Posted on 10/28/2009 7:25:11 PM PDT by Publius772000
Much has already been made of Landesman’s comparisons of Obama to Julius Caesar. As a teacher and lifelong student of history, I find that comparison amusing on various levels.
Caesar was an accomplished military leader whose campaign through Gaul was the subject of his major literary work, still available in your local Barnes and Noble. Barack Obama is an indecisive teleprompter reader whose book will certainly be long forgotten 2,000 years from now. Julius Caesar’s actions as leader of Rome turned the Republic into a dictatorial empire that later spawned such rulers as Nero and Caligula. Might the Messiah, who, like Caesar purports himself to be god-like, also be the one who finally eliminates the last vestiges of our Republic?
Aside from this utterly uninformed comparison between this president and the ruler of Rome, the part of Landesman’s speech that disturbed me more was when he likened Obama to one of the greatest and most active presidents the nation has ever seen, Theodore Roosevelt.
“There is a new president and a new NEA,” Landesman explained. “The president first. This is the first president that actually writes his own books since Teddy Roosevelt and arguably the first to write them really well since Lincoln.”
Not only does Landesman compare our current office-holder to Roosevelt, he implies that Obama was a better writer.
Before becoming president, Barack Obama lived in Hawaii, then lived in Indonesia, went to college at Harvard, became a lawyer/teacher of radicalism/community organizer. During his career, he wrote two books, Dreams Of My Father and The Audacity of Hope, in which he demonstrated his views on many topics, including his internal struggles with racism. He then served as a state senator, and as U.S. Senator for nearly one term, using his time in office to campaign for president.
(Excerpt) Read more at theconstitutionalalamo.com ...
They’re both progressives. Frankly, I don’t have much use for either one of them.
Yup. Unfortunately, the scary thing is that Obama is too much like those other two writers - Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln - that he was being “compared” to. All THREE are/were big government centralizers/progressives who did and are doing so much to destroy liberty, capitalism, and constitutionally limited government in America.
As far as I’m concerned... George Washington and Thomas Jefferson should kick Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln off of Mt. Rushmore and replace them with Grover Cleveland and Ronald Reagan. Then Mr. Rough Rider and Honest Abe can go find their own mountain, invite Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt to join them, and they can call their new home Mt. Government-More.
I was never left with the impression (except in high school), that TR was much of a friend to individual liberty. I mean, read some of his speeches. He was one scary Progressive. Still, the myth persists that he was some sort of advocate for freedom. He was not. For example, read his Osawatomi speech. Pure drivel.
What he did have, was an exceptional PR machine, that perpetuated his myth into the 21st century.
Sir Edmund climbed Mt Everest...Obama looks at a picture of it and poses for a photo op!
You’re obviously entitled to your opinion. I’m not sure who runs the TR PR firm today, but to call him a scary progressive in the age of Woodrow Wilson, William Jennings Bryan and others is, in my opinion, unfair. In terms of business and trust-busting, he was an attack dog, but it’s pretty difficult, even as a conservative, to cheer for men like J.P. Morgan. TR advocated for women’s suffrage and civil rights on many occasions. He was the first president to invite a black leader to the White House for a formal dinner. He fought against the practice of segregation in the military during WWI (in fact, U.S. black soldiers were placed under the auspice of the French command). TR was an imperfect politician, but he stood for American sovereignty and its place in the world, something in which Wilson and his 2009 counterpart have no interest.
“I’m not sure who runs the TR PR firm today”
:-) Good one. Really.
Having school age children I can answer that one. Obviously, it is the public school system. Understand that most of the primary and secondary schools don’t really teach American History, or Civics for that matter. There are some that do, and ours is one of them (though the depth of coverage is like the Platte River). Rather a popularized/PC view that avoids the warts, but our school covers the subjects (if only in a decerebrate fashion). A mixed blessing to be sure.
Just because he wasn’t as scary a progressive as Bryan or Wilson doesn’t mean TR wasn’t a scary progressive. The problem was... after the Dems stole Bryan from the Populists and gobbled up much of their agenda, and after TR took over after McKinley’s death in the GOP... there wasn’t anyone left (in terms of presidential candidates anyway) except for scary, big-government, collectivist, Constitution-shredding progressives to vote for!!!
In fact, perhaps one of the problems we’re having today in trying to “take back” the GOP - which I still believe (or is it hope?) must be done - is that we’re not actually trying to “take back” anything. What we’re actually trying to do - given that the Dems have been even worse ever since about 1896 - is transform it (the GOP) into something it’s never been. Historically, except for maybe the Harding/Coolidge years, Goldwater’s candidacy, and some aspects of Reagan’s presidency, the GOP has NEVER really been about limited government, defending liberty, and obeying the Constitution.
I agree with you; however, Teddy is remains an enigma to me. He was personaly a rugged individualist, but then had some collectivist political ideas. His son was an amazing patriot. He landed on Normady Beach using a walking stick and directing troop. (Gen. Patton like him.) He died of a heart attack 30 days later.
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