An Alternate History

New York Times ^ | Sept. 2, 2010 | David Brooks

[NohSpinZone]

The Democrats could be heading toward a defeat of historic proportions in November, but it is possible to imagine a scenario in which things might have turned out differently:

[NohSpinZone]

And if my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle. Even the very idea of Obama doing anything sensible is the fantasy. Wishful thinking, libbies.

[The KG9 Kid]

The author's bio in the NY Times:

David Brooks's Op-Ed column in The New York Times started in September 2003. He has been a senior editor at The Weekly Standard, a contributing editor at Newsweek and the Atlantic Monthly, and he is currently a commentator on "The Newshour with Jim Lehrer." He is the author of "Bobos In Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There" and “On Paradise Drive : How We Live Now (And Always Have) in the Future Tense,” both published by Simon & Schuster.

More like:

David Brooks smokes a lot of marijuana and leaves a bunch of crap out in his wild-assed fantasy stories.

[marron]

Clinton “triangulated” and took credit for his defeats and claimed them as victories. The press helped him and went on endlessly about his genius for spin. Dems still see him as one of their great presidents. And Obama is starting to make him look like the “good old days” though ideologically they are not that different.

[pnh102]

It is actually a pretty interesting piece. Too bad it did not happen in real life.

[pallis]

Didn’t Brooks support Obamao after promoting RINO McCain? Why does anyone still listen to these fairy ...tale frauds?

[pabianice]

I enjoy alternate history stories. They are one of my favorite science-fiction genre. “The Man in the High Castle;” “If the South had won the Civil War;” many Harry Turtledove efforts. But that is what they are. Science-fiction. Brooks has long ago gone insane with hatred towards conservatives. Reading him is like reading dispatches from an insane asylum.

[samtheman]

This masturbatory fantasy of a rational Barak Obama spurts from the brain of the Official Conservative of the MSM.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

There will be massive voter fraud. I would not be too optimistic.

[Colonel Blimp]

This is a load of rubbish.

The error in this column is obvious: If Obama did any of the things Brooks outlines, he wouldn’t be Obama. The last thing Obama wants is to empower the middle class.

Brooks would be despicable if he wasn’t such a complete wuss. There’s no way he will ever be able to live down that story where he noted Obozo’s trouser crease approvingly.

[TruthHound]

There’s an alternate universe where right is wrong, up is down, black is white and liberals were given the opportunity to do the right thing but blew it ROYAL.

Unfortunately, that’s the one we live in.

[Kartographer]

The history for the year 2010 hasn’t been written yet and I firmly believe that the major part of that history wil be what happens after the November elections.

have posted this before and I will keep posting it because I know in my heart that I am right about this, to many think that the upcoming November elections are going to reset things and I say that NO matter how bad November is for the Democrats you can expect ‘Zero’ to double down on his agenda. I don’t believe that the November elections will immediately change things as much as so many do.

Even if there is the BIGGEST turnover in history this November the Obama/Pelosi/Reid are such a pack of narcissist that they will come back during the ‘lame duck’ session and pass every far left-wing bill they can think of!They will burn the house down before they surrender it!

Even after the ‘lame’ duck session you will see the the greatest attempt by any President in our history to rule by executive order! ‘Zero’ KNOWS BEST what is good for us and he will act accordingly. No mere election won by a bunch of as he put it: “And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.” To ‘Zero’ such a election will hold no meaning and only be the ‘peasents acting out’ and he knows what is best for those ‘bitter clingers’ and he will do it to save them from themselves!

If anyone thinks that a big loss in November will make one iota of difference in Obama and the ‘Demonrats’ leftist agenda you need to seek professional help immediately, because I assure you that the sounds you will hear coming from them after such a lost will not be the ‘wailing and nashing of teeth’ it will be the notes of El Degüello.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKD5TgHWyxM

IMHO the November elections will NOT provide the immediate relief we think, but will instead bring us to what I call a National ‘Battle of Athens’ moment ( http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tnnews/kns001.htm )A time in which it will require action to secure our vote and save the Republic.

[OneWingedShark]

>”.. we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”

This will probably be the price this generation would have to pay for freedom.

[Kartographer]

”.. we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”

"This will probably be the price this generation would have to pay for freedom."

But what a small price in comparisons to the return.

[Kartographer]

”.. we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”

"This will probably be the price this generation would have to pay for freedom."

But what a small price in comparisons to the return.

[OneWingedShark]

Agreed.
Better to die as men than as the mere cattle that our government treats us as.

[Kartographer]

I can’t help but think of these lines from the movie ‘Open Range’

Mack: “It’s a shame what this town has come to.”
Charley: “You could do something about it.”
Mack: “What? We’re freighters. Ralph here’s a shopkeeper.”
Charley: “You’re men ain’t you?”
Mack: “I didn’t raise my boys just to see them killed.”
Charley: “Well you may not know this, but there’s things that gnaw on a man worse than dying.”

[ReleaseTheHounds]

Maybe Mr. Brooks should contemplate what would have happened to America in 1981, after his landslide victory against the then worst president in at least recent history, if President Reagan had decided that the times demanded that he compromise with the Democrats and forget about his promise of tax-cuts to get America moving again... after all, most “mainstream” economists thought that you needed deficit spending (and not tax-cuts) to get us out of a recession and stagflation. Wouldn’t history have changed dramatically, Mr. Brooks? No 25 million new jobs come into being in the decade following... stifled investments in America’s promising new technologies (the personal computer, telecommunications, biotech, the integrated circuit, etc. etc.). Who needs incentives for capital to get promising technologies off the ground? It will just happen. 70% marginal tax-rates were OK during the 1960’s... Ah, those were the good old days.

[x]

The error in this column is obvious: If Obama did any of the things Brooks outlines, he wouldn’t be Obama. The last thing Obama wants is to empower the middle class.

What error? It's a fantasy. Part of Brooks's fantasy is that Obama was the kind of person who would behave in the way Brooks wanted him to. That was a very common fantasy in 2008 and 2009.

I'm sure you're right that Obama wouldn't have done the things David Brooks outlines, but Obama was an unknown quality for a lot of people when he was elected. People decided what his nature or essence was based on what he did.

You can say now that you knew all along how he'd behave in office, but you say that on the basis of how he did behave. If Obama had acted differently, you'd have to revise your understanding of him.

[ReleaseTheHounds]

If you want to read something scary, just peruse some of these comments from NY Times readers... I must issue a “BARF ALERT!!!”

http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2010/09/03/opinion/03brooks.html

[GreenAccord]

HAHAHAHAHA.... well, you warned me....

Baldski Reno,NV September 3rd, 2010 10:46 am

Have Brooks read Robert Reich's column today. That is the answer to the recession. Income inequality is the root cause of our problems. We need a little socialism like Denmark where the minimum wage is $18/hr.