions of supporters and past donors Tuesday night by the ongoing arm of the Obama campaign, Organizing for America.

Organizing for America, the same folks behind the union protests in Wisconsin. Wonderful.

It appealed for workers of all ages to volunteer to undergo professional organizational training this summer for stationing in communities all over the nation to drive President Obama's social and political agenda.

The cadres "will be assigned to a specific community," the message informs, "where they'll work to organize supporters street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood."

Their job will involve recruiting additional Obama workers, running Obama-related events, knocking on doors to talk of Obama "and lay new groundwork to carry this movement forward for years to come."

Sounds like they want to get in our faces in every neighborhood in America.

This will be getting very ugly.

And if that's not enough, you'll never be able to escape the sight of him.

Wealthy Democratic donors and party activists have met several times in recent months to map out the best way to help Mr. Obama win a second term.

The meetings have included representatives of labor groups such as the AFL-CIO, the National Education Association and the Service Employees International Union; abortion-rights organizations including NARAL Pro-Choice America; the League of Conservation Voters and other environmental groups; and some of the biggest Democratic campaign givers and insiders, such as strategist Harold Ickes.

Let there no longer be the slightest doubt the labor and teacher's unions are working hand in glove with Obama. They're all "organizing" to take as much of your money as possible to push their radical agenda. I imagine this major effort is what's been distracting him from world events. He hasn't said a peep about Libya, but obviously has time to work with his campaign group to send out mass e-mails. What leadership.

Great News: Bloomberg to Add Opinion to His Media Empire: His Opinion, Of Course

Nah, no conflict of interest here.

The mayor's mega-company, Bloomberg L.P., announced it is adding opinion pages to its media platforms, and the opinions will be the mayor's.

Conflict of interest? You betcha -- for anybody else. But with a billionaire at City Hall, the rules never seem to apply.

Remember term limits? Or that deputy mayor who moonlights as head of Mike's charity programs?

Or that the mayor pays some city employees extra to work for him personally? Or that employees shuttle among his company, his charity and City Hall? Or that city employees get fat bonuses for working on his campaigns? Or that so-called good-government groups suck up his contributions while supporting his policies?

Beyond rubber-stamping their approval of his every move, the lackeys at the city Conflicts of Interest Board seem to assume that Bloomberg is above the rules because conflicts must be about making money. His unprecedented mingling involves spending money, ergo, he has no conflicts.

That's a dated and narrow definition of "interests." His interest is public power and he uses his personal wealth to buy it.

Consider the timing of his firm's move into national and international opinion. It just happens to come as he gears up for another potential presidential run.

But as he reminds us hourly, he's not running.

Sure.

All About The O: Obama Honors Nobel Prize Winner by Lauding Himself

The man is just insufferable.

One year ago, I was humbled to receive the Nobel Peace Prize -- an award that speaks to our highest aspirations, and that has been claimed by giants of history and courageous advocates who have sacrificed for freedom and justice.

We are so fortunate he walks among us.

Critics have often said of Obama that "it's all about him," that he has a tendency to reference himself no matter what subject he is discussing. Could he do any more to prove them right? But just to show that he is, in fact, humble, the president followed his opening sentence with this:

Mr. Liu Xiaobo is far more deserving of this award than I was.

He's got that right, at least. It must have pained him to actually acknowledge that.

Egomaniac Who Insists He's Not Running for President to Give National Speech on Economy

Who knows, maybe the professional, angry left will line up behind him.

Mayor Bloomberg this morning will unveil a state and national plan to create more jobs - and maybe help him get a new job, too.

His slated speech at the Brooklyn Navy Yard will take leaders in Washington and Albany to task for not finding common ground to spur the economy, one insider said.

"Our economy's revival is very fragile, and business creation is what I'm going to talk about tomorrow," the mayor said yesterday. "I think New York has done a good job. We still have too many unemployed here. We've got to find work for them."

Although the mayor isn't expected to criticize President Obama, the speech gives Bloomberg another national platform as he lays the groundwork for a potential presidential run in 2012.

"That's all this is about," said one dignitary invited to the event, which is sponsored by the Association for a Better New York and the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce.

A Day That Will Live in Infamy: Kathie Lee Gifford's Broadway Debut

A real shame we're no longer entertained by this woman on a regular basis. I can't wait until she tells us how special 9/11 is to her.

Nearly as tacky is remembering someone who just died by pointing out she used to watch you. Let's forget the dead woman, it's all about me!

You're My Ego Wall: John Kerry Voted Most Vain Senator

Not only is he the most smug, arrogant, condescending prick in Washington, he's also won the vanity prize.

Sen. John Kerry is so vain, he probably thinks this story is about him . . . and he’d be right!

Slate.com has named the skipper of the Isabel the most vain man in that vanity pit known as the U.S. Senate based on a “scientific analysis” of all 100 senators’ “Ego Walls.”

In a posting headed “If the Walls Could Talk,” Slate writers Darren Garnick (who also writes “The Working Stiff” column for the Herald) and Ilya Mirman explored the photo displays on the waiting-room walls of each senator’s office and developed a “Senate Vanity Index.” The formula, developed by Mirman, an engineer and scientist, measures the level of egotism displayed in each senator’s lobby based on how many pictures the solon has of himself (or herself) glad-handing celebrities, world leaders and the like.

“When do a few photos or plaques transmogrify into a self-aggrandizing shrine?” ask the writers. “Where is the line between modest pride and out-of-control egomania?”

Well, wherever it is, apparently Kerry crossed it! His ego wall — featuring pics of the senior senator with, among others, President Obama, the Dalai Lama, Bono, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Norman Schwarzkopf, Kofi Annan, Mikhail Gorbachev, John Glenn, Nicolas Sarkozy, Tip O’Neill, Colin Powell, Ted Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and more — is “the most enormous in Washington,” says the site.

“Kerry’s office is one of the last ones we found,” Mirman told the Track. “When we walked in, we kind of looked at each other and said, ‘Jackpot!’ As Garnick said, it looked like he pre-built his presidential library. He had more than 100 photos of himself with various celebrities.”

Garnick later visited Kerry’s office in Boston and surprise, surprise, found another 31 pics of Mr. Teresa Heinz gracing the waiting-room walls.

Mirman said he wasn’t exactly surprised to find the most egotistical guy in the Senate is from Massachusetts but he was surprised that Kerry didn’t appear to get it.

“These guys work so hard to craft their images and Kerry always gets this rap as an elitist, but you know, you can control what’s in your own lobby!”

We're surprised he didn't name his luxury yacht after himself.

'But For Me We'd Be in a Worldwide Depression'

But for Dingy Harry and the rest of the Democrats, we'd actually have a good economy.

Warning to LA Drivers: Obama's Coming

Well, they voted for this egomaniac, so they have only themselves to blame.

Back in August, President Barack Obama came to L.A. to do some fundraising, but he ended up raising the ire of residents who got stuck behind barricades when streets were shut down to allow his motorcade to pass through.

Well, the president will be back in town to help Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer raise some money for the upcoming election.

The president is scheduled to speak to students at USC early Friday afternoon, Southern California Public Radio reports. He'll be on the same part of campus where presidential candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon once made speeches.

But local drivers hope the traffic will flow a little better this time around.

They're pleading with the campaigner-in-chief not to make such a mess of things. You've got to laugh. When has Obama listened to anybody?

It got so bad, L.A. City councilman Bill Rosendahl introduced a motion demanding the LAPD and the L.A. Department of Transportation report on what went into deciding how traffic would be stopped and rerouted during the president's visit.

And when word got out that the president was going to visit USC, Rosendahl started making calls to the LAPD, the Secret Service and the White House.

"I think the White House has gotten the message. I think the president is sensitive to it. He does want to win votes, and the best way to win votes is 'don't give us anymore gridlock Mr. President' than we already have," said Rosendahl.

Some people just will never get it.

Obama Claims One of His Personality Traits is Humility

The famously humble Barack Obama gave an interview to Australian television and must think we won't find out about it here.

You've got to be kidding me.

United States president Barack Obama says he and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd share several personality traits - one of which is humility.

The US president made the comments to the 7.30 Report's Kerry O'Brien during an interview which will be aired on ABC1 tonight.

O'Brien says during his 20-minute interview with Mr Obama, the US president shed some light on his relationship with Australia's Prime Minister.

"It was interesting. Diplomats and politicians say nice things about each other when they're having international chats," O'Brien said.

But O'Brien says Mr Obama spoke candidly about their relationship - which has in the past been described as a "meeting of minds".

"He was quite expansive and quite genuine on what he saw as the commonality and connections between [he and Mr Rudd]. One of which was humility," O'Brien said.

Apparently he forgot to mention megalomania.

H/T Tim Blair.

Thanks to Hot Air, Mary Katharine Ham, NewsReal and Patterico for the links.

Update: OK, so as it turns out it wasn't necessarily a direct quote in the interview, rather Obama saying he shares the same traits as Rudd, one of which is humility. Rudd is smart and humble, just like me!

'Win One for Barry'

Reminds me of when he whined that "you'll destroy my presidency."

It's all about The O.

President Barack Obama had exhausted most of his health care reform arguments with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus during a White House meeting last Thursday when he made a more personal pitch that resonated with many skeptics in the room.

One caucus member told POLITICO that Obama won him over by “essentially [saying] that the fate of his presidency” hinged on this week’s health reform vote in the House. The member, who requested anonymity, likened Obama’s remarks to an earlier meeting with progressives when the president said a victory was necessary to keep him “strong” for the next three years of his term.

Another caucus member, Rep. Jose Serrano (D-N.Y.), said, “We went in there already knowing his presidency would be weakened if this thing went down, but the president clearly reinforced the impression the presidency would be damaged by a loss.”

Added Serrano: “He was subtle, but that was the underlying theme of the meeting — the importance of passing this for the health of the presidency.”

White House officials said Obama’s recent remarks aren’t intended to personalize the debate or rally undecided Democratic members with an egocentric, “win one for Barry” message. They said Obama’s point is to hammer home the idea that all Democrats would benefit from a health care win and that the party’s larger policy agenda would be damaged if the president were to lose.

Forget what's best for the nation. It's all about Obama.

Raging Narcissist Grades Himself a B+

Frankly, I'm surprised the megalomaniac didn't give himself an A+. Must be that famed humility of his preventing him from doing that.

President Obama told Oprah Winfrey on Sunday night he gives himself a "good, solid B-plus" for his first 11 months in the Oval Office.

On what was billed as Oprah's "White House Christmas Special," Obama credited his administration with getting the economy on track, winding down the Iraq war and making the right call for a temporary surge in Afghanistan.

He also said America has "reset" its prestige in the world and made progress toward halting development of nuclear weapons in Iran and North Korea.

Passage of health care reform would boost his grade to an A-, he said. Until Americans get back to work, he said, "I can't give myself the grade I'd like."

Considering his ratings are in freefall, grading himself anything above a C is more than generous. But look who we're dealing with.

"It was inevitable," he said. "We have 10% unemployment. I told Michelle when we got here that in six months my poll numbers will start crashing, so we can't play to the polls. I'm concerned with where we'll be in two to three years."

We have 10% unemployment yet he grades himself as doing a good job on the economy.

Please.

As to "halting progress" on North Korea and Iran, does he even have the slightest clue what's going on?

Confidential intelligence documents obtained by The Times show that Iran is working on testing a key final component of a nuclear bomb.

The notes, from Iran’s most sensitive military nuclear project, describe a four-year plan to test a neutron initiator, the component of a nuclear bomb that triggers an explosion. Foreign intelligence agencies date them to early 2007, four years after Iran was thought to have suspended its weapons programme.

Some progress.

'You Guys Make a Pretty Good Photo Op'

It's bad enough the top success of the Obama Asian trip was his photo op at the Great Wall, but this is incredibly narcissistic, even for Obama.

Obama arrived on the base 3:19 p.m. local time (1 a.m. Eastern Standard Time) and received a rousing welcome from 1,500 troops in camouflage uniforms, many holding cameras or pointing cellphones to snap pictures.

"You guys make a pretty good photo op," the president said.

Standing on a riser wearing a blue suit and red tie, with a cluster of troops and a large American flag behind him, Obama expressed "the gratitude of the American public" and said his meetings in four countries over eight days in Asia will help deliver a "safer, more prosperous world for all of us."

He got a huge cheer when he told them he was increasing military pay. "That's what you call an applause line," he said, before boarding his jet and taking off at 4:11 p.m.

Nothing like exploiting the military.

He's getting destroyed in the comments at the WaPo. One sample:

"You guys make a pretty good photo op," the president said.

As a soldier, I'm offended by that remark. Were we also a good photo op when he was at Dover AFB a few weeks ago saluting the caskets of fallen soldiers coming home?

Ouch.