Posted on 04/06/2009 8:55:07 AM PDT by Borges
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.
Conservatives, please. Let's not duplicate the manias of the left as we figure out how to deal with President Obama. He is not exactly the antichrist, 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, Joseph Stalin and Saddam Hussein. Excuse me while I blow my nose.
This fellow has failed to notice that all politicians are narcissists. 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, a recent president set a pretty high bar in this category, and we survived it. As for Obama's speeches, they are hardly in the Huey Long, Louis 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, George W. Bush and John 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 has 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 the American system 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, 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 antichrist. A good strategy for political conflicts is to understand your opponent first -- not to underestimate him, but not to overestimate him, either.
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.
Neither was Mohammed but they are both antiChrist figures (against Christ) who deliberately lead the flock astray.
David Horowitz is a former 60s radical liberal himself.
That’s nice. Have a good day.
I see their ability to intimidate you into not believing you own lying eyes is working.
You simply cannot in any way draw any equivalence to the "bush hitler" types and Conservatives drawing the conclusion that zer0 is an anti American Marxist.
Learn to have faith in your convictions. A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.
While liberals are on the defensive, certain center-right (national socialists?) corners are on the offense against conservatives.
What is it these Vichy fascistoids cannot figure? Liberals are waging a communist flanking war on America.
We need to calm down only as a matter of strategy, but this is clearly war on the free Americans and not a question of “angry reaction”. Saying we are at war against a clear evil is not an emotion but a fact.
They clearly miscontrue attitude/emotion from reality and project their panic of this reality of a fascist frustrated dunce running the country like a headless chicken onto us.
It’s OK America, you are beautiful... and no we won’t be like silly Michelle making herself proud of the US conditionaly on her getting some free money because of her racial insecurities.
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How can you tell?
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Of course not. He's hoping our enemies will declare war on us.
Ok, former or latter. I was taught that they’re in alphabetical order, so former is the first choice and latter is the second.
Are you saying Obama is more Machiavellian? I think he’s more moron.
I like David, but you have to judge comments from everyone on their own separate individual merits. Just because David is solid on some things, that doesn’t mean he can’t miss by a mile on others.
When folks start to buy into a shaky premise, it does make for an interesting thread.
And yes, I think David’s comments here and some of the reactions to them are truly bizarre.
BTW, yes I’ve been taking a bit of a breather...
Good to see you. Thanks for the post.
Yis massa, whatevas you says. I just stands on the side and keep ma mouth shut, oh yes sah.
Yes, you’re right, and I’m wondering what will run smoothly after this pres__dent is done.
Ummm, you left out his tinkling on our Constitution.
lol
I don’t think he’s the anti-Christ, but if Horowitz doesn’t find the bizarre cult-like following this man has to be cause for alarm, I don’t know what to tell him. Yes, all (or most) politicians are narcissists, but the public doesn’t usually enable that illness.
And no, he’s not Hitler, he’s Salvador Allende.
The author is only begging for the same distorted deviant attentions while pompously not figuring... and yep, he proves he is in Obama’s Marxist camp.
Yeah... what does “the author” know? He’s only been single-handedly taking on the liberalism in academia for nearly 2 decades.
Got that right...
Why the hell do people believe conservatives are up in arms???
Sure, we have our differences with these numbnuts running the show now, and that is well documented...
I seem to recall all sorts of accolades and well wishes from the left when GWB won back in 2000...Yeah, they were all calm, cool and collected...They worked with us real well for those 8 years IIRC...not...
But what do I know...
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