Follow-Up (Sort of) to the Post Below

From Patriot Post:

Like Obama himself, the Salahis got into the White House without qualification or a background check. Of course, the Salahis merely had to hoodwink three security checkpoint personnel, while the Obamas duped some 33 million voters. (Yes, I know, Obama received 66,882,230 votes, but at least half of those were from people who knew full well they were electing a socialist. The other half, however, were just temporarily mesmerized by Obama's "hope-n-change" mantra.)

Among the most interesting accounts of these charlatans is one from Washington Post columnist Anne Applebaum in an essay entitled, "Social climbing with a twist."
Her column is directed at the Salahis, but one can't escape the irony that it could be just as easily directed at the Obamas.

Applebaum writes, "Social climbing is an ancient art, one as old as society itself. The
character of the high-society impostor -- the fake aristocrat, the soi-disant marquis, the 'professor' with no degree -- has been known in every era, too.

"Over the centuries, some societies have been more susceptible to these sorts of swindles than others," notes Applebaum. "Catherine the Great's Russia, for example, was positively swarming with phony English duchesses and Italian princes." Applebaum continues, "To that notable group of societies we can now add 21st-century Washington. Like 18th-century Russia, it is a world of neophytes, a society whose members have only recently 'made it' into an elite magic circle and who don't necessarily know the other members all that well.

Like 19th-century New York, it is also a world where appearances matter: You get invited to the event ... not just because of who you are but because of what you represent, which costume you wear, which ethnic group you come from."

Or as Obama put it in the opening pages of his political autobiography, "I am new
enough on the national political scene that I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views."

"Above all, says Applebaum, "it is a world that seems to offer wealth and fame to those outsiders who manage to enter it. ... Just like all charlatans and swindlers
over the centuries, they managed [to get into the White House] by looking and acting the part. ... They knew how to behave around the contemporary aristocracy: Simply act as if you belong, don't stare too hard at the celebrities, don't eat or drink too much, and do engage your neighbors in light chit-chat." That is an apt description of the Obamas, who are the epitome of nouveau riche.

"But," writes Applebaum, "there are differences between [them] and, say, Count Alessandro di Cagliostro, a self-described 'Spanish aristocrat' who set himself up as a glamorous 'faith healer' in 1770s St. Petersburg and made his living by borrowing money from gullible courtiers. [They] are hoping to cash in faster -- a lot faster ... and they also have a lot more [mass media] help than did the swindlers of yesteryear."

Yep, that's Barack and Michelle, alright.