Our Dreamer-in-Chief and the Real Ostriches

Charting Course ^ | 9/4/14 | Steve Berman

[lifeofgrace]

 

In the wild, ostriches make a “booming” sound to ward off predators.  They also don’t bury their heads in the sand.  An ostrich’s kick can break a lion’s jaw, causing it to starve to death.  These facts separate the American Left from real ostriches.  American liberals (Ignavus Americanus), unlike ostriches (Struthio camelus), do bury their heads in the sand, and emit a rather high-pitched danger call, which in fact attracts predators rather than warns them.

Obama sees himself as the hero in a 1980’s John Hughes teen angst movie, giving the climactic “can’t we all just get along” speech that melts the bully’s heart.  And the world responds with a slow clap.  Such noble goals and dreams he has, and anyone who intrudes with the reality of the bankrupt human heart is written off as a hater, an unbeliever, a dream killer.  This is our main problem:  we don’t have a commander-in-chief, we have a dreamer-in-chief.

Worse, we have the Left with its head firmly in the sand, choosing to believe the dream rather than wake the dreamer.  We had this coming to us because we allowed it to happen.  The Left bought in to an impossible dream, while Obama did what he had the power to do:  take America off the world’s stage as a moral agent, and believe that the world would stand up to bullies, death-lovers, and tyrants on its own.  And the world, completely predictably, wobbled.

The collective Left is now calling for the destruction of ISIS.  Only not by American boots on the ground.  And not by American leadership.  The world is being called upon to gather together, solve the regional instability problems in Iraq and Syria, and collectively decapitate and eliminate the Islamic State.  Oh, yeah, we all know how that will work out.

Secretary of State John Kerry:  "[ISIS] and the wickedness it represents must be destroyed, and those responsible for this heinous, vicious atrocity will be held accountable.”  And this from the New York Times (via HuffPost):

With a united response led by the United States and the broadest possible coalition of nations, the cancer of ISIS will not be allowed to spread to other countries. The world can confront this scourge, and ultimately defeat it. ISIS is odious, but not omnipotent.

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA): "We need to be working now, full-speed ahead, with other countries, to destroy ISIS. That should be our No. 1 priority," followed by "We can't get pulled into another war in the Middle East…We need to be working with others to close ISIS down."

Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD): “It's not just the United States. We can't be sheriff for the whole world. It's France. It's -- it's the Brits. It's -- it's the other countries that need to work with us, including countries like Saudi Arabia and that region, who also need to stop…”

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA): “[H]opefully, those plans will coalesce into a strategy that can encourage that coalition from Arab nations. Jordan's at jeopardy, Lebanon's at jeopardy ... other countries are in jeopardy.”

In fact, the HuffPost article citing many of these quotes claims is entitled “The Debate Over What To Do About ISIS Isn’t Much Of A Debate”.  Feinstein might be the most consistent hawk in this crowd, having called for action in Iraq and voted for the war over ten years ago.  Less than a month ago, Warren declared that the country doesn’t want war in Iraq.

Obama celebrated in March 2013 about “Promises Kept” in ending the Iraq War.  In August, he authorized airstrikes on ISIS, while saying (paraphrasing) “I really mean it, I said I’d end the war in Iraq and I did, I really did!”.  The Left then collectively placed its head in the sand in 2013.  This degree of reality-denial makes Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” speech aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln look like a bunch of thirteen year-olds playing D&D.  Bush might have been wrong about the “mission” but he faced facts when troops kept dying and Iraq failed to become a paragon of democratic freedoms.

Swept into office in 2008 with his promise to end wars, stop torture, and bring America into the global fold of peaceful, advanced nations, we’re now faced with the conflicting reality we all knew was coming.  Erick Erickson wrote in his article “The President Is Not Checked Out”:

Barack Obama is the first American President who, through his upbringing, writings, and actions, conveys a deep sense of grievance toward the American experiment. The idea that we are the last best hope for mankind is anathema to him. Barack Obama thinks the world, if the American imperial aggressor would just sit on the sidelines, could work out its problems and would be better off.

Of course he is.  We knew this is 2008.  In fact, Obama ran on these beliefs.  We knew this in 2012.  Dinesh D’Souza documented it in his movie 2016: Obama’s America.  It’s no secret that Obama believes deeply in the global brotherhood of nations, guided by their common belief in the goodness of humanity.  It’s no secret that he believes that no nation can claim itself as the moral compass for the world, or as the exceptional leader.  It’s no secret that he believes what he said in his 2009 speech to Cairo University:

[W]e have a responsibility to join together on behalf of the world we seek – a world where extremists no longer threaten our people, and American troops have come home; a world where Israelis and Palestinians are each secure in a state of their own, and nuclear energy is used for peaceful purposes; a world where governments serve their citizens, and the rights of all God's children are respected. Those are mutual interests. That is the world we seek. But we can only achieve it together.

That’s it: the bully-heart-melting speech.  Only there’s no slow clap.  Only the bully hasn’t backed down.  And the dreamer-hero has left the room.  If the bully is to be removed, it will be by our fist.  That means boots on the ground in Iraq again.  That means American blood spilled.  It means re-taking ground we gave up.  It means sacrifice refighting a war that most agree was a mistake.  Honestly, I don’t see it happening.  I see more of the same duck and cover, selective airstrikes, and sitting back to watch the Islamic State go from a proclamation to a real de facto Caliphate.

At some point, the heads will need to come out of the sand, and instead of shrill calls, the boom of America’s moral voice will need to be heard once again.  But not by this president.  He never had that voice to begin with, and we’ve known it all along.

[tet68]

At some point, the heads will need to come out of the sand

Most of them will be cut off at the neck before that
happens, but heck at least they won’t see it coming
like the rest of us.

[atc23]

Indeed. It will be at least another two years before IS can be rolled back, disarmed and slaughtered where they stand - by a great republican president!

/S

We've officially screwed the pooch

[utahagen]

“It’s not just us...it’s the French...” Oh, sure: the French will save us.

[marron]

This degree of reality-denial makes Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” speech aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln look like a bunch of thirteen year-olds playing D&D.

Incoherent, this.

Anyway, most references to Bush's "Mission Accomplished" annoy me. The ship hung a banner congratulating themselves. Their mission was accomplished. And anyway, part one of the overall mission was indeed accomplished. We went in to topple a dictator, and he was toppled.

Congratulations, mission accomplished.

Of course, anyone who thought about it knew that this isn't the end of the story, there would have to be a protracted counterinsurgency, and an effort made to replace the dictator with something better. But the constant pounding about "mission accomplished" I always considered juvenile. The soldiers and sailors had just come off a victory. Let them have their moment.

[Caribou]

Over 40 years ago, Steppenwolf wrote a song about them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SeUqDjPeP0

STEPPENWOLF LYRICS
“The Ostrich”

We’ll call you when you’re six years old
And drag you to the factory
To train your brain for eighteen years
With promise of security
But then you’re free
And forty years you waste to chase the dollar sign
So you may die in Florida
At the pleasant age of sixty nine

The water’s getting hard to drink
We’ve mangled up the country side
The air will choke you when you breathe
We’re all committing suicide
But it’s alright
It’s progress folks keep pushin’ till your body rots
Will strip the earth of all it’s green
And then divide her into parking lots

But there’s nothing you and I can do
You and I are only two
What’s right and wrong is hard to say
Forget about it for today
We’ll stick our heads into the sand
Just pretend that all is grand
Then hope that everything turns out ok

You’re free to speak your mind my friend
As long as you agree with me
Don’t criticize the father land
Or those who shape your destiny
‘Cause if you do
You’ll lose your job your mind and all the friends you knew
We’ll send out all our boys in blue
They’ll find a way to silence you

But there’s nothing you and I can do
You and I are only two
What’s right and wrong is hard to say
Forget about it for today
We’ll stick our heads into the sand
Just pretend that all is grand
Then hope that everything turns out ok

[Caribou]

bttt

[utahagen]

Great post, Caribou!

[Caribou]

There are a lot of songs from the late 60’s early 70’s that could still be relevant today.