You do indeed have to think mighty highly of yourself to run for President. However, I think there is a difference between confidence and arrogance.

There may be, but I want both of them in a president.

Plus, as Asimov said, "it's not arrogance if you do it." So I'll wait and see how he does as president before deciding if it was a bad kind of arrogance.

I can't help but think that if McCain did everything that Scaeagles finds irritating about Obama, he'd think it was brilliant. Especially if it was Rovian in origin.;)

Not in the least. I don't like McCain and have made that clear. But I don't like McCain for different reasons than I don't like Obama.

All presidents are arrogant, run on arrogance, and win on arrogance. That's what being President is. THE number one guy. Once again, just because Obama is honest about it, he gets flack.

Just one example: Tell me that "Read my lips, no new taxes" isn't arrogant. Even if he had stuck to it, even though I totally agreed with it at the time, if you think about it, he's saying "I won't let your congress raise taxes." All politicians run on "I am going to win, I am likable, I am going to fix this country, I know exactly what we need to do, I will do it, myself." It's all arrogance, it's all a shiny veneer, and it doesn't matter how they say it.

As for Obama making himself look presidential - sounds good to me. They always say, if you want a promotion, dress the part, act the part, no matter how lowly your current station, and people will believe you can do it. This is what he's doing. IMHO, those pundits that call him arrogant are unhappy that he's not following the usual route of even more pretense that oh, he's just a regular guy, he's just like you and me. (Yes I know he mixes that in - he has to - but I admire that that's not his entire appeal, like W's was.)

Apparently I must spread some mojo around, CP.

Owning nine houses and dumping your wife and kids for a zillionaire blonde?

OH! Let me add that to my list of why I don't like McCain.

McCain's own Wikipedia page kind of glosses it over, but reading the main page for his ex-wife sure is enlightening.

In the years that McCain was a POW, his wife had a catastrophic car accident that left her broken in many places (and interestingly enough, her hospital bills were paid for by Ross Perot, who I think some folks know has done a lot to help POWs and releasing captives). She was faithful to McCain all the years he was in captivity, sending him letters and packages (a few of which actually made it through), and she actually kept the accident information and all of her own suffering hidden from him so as to not add to his stress.

She came out of it shorter (she'd broken her legs in places) and gained some weight.

He came home and found out his wife was dumpy lumpy (even his first marriage was to a trophy wife--she was a swimsuit model), he apparently couldn't handle such homeliness. He started having affairs pretty much right away.

The guy is just an asshole (oops, can I say that here?).

It tells me a lot when a man keeps trying to marry trophy wives. It tells me he is superficial, cares more about looks, and doesn't believe that his marriage is a true partnership. No, it's more a showcase to show other people what a catch he got. When his first catch got a defective, he cast her aside.

Disgusting.

How can conservatives want to vote for him? Obama has a wife whom it seems to me is more a partner than a trophy, and they have two kids in an intact home.

And Republicans want this person running the country...