Posted on 07/25/2008 2:46:59 PM PDT by Clive
An American presidential candidate travels to the very center of Europe and draws a huge cheering crowd. George W. Bush obviously could never do that. Nor could John McCain.
For the many Americans sick to death of eight years of confrontation and quarrelling with friends and allies, Barack Obama’s visit to Berlin presented an exciting and hopeful picture. This is how things should be!
It was a great moment — so long as you viewed it with the sound off.
But if you listened to the speech, you heard an ominous and disturbing statement, one that raises the same unsettling question Hillary Clinton raised: Is this man really capable of meeting the responsibilities of commander-in-chief?
Many commentators have observed that the speech was an unusually poorly written one, filled with weak language and mangled metaphors. Obama at one point announced: “This is the moment when we must defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it.” In my experience, when you try to use a well to support something, that thing tumbles 30 or 40 feet below ground and lands with a splash.
But it’s not just Obama’s language that is soggy. The Berlin speech revealed more starkly than ever the most dangerous weaknesses in Obama’s thinking about the world.
Here he is talking about the early days of the Cold War: “The Soviet shadow had swept across Eastern Europe ….” Here he is discussing current threats to security: “Poorly secured nuclear material in the former Soviet Union, or secrets from a scientist in Pakistan could help build a bomb that detonates in Paris.” Here is his summons to combat terrorism: “If we could create NATO to face down the Soviet Union, we can join in a new and global partnership to dismantle the networks that have struck in Madrid and Amman; in London and Bali; in Washington and New York.”
In all these phrases — and many more — there is always something missing: human beings. It was not a “shadow” that spread across Eastern Europe in 1945. It was an army. Nor is it “materials” and “secrets” that build bombs — it is bomb-makers. It was not “networks” that struck in Madrid and London and the rest. It was terrorists acting in the name of Islam.
Listen now to this:
“If we could win a battle of ideas against the communists, we can stand with the vast majority of Muslims who reject the extremism that leads to hate instead of hope.”
It is alas tragically untrue that the “vast majority” of Muslims reject extremism. By every measure, extremism is accepted by very large numbers within the Muslim-majority world — and by even larger numbers of the Muslim minority in Europe.
Now this:
“In this century — in this city of all cities — we must reject the Cold War mindset of the past, and resolve to work with Russia when we can, to stand up for our values when we must, and to seek a partnership that extends across this entire continent.”
Russia has reverted to authoritarian rule. It uses its oil and gas to muscle its neighbors. The rulers of Russia are almost certainly responsible for the assassination of one of their most effective critics on British soil — and for the murder of dozens of journalists at home. These are facts, not delusions born of some “Cold War mindset.”
Next: “We must support the … Israelis and Palestinians who seek a secure and lasting peace.” Which Palestinians would those be? And what if Israel elects a government that does not believe a “secure and lasting peace” is achievable anytime soon? Does Israel forfeit “support” if it recognizes reality?
Last, consider this: “And despite past differences, this is the moment when the world should support the millions of Iraqis who seek to rebuild their lives, even as we pass responsibility to the Iraqi government and finally bring this war to a close.”
The insurgency in Iraq was launched not by the United States, but by Baathists and al-Qaeda. If that war is coming to an end, it is because the atrocities of the terrorists alienated former supporters — and because the surge of American military power inside Iraq has hunted and harried the terrorists almost to extinction.
Obama’s vague language is the product of an unrealistic mind. He denies the reality of conflict — and flinches from the obligations of self-defense. Obama has risen to power by using a soothing cloud of meaningless words to conceal displeasing truths and avoid difficult choices. His more worldly supporters will quietly whisper that Obama thinks more incisively than his speeches suggest. Let’s hope so. Yet the speech in Berlin should cause us all to wonder: Maybe Obama’s mind really is as foggy as his language.
-
Gore peaked to early, Kerry peaked to early... Will they never learn that lesson? The Obamenation has also provided way to much information too soon giving plenty of time for rebuttal and counter strategery. McCain just quietly plugs along not saying to much... Tactically McCain has the better campaign so far.
Obama’s use of the term “This is the moment” is so lame.
I say the same thing after eating bad mayo and heading for the shi**er. :-)
Ping.
LOL!
The only moment that actually exists is The Obama Moment.
Or is that Movement?
ROFLMAO!!!!
this is the moment....
Could an Obama have commanded the Berlin Wall to come down?
Would have have had the nerve? Would have had a clue what it would take to make that wall come down, and would have had what it takes to go up against the Soviets, and the European mobs, and the Democratic Party to make it come down?
He takes the work of better men than he as a given, whether it be the liberation of East Germany and eastern europe, or the liberation of Iraq and Afghanistan, or the victory of the Surge. He wraps himself in the successes of better men, successes he could not have matched and would have opposed had it been within his power.
Eastern Europe, Iraq, and Afghanistan are free not thanks to men like Obama but in spite of them, over the tops of them, against their every advice and against their will.
No.
The reason they peak too soon is because of the target demographic that they’re playing to: 18-29 year olds.
They select candidates largely based on image. Kerry, Gore, and especially Obama...they’re viewed as the cool, trendy picks. Problem is, fads usually wear thin with this group within about 6 months and then suddenly, out of the blue, that same crowd will start rejecting it. That’s why I believe they always show up in the primaries but are utterly unreliable in November. The ‘new and shiny’ wears off, the fad runs its course and burns out quickly, and by the time the election arrives, many of them simply don’t care anymore.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Great parsing of a pathetic speech.
Rush Limbaugh:"The one phrase they might remember from his speech is, "This is our moment. This is our time. This is our chance" to do whatever. These words were uttered by the front man for U2, Bono, in the July, 2005 Live 8 concert."
Is there any chance U2 could pick him up as a back-up singer for Bono? He should be able to get just as much ego gratification in a retro '80s band.
How is he with a tambourine?
ONE NEWS NOW.com: "OBAMA RADIO AD TARGETS FOCUS ON THE FAMILY" by Jim Brown (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Spokesman Carrie Gordon Earll says Focus on the Family's response to the ad would be Christ's words found in Matthew 7:20, "You will know them by their fruits."") (July 24, 2008, 5:00 am)
18-24s are still growing, emotionally, mentally, with respect to character. What can be seductive one day, can seem shallow a few weeks later. Dems spend a lot of time fine tuning the bait without regard to the demographic as actual, living changing, evolving human beings. It is also largely due to liberals themselves that adolescence extends to people in their mid-twenties.
The style over substance mindset hurts the donks, in the end.
Oh, but it's so "American Idol"!
Bingo. But could we trust Simon and Paula to give it a gong?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.