Is Obama finding humility?

By Ray Matthews

When Barack Obama swept America last year with his well oiled political machine, America was at its dumbest - or at least appeared to be. By electing a president without the necessary experience and without the proper vetting by the people, the mess that we created and we are now dealing with was an inevitable result.

Now one year after the brouhaha and the novelty Americans experienced putting a charismatic black man in place as the leader of the free world, we are beginning to see our mistake. NOT that he was charismatic or black - but that he was inexperienced.

As Obama stood before the Oslo crew that gave him the most undeserved peace prize in history, he lacked the luster of the man who campaigned with such grandeur and finesse, and he sounded more like his predecessor than himself.

From his famous "We won" comment at the beginning of his presidency -- to this in Oslo:

"Norway is committed to continuing our military and civilian efforts in Afghanistan. And I am pleased to announce that Norway will increase its financial contribution to the Afghan national army and police, to a total of 110 million U.S. dollars for the period 2010 to 2014. We must enable Afghans to take responsibility for their own security."

And this:

"If I'm successful in those tasks, then hopefully some of the criticism will subside, but that's not really my concern. And if I'm not successful, then all the praise and the awards in the world won't disguise that fact,"

Well, I'll give him some credit. That's not bad for our Narcissist in Chief. That last line almost reaches a level that could be interpreted as humility.

Did our president grow more humble and did America get smarter? I propose to you that most likely neither occurred. The collective wisdom of the American people has always brought our country back to the center. We may swing - and wildly sometimes - but we always come back.

So what about Obama? Has he been eating humble pie lately? Maybe... But my guess is that he is doing what Bill Clinton did. He is being forced back to the center by a center-right people, just not as fast or as easy.

He misread the populace and overplayed his radical views. Maybe he is catching a glimpse of how the world sees him - as their weak American presidential novelty that can be moved towards the world agenda with ease, and thus weaken America in the process.

Whatever the case, he sounded a little different in Oslo, a little more sober, and yes - maybe even humble.