It would be difficult to find another mainstream magazine that has genuflected so deeply before Barack Obama than the men's style mag GQ, which a few months ago named the President its Man of the Year and which has done at least two fawning cover stories on the worst president in American history. Now the magazine's Jim Nelson has come up with perhaps their most sycophantic piece yet, "Why Obama Will Go Down as One of the Greatest Presidents of All Time."
Here is a nauseating sample of Nelson's bootlicking: "In so many ways, Obama was better than we imagined, better than the body politic deserved, and far, far better than his enemies will ever concede, but the great thing about being great is that the verdict of enemies doesn't matter." We told you it was nauseating.
In Nelson's mind, Obama will "replace Bill [Clinton] in the public mind as the Greatest Democrat since FDR." Now that's simply funny.
Why does Obama deserve this "One of the Greatest" accolade? Well, Nelson believes "he's charismatic, presided over an economic revival, and changed and elevated the view of the presidency."
We will grant that Obama is charismatic (in the manner of a charming con man), but presided over an economic revival? No. Elevated our view of the presidency? This is the same Barack Obama who granted an interview to a YouTube star who bathes in Fruit Loops and milk, the man who bows and scrapes before our enemies around the world, the man who golfs while Rome burns. The man has done more to degrade the Presidency than any White House occupant in history.
Nelson feels that Obama and other great presidents "were dealt sucky hands [yes, they write like that at GQ, which is why grown men no longer read the magazine], won big, and left the country better off than it was before."
Better off than it was before? It's hard to know where to begin disabusing GQ of this delusion. So let's just move on.
Among Obama's accomplishments, in Nelson's mind, are Obamacare "rescuing the economy" (!) and "making America way more bi-curious." [As I said before, they write like that at GQ] And of course, Obama was above all our petty, childish bickering: "At a time when we became more polarized, our discourse pettier and more poisoned, Obama always came across as the Adult in the Room, the one we wanted to be and follow." GQ is willfully oblivious to the fact that it was the petty Obama who polarized the country and poisoned our discourse.
As Jim Nelson soars toward the conclusion of his article, his hyperbolic idolatry prompts more than mere nausea; it provokes projectile vomiting:
"[F]rom his soaring acceptance speech... to his epic speeches on race and religion... and countless other momentous occasions, he knew how to speak to our better angels at a time when it was hard to locate any angels."
Obama is like "a creature from another, loftier century... We'll look back at history... and think: That man was rare. And we were damn lucky to have him."Please pass the sickness bag.
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