The Royal "We"?

I listened to part of Pres. Obama's speech to the U.N. General Assembly this morning. He said many things I agree with, some I did not. The speech revealed a strategy behind some of his earlier decisions / actions that made no sense otherwise. I was generally reinforced in my impression that we have a very intelligent and capable head of state.

What gnawed at me, though, was his use of the first person throughout the speech. "MY first day in office I . . . " signed an order" ending torture by the U.S. "I ordered the closure" of Gitmo. Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. There seems to be no recognition of his position in this. Barack Obama didn't do anything. The President of the United States, and therefore the government of the United States, did.

It got worse (in my probably-paranoid view). When referring to the United States, more often than not, Pres. Obama repeatedly used the phrase "MY country." Now the United States is my country, too, and there is nothing evil about singing the tune "This Is My Country." But given his position as chief executive, it would have been more appropriate to say "the U.S." or "the United States" or "this country" (in context) or "America" (he used the phrase anti-American" so why not "America?"). I can't imagine George Washington referring to America in a speech to foreign heads of state as "my country" as it lacks humility, possibly conveying the impression that the chief executive owns, or at least possesses, the country.

So when Pres Obama started using the first person plural, I started hearing the language of royalty. Even when the king stands alone, he refers to himself as "us." What the queen owns is "ours." A royal person does not say "I believe" or "I decree." It is "We believe" and "We decree." If you listen to the speech in this light, you may find it disturbing, whether you agree with the substance of his speech or not.

I think humility is a scarce commodity among national politicians. But the more experienced ones do a better job of putting on the pretense. Yes, I prefer pretended humility to unvarnished conceit.