Posted on 03/20/2010 12:13:53 PM PDT by jazusamo
After his 1851 coup d’état, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, nephew of the real Napoleon, pronounced himself Napoleon III. It was the rise to power of this great-man-wannabe that prompted the famous opening of Karl Marx’s Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis-Bonaparte: “Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.”
The decade of the 1960s—the first appearance in full flower of modern American liberalism—was in many respects a tragedy. It was certainly a tragedy for American liberalism, which liberated itself from its previous (at least partial) mooring in common sense and the American tradition. It was to some degree also a tragedy for America. It took conservative politicians and policies decades to undo the damage of Great Society hubris, post-Vietnam weakness, and ’60s cultural foolishness. Much wreckage still remains.
Now we have the second appearance of ’60s liberalism in the policies and personages of the Obama administration. Marx noted that in the France of his time, “only the ghost of the old revolution circulated,” producing an “adventurer” who claimed to be heir to the great Napoleon, but who was “only a caricature of the old Napoleon.” Similarly, in the America of our time, we have a ghostly version of the liberalism of the 1960s, led by a man who is only a caricature of the vigorous if often mistaken liberals who once sought to reshape the nation.
The farcical nature of today’s liberalism was on display in last week’s three-ring Washington circus. In the central ring, we saw the dramatic unveiling of Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Harry Reid’s health care legislation, replete with special deals, squirrelly accounting, not-so-well-hidden payoffs, and attempts to evade the normal practices of democratic governance. In a side ring, we were able to view the embarrassing testimony of Attorney General Eric Holder before a House subcommittee, where he made clear how little serious thought he has given to what is required to keep America safe from our enemies. In the other side ring, we were able to see the near-hysterical condemnation by American officials, from Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on down, of a simple announcement of a permit for house-building in Jewish Jerusalem by the Israeli government.
What a scene! What a farce! Republican candidates running for office in 2010 should save the news clips from last week to remind themselves of their campaign platform: They need only promise to stand up against the fatal conceit of big-government liberalism, the fatal complacency of civil-libertarian legalism, and the fatal perversity of coddling our enemies and beating up our friends.
And presiding over this three-ring circus of liberal incompetence was President Barack Obama, who stands in relation to the towering and tragic figure of Lyndon Johnson as Napoleon III did to the real Napoleon. Have we had in modern times a president who was so out of his depth?
Which points to a problem. America in 2010 isn’t France in 1852. The world could survive farcical misgovernment in Paris in the mid-19th century—though in fact Napoleon III’s weakness and foolishness invited the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, which in turn could be said to have set in course the events that led to World War I. But in the America of 2010, won’t farcical misgovernment do real damage to the country and to the world? Could the circus acts end in tragedy?
They could. But, fortunately, here in America, we have an opposition party and an engaged public. Together, for the next few months, they can help push the administration towards more responsible—or at least less damaging—public policies. The Republican party will then gain seats in November, and will be able to do more to prevent further damage—and lay the groundwork not just for a return to the pre-Obama status quo in 2013 but for a vigorous conservative reform agenda.
If the nation can survive the next three years without too much damage, we have a great opportunity. As Marx wrote at the conclusion of his polemic, “when the imperial mantle finally falls on the shoulders of Louis Bonaparte, the bronze statue of Napoleon will come crashing down from the top of the Vendôme Column.” The failed experiment of Obamaism could similarly allow us to topple the statue of contemporary liberalism from our public square, and rebuild American politics and public policy on firmer foundations.
Or, we could fail to rise to the occasion. A statue of Napoleon still stands atop the Vendôme Column.
I imagine the irony was purposeful.
I feel the same pain and the same excitement that Kristol does. Will we be able to finally put our money where our mouth is? Will we say, Yes, the Founding Fathers were right and set out to prove it.
Republicans and Tea Parties unite. Throw out statist and lie-bertarian dead weight and get down to business.
Yes, I agree. Sort of like a commie exposing a commie. There is some humor there.
Kristol’s supposition is based on the idea that Obama is not the ideolog that he is. If he wins they will apply their tactics towards other concepts of change they have in store for this country.
If Obama loses this, and the House turns over, it is my belief Obama resigns. My reading of Obama is that he is that inflexable, and his followers organized by ilk minded profs on college campuses will plague the party for a comeback 2014.
Where socialism exists democracy (and voices of opposition to it) doesn’t.
Interesting thought, I certainly hope we get to see if he does that. I’d be like killing two turkeys with one stone!
Oh PLEASE.....Bammy will NEVER RESIGN....NEVER!
I have had that impression since he began this obsession. Hence my tagline.
I do believe that he will hang on until after the November elections, and, as you've stated, when the House turns over, he will resign.
I have had a good take on this man, and he is living out my instincts on him.
0bamacare is exactly that: All About Him. This has become evident since the fall.
This is a man who hopped on a plane to save the Olympics for Chicago, then went to Copenhagen again for facetime to promote another fantasy.
The fact that he would abrogate his duties as Head of State to Agitate like a Community Organizer, shows how little he understands his role.
When it becomes apparent to him that he will no longer have Pelosi as his pit bull, and will have to do the real job of political compromise and leadership, he will pass, as it is too much work for this lazy man.
So you think the community organizer will take his basketball and his “glistening pecs” and go home? I hope he remembers to take Michelle with him.
Cold title!
I agree that Obama will likely resign if his healthcare plot crashes and the Dems get wiped out in November.
Why would the man-child stick around in the job when there will be clearly no more fun to be had for the next three years?
Indeed. If this leftist apotheosis of his (the culmination of a hundred years-old dream of progressivism) crashes and burns, the dems may well turn on him and Pelosi. They’ve been used like a dishrag, like cannon fodder, and after this weekend the kamikaze adrenaline buzz will wear off and realization will sink in with a vengeance.Unseat Pelosi and impeach Obama. They just might defenestrate Obama in a desperate bid to save themselves from the coming electoral gotterdamerung.
Could any one of us have imagined a year ago, the unbelievable nose-thumbing and open contempt of the American people and our constitution that we have seen in recent months by this regime and it’s minions?
NO.
And yet those of us on FREE REPUBLIC had the inside scoop on him, yet I am still astounded at his audacity.
He is a True Believer, the scariest kind to have in power.
His handlers will provide him another forum.
Remember, this is a man in love with his own voice.
Right now, he is working to pay off his union backers, hence Andy Stern, the head of SEIU, is the most frequent visitor at the White House.
The other debt he owes is to his Middle Eastern Muslim backers.
That's the cause of his outreach to the Muslim world, his NASA initiative, his appointment of an envoy to the Muslim world, his appointment of Muslims to high positions in his administration.
He is manipulating the situation in Israel to that nation's detriment.
I wish he would go home and play basketball, but when he leaves office he takes many high security secrets with him, which will be of benefit to his foreign sponsors.
Time for unhappinessgrl ! Cause its all mute now, what he’s gonna do is move on cap n trade. and immigration and pull the same stuff. But if he lost this and there were some true liberals left in the democrat party it would not have carried .
He is feeling his oats now, and will move on to pay back the next constituencey that elected him: Hispanics.
An Amnesty could take years to implement, but the immediate effect will be a run for the Border, as that happened 20 years ago.
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