Rep. Marion Berry, an Arkansas Democrat, has decided not to seek re-election. Berry told ABC News that he fears a repeat of the 1994 midterm elections. According to Berry, the White House does not share this concern:
“They just don’t seem to give it any credibility at all,” Berry said. “They just kept telling us how good it was going to be. The president himself, when that was brought up in one group, said, ‘Well, the big difference here and in ’94 was you’ve got me.'”
But so did Creigh Deeds, Jon Corzine, and Martha Coakley.
Via The Corner.
UPDATE: Berry’s anecdote reminds me of something a friend told me about Obama. This friend met Obama when they were both summer associates at the same law firm. Years later, as Obama’s campaign for president was picking up momentum, he gave me his impressions from that summer.
At this point (2007), Obama struck me as pretty likeable. In addition, prominent conservative lawyers who had worked with Obama on the Harvard Law Review were saying nice things about his willingness to cooperate with them and to treat them with respect.
Since my friend is not inclined to say harsh things about others, I expected him to give a favorable account of Obama too. Instead, he described Obama as “the most arrogant person I’ve ever met.”
I must admit that I discounted this report to some extent. My thinking was that anyone who had reached the heights Obama had already hit by 2007 would likely come off as extremely arrogant to people meeting them in a work setting 20 years or so earlier. (The Harvard Law Review is a different matter — there, the bar is considerably higher. Moreover, as I understand it, Obama formed some sort of coalition with conservatives on the Review, and thus they would have reason to think well of him).
After a year as president, however, it seems clear that Obama’s arrogance far exceeds even the large quantity one would expect from someone confident enough to seek the presidency with very little serious experience and at a relatively young age.
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