Posted on 07/25/2008 6:55:36 AM PDT by milwguy
Radical optimism is America’s contribution to the world. The early settlers thought America’s founding would bring God’s kingdom to earth. John Adams thought America would emancipate “the slavish part of mankind all over the earth.” Woodrow Wilson and George W. Bush preached their own gospels of world democracy.
The great illusion of the 1990s was that we were entering an era of global convergence in which politics and power didn’t matter. What Obama offered in Berlin flowed right out of this mind-set. This was the end of history on acid.
Since then, autocracies have arisen, the competition for resources has grown fiercer, Russia has clamped down, Iran is on the march. It will take politics and power to address these challenges, the two factors that dare not speak their name in Obama’s lofty peroration.
The odd thing is that Obama doesn’t really think this way. When he gets down to specific cases, he can be hard-headed. Last year, he spoke about his affinity for Reinhold Niebuhr, and their shared awareness that history is tragic and ironic and every political choice is tainted in some way.
But he has grown accustomed to putting on this sort of saccharine show for the rock concert masses, and in Berlin his act jumped the shark. His words drift far from reality, and not only when talking about the Senate Banking Committee. His Berlin Victory Column treacle would have made Niebuhr sick to his stomach.
Obama has benefited from a week of good images. But substantively, optimism without reality isn’t eloquence. It’s just Disney.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Ouch, that is going to leave a mark. The Messiah is like a Disney character, Goofy comes to mine.
During the 1930s, Niebuhr was a prominent leader of the militant faction of the Socialist Party of America.
This is quite a surprise and very good news.
LOL...I’m not sure that that’s not a cut to Goofy!
“in Berlin his act jumped the shark.”
This a MUST read!!
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/gerard_baker/article4392846.ece
your link under the headline says Wash.post
sorry, I made a mistake, it was in NY TIMes. Either way I get extra pleasure seeing a liberal paper print anything trashing the Chosen One.
LoL. That’s great
A pig just flew by my window.
“his act”? Gotta love it! McCain must be having a chuckle or two.
This is an opinion piece by the NYT’s token conservative, David Brooks (who’s no more conservative in fact, than John McCain). It hardly reflects the position of the NYT’s editorial board.
Brooks can be very good- but he often wanders so far from conservative principles that it’s hard to respect his thinking.
Goofy? More like Ber Bear.
“McCain must be having a chuckle or two.”
Got that right! All McCain has to do is sit back, keep his mouth shut and let The Obmanation (along with his willing accomplices in the MSM) self-destruct. I just hope the GOP and the McCain campaign has enough tape (or whatever they use now) to get all of this recorded for future use!
Obama makes my skin crawl.
The world wasn't "one". The Cold War was fought hard...that's why the wall fell.
Paul Krugman is off today.
Best part of the whole article.
* Speeches in stadiums filled with mesmerized, adoring audiences - Check
* An uninspiring background before meteoric rise - Check
* Creates his own new symbols of power - Check
* Associates with racists, hatemongers and violent radicals - Check
* A propaganda machine willing to show him only in the best possible light - Check
* Uses, “glorious leader” style Agitprop posters common in totalitarian nations - Check (see German
campaign poster for example)
* Wants Secret Police force - Check
* Somebody powerful people think they can control - Check
* Often dismissed as a light-weight by his opponents - Check
* Seeks to replace God with the State - Check
* People adopting his name as their own - Check
* Inspires adoration art - Check
* Appropriates symbols of past German glory - Check
* Never plans on giving up power - Check (Obama to be president for the next “eight to 10 years”)
* A narcissistic megalomaniac - Check
* Brazenly Takes credit for other people’s accomplishments - Check
* Wants to build “youth” movement through State service - Check
* Acts as if in power before he is - Check
* Some followers believe him to be divine - Check
* Worshiped and aided greatly by the media - Check
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” — Santayana
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