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VIRAL

Obama's Rosa Parks Picture Goes Over Badly on the Right

Is the image 'narcissistic'?

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by Mary Noble

Senior Editor t

Image: the White House

Conservatives are heaping scorn on an image Obama released to honor "the 57th Anniversary of the day Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat."

The picture above shows Obama sitting where Parks sat (or perhaps one row behind), appearing to gaze contemplatively out of the window. Conservative sites like Glenn Beck's The Blaze and Michelle Malkin's Twitchy have panned the image, citing it as yet another example of Obama's profound narcissism. "Narcissist in chief: President Obama honors Rosa Parks anniversary with picture of himself," announced Malkin's site.

Back when the photo was taken, at a fundraiser in April, Obama explained to donors that "I just sat in there for a moment and pondered the courage and tenacity that is part of our very recent history but is also part of that long line of folks who sometimes are nameless, oftentimes didn't make the history books, but who constantly insisted on their dignity, their share of the American dream."

Via the Blaze and Twitchy.

Posted Dec 3, 4pm PST.
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Do you find the image narcissistic?

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Comments (view in Forum)

  • o
    woodtick57
    !
    Why? some mihgt think he is respecting someone in history.

    would it be tacky if he reflected at the USS Arizona memorial? how is this different?
  • Zazziness
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    @woodtick57 It's exploiting it for the publicity that's tacky. A picture of Rosa Parks? Yes. A picture of the empty seat? Yes. A picture of Obama in Rosa Park's seat released to "honor the event?" No. Ms. Parks earned her honor; having Mr. Obama put his behind in the same place just isn't a big event.

    I doubt it was narcissism. Think it was just a poor PR choice on someone's part. Not as bad as GW's "Mission Accomplished" fiasco but not good.
  • o
    woodtick57
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    @Zazziness Anything a president does is phootgraphed. are you saying he should never visit a hhistorical site? Seems kinda silly...

    of course te sane thing would be to look at the event objectively and in perspectiove.
  • Zazziness
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    @woodtick57 I'm quite sane, thank you. I just happen to have a PR background and have some sense as to when an image or commercial is likely to backfire. And I could have told them this one would.

  • View all 21 replies >

  • PoliticalSpice
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    Politix Headline read "obamas rosa parks picture goes over badly on the right"

    Can anyone tell what ombama does that does not go badly on the right?
  • DerivePI
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    @PoliticalSpice - He OK'd the execution of Osama Bin Laden. I believe there was one other thing he did right but I can't think of it right now.
  • CharlieRosencr
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    I've got news for you.

    Anyone who runs for president is narcissistic. Who in their right mind wants to be in charge of everybody? But you know what, I like this guy. I like him because he's deep; he thinks about things. He's able to put himself in the shoes of anyone.
  • bsking
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    I really don't think Martin would have walked to Obama could run.. Martin Luther King would be rolling over in his grave because of the way Obama uses race to attack

  • View all 11 replies >

  • u
    tomincali
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    Rosa Parks had a pair,big difference!i bet this guy has never ridden a city bus in his life time.
    there is no low he will not go. look at the waste of that empty city bus,bet folks were late to work waiting for him to leave the area
    last time i stepped on a city bus smarty pants kid yells out ,"all white folks to the back of the bus"
  • u
    mtkopf
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    I don't know WHAT you are thinking but, that bus is IN A MUSEUM!!!
    Therefore no one is late for work waiting for him to leave the area.

  • View all 16 replies >

  • Neo_NtheMatrix
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    Obama explained to donors that "I just sat in there for a moment and pondered the courage and tenacity that is part of our very recent history but is also part of that long line of folks who sometimes are nameless, oftentimes didn't make the history books, but who constantly insisted on their dignity, their share of the American dream."

    Did they insist on their share of the American dream, as in work hard for what you want, or did they insist on their share of government handouts? I think most reasonable people see what it is quite easily. And yes, obama is a big time narcissist. That is old news though.
  • u
    mtkopf
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    Probably some of the people he thought about had no choice but to work hard cuz boss man be whippin dem ifn dey don't.
  • bsking
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    of course it's narsasistic it's ridiculous picture. I'm really surprised they didn't airbrush Rosa Parks in sitting behind Obama
  • o
    woodtick57
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    interesting story on the Rosa parks issue. She was not the first to do what she did. not at all. Many men did, but they would have been considered just 'headstrong black men'(you know the phrase I'm trying not to use...) so the proponents of civil rights did not publicize their actions .

    just before Parks, a young woman did the exact same as her, but she was a young unwed mother,and it wouldn't play well in the press. When Parks did it , she fit the bill for the civil rights movement to publicize it. She agreed and the rest is history...
  • Ratyak
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    I agree. When I was a kid, it didn't look like we had a chance in hell of electing the mixed racial son of a single mother to the office of POTUS. I'm proud of Rosa Parks and all who challenged the status quo so this could happen. TWICE!
  • mimi57
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    He's nothing like Rosa Parks for sure..just another photo-op for him. Psychforums defines Narcissism as an
    excessive love of oneself. Extreme self importance and an inability to empathize with others... sure sounds
    like him. I'm surprised he didn't dress like her for more effect. He just loves that camera, too bad he doesn't
    like doing the job of the POTUS.
  • u
    seedtick
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    If Barack Husssein Obama did not have a history of photo-oping at every opportunity I may not think so...or if he had allowed someone else into the photo with him there would be no such question asked. But, this is a "staged" photo to enhance how people view his dedication to civil rights. He great wish is to become "iconic."
  • u
    seedtick
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    @DARSB Exactly right.....So, why does he have the great need to do all these "self image" things? I truly believe that he is in love with himself....that is not a mark of good leadership.
  • DARSB
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    @seedtick I don't think the bus pic was a "self image thing." As I said elsewhere, this was a black man sitting on the very bus where Rosa Parks ignited the modern civil rights movement. To dismiss the possibility that the first black President was experiencing a profound emotional moment captured in this photograph is a cynical, petty conclusion.

    Every month hundreds of thousands of people visit the Viet Nam Memorial in DC and most find it as poignant an experience as any other in their lives. Yet when those people are photographed in a candid moment we do not automatically assume their emotions are manufactured for "self image" purposes.

    I believe the White House photographer captured an emblematic moment.
  • u
    seedtick
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    @DARSB You cannot equate a picture of someone visiting the VietNam Memorial with the picture of BHO sitting on the Rosa Parks bus. There is no parallel between the two subjects...none what so ever. I was at the VietNam Memorial in June of this year. The only equals to it were visits to Arlington Nat'l Cemetery, the Iwo Jima Marine War Memorial, WWII Memorial, and Korean War Memorial. The war memorials do not draw racial boundaries and therefore are emotional to all races equally.
    So, why not compare the feelings of a white president in the Rosa Parks bus to that of Barack Husssein Obama? And why is there no picture of him visiting the VietNam Memorial?
  • u
    Jim49418
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    We have an ice skating rink here named after Rosa Parks.
    I guess she was pretty famous as an ice skater.
    Maybe if Obama had worn skate's it would have looked better.
    We all know he's famous for trying to "skate" his way out of the debt crisis he's caused by blaming everything on the GOP.
  • DARSB
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    A black man takes a moment to reflect on an historic event for the people of his race and their struggle for equality, and he is denounced as a narcissist. Of course, the critics claim, there's nothing racial about it.

    In other news, the Mayflower Society continues to commemorate the arrival of 110 white people to Plymouth Rock in 1620, apparently in a completely un-narcissistic fashion, judging by the total lack of critical comment from the same people who have trouble with the President's photograph. http://goo.gl/xIOO8

    The obvious conclusion is left as an exercise for the student
  • Keyjo
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    There is nothing narcissistic about this. The President is visiting a place where history was made, paying homage to Rosa Parks.
    Let's ask ourselves, if Rosa Parks was alive today, how do you think SHE would feel?

    Here is a short video tour of the original bus, now in the Henry Ford Museum, with some of the narrative by Miss Parks, herself. I am glad they were able to identify this original piece of important history and restore it.

    As far as Obama sitting in that bus, I find it most appropriate and I'll bet Miss Parks would be quite honored.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch...
  • Mbjhug
    !
    You know, I've yet to see any other president do the same, or even similar. And above else, he is still a HUMAN. Is he not allowed to have emotions, or deep personal introspectives just because he is president? People just need to learn to let stuff go.

  • View all 9 replies >

  • Ashstop
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    Well we've seen him on a cross, now this, next will probably be him in Michael Angelo's " The creation of Adam"... Not as Adam!!!!
  • Rocker
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    Let me get this straight, he is commemorating the memory and action of an individual, who re-enacted it herself at a later date, making a statement about something that most people were against then and uphold now as unjust and is no longer practiced in the US and was much a subject of outrage for South Africa, and this is interpreted as.... what?
  • WMCOL
    !
    Foul!! Doesn't count. Ryan is white. He can do anything he wants to in comparison to anything Obama does and it is alright.
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