In a speech Monday ostensibly on behalf of Rep. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), who is running for Senate against Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) former President Obama spoke largely on behalf of himself.
Specifically, he invoked himself during this Rosen campaign speech no fewer than 77 times.
By contrast, he mentioned Rosen a mere four times. In other words, he spoke about himself almost 20 times more than the candidate he was allegedly speaking on behalf of.
Obama did not mention a single thing about Rosen’s campaign, or her legislative record, or her personal history. Early on, he asked the audience to applaud her, and then in the most in-depth discussion of the candidate, he said, “Jacky Rosen believes that health care is not a privilege for the few but a right for everybody.” And then he pivoted back to attacking Republicans for undoing ObamaCare. Later, Obama said Nevada could become notable for electing another female senator, and then finally, in his concluding lines, called on Nevadans to make Rosen their next senator.
Meanwhile, the erstwhile executive spoke about himself at great length. His address began self indulgently: "I have to say that – I miss you first of all, look, I am not alone in saying I enjoyed coming to Las Vegas." That's an impressive four references to himself in a single sentence.
And that was just the start.
In another superlatively self-referential section, Obama said: “I actually try to state facts. I believe in facts. I believe in a fact-based reality and a fact-based politics. I don't believe in just making stuff up. I think you should like actually say to people what's true."
Overall, Obama said "I" 54 times, "we" (in reference to his presidential administration) 16 times, "my" 4 times, and "me" 3 times. That comes out to a total of 77 references to himself in just a 38 minute address. If you do the math, that's 2 references to himself per minute of speaking.
Here’s how he spoke of his administration: “We got the economy growing again, we started the longest streak of job creation and record, we covered another 20 million people on health insurance, we brought housing back here in Nevada. We cut our deficit by more than half, partly by making sure the wealthiest Americans, folks like me, pay their fair share of taxes. …
“Listen, even for all we did, we did not reverse forty-year trends in only eight years. Because Republicans took over Congress and decided to block everything I tried to do. Everything. … We pulled the economy out of crisis ... Overseas we took out bin Laden and we wound down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We got Iran to halt its nuclear program.”
At one point, Obama spoke of the current economic boom, and urged the crowd to began chanting “Remember who started it!”
You can watch the full speech here: