Cross-Posted at Dan Circucci’s Blogspot
Sometimes when I listen to New Gingrich I have to scratch my head and wonder: “What the hell is he thinking? Does this guy’s ego know no bounds whatsoever?’
Of course, we already know what it’s like to have an outsized ego sitting in the White House. We have one there right now. And I’m convinced that in the case of the current occupant the ego is a mask for an often desperate insecurity. He’s clearly in way over his head (and his ego).
But in the case of Newt, the ego is merely the seed — the kernel. From it springs a breathtakingly audacious grandiosity.
So pervasive is this grandiosity that there’s only one word for it Granditquitous!
This man has compared himself to Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Henry Clay, Charles De Gaulle, William Wallace, Pericles, The Duke of Wellington, the Vikings, Thomas Edison, Vince Lombardi, the Wright brothers and Moses.
Now, I know that Gingrich is a historian (he’ll be the first to remind you that he has a Phd. in history) but give – me – a – break.
In placing himself in the company of these visionaries, innovators, and other heroic figures Gingrich has called himself “a transformational figure, a revolutionary,” someone who aims at “saving civilization,” a man with “enormous personal ambition” who wants to “shift the entire planet,” a teacher of “the art of war” and a person of “big ideas.”
This makes Obama talking about slowing “the rise of the ocean” and making the planet begin to heal seem like a mere audition.
Big ideas?
Well, yes. Like Obama, when it comes to himself, Gingrich does indeed have Very Big Ideas — some of which seem to be in the realm of fantasy.
Gingrich says his campaign is patterned after that of Lincoln because like Lincoln all his “ideas come out of the Declaration of Independence.” All of them? Really? Even the part about turning inner-city school students into janitors? I have to wonder about that.
Gingrich once told his Republican congressional colleagues that, like Moses he would help them cross the Red Sea “once again” but added that he would only do that if this time they would promise to stay on the other side. No wonder they eventually abandoned him. One could even conjecture about what took them so long.
Just last year Gingrich explained his “to-hell-with-everybody” (including his aides) campaign template by saying: “Much like Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, I’m such an unconventional political figure that you really need to design a unique campaign that fits the way I operate and what I’m trying to do.” But Reagan never liked to fire anybody and Thatcher willingly took the advice of trusted campaign aides as she rose to power in Britain.
And if Gingrich is so unique how come he sees himself as like so many others?
Take Thomas Edison, for example. Gingrich actually compared his creation of a political action committee (GOPAC) to Thomas Edison’s invention of the telephone and the emergence of Bell Labs.
You have to wonder if The Newtster is living in the same world as the rest of us.
His answer clearly seems to be “No!”
Because we simply do not have the natural intelligence, the insight, the deep sense of history, the dazzling array of information, the courage, the wisdom borne of experience or the greatness of Newt Gingrich.
Yes, greatness!
Indeed, people who have watched Gingrich up-close report that he routinely “talks about four or five great people in history including Pericles and himself.”
Like Gingrich, Pericles was a prolific writer and orator. And like Gingrich, Pericles was viewed by some as a populist.
But unlike Gingrich, Pericles served in the military, was highly disciplined, exhibited an admirable sense of calmness and self-control, surrounded himself with artists, philosophers, writers and patrons of the arts and was descendent from a wealthy, influential family.
So, how is it that Gingrich identifies with Pericles?
Well, Pericles did dump his first wife (with whom he had two children) and actually offered her to another husband. Then, Pericles and his mistress began living together openly and appearing in public together, against the wishes of his own children.
But we don’t really want to go into all that messy stuff, do we?
