All Things To All Men 2
The Associated Press says people around the world are badly disappointed that President Obama failed to live up to their rock-star expectations. But many expectations were inherently contradictory to others, like wanting a ‘cheap expensive car’. Still they expected him to meet them. Somalians waited for him to bring prosperity to Mogadishu, Europeans hoped he’d be more supportive of a failing European socialism; Muslims were astonished at his support for gay marriage while waiting for his rapproachment to Islam. There is surprise that his repudiation of the policies of his ‘hated predecessor George W. Bush’ may now result in the restarting of genocide. “To be frank, the Republicans protected the Kurdish people, while Obama’s administration is not”. The Chinese are disappointed he still supports Japan, while the Japanese are sorry at his submissiveness to China. In other words, the Obama’s international supporters expected him to do what a domestic supporter hoped he would do: pay her rent and fuel bills.
Maybe that’s what happens when a person runs as a ‘blank screen’ on which everyone can project their expectations. The fantasy figure thereby created can hardly exist in reality. You can’t get a retreating, protecting, bill-paying, deficit-cutting, gay supportive, African-American authentic, metrosexual, SEAL buddy President.
Some of these inflated expectations are not Obama’s fault. They are not even Axelrod’s. They are the consequence of a journalism that sees politics as celebrity drama. For example, CBS’s Bill Whittaker describes the President’s arrival in Los Angeles to raise money from gays and lesbians in these breathless terms: “A-list actors and producers arrived in style. The star of the evening, the president, arrived at LAX in his private jet, Air Force One, then choppered off to join his soiree — a $40,000-a-plate fundraiser.”
Even though Whittaker may merely have been trying to write clever copy there will be readers — overseas if not domestic — who will actually believe that Air Force One, if not the entire United States is the private property of its new King whose armies are off fighting “on my behalf”, as the President himself recently said, probably without thinking it through.
The reason is that most of the world was once and in many parts still is ruled by strongmen who were virtual kings. So to describe the President in terms of Robert Mugabe is something many understand. But the wish should not become father to the deed. The post World War 2 “imperial Presidency” is now dangerously close to becoming a global godhood. That is a job that no man, however competent, can ever fill without disappointing his global constituents.
In the rush to make America ‘more like the world’ many forgot that much of the world wanted to become in fact like America. The oikophobic elite may not believe this, yet it may neverthless be true. Can the President ever become a mere elected official again, operating under the defined powers of the Constitution? Or is that idea now somehow unworkable, being already more than a hundred years old and like the similarly aged Constitution, completely irrelevant? Has Air Force One now permanently become a royal conveyance?
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“Can the President ever become a mere elected official again … ? Or is that idea now somehow unworkable …”
Really, it is the whole concept of Big Government which is failing. Communist-style ‘hard’ central planning failed decades ago. Now Euro-style ‘soft’ central planning (“For Your Own Good”) is also failing — most visibly in the debts & deficits piled up by the Political Classes around the world. The bond market will eventually stomp on them all.
And then, after a period of chaos, human beings will once again focus on the ground truth of economics & politics — Production Precedes Consumption.
I live near Los Angeles and regularly listen to local talk radio giant KFI. The other day when big O was in town, their news reporters ran around sticking microphones in faces of little kids and asked them what they would ask the president, if only they could. One future Democrat, a sweet sounding little girl of around six or seven, said she would ask the president “for some free candy.”
Air Force One must be deemed a Public / nee Republic property. It’s not HIS private jet.
Indeed, privacy is the one thing modern presidents entirely lack.
Well, just at this point that AP wonders about his worldwide street cred, his weakly address was about the economy stupid:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/05/11/weekly-address-congress-must-act-do-list
I was going to comment on the speech, but pass that for now, it’s just an interesting whipsaw by the AP to talk about foreign affairs at the same moment. Or – ARE these foreign affairs? After all, Obambus is creating jobs in China at a quite satisfactory rate. Are the Chinese really sore that America didn’t immediately resume the 1945 nuking of Japan under Obambus’ Nobel-wise and barely discernible leadership? Er, yeah, well so much for the value of this AP survey.
But I was just sort of wondering something else this morning after reading this story – what SHOULD a presidential candidate do regarding foreign audiences these days? Or even a president in office, what should he do to court world opinion? Even twenty years ago the assumption was “nada”, but if four billion world citizens are now receiving white house tweets in realtime, well, maybe something. Thank Ghu we have such a sophisticated secretary of state to look after our current foreign image – did the AP make any note of that?
Pax Americana apparently continues now, and if it’s more of a media monopoly than factual, well, um, I dunno, it’s cheaper than either bombs or even aid so why not? Still, if that’s the case, I believe current trends show that Ryan Seacrest will be world dictator within five years.
“In the rush to make America ‘more like the world’ many forgot that much of the world wanted to become in fact like America.”
‘America’ is an idea. It is free for the taking. A few books, some pamphlets contemporary with the writing of the constitution and an honest, non-revisionist survey of American History is all that is needed. The 10 hour Hillsdale College course on the constitution and a semester reading the books should do it.
The States, United are a place. They are to be defended, protected, and allowed to find there own place as informed by the big idea.
How hard is that? Seems that much of the world really does not want to be like America after all.
thnx
America cannot revert to being the nation we knew in the 20th century unless it purges itself of the political correctness disease that has brought it to a state of almost terminal division and distraction from constructive pursuits. PC empowers the left and weakens the country (in fact the entire western world) while porking up legislation devalues a congress made increasingly unrepresentative by ossified incumbency. Obama’s election was a symptom, not a cause.
It is interesting to note that each new Soviet Premier was hailed by many in the West as the greatest thing to come along since the Czar fell. Never mind that he was often a former head of the KGB, an entrenched party appratchnik in any case, and was “elected” by a process that was less free and fair than that of Nazi Germany. He was always “a man he could work with” or some such.
When Andropov kicked the bucket Sen Teddy Kennedy bemoaned the fact that such a fine upstanding human being and valiant, reasonable leader could have the misfortune to serve his entire length of office opposite such a horrible creature as Ronald Reagan. Next came Chermenko, who suffered the same terrible fate. Then the world was gifted with Gorby, the world’s most popular guy, who managed to rescue human civilization from the nuclear fires of hell; the fact that he did so by following Pres Reagan’s lead in every case was not only forgotten but never noticed in the first place.
We are seeing the application of Soviet style adoration in the face of a contradictory performance, at last, to the US President. The fact that they were always horribly wrong before does not enter into the equation.
In a recent interview President Obama complained about the perception abroad that he has failed to deliver on his promises.
I have not failed, I’ve kept my word to you
You see it all around you every day
If I were not in charge of world affairs
Then you would see that there’d be hell to pay
I’ve bought the Chinese off so they’d be still
Korea North is getting all our food
Iran will have the bomb now sometime soon
What happens then depends upon their mood
In Mogadishu clansmen say they wait
For that great day I make them just like us
My policies at home will do just that
And soon we’re Mogadishu West no fuss
My gay friends wonder if I’ve done enough
I’m for gay marriage now because it’s right
When Andrew Sullivan the White House came
The Lincoln bedroom’s where we spent the night
My European friends are much distraught
My Arab buddies think I’ve paid no mind
To their concerns that Jews beside them live
They wish as do we all to be with kind
And so my second term will see the world
More peaceful and productive than before
And so I say to all those on my case
Don’t let your ass get hit by slamming door
Might have to change my call sign to Rip Van Winkle. The world wants to be like America? I must have taken a long nap. Last I heard, the world hates America. I was so looking forward to America hating them back. Oh well, Maybe when terrorists nuke New York they will get the UN too.
More distraction by the media. We are on a plane with one jet in flames, the other has fallen off, the co-pilot is standing in the door with a parachute and the media is extolling the virtues of the in-flight movie.
Meanwhile, the Krauts are giving the Greeks ONE more last final this-time-we-really-really-mean-it chance. Squareheads are the last to figure it out. Like my Greek pen-pal said. “Greece was a civilized nation back when the Germans were painting themselves blue and poking each other with pointy sticks. We had indoor plumbing before they figured out that crapping in the same cave they lived in wasn’t such a good idea.”
All the central banks are tied together. Once the Germans figure out the the Greeks are NOT going to pay them back, German’s central bank will collapse, pulling down the EU. Once the EU central bank collapses the Fed won’t be far behind. Then everybody goes.
America will come through the fire stronger then ever.
9. stoicheion
I would point out to your Greek friend that he is, like the vast majority of Greeks, in no way related to the Greeks of the Classical, Archaic, and Bronze Ages. Those Greeks, the true Greeks, died out several centuries ago in all but a few places. The blood of Ancient Greece, apart from a few droplets perhaps, no longer flows through the veins of most modern Greeks. Most modern Greeks are descended from Bulgars and Turks–which, not coincidentally, is why most modern Greeks look like Bulgars and Turks: swarthy or olive-complected, black hair, black eyes. The ancient Greeks were commonly if not universally fair-skinned and often fair-haird, or red-haired (e.g., the Atreides brothers, Agamemnon and Menelaus, the latter given the epithet “Red-Haired). Blond hair was idealized because it was fairly common (Achilles was a straw-head) and blue or grey or green eyes were normative. Modern Greeks share a language with the ancients and that’s about all. When the Byzantine empire was still strong the ethnic Greeks of antiquity nearly vanished from the Greek mainland, being replaced by Bulgars (among others); most of the ancient Greek peoples then lived in Anatolia, until a concerted effort by Byzantine emperors was undertaken to repopulate the mainland with ethnic Greeks. The Greeks of today are piggy-backing on the heritage of the ancients, much like the so-called Macedonians of today fancy themselves descendants of the ancient Makedenoi people who produced Philip and Alexander. So when Greeks tell me that they were civilized when the Germans, e.g., were painting themselves blue, I am motivated to counter this hubristic assertion by pointing out that whilst the Germans were painting themselves blue, the forefathers of the modern Greeks were picking lice off their bodies in squalid sheepskin yurts in the wilds of east-central Asia as members of barbarian Turkic tribes.
Reminds me of that famous scene in True Romance when the character played by Dennis Hopper rather rudely instructs the character played by Christopher Walken on how Sicilians came to be Sicilians.
This thing concerning who the Greeks are is a pet peeve of mine. I’ve been to Greece many times and have mostly enjoyed that country and its exceedingly hospitable people. But I have also endured more ignorant anti-American rants from Greeks than any other people–excepting, of course, the Germans. Some push-back is certainly warranted.
I’m not sure what to say: Rock stars are good for media ratings. News outlets care very little about “news” – they care about ratings. Obama gets ratings.
I gave Obama 1 year with an open mind, but he was such a nothing that I gave up on him.
The rest of the world will likely have varying opinions of President Obama – I don’t really care. I know that I don’t think he is a very good president and I vote. And I’m hoping for some change.
I really think this sums up the Obama presidency:
I’m not sure what to say: Rock stars are good for media ratings. News outlets care very little about “news” – they care about ratings. Obama gets ratings.
I gave Obama 1 year with an open mind, but he was such a nothing that I gave up on him.
The rest of the world will likely have varying opinions of President Obama – I don’t really care. I know that I don’t think he is a very good president and I vote. And I’m hoping for some change.
I really think this sums up the Obama presidency: – http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=a4nvhAZ0vr0
He who tries to be all things to all people winds up being nothing to anybody.
His speeches are all brag and no substance. Yawn!
10. Roughcoat Sorry, I didn’t know I was plucking your last nerve. My Greek pen pal is a tad under 2 meters tall with curly red-blond hair. He bears a fair resemblance to a certain Swedish tennis star whos name escapes me at the moment. He has given me the same lecture about ‘those dam turks’ as you did. FWIW, it wasn’t the Germans that painted themselves blue but the Picts ( Scottish or Welch, I forget which). IIRC, the Beakers or the Celts were the original builders of Greek civilization.
15. stoicheion
No worries. I’m aware that the Germans didn’t paint themselves blue; I employed this phrase in reference to your pen-pal using it. The original builders of Greek civilization were not Celts, however. They were an Indo-European people who shared a common origin with the Celts. They came to be known and to identify themselves variously as Danaiwoi and Achaiwoi and suchlike but their prehistoric name is not known. They spoke and wrote an early variant of Greek (which was an offshoot of the early Proto Indo-European tongue, or PIE) which the moderns identified by the name they gave to its script, Linear B. From your description, your pen-pal sounds like a descendant of House Atreides!
R & S 15 16,
“House Atreides”
Has the curse lapsed?
If the American people are no different than Yurps or anyone else then maybe we need to declare the Presidential model a failure. Other countries separate the offices of Head of State and Head of Government. Let the HoS be a rock star and Chief Deflowerer of Virgins. Let the HoG answer questions about defective military equipment and the money supply. There are no rules against ridiculing the HoG and the HoS doesn’t touch money or power.
No individual can be all things to all people. No country, including the U.S. can be all things to all people. Yet, try to imagine what the world would be like if the U.S. had never existed. Here’s my litmus test for separating anti-Americans from pro-Americans. Ask a foreigner if they think the world would be a better or worse place if the U.S. had never existed.
If the answer is “worse without America” then you have yourself a pro-American, even if they complain about the U.S.
If they answer “better without America” then you are looking at an anti-American.
Anti-Americans want the U.S. to disappear. Of course, one way to make the U.S. disappear is to turn it into a xerox of Europe. No-one we know is trying to do that, are they?
It would be well fitting, if someone can find it, to insert a video clip of Michael Cain’s elegiacal denouement in “The Man Who Would be King” as Peachy high-tailed it out of Afghanistan after “Segunda’s son” was found not to be so divine. (This is the closest I could find on the web.)
You’re pretty resourceful at unearthing such parallels Wretchard. If you couldn’t find it, what chance have I? This wistful note is offered in hopes it might provoke a grim chuckle or two.
Pascal 19,
Will this do?
I first caught myself projecting on the president during Nixon’s tenure. I observed to my friends that if he came out under a cloudless sky and informed us that the sky was blue, I’d look up to check. In those days I had the opposite projection on JFK -indeed the Camelot mystique captured most of my generation. And I can tell those who are too young to remember the sixties that Obama became the blank screen onto which even people who should have known better projected their hopes. I didn’t go for it, but as a recovering liberal I certainly felt the undertow – just like a recovering alcoholic feels the draw as he passes a beery smelling saloon. I will also say this. The old hopes of the left die hard and Obama is still the perfect avatar of those broken dreams. To those besotted with him and lost in their projection the difference between what they believe him to be (the ‘New Man’) and what he actually is (the same old politician) are invisible.
“Now I tried, over the past three years, I tried hard, I tried with every ounce of my being, yes I tried to be all things to all people.
“But my opponents prevented that from happening—you know who they are. You know how they stop at nothing.
“So I tried, but there was nothing I could do about it—you know who they are; you know how it is. But I solemnly pledge—as surely as I stand before you now—I solemnly pledge that when—not if, but when—I am re-elected in November [wild cheering, ed.], spite of THEM [more wild cheering, ed.], that I will make that extra effort, I will go that extra mile, I will make that supreme effort, to be all things to all of you good people and transform America into the place, into the country, we all want it to be—we all know it can be.”
File under: {([Hope + Change] + [Wing + Prayer]) = (Vote + Change)}
Interesting that expectations are so high right when the President’s actual ability to influence events is waning with every dollar of deficit spending.
I have never understood the Eurotrash fascination with, and adoration of, Obama.
My Euro acquaintances were practically wetting their pants with excitement at the prospect of his election, back in 2007-2008. Since he has become President, he is headline material in the London, Dublin, and Paris papers at least once a week, if not more often.
Now that the awful possibility that he might not be re-elected is beginning to dawn, the EuroMedia is alive with stories about lynching and American stupidity and childishness.
What on earth is it about an unaccomplished minor politician that got Euros so revved up to begin with? Honestly, what did they see, what do they see in him to make his rise (and hopefully fall) a major European story?
That is much better, Blast From the Past, though it needs Wretchard to conjure some words to make it fit his essay.
Observe in your clip that Sean Connery displayed a self sacrifice of which no evidence can be found in our demigod.
———
OTOH, without a trace of shame in the Bummer (à la LBJ), as his reelection chances grow dimmer, who knows what his radicals can compel on him as the Dem Convention approaches?
We saw Bubba building a trap door under the “amateur” just this last week. What do the polls say about a Bumney vs Billary race?
Sigh. Bummer, Bumney, or Bubba and Billary: liberty’s obliteration alliteration.
The Associated Press says people around the world are badly disappointed that President Obama failed to live up to their rock-star expectations.
Is this the beginning of the MSM scuttling for cover in case their Messiah might be toppled from the throne? Where editors usually say ‘some say’, when they’re expressing their own feelings as the daily news, why should they not substitute ‘people around the world’ just as well?
G-M @ 24: “I have never understood the Eurotrash fascination with, and adoration of, Obama.”
The answer is European television, and more generally European media. EUnuchs spend a disproportionate time in front of their TV screens, imbibing the received wisdom of their masters.
Euro media is far left, and like all far leftists look for the Big Man to whom they should be subservient. Euro media are glad to give Barry Dunham Soetero an audition for that role, especially because of his half-Kenyan background. Part of the Euro-left catechism is that the important thing is the color of one’s skin, not the content of one’s character.
EUnuchs’ fascination with Obumble is no different from their fascination with those other Americans, the Kardashians, or with that Brit teenage girl & her dancing dog — and will be forgotten just as quickly.
“I have never understood the Eurotrash fascination with, and adoration of, Obama.”
Socialism looks pretty good so long as it’s not compared to other “isms”.
Remember Europe used to be king of the hill, Top Cat, the Big Cheese. Now they are marginal 3rd world and sinking fast. On their way down, Europe gets to deal with all the people they exploited on the way up.
America raised the bar. We did it with Europe’s cast-off’s. Their poor, their tired, their huddled masses to paraphrase. We beat ‘em bad with their own rejects. Then there is the little matter of pulling Europe’s arse out of the fire TWICE in the 20th century. Ever think what Europe would be like today if the USA hadn’t put a stop to the Kiser in ’17 and Hitler in ’45?
Wretchard – “They are the consequence of a journalism that sees politics as celebrity drama.” My brain has been struggling for that expectation for the past several years.
The president appeals to myriad hate and envy while cavorting with his people, the richest .1%. Helluva game to play but if you know how to navigate between the cracks of reason, the place where hate is fertile, then you too can be a master of the universe. Being a celebrity means never having to say you’re sorry.
The army is fighting on Barrack’s behalf. He does not represent the American people, he represents himself and the army is a showpiece whose purpose is to defang Republican military perspicacity for political purposes.
To answer the question, I believe that Barrack will be put out. The left will take to the streets. The markets will breathe a sigh of collective relief and even our enemies will take some comfort that diplomacy predicated on stability and national self-interest will once again be become the norm. And Barrack will go on to vex the United States. He will gain an international foothold, perhaps in the UN, and he will preach. But he will no longer blame the world’s ills on GWB but instead on America and its evil forebears. He will find many who share his opinion. It will be the birth of the greatest evil at the teat of the greatest good for it is wrong to lie, even to yourself, even for the best of reasons.
stoicheion @ 28: “Ever think what Europe would be like today if the USA hadn’t put a stop to the Kaiser in ’17 and Hitler in ’45?”
Yeah, I have thought about that. I suppose Prime Ministers and Finance Ministers from all over Europe would be flying into Berlin, to be met by a ceremonial German military band rendering honors and then playing “Preussens Gloria”, before being whisked off to the Chancellery to be told how their budgets for the next five years were going to look.
Oh, wait….
can i buy an edit? expectation = explanation
stoicheion @ 28: “Ever think what Europe would be like today if the USA hadn’t put a stop to … Hitler in ’45?”
Percentage of German military casualties caused by: USA – 2%, UK – 2%, USSR – 96%.
@32, heard that stat alot. It is chilling without context. My only kvetch with it is that it is usually espoused by Soviet Union fetishists who ignore the fact that the good old USA was responsible for the lions share of war production and distribution to EVERY theater. For example, we sent on the order of 1,000 locomotives and 10,000 trucks to the USSR through Iran, not to mention P-47s, etc. The other thing about the guys who did all that killing, they did it in service of a regime which had no compunction about killing millions of its own defending its own sick ideology and in fact many of those troops were sent straight to the gulag if there was even a whisper of doubt about their loyalty (eg all POW/MIAs).
Well if we hadn’t stopped the Kaiser in ’17, you don’t have Hitler in ’45. I wonder if the world wouldn’t have been quite better off with Germany winning WWI, but who can tell? The upheaval of that stupid fiasco put the West on a downward slide it has never been able to stop. Imagine, though, a United States that never had the Civil War, and a Europe that never had WWI.
It could have been some world. Or, more likely, we’d have fouled it up in some other way.
BTW, did you see the latest attempt at uber-spin? Reuters has a piece out titled “Weary warriors favor Obama.” Apparently we are supposed to believe that the military, in great numbers, favor Obama.
Vanguard@ 33: I am by no means a USSR fan – quite the opposite.
And I’m sure the carnage in the East was possible because of the nature of the combatants.
But saying the USA “rid the world of Hitler” isn’t quite accurate.
gm @ 35: But saying the USA “rid the world of Hitler” isn’t quite accurate.
OK it was a team effort, but without the USA what were the odds?
Britain might have fallen or at least not executed D-Day, leaving the Germans with a single front, not to mention North Africa and its oil, and likely an undisturbed Italian ally. Without US aid the USSR might have fallen entirely or retreated east of the Urals, and without the US attacking Japan the USSR might have been additionally attacked from the east. Even statements like “The USA rid the world of Hitler” is just a convenience, nobody is going to forget the British role, and most certainly recognize the Soviets as well, with all of the moral and political ironies and other complications that last includes – like that defending the Communists from the Fascists was a key element in how we came to enter the war – and even on which side! It still makes my head spin that I didn’t realize the importance of that, until just a few years ago.
While respecting the huge sacrifices of the Soviet peoples in WWII, let’s never forget that the Soviet Union helped set the whole thing in motion with their pact with Germany for a joint invasion of Poland. Yes, the Soviets double-crossed the National Socialists by delaying their invasion from the east until the Germans had broken the back of Polish resistance. And, yes, the National Socialists later double-crossed the Communists by invading the Soviet Union. A pox on both their houses!
The big US mistake was entering into WWI on the side of the European Imperialists. The US had no good reason to support either side in that debacle. But the fresh resources of the US tipped the scale to a German defeat (unstable) rather than a negotiated stalemate (stable).
#24 and #27:
My own theory is that both Bill Clinton and Obama were the kind of politicans that the Euros can understand – ones like theirs. Clinton was popular with Americans who could console themeselves with the fact that the President was an even bigger screw-up, liar, adulterer, and goof-off as they are. Obama enables the Euros to console themselves with an American President who also thinks that our country is not exceptional.
In comparison to the norm in Yerp, G.W. Bush was outstanding, G.H.W. Bush was incredible, and Ronald Reagan was a cross between a Roman Emperor and Captain America.
WWII Lend Lease figures:
U.K. $24B
USSR $10B
And another $14B to various and sundry others
Stoicheon #28:
That’s FOUR times in the 20th Century in Europe – 1918, 1945, 1960, and 1985. Then we can start counting fixing Europe’s screw ups in the Pacific: 1900, 1945, 1968, 1985. After that we can count the multiple saves in the Middle East. And then in the 21st Century we started again, worldwide in late 2001.
“What on earth is it about an unaccomplished minor politician that got Euros so revved up to begin with?”
It must be in the water. Napoleon, Lenin, Hitler, Robspierre, Mussolini all rose with the help of strongmen who thought they could be controlled. They followed the road of Julius Ceaser and his fellows Cassius and Pompey. Populism is tyranny in its infancy.
“The man who first brought ruin upon the Roman people was he who pampered them by largesses and amusements.
(Plutarch)”
Be Prepared.
Speaking of Kings, the United States has existed in a state of elected monarcy since 1933. It’s certainly a new twist on things.
Meanwhile, Deutchland Unter Alles:
BERLIN (AP) — Voters in Germany’s most populous state strengthened a center-left regional government which Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives had portrayed as irresponsibly spendthrift, and inflicted an embarrassingly heavy defeat Sunday on the German leader’s party, projections showed.
The center-left Social Democrats and Greens — Germany’s main opposition parties — won combined support of about 51 percent in the election in North Rhine-Westphalia state, according to ARD television projections based on exit polls and early counting.
That would be enough to give them a majority in the state legislature, which they narrowly missed in the last regional election two years ago. Meanwhile, support for Merkel’s Christian Democrats was seen dropping to 26 percent from more than 34 percent, their worst showing in the state since World War II.
It took half a century of extreme dishonesty to show ignorant citizens why a postulated leftist could be dangerous. It’s like they drew a monster with crayons and told kids “Never let your guard down!” The kids shrugged anyways and went back to playing. They earned billions doing this, made cultures hate themselves and fear each other, funneled every person into two useless nasty political types. They spread chaos in every space available, just to make a point.
They aren’t finished, naturally, and never will be. This drama has many more “points” to make at earth’s expense.
Just my weekly rant about the talking head morning show I suffered through, again this week ABC’s, um, This Week Stephanopoulooza. So who do they have up on Mother’s Day and what do they talk about?
Barney Fwank debating a Republican Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn about this and that, starting with the the same-sex marriage thang.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/week-transcript-rep-barney-frank-rep-marsha-blackburn/story?id=16330158
Fwank is about to marry his “partner”, getting congratulations from Step. Whatever question he is asked, he spews about the Republicans. Frankly, Fwank is usually better. He is asked about J.P. Morgan losing $2b last week, and Fwank starts raving about Bush and the Republicans, and accusing Blackburn of wanting no regulations. Time and again Blackburn says, “You cannot speak for me.” Time and again Fwank does so, and Blackburn interrupts. Time and again Fwank says, “Don’t interrupt”. When Step says they are out of time, Fwank begs for one more statement AND DOES IT ONE MORE TIME, until, yes, Step simply cuts him off!
Was this a special plot, to discuss gay marriage with Barney Fwank on Mother’s Day?
Well, then we get to the panel: Hillary Rosen, gay Democratic advisor who attempted to slander Ann Romney two weeks ago, Eliot Spitzer, New York’s long-time advocate of family matters (er, not), Ralph Reed to show that only religious primitives would think anything negative about gay marriage (yes I know that’s an absurd characterization of Reed who has always been rational about all these “cultural” political matters, but it’s probably the image the editors at ABC had), Mary Matalin whose main contribution was looking slightly ill about the issues and responses of the Democrats, and a youngist woman Maggie Haberman that I know little about, but seems a somewhat neutral writer for Politico and may have been there as a control. What did they all say? Who cares. The medium is the massage.
All things to all “men”, indeed. And do you see the upcoming Newsweak cover, giving Obambus a rainbow halo as Our First Gay President?
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/newsweek-cover-obama-gay-president/story?id=16338110
Happy Mother’s Day, y’all.
–
Just showed up on PJMedia as well:
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2012/05/13/newsweek-makes-obama-gay/
Have to wait until the issue is published to see if the headline “Are you ready to eat jellyfish” is some kind of code.
“…as the President himself recently said, probably without thinking it through.”
“Probably”? REALLY?
The truth is, he’s just a stupid mouthpiece for unsavory 1% ers, who would make you throw up if they said it. If Valerie Jarrett told him to say it, it must be so.
Well there is probably a lot of fear and panic by European central bankers over the thought that if Obama & company are defeated then Bernake et. al. are gone and there won’t be any more front or back door money for the current various European bond Ponzi schemes. If there is an acceleration in bad polling for the Democrats then things in Eurp may hit the wall early.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/05/12/article-0-130E6329000005DC-855_964x726.jpg
32. gokart-mozart
The major 20th century wars were different in that they were wars of extinction. With a few notable exceptions most previous wars were fought for political advantage, not regime change or social extinction.
Two reasons why the USA deserves the lions share of the credit for defeating Nazi Germany. WW2 was a war of attrition. America had by far the most production. WW2 was also a war of innovation. Technology was pushed to it’s limits, then beyond. It was the Germans who advanced technology the fastest, although the USA/UK boffins pretty much kept up.
Body counts mattered but they didn’t and don’t matter the most.
IN the final analysis, the USA COULD defeat Nazi Germany alone. It was the only member of the allies that could. The Soviets barely survived. Without the USA they wouldn’t have.
When the 8th Air Force started appearing over Germany the Germans dedicated a lot of 88 mm guns to air defense over Germany. That meant that there were fewer 88′s available for the Easter front for air and ground use. Also the Germans committed a large percentage of the fighter aircraft against the B-17 Box. Which bled off air support to the Eastern front. A German pilot who survived the air war over Germany described the problem. There where two approaches that sort of worked against the B-17 formations, from the rear or straight on. If you came in from above on the classic pursuit curve you faced way to many 12.7mm rounds. If you came in from the rear you didn’t face quite as many but you were exposed longer to the rear pair of guns on each bomber. They tried armoring the fighters for the rear approach but that degraded the performance of the fighter and made them meat for Allied fighters. The straight on approach was hated. It is one thing to duel with another fighter but head on into the box was a gauntlet. Survival depended on luck more than skill. You’d see the bombers as dots in front of you then with in a minute the box filled half your gunsite and the tracers seemed to be coming for right between you eyes. Then a few seconds later one bomber would fill half of your gunsite. Pilots would duck down in their seats, flinch, and sometimes jerk away to early. And would be exposed to fire on the pass through. Those that jerked away too late would collide with the bomber. As fuel supplies got lower and lower the replacement pilots had less and less training and higher and higher casualty rates. You went up and hit the box day, after day.
James W. Gerard was US ambassador to Germany from 1913 to February, 1917, when the two nations severed diplomatic relations. His memoir of the period, “My Four Years in Germany”, includes a chapter titled “Hate”, which includes this paragraph:
“The cartoon in ‘Punch’ representing a Prussian family having its
morning ‘Hate’ was, in some aspects, not at all exaggerated. Hate in
Germany is cultivated as a noble passion, and, during the war, divines
and generals vied with each other in its praise. Early in 1917, the
Prussian General in command at Limburg made a speech in which he extolled
the advantages of hate and said that there was nothing like getting up
in the morning after having passed a night in thought and dreams of hate.”
Of course, Mr. Gerard was observing a nation at war. In both world wars, propagandists in the warring nations worked to keep popular sentiment well stirred and maintain support for the war effort. Here the ambassador seems to be referring to something more deeply rooted than war propaganda.
Europeans in general and Germans in particular seem to have an entire mythology built around the notion of evil America. I have to wonder if it is theresidue of that malignant tradition of hate. It may be that we are dealing with people who are simply bound to hate.
WWII was won by heroic efforts from all the allies. The acid test for each one came and was passed at different times. Britain stood alone two years before America entered the war. Russia tied down German forces and suffered horrendous losses on the eastern Front. The U.S. took the brunt of the war against Japan. Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians and Poles fought in many theatres from the very beginning right through to VE Day.
As in WWI, America came late to the battle but for that reason brought fresh troops and massive supplies of materiel for continuing the war. Both of these things saved the day for the allies. One difference in WWII between the U.S. experience and the other allies was a war of about three years for the U.S. versus a war of about six years for the European and other anglosphere allies. Another difference was that U.S., Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and South African civilians were not bombed or massacred in their homelands as people in Britain and Europe were.
I don’t think it’s worth trying to grade the different efforts of the different allies. I’m just eternally thankful that our side won and eternally grateful to all those who died or were gravely wounded in battle, be they Texas cowboys or Russian communists. For me they all belonged to the Magnificent Generation.
Newsweek main story today
“Obama is our first homosexual president”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2143889/Newsweek-names-Obama-The-First-Gay-President-shocking-cover-talking-support-sex-marriage.html
Gushing, vibrating prose from the Palin would be gynecologist–the bare back rider-
- Andrew Sullivan
“Dont worry — be gay”
Let your children and grandchildren pay for the Federal debt- and for AIDS-he bravely says–
- ” Obama leads me from behind” Sullivan whimpers and sighs
Is Sullivan brain damaged?
n
In some ways, the TapDancer-in-Chief has a relatively easy task. He can contradict himself from Sunrise to Sunset and all through the night, without so much as a peep of criticism from his support base.
After all, these are the folks who promote and practice LGBT-ness in all its varieties, hedonism, sex-with-anything without restriction, women’s freedom from the control of men, and the eating of pork products. At the same time, they march shoulder-to-shoulder with Muslims to show their disgust with Amerikkka and its support of Israel, solidarity with oppressed Palestinians, Taliban, Shi’ah and Sunni, Suffi and Wahabbi, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
While those same Muslims have exuberantly been stoning, shooting, burning, and hanging from industrial cranes the homosexuals, adulterers, and insufficiently modest women of their own cultures. So it is ordered by the religion they profess.
How could Obama POSSIBLY do anything to confuse or disappoint people who can’t even recognize they’re embracing monsters who will slay them in a heartbeat if given the chance to rule here in the Amerikkka they claim to love?
47. toadold
Exactly. Most people do not understand the indirect approach to warfare. Stalin never understood that the 8th air force WAS his ‘second front’. If those fighters trying to stop the 8th had been on the Eastern front instead, the Soviets would have lost.
Stalingrad and Kursk were both Soviet victories because the Germans were not strong enough to run recon flights. The 8th didn’t hit it’s stride until ’44 but was having an affect by the summer of ’42. The 109′s and 190′s defending the sub pens would have generated air superiority over the Don.
@52
Stalin understood very well what he was doing.
He wanted all of Europe
He got much more than half of Europe after WW2
The Soviets won the battle WW2– clearly-
-but they lost the war in 1990
Still the Soviets are not held to account for the genocides in the Blood Lands
The Austrians still point finger at Germany for the slaughter of the Jews in the Blood Lands
http://bloodlandsbook.com/
But per capita the Austrian supported the SS much more than the Germans.
Hirohito and Japan got away with their war crimes for political expediency
History is written by the victors
Josh 43,
Is Barney marrying his boyfriend to provide a legal defense against having to testify about the Fanny/Freddy corruption that imploded the economy?
There is something beyond ignorance, really beyond sad and sick, about arguments that will crawl up arguing that America should have stayed out of the World Wars. No one was clearer eyed about Sovietism than Winston Churchill. He correctly deduced that Hitler was the immediate threat that had to be destroyed, even at the expense of temporarily working with Stalin. Stalin was bad but Hitler was far worse. Stalin could be contained. The proof is that Containment worked. Hitler could not be contained or appeased. There is nothing the US should regret about having fought the Nazis Fascists and Japanese Imperialists of WW-II.
The question of WW-I is rarely addressed, except from the Left wing HS level perspective of it being a pointless fight between greedy Capitalists or scheming financiers and ignorant militarists, with comic opera aristocrats in funny uniforms thrown in. There is a lot of antisemitism, much of it traceable back to the Nazis, behind those arguments. The fact is that Wilhelmine Germany was very dangerous. Most of what happened in the Third Reich was an extension of what was brewing in the Second, just with the mask torn off. The Germans, and the Belgians who escaped most of the criticism for old attitudes that may have influenced the new EU, had a history of brutal conduct in their colonial possessions. What the Nazis did was import those attitudes into Europe and then raise them to industrial perfection.
BFTP 54,
I find myself pleased with everything you wrote here. However, if I find I am now at that point where I’m questioning even what I find agreeable because it comforts me, does that mean that the Critical Theorists have won?
If so, the West is not only doomed, but deservedly so. We neglect the sacrifices of those who won our freedom when we question everything, regretting our earlier mistakes rather than realizing we overcame them, hopefully learning from them, and being grateful for the outcome. But instead of recognizing where we don’t want to go again, it seems are condemned to repeat history because the powermad are the ones who implemented Critical Theory and we swallowed it hook, line and sinker.
I wish I had the skills to develop in depth the arguments needed to support the last paragraph. I surely hope it was clear enough for it to inspire someone else to the task.
The interesting thing about Obama declaring his now evolutionary views on Gay marrage is that it once and for all puts to rest the idea that he is a muslim. It also lets everyone know that he is not a Christian either.
56. KWB
Obama is most likely Muslim. He uses the concept of TAQIYYA to lie in the advance of Islam.
It’s funny. All his starstruck supporters thought he’d be a big sugar daddy of a boyfriend, paying for everything. Now he turns out to be the kind of boyfriend who lives big on their paycheck and offers to pay for their birth control in return.
The problem won’t go away even if we can get rid of him, although the anti-Americanism that permeates his thinking and that of his supporters should take a big hit.
The thing is that his inflation – and the predictable bursting of the bubble that he has always been – was only possible because of the self-inflation of the voters who fell for the swill he was peddling as a fine wine.
They’re unlikely to grow up anytime soon, here or abroad.
“Is Sullivan brain damaged?”
Sullivan has been taking treatment for AIDS for well over a decade now, and progressive dementia is a well known long term effect of the disease.
So the answer to your question is, quite literally, “Yes”. The real question is why does a brain damaged homosexual represent the level of intellect that the Left sees as representing it’s goals and aspirations most clearly???
and previously: “your pen-pal sounds like a descendant of House Atreides!”
perhaps he is the Quisatz Haderach?
In the NC Democratic primary, 20% of the voters chose “No Preference” instead of Obama.
http://www2.journalnow.com/news/2012/may/14/wsmain01-obama-lost-1-in-5-votes-to-quotno-prefere-ar-2275166/
FWIW-I had an “Obama Weekend”-Did absolutely nothing and now I’m bragging about it.
59 maineman: “The thing is that his inflation – and the predictable bursting of the bubble that he has always been – was only possible because of the self-inflation of the voters who fell for the swill he was peddling as a fine wine.
They’re unlikely to grow up anytime soon, here or abroad.”
This seems to me part of the inevitable decay and winding-down of democracy. Voters have been flattered for years that “the will of the people” is some unstoppable force that can do whatever they want it to. So we see Europeans “protesting austerity” (to someone of my age, that sounds like “protesting sobriety”) and expecting that the magic wand of the ballot can produce plenty out of scarcity, just by the exercise of their will. They don’t like reality, so they’ll vote against it, and politicians have told them all their life that there’s no legitimate argument against a vote. Now they’re baffled and enraged that the will of the people isn’t producing the expected magical results.
#60 wws – Yes, Sullivan has lost his reason, but that story (and cover picture) appeared in a print magazine. This wasn’t just a crazy blog post that one man can fire off on his own – think of how many people had to cooperate to produce that insane story. What’s THEIR excuse?
Blast From The Past @ 54: “The question of WW-I is rarely addressed …”
Which is true, and unfortunate.
World War I (“The Great War”) was a European invention. The only issue here is whether the USA should have joined in? And, if so, on which side?
Wilhelmine Germany may indeed have been dangerous. But it was Queen Victoria’s children who dominated (exploited?) a full quarter of the world at the time. Let’s not even think about the contemporary pettiness of the French or the corruption of the Tzars.
History books say there was a movement among US citizens of German ancestry to get the US to enter WWI on Germany’s side. But they were outnumbered by US citizens of British ancestry. European tribalism corrupting the New World.
Regardless, what was done was done. The US joined the Imperialists, resulting in the Treaty of Versailles which created the environment for the rise of National Socialism in Germany. Forcing the Germans to give back their winnings in Russia, along with the abandonment of the Whites in the Russian civil war, gave the world the USSR — which later conspired with National Socialist Germany to start WWII, and set in motion the balls that would later bounce in Korea and Vietnam
One of the most interesting (if irrelevant) historical “what ifs?” is — what would the world today look like if the US had simply sat out the Great War?
Kina…
And the Kaiser and Co WEREN”T imperialists?
——–
As for fading memories here at the Club: the Zimmerman Telegram is the proximate reason for the American involvement.
For those REALLY interested: read Dreadnought ISBN 0-345-37556-4.
You’ll discover that the British were allied to Germany right up until the VERY LAST HOURS before flipping into the anti-Germany camp. (!)
EVERYTHING, for Britain, turned on the invasion of Belgium. Period. Stop.
Until the German Army swept into Belgium, Britain was entirely on the fence… Just like America in 1916.
There was NO BRITISH DESIRE to hook up with her eternal enemy: France and her more recent super rival: Russia.
———
As for the US: the German F.M., Zimmerman, refused to walk back the contents of his telegram to Mexico wherein he proposed to mutually make aggressive war upon America — promising to tender the heartland of the USA to Mexico upon success of the enterprise. (!)
Since the very states at issue were loaded with German-Americans — this official, in every other manner, was declaring open war upon America — and it was taken to be so by every adult then living.
THAT’S how America left the fence and entered the Great War in favor of the Allied Powers.
The swill about the Lusitania is and was entirely beside the point. Wilson and Congress were motivated by the TELEGRAM. Everything else could’ve been looked past.
As for the British, the USN went from a question mark to one of the fastest battleship divisions within the combined fleet. (BatDiv9/ 6th Battle Squadron)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Battleship_Division_Nine_(World_War_I)
======
It’s interesting to not that when Hitler declared war on America ( his ONLY war declaration ) he used the same kind of elliptical phrasing of F.M. Zimmerman.
In a most direct sense, Germany never declared war on America, per se, ever. Instead, everything was in diplo-speak.
How charming.
The result on the battlefields was crystal clear, though.
====
You can’t properly blame America for WWII. Wilson, et. al. tried all manner of diplomacy to bring the British and French to their senses.
THE ‘guilty’ party — was France. She failed to exercise her rights and responsibilities under a treaty that she wrote!
At all of the relevant points in time, she was considered the paramount land power in the world. Something that is oft forgotten today.
Even Munich was a French affair. Chamberlain was helpless against French policy. He had no foothold to enforce anything. If the French weren’t going to tolerate a given move — then that was that. Period. Stop.
There were absolutely no work-arounds.
“House Atreides”
“Atreides” or “Atreus?” Isn’t “Atreides” from Frank Herbert’s Dune series?
Wretchard:
who will actually believe that Air Force One, if not the entire United States is the private property of its new King whose armies are off fighting “on my behalf”, as the President himself recently said, probably without thinking it through.
On a couple of occasions I’ve posted either here or elsewhere, that Obama and his crowd treated their 2008 victory as a purchase. As far as they were concerned — from the language they were using and the mentality they have exhibited for decades — that the majority votes they garnered were currency in a literal sense. To Obama’s people, they “bought” America, and we are just tenants on their property.
Each individual Freudian slip by Obama, Jarret, Axelrod, etc., but especially Obama himself could be defended as either innocuous or just poor wording. But in the aggregate, they are, or should be, damning.
“Fighting on my behalf” is only the latest.
“I won” he said to the business leaders at that infamous WH meeting
He conveyed through an intermediary to a European diplomat that “he considered the U.S. nuclear arsenal to be his, and that in regards to the START treaty, that he could do as he pleased.
Valerie Jarret stated early on (before the inauguration, I believe) that “it was Obama’s turn to rule.”
And there are more, many more instances that betray this mindset.
Blert @ 64 — I take your points about the Byzantine nature of Euro-politics on the eve of World War 1 and on the Zimmerman telegram.
Still, the Zimmerman telegram was only words. These days, on any random week one can find as bitter ire directed at the US in the pages of much of the Euro-media. You know that reflects a deep-seated anti-Americanism on the part of much of the European establishment. But even Obambi lets it slide, and choses not to declare war on miscellaneous EUnuch nations which disrespect him. The US government back in 1917 had a choice about how to react — and they made their choice.
Agreed that the situation was different by the time of WWII, and the US then had to join those fighting against the Axis powers. But at the time of WW1, the US did have options, and chose to side with the French & British imperialists. It remains a fascinating hypothetical — What if the US had made a different choice nearly 100 years ago?
Nothing these fools do or say surprises me-they take personal credit for everything (anything good).
Last week at a ceremony celebrating “Top Cops,” Obama and Biden celebrated themselves before hiting the links:
“This man has been committed to law enforcement his entire career,” Biden said. “He has never, never wavered from fighting to make sure you guys have the resources you need not only to protect your communities, but to protect one another, to protect your brothers and sisters.
“The president’s commitment to law enforcement goes to his very core.”
Obama responded by telling the Rose Garden audience he wanted to thank his vice president for his leadership on law enforcement issues.
“Everywhere I go, in every community, people see the track record and the legacy of Joe Biden’s work when it comes to looking after law enforcement,” Obama said.
“Goes to his very core?” How about those stupid Cambridge cops?
Pascal,
Thanks, it is good to get feedback. This isn’t a chat room, if it was there would be people attaching descriptions to their names that read “Angelina Jolie” or “Brad Pitt” – sorry TMI, but it is good to know that I am not shouting down a well.
K,
There is no debate. Germany was wrong. While they did have key elements of popular support in their government, even the Socialists voted for war credits, they were in the grip of ideologies that made them a danger to everyone. How that sickness got into the culture is something that fills libraries. Suffice to say that the instability driving Wilhelmine Germany needed to be stopped. It probably would have been better if the war ended in 1918 more like it did in 1945, with a thorough occupation and a rooting out of discredited racists. The US was right to join the effort in 1917 as we were in 1941. Unfortunately the advance of Communism, aided by the German government, crippled the peace and paralyzed the victorious Allies after the first war, necessitating the second. Blert‘s reply to you drives the point home. It is time to drop the argument.
You are quite welcome Blast. And for what it’s worth, I expanded that which your thoughts inspired into further Western self-analysis at Repair Damage Wraught By Critical Theory.
It’s more a definition of what we are seeking and a call for allies, and maybe a prayer. God knows Liberty/America needs all the help we can muster for her.