A Moral Primer [VDH]

National Review ^ | 11/18/2014 | Victor Davis Hanson

[Servant of the Cross]

Obama’s legacy: government-induced chaos at home, moral equivalence abroad.

The last but long gasp of the Obama administration is characterized not so much by deceit and incompetence as by growing chaos. Everything appears to be coming apart. The chariot of state now veers up and down with a terrified Phaethon clueless at the reins. Whether it is ISIS, Ebola, Putin, or Obamacare, the common strain is not simple incompetence, but a maladroitness born of intolerant ideological fundamentalism.

Have our government agencies ever seemed more corrupt or useless or both, staffed by political cronies and leftist zealots? What ever happened to the old IRS, GSA, VA, Secret Service, NSA, NASA, EPA, or Justice Department? All seem now mere appendages to a larger agenda of fundamentally transforming America.

We are mired in the slowest recovery in modern times, alleviated only by recently falling oil prices, which came despite, not because of, the president’s efforts. Fiscal sobriety is now redefined as a $600 billion annual deficit rather than the usual $1 trillion, again brought about by efforts other than Obama’s own. Yet the president has an unfortunate habit of taking credit for the good that he opposed and fobbing off on others responsibility for the bad that he embraced. There is interest in watching Obama’s press conferences, but mostly in appreciating how ingeniously he serially blames others for his own blunders.

Our foreign policy is such a wreck that it makes the mess of the Carter administration seem inspired in comparison.

[Servant of the Cross]

VDH ping ...

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

LOL. I wonder what he really thinks.

Good article. Thanks for posting.

[Servant of the Cross]

That Al Sharpton went from a buffoon to a presidential adviser is a mirror of the age.

[Servant of the Cross]

On America’s worst day it is far preferable to any alternative abroad. Unfortunately, those who are most able to travel overseas are often from the very class that finds it fashionable to caricature their homeland. But it is a major character failing nonetheless.

[Excellence]

Srbfl

[nathanbedford]

Do we detect in Doctor Hansen's well-founded indignation an example of a change in tone across the nation? Pundit after pundit have become more condemnatory of the once irreproachable president. Victor David Hanson himself, of course, has not been guilty of shading his opinions because of the color of Obama's skin but he is speaking now in conclusionary language as though the argument had already been litigated and won with no need to prove up his points.

If that is his mindset, I think he is reading the American mind right. The last election demonstrates that America has finally broken free of the psychic lockbox which the media and Obama's skin color have bound us. The problem concerns the leaders of the Republican Party in Congress, the establishment, who continue to misread the American mind or, more likely, are themselves opposed to repealing Obamacare and stopping amnesty because they have sold out, literally, to big money.

A split between the leadership and the base is a house divided against itself with results that are as easy to predict as they are ugly.

[SMARTY]

Money changed hands of course... there is no other way to explain Al’s transformation.

Al of course remains an irrelevant caricature on the American political landscape....of course with the Kabuki Presidency we have right now, ANYTHING is possible.

[corkoman]

conclusionary language

Yes, and we all seem to be gradually moving to this speaking style. VDH reveals the power of this conclusionary language. Good observation.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

I hope it is a change. It is high time the right stop refusing to articulate a conservative point of view in favor of “bipartisanship,” “compromise,” and “getting along.”

It is refreshing to read someone make a strong, solid case. It overstates nothing. The truth is ugly enough.

[PGalt]

“Have our government agencies ever seemed more corrupt or useless or both, staffed by political cronies and leftist zealots?”

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

http://www.usa.gov/directory/federal/

DEPOPULATE socialists/progressives/marxists/totalitarians/RINOS/republicans/democrats/incumbents/liberals/criminals/liars/POS punks and con men from the body politic.

DEFUND/DISMANTLE their collectives, agencies, departments, ngos, totalitariancare.

http://www.usdebtclock.org

You DID build that CONgre$$

“For every Jonathan Gruber who gouges the taxpayers he disdains…”

Return the loot, schicklgruber…you and the rest of your National Socialists including your co-conspirators in CONgre$$ and the white hut.

Confiscate their assets. Why be their debt slave?

BIG GOVERNMENT IS CRONY SOCIALISM

[bert]

-——maladroitness born of intolerant ideological fundamentalism.——

Hmmm...... that would be phrased differently, the clinging to principle in the face of disaster that will destroy the ability to have principle

The piece is but one of the big guns firing to eliminate the power in the present White House

[The_Victor]

Homerun by VDH as always.

I could only wish sharing part of his name equated with sharing part of his intellect.

[NonValueAdded]

Prayers up for VDH and his family. David Limbaugh tweets that VDH's daughter Susannah passed away suddenly. Susannah Merry Hanson: Obituary.

[CPT Clay]

Why is Jon Corzine still free?

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

How sad. She was a beautiful young lady.

[Servant of the Cross]

Thank you for posting. I had not heard this. How sad for Hanson family. Only the good die young.

[Verginius Rufus]

Very sad news. I have met Prof. Hanson a couple of times briefly but no one else in his family. It looks like she died of leukemia or lymphoma. She was only 27 and died on November 13.

Someone at my church died on November 14 of leukemia, but he was 72. 27 is much too young to die. Children should bury their parents, not parents have to bury their children. She was a kind, gifted, beautiful person. Her death is a loss not only to her family and those who did know her but to all those who would have been enriched by knowing her if she had had a longer life.

[NonValueAdded]

“The sharp knife of a short life”