I've seen the 'golden boy' dynamic occur just once in my life. Many years ago, a man about my age moved into my community and social circle. We encountered his family early on, invited them to our home and had a 'getting to know you' chat. The visit ended with me in a disturbed frame of mind. My antenna had sprung up as normal questions about the man's background, education, work-life, etc... got strange, ambiguous answers. I remember telling my wife, "there is something hinckey about that guy..."

That didn't seem to bother anyone else. All of my friends and associates were completely enamored with the guy, to the point of giddiness. The alarm bells were ringing long and hard in my head.

He must have sensed that he had failed to charm me, as my friends soon brought a litany of snide remarks and calumny to my attention. Not satisfied with literal hero worship, he was extraordinarily sensitive to my modest ambivalence.

Not surprisingly, except in how quickly it occurred, the golden boy mysteriously had to flee the scene as corporate management fired him rather than endure the embarrassment of criminal charges for embezzlement. As is so often the case, when one card falls, so does the entire house of cards--all of his carefully kept secrets came spilling out. He had claimed a masters degree and never finished college. The disillusionment among his former acolytes was as intense as their initial star-struck reaction. A suspiciously timely car theft and the presence of so many valuable items in the car was greeted with sneers and guffaws. The insurance money financed his escape but people are still looking to see if he is wearing his grandfather's stolen watch.

Why am I telling you this?

This comment by Obama seemed like a rather bitter quip.

Don't know how your pooler could have left this out from Obama-Karzai exchange: To Karzai's compliment of POTUS' remarks at the Afghanistan session, which we don't have, POTUS not only expressed appreciation but also added, "That was my goal. Every once in a while, I do things right."

There is was--that odd overreaction to something less than the normal idolization he's been accustomed to his entire life.

Golden boys are very scary people--they can justify anything, especially when pushed up against the wall.

Keep those antennae up...