There is no “i” in Inouye. Check that. There is an “i,” and President Obama used it or some variation on the subjective first person pronoun more than 60 times in his eulogy of Hawaiian Senator Daniel Inouye, who died earlier this week at the age of 88.
The Weekly Standard notes that at the senator’s funeral on Thursday, Obama delivered a 1,600-word speech in which he used “I” 30 times, my” 21 times, and “me” 12 times.
Speaking to the audience at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., Obama talked about his family and their vacations. ‘Now, even though my mother and grandparents took great pride that they had voted for him, I confess that I wasn’t paying much attention to the United States Senate at the age of four or five or six. It wasn’t until I was 11 years old that I recall even learning what a U.S. senator was, or it registering, at least. It was during my summer vacation with my family — my first trip to what those of us in Hawaii call the Mainland,’ said Obama.
Obama’s self-reverence and self-reference are nothing new. In early December, he honored civil rights crusader Rosa Parks with a photograph of himself sitting on a vintage bus of the sort that was common when Parks made her stand. To honor the passing of Neil Armstrong, Obama chose not the iconic image of the astronaut’s footprint in the moon’s soil but an image of himself silhouetted against a night sky, gazing up at the stars.
Related Articles
- L’état c’est Obama
- Father of fallen Marine outraged over condolence ‘form letter’ from president
- Plaque unveiled in Chicago to mark spot of Obamas’ first kiss
- Obama makes GQ’s list of ’25 Least Influential People Alive’
- Obama’s biggest mistake is not having told ‘his story’? Surely he jests
- DNC to feature Mt. Rushmore-like sand sculpture of Obama (Photos)
