IT'S NOT ABOUT ME, AND I'M VERY SINCERE ABOUT MY FEELINGS ABOUT MYSELF - AT 7:14 P.M. ET:  The White House would love to forget last week's Olympic fiasco in Copenhagen, but George Will reminds us that both Obamas gave speeches to try to bring the games home.  Those speeches were revealing:

Both Obamas gave heartfelt speeches about . . . themselves. Although the working of the committee's mind is murky, it could reasonably have rejected Chicago's bid for the 2016 Games on aesthetic grounds -- unless narcissism has suddenly become an Olympic sport.

In the 41 sentences of her remarks, Michelle Obama used some form of the personal pronouns "I" or "me" 44 times. Her husband was, comparatively, a shrinking violet, using those pronouns only 26 times in 48 sentences. Still, 70 times in 89 sentences was sufficient to convey the message that somehow their fascinating selves were what made, or should have made, Chicago's case compelling.

Ouch.  But Will has done his homework.  The Obama self-love is remarkable.

The president told the Olympic committee that: "At this defining moment," a moment "when the fate of each nation is inextricably linked to the fate of all nations" in "this ever-shrinking world," he aspires to "forge new partnerships with the nations and the peoples of the world."

Good grief. The memory of man runneth not to a moment that escaped being declared "defining" -- declared such by someone seeking to inflate himself by inflating it.

But enough of philosophy:

But Obama quickly returned to speaking about . . . himself:

"Nearly one year ago, on a clear November night, people from every corner of the world gathered in the city of Chicago or in front of their televisions to watch the results of the U.S. presidential election. Their interest wasn't about me as an individual. Rather, . . ."

Yuch.  Such phony modesty.  Of course he thinks it was about him, and him, and maybe a little about Michelle.  But mostly him, or maybe Him.

Presidents often come to be characterized by particular adjectives: "honest" Abe Lincoln, "Grover the Good" Cleveland, "energetic" Theodore Roosevelt, "idealistic" Woodrow Wilson, "Silent Cal" Coolidge, "confident" FDR, "likable" Ike Eisenhower. Less happily, there were "Tricky Dick" Nixon and "Slick Willie" Clinton. Unhappy will be a president whose defining adjective is "vain."

COMMENT:  A great column, well presented.  But there is danger for the president here.  If a president loses favor because of his policies, those policies can be adjusted.  But if a president becomes personally disliked, the damage is likely permanent.  And that, I believe, is what's happening with Barack Obama.  It is his character that is under scrutiny, his vanity and his conceit.  If he can't shake this, it'll be one-term Barack.

October 5, 2009