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The Obama Temptation
National Review Online ^ | 10-25-08 | Mark R. Levin

Posted on 10/25/2008 8:00:09 PM PDT by Petronski

I've been thinking this for a while so I might as well air it here. I honestly never thought we'd see such a thing in our country - not yet anyway - but I sense what's occurring in this election is a recklessness and abandonment of rationality that has preceded the voluntary surrender of liberty and security in other places.

I can't help but observe that even some conservatives are caught in the moment as their attempts at explaining their support for Barack Obama are unpersuasive and even illogical. And the pull appears to be rather strong. Ken Adelman, Doug Kmiec, and others, reach for the usual platitudes in explaining themselves but are utterly incoherent. Even non-conservatives with significant public policy and real world experiences, such as Colin Powell and Charles Fried, find Obama alluring but can't explain themselves in an intelligent way.

There is a cult-like atmosphere around Barack Obama, which his campaign has carefully and successfully fabricated, which concerns me.

● The messiah complex.
● Fainting audience members at rallies.
● Special Obama flags and an Obama presidential seal.
● A graphic with the portrayal of the globe and Obama's name on it, which adorns everything from Obama's plane to his street literature.
● Young school children singing songs praising Obama.
● Teenagers wearing camouflage outfits and marching in military order chanting Obama's name and the professions he is going to open to them.
● An Obama world tour, culminating in a speech in Berlin where Obama proclaims we are all citizens of the world.
I dare say, this is ominous stuff.

Even the media are drawn to the allure that is Obama. Yes, the media are liberal. Even so, it is obvious that this election is different. The media are open and brazen in their attempts to influence the outcome of this election. I've never seen anything like it.

Virtually all evidence of Obama's past influences and radicalism — from Jeremiah Wright to William Ayers — have been raised by non-traditional news sources. The media's role has been to ignore it as long as possible, then mention it if they must, and finally dismiss it and those who raise it in the first place.

It's as if the media use the Obama campaign's talking points — its preposterous assertions that Obama didn't hear Wright from the pulpit railing about black liberation, whites, Jews, etc., that Obama had no idea Ayers was a domestic terrorist despite their close political, social, and working relationship, etc. — to protect Obama from legitimate and routine scrutiny.

And because journalists have also become commentators, it is hard to miss their almost uniform admiration for Obama and excitement about an Obama presidency. So in the tank are the media for Obama that for months we've read news stories and opinion pieces insisting that if Obama is not elected president it will be due to white racism. And, of course, while experience is crucial in assessing Sarah Palin's qualifications for vice president, no such standard is applied to Obama's qualifications for president. (No longer is it acceptable to minimize the work of a community organizer.) Charles Gibson and Katie Couric sought to humiliate Palin. They would never and have never tried such an approach with Obama.

But beyond the elites and the media, my greatest concern is whether this election will show a majority of the voters susceptible to the appeal of a charismatic demagogue. This may seem a harsh term to some, and no doubt will to Obama supporters, but it is a perfectly appropriate characterization.

Obama's entire campaign is built on class warfare and human envy. The "change" he peddles is not new. We've seen it before. It is change that diminishes individual liberty for the soft authoritarianism of socialism. It is a populist appeal that disguises government mandated wealth redistribution as tax cuts for the middle class, falsely blames capitalism for the social policies and government corruption (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) that led to the current turmoil in our financial markets, fuels contempt for commerce and trade by stigmatizing those who run successful small and large businesses, and exploits human imperfection as a justification for a massive expansion of centralized government.

Obama's appeal to the middle class is an appeal to the "the proletariat," as an infamous philosopher once described it, about which a mythology has been created. Rather than pursue the American Dream, he insists that the American Dream has arbitrary limits, limits Obama would set for the rest of us — today it's $250,000 for businesses and even less for individuals. If the individual dares to succeed beyond the limits set by Obama, he is punished for he's now officially "rich."

The value of his physical and intellectual labor must be confiscated in greater amounts for the good of the proletariat (the middle class). And so it is that the middle class, the birth-child of capitalism, is both celebrated and enslaved — for its own good and the greater good. The "hope" Obama represents, therefore, is not hope at all. It is the misery of his utopianism imposed on the individual.

Unlike past Democrat presidential candidates, Obama is a hardened ideologue. He's not interested in playing around the edges. He seeks "fundamental change," i.e., to remake society. And if the Democrats control Congress with super-majorities led by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, he will get much of what he demands. The question is whether enough Americans understand what's at stake in this election and, if they do, whether they care.

Is the allure of a charismatic demagogue so strong that the usually sober American people are willing to risk an Obama presidency? After all, it ensnared Adelman, Kmiec, Powell, Fried, and numerous others. And while America will certainly survive, it will do so, in many respects, as a different place.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2008; antiamericanleft; antichrist; barackobama; cult; democrats; election; electionpresident; elections; frg; marklevin; marxism; obamamessiah; socialism
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Comment #21 Removed by Moderator

To: TitansAFC; meandog; onyx; MARTIAL MONK; GulfBreeze; Kuksool; freespirited; Salvation; furquhart; ...
The McCain List.

Courtesy ping!

22 posted on 10/25/2008 8:29:38 PM PDT by Norman Bates (Freepmail me to be part of the McCain List!)
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To: Petronski

I want to keep my house and my job if possible. The chances of that are far better if McCain wins. I’ve already lost $60,000 in retirement savings in the last year, at least half of that due to the Democrat Congress’s stock market crash. I don’t have the latitude for Socialistic foolishness and incompetence and a likely economic depression that people on the dole and rich idiots do.


23 posted on 10/25/2008 8:40:06 PM PDT by Post Toasties (It's not a smear if it's true.)
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To: Petronski

TGO bump


24 posted on 10/25/2008 8:41:56 PM PDT by Christian4Bush (I trust the judgment of somebody tortured by communists far more than one educated by them.)
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To: cgk

Thanks for the ping.
Mark really bottom lines what we are in the middle of
with Obama.
Can remember elections back to Ike and no other election like this.

As Mark said, this is a cult.
Until election day, it is like waiting for the other shoe to drop.


25 posted on 10/25/2008 8:43:48 PM PDT by SoCalPol (McCain / Palin 08 The Only Choice)
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To: Petronski

“But beyond the elites and the media, my greatest concern is whether this election will show a majority of the voters susceptible to the appeal of a charismatic demagogue.”

This, I believe, is what everyone is wondering about. Most of us don’t believe the polls—not for a minute. Yet we see the crowds at 0bama’s rallys and we wonder, “What on earth? Are these people living in the same country as I am?” And then it strikes us...Maybe...just maybe...we are witnessing the wresting away of a nation by a great swell of socialistic rhetoric, all given the power of a steamroller by a complicit media. And we wonder if, when we all wake up on November 5th, will we still be living in our country—or some other?


26 posted on 10/25/2008 8:55:59 PM PDT by MarDav
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To: Petronski
Oh, sweet Lord, help us.

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

2Chronicles 7:14

27 posted on 10/25/2008 9:00:49 PM PDT by Shelayne (Pray without ceasing. Pray the Lord's Hand in our election process.)
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To: Petronski

Excellent column. Thanks for posting.


28 posted on 10/25/2008 9:19:17 PM PDT by Entrepreneur (The environmental movement is filled with watermelons - green on the outside, red on the inside)
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To: aroostook war

Another great one from the prophetic Ray Davies!

I urge all to enjoy and share this link:

http://www.actionext.com/names_t/the_kinks_lyrics/black_messiah.html


29 posted on 10/25/2008 9:19:50 PM PDT by Finatic (this species has amused itself to death)
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To: Petronski
PhotobucketPhotobucket

30 posted on 10/25/2008 9:28:30 PM PDT by martin_fierro (I Am Joe)
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To: MarDav
...we are witnessing the wresting away of a nation by a great swell of socialistic rhetoric...

You cannot ignore the fact that black racism adds significantly to the general swing to socialism. We'll see 98% of blacks voting for the half-black candidate rather than the usual 90% voting for the democrat candidate. Combine the black bloc voting for race regardless of their candidate's vitriolic antidemocratic beliefs with the leftist bloc that votes for socialism with the soon-to-be 50% of workers who pay zero income tax with the abortion absolutists who would kill fourth trimester babies and we have a true nightmare scenario.

31 posted on 10/25/2008 9:29:50 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: Finatic

Or listen!

(one UNDER-RATED band!!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRdsI0FLPDY


32 posted on 10/25/2008 9:56:19 PM PDT by aroostook war
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To: Dilbert San Diego
...these huge rallies remind me of Hitler’s rallies of the mindless faithful.

Yes they do!

33 posted on 10/25/2008 9:56:20 PM PDT by jan in Colorado (For Barack Hussein Obama TRUTH FILE see my homepage!)
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No Republican now or in the future must offer any position to Mr. Weld and others who have endorsed Mr. Obama. What good are these endorsements against one’s own kind? It just smacks of opportunism. If you cannot bring yourself to support Mr. McCain just stay quiet. You will have your chance after the election. Please learn to love your own party. In any case, now is not the time to sleep with the opposition.
34 posted on 10/25/2008 10:05:40 PM PDT by godlandusa (God Bless McCain)
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To: Petronski; Fred Nerks; george76; LucyT; Issaquahking; Just A Nobody; seekthetruth; mtngrandpa; ...
I honestly never thought we'd see such a thing in our country - not yet anyway - but I sense what's occurring in this election is a recklessness and abandonment of rationality that has preceded the voluntary surrender of liberty and security in other places.

Great article, thanks for posting!

35 posted on 10/25/2008 10:14:13 PM PDT by jan in Colorado (For Barack Hussein Obama TRUTH FILE see my homepage!)
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To: utahagen
I suspect that Doug Kmiec expects something in return for backing Obama.

Soon after Kmiec started talking (and making zero sense), I concluded that he is angling for a judgeship.

If it's not that, I would suspect he has a brain tumor.

36 posted on 10/25/2008 10:27:16 PM PDT by freespirited ( We have met the enemy, and he is the MSM.)
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To: jan in Colorado

Not so fast, obama - there are Dems who are onto you:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2115388/posts?page=78#78

http://www.democrats-against-obama.org/

Obama avoids association with military or police
Jason Kern, Michigan State Police


37 posted on 10/25/2008 10:27:38 PM PDT by Fred Nerks
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To: Petronski; Calpernia; Kevmo; Fred Nerks; null and void; pissant; george76; Polarik; PhilDragoo; ...

Thanks Jan in Colorado.

Ping.


38 posted on 10/25/2008 10:40:38 PM PDT by LucyT
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To: jan in Colorado
Thanks for the ping.

...voluntary surrender of liberty and security in other places.

I surrendered nothing voluntarily. The government took my liberty and freedom and I'm told I have "no standing" to complain.

39 posted on 10/25/2008 10:43:23 PM PDT by Just A Nobody (PISSANT for President '08 - NEVER AGAIN...Support our Troops! Beware the ENEMEDIA)
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To: Petronski

This could change anyone’s mind. It has to do with his association with Ayers leader of The Weatherman. Does he have the same mindset of his Weatherman friends? Listen to this youtube by an FBI infiltrator if want to get a cold, cold chill.
http://confederateyankee.mu.nu/archives/276377.php


40 posted on 10/25/2008 10:43:44 PM PDT by Bellflower (A Brand New Day Is Coming!)
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