15 replies to this topic

[raistlinmajere30]

It's a definite understanding that the United States has a great impact on Canadians and all around the globe. But seriously, and really, seriously, should the affairs of our own country and leader not be of greater importance to us Canadians? So why, when our Prime Minister walks down the street, are there no gathering crowds and followers, no cameras and press coverage.. but when Barack Obama visits the country, thousands of people swarm the streets to catch a glimpse of the back of his head or a waving hand?

Its true that our government is crummy, we can't even find one party to lead us, we have to have 3 parties running us in a coalition. But why not get a little more excited for our own well-being! More Canadians were watching Obama's inauguration then they were watching Prime Minister Stephen Harper's victory.

Are we just that sick of our own government's problems that we gave up caring? Just keep sucking up, Harper.

Edited by raistlinmajere30, 03 March 2009 - 04:33 PM.

[squishyx]

Heh, could be worse, think the German chancellor ever had 200,000 people show up for a speech?

[RowdyFan42]

Canadians have been obsessed with America ever since there was a Canada. Guess that's what happens when one of the world's superpowers is right next door.

[TK]

[raistlinmajere30]

Heh, could be worse, think the German chancellor ever had 200,000 people show up for a speech?

Very true.. he's got to expect that though

[Don]

We haven't had any kind of leader with charisma since Trudeau. There just isn't anybody out there that invokes the spirit of hope the way that Obama does. Seeing Harper become prime minister was with a resigned sigh of "I guess he'll do".

Just like every country, Obama is a beacon of change for the whole planet. Finally there is someone in charge, that has power and WE HOPE a willingness to change the planet for the better. We certainly are not the only country to have huge crowds for Barrack.

With Harper our highest hopes is that he doesn't screw anything up bad enough that we'll have to toss him out on his ear and replace him with something worse.

[LizDevil30]

Barack Obama is not a beacon of hope. He's just a man another politician that happens to be different, a curiosity, for lack of a better word, and he is shiny and new. People just love shiny new different things. Give him a year, when he's all dusty and not so shiny, then we'll see how many people show up to cheer him and not jeer him.

There have been "beacons" of change before but who can remember who they even were now.

I wish Obama success like I would wish it for any leader and like when any new leader takes over there is always hope. Without hope, why bother getting up in the morning regardless who the leader of the moment is.

[Don]

I definitely see him as a beacon of hope. Most beacons of hope were "just men" (and a smatter of women too).

Right now with wars, the world economy in the crapper, environmental degradation, people are looking to someone who can make the changes required to make a better world. It may be true that Obama will fail at that... that's not going to change the fact that people all around the world are looking to him for a glimmer of hope.

Next time he comes here, I can firmly swear that he will not get the reception that Bush got when he quipped "On the way here I saw many friendly Canadians waving at me. I only wish they used more than one finger."

[matcat1116]

Thought this was relevant at the mention of Obama as a beacon of hope:

Dr. Vaknin States "I must confess I was impressed by Sen.Barack Obama from the first time I saw him. At first I was excited to see a black candidate. He looked youthful, spoke well, appeared to be confident - a wholesome presidential package. I was put off soon, not just because of his shallowness but also because there was an air of haughtiness in his demeanor that was unsettling. His posture and his body language were louder than his empty words. Obama's speeches are unlike any political speech we have heard in American history. Never a politician in this land had such quasi "religious" impact on so many people. The fact that Obama is a total incognito with zero accomplishment, makes this inexplicable infatuation alarming. Obama is not an ordinary man. He is not a genius. In fact he is quite ignorant on most important subjects."

Barack Obama is a narcissist.

Dr. Sam Vaknin, the author of the Malignant Self Love believes "Barack Obama appears to be a narcissist." Vaknin is a world authority on narcissism. He understands narcissism and describes the inner mind of a narcissist like no other person. When he talks about narcissism everyone listens. Vaknin says that Obama's language, posture and demeanor, and the testimonies of his closest, dearest and nearest suggest that the Senator is either a narcissist or he may have narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). Narcissists project a grandiose but false image of themselves. Jim Jones, the charismatic leader of People's Temple, the man who led over 900 of his followers to cheerfully commit mass suicide and even murder their own children was also a narcissist. David Koresh, Charles Manson, Joseph Koni, Shoko Asahara, Stalin, Saddam, Mao,Kim Jong Ill and Adolph Hitler are a few examples of narcissists of our time. All these men had a tremendous influence over their fanciers. They created a personality cult around themselves and with their blazing speeches elevated their admirers, filled their hearts with enthusiasm and instilled in their minds a new zest for life. They gave them hope! They promised them the moon, but alas, invariably they brought them to their doom. When you are a victim of a cult of personality, you don't know it until it is too late. One determining factor in the development of NPD is childhood abuse.

"Obama's early life was decidedly chaotic and replete with traumatic and mentally bruising dislocations," says Vaknin. "Mixed-race marriages were even less common then. His parents went through a divorce when he was an infant (two years old). Obama saw his father only once again, before he died in a car accident. Then his mother re-married and Obama had to relocate to Indonesia , a foreign land with a radically foreign culture, to be raised by a step-father. At the age of ten, he was whisked off to live with his maternal (white)grandparents. He saw his mother only intermittently in the following few years and then she vanished from his life in 1979. She died of cancer in 1995".

One must never underestimate the manipulative genius of pathological narcissists. They project such an imposing personality that it overwhelms those around them. Charmed by the charisma of the narcissist, people become like clay in his hands. They cheerfully do his bidding and delight to be at his service. The narcissist shapes the world around himself and reduces others in his own inverted image. He creates a cult of personality. His admirers become his co-dependents. Narcissists have no interest in things that do not help them to reach their personal objective. They are focused on one thing alone and that is power. All other issues are meaningless to them and they do not want to waste their precious time on trivialities. Anything that does not help them is beneath them and do not deserve their attention.

If an issue raised in the Senate does not help Obama in one way or another, he has no interest in it. The "present" vote is a safe vote. No one can criticize him if things go wrong. Those issues are unworthy by their very nature because they are not about him. Obama's election as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review led to a contract and advance to write a book about race relations.

The University of Chicago Law School provided him a lot longer than expected and at the end it evolved into, guess what? His own autobiography! Instead of writing a scholarly paper focusing on race relations, for which he had been paid, Obama could not resist writing about his most sublime self. He entitled the book Dreams from My Father.

Not surprisingly, Adolph Hitler also wrote his own autobiography when he was still nobody. So did Stalin. For a narcissist no subject is as important as his own self. Why would he waste his precious time and genius writing about insignificant things when he can write about such an august being as himself? Narcissists are often callous and even ruthless. As the norm, they lack conscience. This is evident from Obama's lack of interest in his own brother who lives on only one dollar per month.

A man who lives in luxury, who takes a private jet to vacation in Hawaii, and who has raised nearly half a billion dollars for his campaign (something unprecedented in history) has no interest in the plight of his own brother. Why? Because, his brother cannot be used for his ascent to power.

A narcissist cares for no one but himself. This election is like no other in the history of America . The issues are insignificant compared to what is at stake. What can be more dangerous than having a man bereft of conscience, a serial liar, and one who cannot distinguish his fantasies from reality as the leader of the free world? I hate to sound alarmist, but one is a fool if one is not alarmed. Many politicians are narcissists. They pose no threat to others...They are simply self serving and selfish.

Obama evidences symptoms of pathological narcissism, which is different from the run-of-the-mill narcissism of a Richard Nixon or a Bill Clinton for example. To him reality and fantasy are intertwined. This is a mental health issue, not just a character flaw. Pathological narcissists are dangerous because they look normal and even intelligent. It is this disguise that makes them treacherous.

Today the Democrats have placed all their hopes in Obama. But this man could put an end to their party. The great majority of blacks have also decided to vote for Obama. Only a fool does not know that their support for him is racially driven. This is racism, pure and simple. The downside of this is that if Obama turns out to be the disaster I predict, he will cause widespread resentment among the whites.

The blacks are unlikely to give up their support of their man. Cultic mentality is pernicious and unrelenting. They will dig their heads deeper in the sand and blame Obama's detractors of racism. This will cause a backlash among the whites.

The white supremacists will take advantage of
the discontent and they will receive widespread support. I predict that in less than four years, racial tensions will increase to levels never seen since the turbulent 1960's.

Obama will set the clock back decades... America is the bastion of freedom. The peace of the world depends on the strength of America , and its weakness translates into the triumph of terrorism and victory of rogue nations.

It is no wonder that Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez, the Castrists, the Hezbollah, the Hamas, the lawyers of the Guantanamoterrorists and virtually all sworn enemies of America are so thrilled by the prospect of their man in the White House.America is on the verge of destruction. There is no insanity greater than electing a pathological narcissist as president.

[Jimmy Leeds]

Duh.

Of course he's an empty suit narcissist.

[Chimaira_Devil_#9]

Just like every country, Obama is a beacon of change for the whole planet. Finally there is someone in charge, that has power and WE HOPE a willingness to change the planet for the better.

I just don’t get this, and certainly don’t feel that way about him, and its a view shared by a lot of people i know over here.

There was a lot of excitement to see if he could do it and become president, but I don’t think may people care beyond that globally.

Are people pleased with the change? Of course when what went before turned so sour by the end, but do the majority of people around the world wake up thinking "thank god Obamas running the show now"?

or do they think "Hmmm i wonder if I will have a job to go to tomorrow" or "I sure hope I can make my mortgage payment this month"

I know when you take charge of the U.S.A you obviously have to deal with the global community (as a lot of US policy sets the trend around the world) but i think Obama would do well to focus heavily on the country he was elected to run (im sure he will) before trying to "Change the planet".

Let him secure the faith of his own people before trying to achieve the same feat in china and the Middle East.

They day I take more than a passing interest in President Obama is the day he knocks on the door of Number 10 and tells Gordon Brown he is surplus to requirements here’s a nice watch and some peanuts, and he will be taking over from here.

As for the Canadian government, just because there isn’t a parade involving 2 millions people and a lot of red white and blue confetti, doesn't mean positive changes can’t be made.

[Jimmy Leeds]

You have to excuse Don, he gets all goose pimply when Barry H. Obama comes on the screen.

Don lives in a world of fantasy.

[Jerrydevil]

Given the huge spending package, isn't Obama the BACON of hope?

[LizDevil30]

Given the huge spending package, isn't Obama the BACON of hope?

[Devilish34]

Given the huge spending package, isn't Obama the BACON of hope?

[SC Devs Fan]

Given the huge spending package, isn't Obama the BACON of hope?

Very nice