Redefining Sarah Palin

American Thinker ^ | 9-28-09 | James Lewis

[smoothsailing]

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September 28, 2009

Redefining Sarah Palin

By James Lewis

As President Obama fumbled badly at the UN and G-8 last week, Sarah Palin began redefining herself as presidential timber.

When seasoned chess watchers see a game in progress, they can often pinpoint a critical moment when the players go from maneuvering for position, to a fast end-game of kill or be killed. In the shadow battle between Obama and Ahmadinejad I believe we just saw the transition to the end game at the United Nations. Obama skeptics (as opposed to his media butt-kissers) came to pretty much the same judgment: His UN performance was "sophomoric." Obama looked like dead meat talking to all the vultures who roost and caw on the craggy peaks of world politics. Sarkozy openly ridiculed him, and Obama didn't even notice. His nose got in the way.

In the US battle with Ahmadinejad, the most dangerous maniac in the world, we can now see the likely winner. Obama has foolishly put himself into a position of unprecedented weakness, where he can no longer stop Ahmadinejad's systematic march to nuclear weapons. For the first time in history, nukes will be in the hands of a fanatical Armageddon regime that is determined to use them.  In such a contest it is will power that matters.

When asked what a Muslim should want most in this world, Ahmadinejad is reported to have said, "To kill or be killed." That leaves Barack H. Obama back in Hawaii showing off his aloha to all the girls on Waikiki beach. The Israelis can be as aggressive as the mullahs when their survival is at stake, as Netanyahu made clear at the UN. It is only the Americans and Europeans who cannot cope with reality at this critical juncture in history. They are just dithering, and Obama is now the Ditherer-in-Chief.

In his strategic challenge to the world's lone superpower Ahmadinejad is now set to checkmate the United States, and I do not see how Obama can escape the trap that is even now opening up for his feet. He will either be defeated in 2012, as the American people panic at our helplessness in the face of a suicidal nuclear enemy, or as an outside chance, he may be rescued by some unforeseeable miracle; perhaps the Israelis will decapitate the Tehran regime, perhaps Moussavi will overthrow the mullahcracy, or perhaps Obama will flip from his submissive Jimmy Carter Crouch to a ferocious  Ronald Reagan posture; anything is possible, but those options look less and less likely. If war comes, it will be Israel or the mullahs who will make the first move. The United States has resigned as the lone superpower, and can only react to events as they spin out of our control.

That is why I believe that Sarah Palin just gave her first presidential address in Hong Kong, just as Obama gave his first big speech in 2004, four years before he beat Hillary Clinton. Political odds-makers must have noticed that Obama's speech in 2004 made him a strong favorite to win in 2008 -- in spite of his amazing lack of readiness for the presidency, which we can now see playing out in every stumbling move he makes. Given another eight years of seasoning Obama might have made a skilled presidential player, but he won election prematurely, as he himself told the press two years ago. He simply was not ready. He was right about that, but he could not stop himself from seizing the big moment.

So we are seeing a president who is way over his head. Obama has great political talent, but not nearly as great as his overweening pride. So he keeps over-reaching, and there is a good chance that we will see him hit the first massive brick wall in his health-care power-grab in the coming weeks. The Democrats may pass a symbolic medical package to save face for Obama --- but then watch American seniors turn out in the tens of millions next year to throw the bums out of the House and part of the Senate. Seniors see their Medicare being stolen from them and they are not going to forget that by election time 2010. 

Obama seems to be incapable of controlling his own egomania, and that means further humiliations in the years ahead. Remember that Bill Clinton looked unbeatable in 1992 and was impeached by a Republican House in 1998. No president since Richard Nixon has been brought lower than Clinton was ten years ago. Today we may be seeing Obama at the very peak of his ballistic orbit, and just beginning to curve down.

But you can't beat a strong candidate with a weak one, and the GOP notoriously nominates some real duds. Palin has scared the Left into mass hysteria  because of her star quality on the campaign trail with a visibly creaking John McCain. Sarah Palin is our only charismatic leader at this profoundly dangerous time. That is why her actions are so important to the fate of the GOP, and to the future of this country and the world. Her use of Facebook to make public policy statements has been both effective and smart. Palin is using the web just as Reagan used radio and TV, to get around the murderous filter of the media.

Sarah Palin gave an extraordinarily well-crafted speech in Hong Kong, a real Reagan speech. It almost sounds as if Henry Kissinger is advising her.

"I am a Commonsense Conservative ...

"Two weeks ago, America commemorated the 8th anniversary of the savagery of September 11, 2001. The vicious terrorist attacks of that day made clear that what happened in lands far distant from American shores directly affect our security. We came to learn, if we did not know before, that there were violent fanatics who sought not just to kill innocents, but to end our way of life."

"Their attacks have not been limited to the United States. They attacked targets in Europe, North Africa and throughout the Middle East. Here in Asia, they killed more than 200 in a single attack in Bali. They bombed the Marriott Hotel and the Australian Embassy in Jakarta. Last year in Mumbai, more than 170 were killed in coordinated attacks in the heart of India's financial capital. In this struggle with radical Islamic extremists, no part of the world is safe from those who bomb, maim and kill in the service of their twisted vision."

"This war -- and that is what it is, a war -- is not, as some have said, a clash of civilizations. We are not at war with Islam. This is a war within Islam, where a small minority of violent killers seeks to impose their view on the vast majority of Muslims who want the same things all of us want: economic opportunity, education, and the chance to build a better life for themselves and their families."

"The reality is that al Qaeda and its affiliates have killed scores of innocent Muslim men, women and children. The reality is that Muslims from Algeria, Indonesia, Iraq, Afghanistan and many other countries are fighting al Qaeda and their allies today. But this will be a long war, and it will require far more than just military power to prevail. Just as we did in the Cold War, we will need to use all the tools at our disposal -- hard and soft power. Economic development, public diplomacy, educational exchanges, and foreign assistance will be just as important as the instruments of military power."

"During the election campaign in the U.S. last year, you might have noticed we had some differences over Iraq. John McCain and I believed in the strength of the surge strategy -- because of its success, Iraq is no longer the central front in the war on terrorism. Afghanistan is. Afghanistan is where the 9/11 attacks were planned and if we are not successful in Afghanistan, al Qaeda will once again find safe haven there."

"As a candidate and in office, President Obama called Afghanistan the "necessary war" and pledged to provide the resources needed to prevail. However, prominent voices in the Democratic Party are opposing the additional U.S. ground forces that are clearly needed. Speaker of the House Pelosi, Defense Subcommittee Chairman Murtha, the Senate Armed Services Committee Chair, and many others, recently expressed doubts about sending additional forces! President Obama will face a decision soon when the U.S. Commander in Afghanistan requests additional forces to implement his new counterinsurgency strategy."

It's well worth reading the whole thing. Palin showed Reagan's classic simplicity and directness, and like the Gipper's best talks, she went straight to the heart of today's political battle. Unlike Mitt Romney, who is extremely sharp but much too stiff and patrician, Palin is an American  conservative in the classic mold, a populist in her natural style, but extremely bright, thoughtful, and increasingly sophisticated. Foreign policy speeches should have careful phrasing and nuances, and then hit a few big ones out of the ballpark.  This one was a winner.

Palin spoke in Hong Kong, the most cosmopolitan city in China. By addressing China in both a fair and a tough-minded way she is likely to make a favorable impression. I would think that the Chinese and Japanese are more impressed by clarity and honesty than by flattery and evasions. So you can be sure it is being read all over Asia.

Since the election campaign, it seems that Sarah Palin recruited a top-notch team of advisors and political talent. The Hong Kong speech goes straight to her alleged weakness in foreign affairs, and it is a very good first step toward re-making her media image to be more substantive. The truth is that most of our media heads would not recognize foreign policy substance if it hit them right between the eyes. But they know the image of substance, and the Hong Kong speech was good on both appearance and reality. She demonstrated "gravitas" -- in the pop slogan of the early Bush years. We need more of the same, but she has now shown convincingly that she can do it.

Obama is in for real competition in 2012; since world peace and our national well-being are clearly at stake, the more strong conservatives emerge, the better off we will be. Obama is the very worst president for these times. It is important to defeat him in a fair fight. Palin can do it; so can some others, but she is exceptionally talented.

Page Printed from: http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/09/redefining_sarah_palin_1.html at September 28, 2009 - 01:54:59 AM EDT

[The Wizard]

Madame President.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

PING!

[SolidWood]

Once they get a working bomb, they will use it.

Nope. They need nukes as insurance and blackmail. With nukes they try to raise the price of oil, get control of the entire region and wage a non-nuclear war against Israel via Hezbullah and Hamas missiles. Israel's deterrence of nukes will be made up with with their nukes. And most importantly the mullah regime will have an insurance against any attempt to topple the regime or destabilize it.

Their goal is making the "islamic republic" dominant and unassailable in the region.

Their apocalyptic rethoric is bluster and propaganda. They are evil, not suicidal. If they launch a nuke "once they get it", it will be retributed by Israel and the West at once. Ahmadinejad may be a nutty apokalyptical crazy, but he is not calling the shots.

[Ronin]

Disagree. Fanatics are not predictable.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

Their apocalyptic rethoric is bluster and propaganda.

You are wrong. This is why Iran is so dangerous and why secular Westerners can't see the danger.

To many people in the West, that whole religion thing is just... nonsense, and no one really, I mean REALLY, believes in it. So they must be using it as a means of propaganda. And since they don't really believe in their religion, it's not dangerous.

But consider if they do. How dangerous is even one nuclear bomb in the hands of a group that beleive that if they destroy Tel Aviv then their god will send his angels to help them wipe out the rest of their enemies once and for all and establish them as the rulers of the world?

[GBA]

Sarah Palin is our only charismatic leader at this profoundly dangerous time. That is why her actions are so important to the fate of the GOP, and to the future of this country and the world.

All things happen for a reason, they say. We would be so much better off right now if Sarah Palin was in the White House, but like with obama, she wouldn't be ready nor would the country be ready for her, a potentially Reagan-esque conservative savior.

Sad to say it, but the country first needs real pain to understand and only statist demonrats and their rino brethren can teach us what real pain looks and feels like. Just like after four years of Carter, we'll be more than ready for common sense by 2012.

Go Sarah!! I hope she wasn't too tainted by running with McCain, but she is showing that she is NOT like McCain.

[Balding_Eagle]

It isn’t weakness of our President that puts us at such risk, it is the fact that he doesn’t have America’s best interests at heart.

Say whatever you will about Palin’s inexperience, or even call her naive, but you can never call her un-American. Obama is.

[MortMan]

Iran is the first nuclear nation who believes, with all of their collective heart, that they are destined to wipe another country off of the face of the Earth.

Not simply to defeat, but to annihilate.

If that difference doesn’t strike home, I suppose one must not be paying attention.

[Campion]

I mean, Mao had nukes and he Ahmadinejad has nothing on him

Mao was not a religious fanatic who believed he could bring forth a promised "12th Imam" by causing as much mayhem as possible. Mao also did not have a foreign enemy whom he was willing to sacrifice his own country to defeat.

That's why MAD worked against communists: they were materialists who valued their own hind-ends above all else.

The "Twelver Shias" who run Iran are not; they're motivated by a 6th century cultic religion that teaches them to die for their god.

Imagine Imperial Japan with nuclear missiles and you're getting closer to what we're facing in Iran.

[Red Boots]

The combination of a weak U.S. President with growing ambitions and power elsewhere is what makes the situation perilous.

There is going to be such a war...

[smoothsailing]

Excellent post, Phil!

She finishes with a statement from her essence, speaking of when America comes roaring back to life, and "why shouldn't we; we're Americans".

It is that unshakable optimism and heartfelt belief in American Exceptionalism that sets her apart from other wouldbe "leaders". It's an inate quality that hasn't been expressed so unequivically since Ronald Reagan first came on the scene.

[smoothsailing]

The Pope took a couple of days off to visit the rugged mountains of Alaska for some sightseeing. He was cruising along the campground in the Pope Mobile when there was a frantic commotion just at the edge of the woods.

A helpless Democrat, wearing sandals, shorts, an 'Obama' cap and a 'Save the Trees' t-shirt, was screaming while struggling frantically and thrashing around trying to free himself from the grasp of a 10-foot grizzly.

As the Pope watched in horror, a group of Republican loggers with 'Go Sarah' t-Shirts came racing up. One quickly fired a .44 magnum into the bear's chest. The other two reached up and pulled the bleeding, semiconscious Democrat from the bear's grasp. Then using long clubs, the three loggers finished off the bear and two of them threw it onto the bed of their truck while the other tenderly placed the injured Democrat in the back seat.

As they prepared to leave, the Pope summoned them to come over. 'I give you my blessing for your brave actions!' he told them. 'I have heard there was a bitter hatred between Republican loggers and Democratic environmental activists, but now I've seen with my own eyes that this is not true.'

As the Pope drove off, one logger asked his buddies, 'Who was that guy?'

'It was the Pope,' another replied. 'He's in direct contact with Heaven and has access to all wisdom.'

'Well,' the logger said, 'he may have access to all wisdom, but he doesn't know squat about bear hunting! By the way, is the bait still alive, or do we need to go back to Massachusetts and get another one?

[PhilDragoo]

Yes, and that quality was not lost on Michael Reagan.

Welcome Back, Dad By Michael Reagan

[PhilDragoo]

Excellent story.

Also on that visit the Pope fell from the Alaskan tour boat then had Sarah Palin dive into the frigid waters to pull him to safety from the jagged ice floes--

--only to have Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric bemoan her glaring inability to walk on water.

[hattend]

bttt

[SunkenCiv]

As President Obama fumbled badly at the UN and G-8 last week, Sarah Palin began redefining herself as presidential timber.

[neverdem]

Thanks for the links. BTTT!

[Ole Okie]

The amiable dunce is back, wearing a skirt and high heels.

Yessir. Old Ronald Reagan, the first amiable dunce, had a way of explaining things.

On how to proceed in the Cold War, he said: "We win, they lose".

The current dunce in the White House doesn't even know what "Win" means.

I think the lady in high heels has more potential than anyone else on the horizon.

[norge]

“We win, they lose”.

Ain’t that good?