Matt Taibbi on Obama: Take II

My colleague Michael got to Matt Taibbi’s gushing Rolling Stone article about Barack Obama and the Glorious Dawn of a New Era of Restored Faith in the Political System before I did, but he didn’t point out what for me was the weirdest part of the essay.  In general, being a fan of misty-eyed optimism, I liked this piece, but can we talk about the metaphor Taibbi used for Hillary Clinton for a moment?

In particular, the Obama camp harps incessantly, without naming names, on the sense of entitlement that infects Hillary Clinton's campaign persona. Poor Hillary: While Obama glows like the chosen one, taking Kennedy-esque flight on the wings of destiny, next to him Hillary sometimes comes off like an angry drag queen, enraged that some other tramp has been allowed to "Danke Schoen" in her Las Vegas. Obama sees this and isn't above pointing at her Adam's apple. "I'm not running for president because I think this is somehow owed to me," Obama says.

This is what happens when a veteran insult-slinger tries to be nice: all that suppressed bile winds up coming to the surface in the form of childish misogyny.  An angry drag queen?  Really?  This is the first thing that pops into Taibbi’s head when he thinks about someone who’s pissed because they’re being challenged to something they believe is theirs by right?  And don’t even get me started on that Adam’s apple…