Shared credit

In his latest column, which is carried by the Morning News of Florence, Michael Reagan, adopted son of the former president, tries to make the point that it is President Barack Obama's self-aggrandizing style and share-no-credit attitude that has kept him from, in his words, failing to accomplish anything in his entire life, not just his first term.

He asks;

Did you hear how many times the president said “I” or “me” during the last debate? Did anyone hear a single “we”?

Yes. I heard President Obama say the word “we” in the debate. So I checked a transcript. He used the word we.

19 times, actually. 

In answering the FIRST question. 

Some were the “royal” we, but all Presidential candidates do that. In fact, Gov. Romney did the same thing in his response to the President. Some were the collective we. Some it could truly function as an I or an us.

But there was one definitive, non-royal use of the word We by the president in that first response.

We stand with them, he said. The Libyan people are the “them.” The We? Not him.

The American people.

It is safe to say the president believes in sharing credit.

Mr. Reagan, too, is someone who definitely believes in the concept of shared credit. He’s built a career on it. That is, on him sharing credit with his father for the things his father did and he had no part in.