Oh, come on. I can't be the only person here that doesn't see the historical perspective of this.

Gerge Herbert Waker Bush was highly ridiculed for his inability to refer to himself in the first person. He didn't use pronouns.

It was a running joke during his administration. Since then, persons running for higher office have been very particular about idenifying themselves with everything that they beliieve in.

It's almost a right of passage for modern day polititians. They talk in the first person. If they are going to claim credit, they say it in the first person.