In Tokyo this week, the President treated the world to more of his narcissistic rhetoric and troubling habit of resorting to identity politics by saying he’s “America’s first ‘Pacific’ president.” He was, of course, referring to his birth in Hawaii and his time spent in Indonesia as a boy.
Well thank goodness we finally have something to bind the U.S and the Pacific region together. I mean, since there’s really nothing else that binds us–no shared history, shared goals for a secure region, respect for democracy, free trade and open markets, a stable court systems, respect for the rule of law and property and human rights. Nah, these things don’t bind us…its our “Pacific” president…the one who spent a few years there as a child…and was a whopping ten years old when he left.
As a young child, I spent a year in South Korea and often tell people I’m the first Korean to head my household. I like how it makes me sound more cultured. You know, if the McCain campaign had only thought of this first, they might have been able to benefit from calling McCain the first Panimanian U.S. presidential candidate. He was, after all, born in Panama.