Posted on 03/29/2009 10:10:57 PM PDT by To Hell With Poverty
I have been watching an interesting phenomenon on the Right, which is beginning to cause me concern. I am referring to the over-the-top hysteria in response to the first months in office of our new president, which distinctly reminds me of the “Bush Is Hitler” crowd on the Left.
Speaking of this crowd, have you seen any “I am so sorry” postings from that quarter as Obama continues and even escalates the former president's war policy in Afghanistan and attempts to consolidate his military occupation of Iraq?
Conservatives, please. Let's not duplicate the manias of the Left as we figure out how to deal with Mr. Obama. He is not exactly the anti-Christ, although a disturbing number of people on the Right are convinced he is.
I have recently received commentaries that claim that "Obama's speeches are unlike any political speech we have heard in American history" and "never has a politician in this land had such a quasi-religious impact on so many people" and "Obama is a narcissist," which leads the author to then compare Obama to David Koresh, Charles Manson, Stalin and Saddam Hussein. Excuse me while I blow my nose.
This fellow has failed to notice that all politicians are narcissists – and that a recent American president was a world-class exponent of the imperial me. So what? Political egos are one of the reasons the Founders put checks and balances on executive power. As for serial lying, is there a politician that cannot be accused of that? And once, the same recent president set a pretty a high bar in this category, and we survived it. As for Obama's speeches, they are hardly in the Huey Long, Louie Farrakhan, Fidel Castro vein. They are in fact eloquently and cleverly centrist and sober.
So what's the panic? It is true that Obama has shown surprising ineptitude in his first months in office, but he's not a zero with no accomplishments as many conservatives seem to think – unless you regard beating the Clinton machine and winning the presidency as nothing. But in doing this you fall into the “Bush-is-an-idiot” bag of liberal miasmas.
It is also true Obama has ceded his domestic economic agenda to the House Democrats and spent a lot of money in the process. But what’s the surprise in this? After all, Bush and McCain both proposed (and in Bush's case pushed through) massive government giveaways (which amount to government takeovers as well). This is bad, but it doesn't make Obama a closet Mussolini, however deplorable the conservatives among us may regard it. Moreover, he's already run into political resistance even within his own party. Charlie Rangel has made it clear that the itemized deduction tax hike is not going through his committee – and that should tell you that the American system, the one the Founders created, is still in place.
Even as astute a conservative thinker as Mark Steyn has been swept up in the tide that thinks Obama is a “transformative” radical. But look again at his approach to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In both cases, as noted, he is carrying out the Bush policies – the same that he once joined his fellow Democrats in condemning. And that should be reassuring to anyone concerned about where he is heading as commander-in-chief.
In other words, while it's reasonable to be unhappy with a Democratic administration and even concerned because the Democrats are now a socialist party in the European sense, we are not witnessing the coming of the anti-Christ. A good strategy for political conflicts is to understand your opponent first – not to underestimate him, but not to overestimate him either.
Once conservatives do that, they will find some silver linings in the first moves of the Obama administration. Through a combination of ineptitude and zeal, Obama has in two short months locked down the conservative and Republican base. On fetal stem-cell research, on borders (e-verification), on spending, on unions, on shutting down talk radio, Obama has flexed the leftist muscle so nakedly and unmistakably that there isn’t a conservative left who will vote Democratic in the next election (and there were many who did so in the last).
As we move forward, Obama faces increasingly tough choices in the wars against Islamic fascism in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Gaza and Iran. Hopefully, he will make the right choices, and should he do so conservatives will need to be there to support him. If he makes the wrong choices, conservatives will need to be there to oppose him. But neither our support nor our opposition should be based on hysterical responses to policies that we just don't like. Let’s leave that kind of behavior to the liberals who invented it.
Hey, I was on this site in June (June 21st, I think), pushing for a Palin/Jindal or Jindal/Palin ticket.
It’s getting worse; way worse. 0bama is beyond what’s happened at least in my lifetime. The racist angle - the marxist angle - the hiding all his records angle - the asking for a list of prominent Muslims so he can hire them angle - the partiality to terrorists angle - and on and on.
He’s not a regular liberal. And the even more evil men who installed him are not regular either.
And I do not subscribe to anti-Christ eschatology.
And where in the Bible would you point to what is happening in the U.S.?
Beg Pardon???
What Norge? You think Acorn didn't commit massive voter fraud? You think McCain didn't try to lose the election or at least not try very hard to win it? Obama has funded Acorn since he took office through the bailout bill, an organization that is under investigation and has had many members arrested for voter fraud in several states. This sounds like the American way to you? There are many other things this guy has done and wishes to do, how do you feel about his little volunteer/mandatory brownshirt corp he is trying to put together? I think you have your eyes closed to the real danger this guy and the dimwit congress represents, either that or you are a long term troll.
I have absolutely no respect for pansy-a**ed RINO’s and apologists for the actions of 0bama and his ilk.
These are the same types that will find some comfort, some silver lining under just about anyone’s boot.
It’s like some twisted fetish. It has to be. How else does one explain the willful turning of a blind eye to this onslaught?
He’s a socialist. He’s dangerous. He’s going to diminish freedom and prosperity. Socialist’s tend to do that, you know.
That’s ALL I NEED TO KNOW!
He must be stopped!
He must fail!
You apologists can just stay the hell home and moan to yourselves over and over just how frickin’ dandy everything is in Denmark—I’m resisting these people!
I love America!
I love freedom!
I want freedom for my children!
Wake up, you half-conscious, dolts!
Or is this how cowards deal with the stress, inconvenience and potential pain that a vigorous resistance might cause?
You make me sick! You’re belong on the other side. You’re dead weight!
Islamic fascism? What is he talking about? Obama has never come close to entertaining any such concept.
“end time prophecy”
That’s an interesting phrase, isn’t it?
Whose interpretation of end time prophesy do you believe?
End time prophecy is purely speculative. Should Walvoord have proclaimed his speculation to be fact, or should Lindsay or LaHaye, or even before them, M.R. DeHaan or H.A. Ironside, or C.I. Scofield have proclaimed their interpretation of prophesy as fact...they would be talking out of their collective hats.
And if you think you “know” what God’s mind is regarding the end times, you have many other thinks coming.
Bumpity bump bump bump....
Times are serious Mr. Horowitz. We are in survival mode.
My sentiments exactly. Well said.
And there is much, much more...
He’s basically All Bad.
“long term troll”
You gotta be kidding. I must be one of those sleeper cells.
Calex59 since 2004 (but I’ve been here since 2000)
Norge since 1998.
“...you have many other thinks coming.”
Not everyone has their head in the sand.
People are frightened by what they see, and they should be.
That fear expressed by religious people is going to look differently than when someone like me expresses it.
You seem bright enough to gather that much. Give ‘em a break.
Loss of freedom in America is pretty damned close to “end times” as far as I’m concerned. The alternatives sure seem like hell on earth, dude.
Just enjoy your luck that you’re not in front of me, wise guy.
Just enjoy your luck that you’re not in front of me, wise guy.
Well I will thank my lucky stars.
But your rant is far more broad than some old conservative who’s been out on the range for probably a lot longer than you.
What I certainly meant was, now that you have expressed your sentiments regarding this President and this seating of government, what are you prepared to do about it? Posting on Free Republic is one thing, but getting organized in a democratic fashion is another.
I see a lot of anger and irrational thought, but very little sane organization to bring us back to where we need to be.
That was my thought also.
"Obama has flexed the leftist muscle so nakedly and unmistakably that there isn’t a conservative left who will vote Democratic in the next election (and there were many who did so in the last)."
I agree 100%. Checking out the other (dark side) is OVER.
Well, OK, then. I interpreted your last comment a little differently than that.
Don’t you worry, I’m doing my part.
More than most, and vastly more than you, I’m certain of it.
“little sane organization”
It’s there, but how the hell would someone like you know about it?
Then I presume you are interested in at least for the moment, fostering change democratically?
And you have no clue who I am, or what I am doing, or who I have been, or what I have done.
It wasn’t an election, it was a coup. Without ACORN he never would have pulled it off.
BTW, having the Black Panthers blocking the polling places to white voters is not the American way.
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