Seeing Obama Live for the First Time at AIPAC
Before Sunday morning, I had never seen Barack Obama in person. Of course, I had seen him on television roughly as often as Howdy Doody and Mickey Mouse combined, but the man himself had eluded my eyes.
Not that seeing him with approximately 13,000 other AIPAC attendees and press (not sure exactly how many were there, but most) in the Washington Convention Center constitutes anybody’s version of “up close and personal.” But I am forced to admit — and you can put this down to the power of preconceptions, if you wish — that catching our president in the flesh only confirmed what I had long thought of him from afar.
This is one strange dude — part narcissist, part Chicago ward heeler, part neo-Alinskyite marxist, part talk show host smoothie, part nowhere man. The ideas might be there, traceable back to Ayers, Dohrn, and Reverend Wright, but he has pushed them far away, almost as if he were trying to forget them. They were no longer functional and had to go, but he is left with… what?
It’s hard to tell what he really thinks now because I suspect even he doesn’t know what that is. He is a kind of moving target, not just to us, but to himself. You expect to hate him, then you start to like him, then you start to hate him again. At the end, you don’t really know what you think, although in my case you revert to your previous view — extreme distaste.
I think this odd personality of the president’s accentuated the ambivalent manner in which his speech on Israel was received by the AIPAC audience. (Several interviews I did for PJTV, to appear later, reflected this.) At times there was copious applause, but then silence for long stretches, as if the audience was nodding off, waiting to be awakened by yet another guarantee – sotto voce – that Iran will not be allowed to get nuclear weapons.
How this was to be done, was never explained beyond the amorphous sanctions. (One of the breakout sessions later that afternoon — on internal Iranian politics with the estimable Emanuele Ottolenghi of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and Ali Alfoneh of the American Enterprise Institute — made clear just how ridiculous that approach is. The Iranians, playing their own power games of despot vs. despot, Khamenei vs. Ahamdinejad vs. Rafsanjani, could be less interested in our blandishments or lack thereof.)
I liked your description but there is a word for Obama – that word is CON MAN.
That was my first impression, an immediate reaction. Everything about this truely creepy fellow is phoney. He should be selling bogus stock certificates or snake oil or the Brooklyn Bridge to the naive & gullible.
I’ve known snakes in my life but Obama is in a catagory by himself.
The strength of a con man is that the victim wants to be conned.
Street corner hustler that hit the big time, the did nothing President.
The President says he has Israel’s back.
Is he adding or removing knives?
Omigod, I’ve been saying this for years! That Obama can be described in one word, three letters:
CON
It’s great to hear the exact same words from someone else!
Something the (real) mainstream of America has known for over three and a half years, though it’s nice to see it confirmed here. Of course, detractors will crucify those with this point of view as bigots, racists, etc. because this is where we are in America. A dysfunctional society brought on by those who want an excuse for everything and it’s really not surprising that the person to get elected is none other than the nation’s biggest finger-pointer.
Lack of objectivity yields poor results every time.
I don’t disagree with the confidence-man label, but consider the possibility that the President has an incoherent base. He can’t possibly please them all, for they have conflicting aims. He is also, like other “liberals” trapped in a double bind. I explained that here: http://clarespark.com/2009/08/09/what-is-a-corporatist-liberal-and-why-should-they-frighten-us/.
As for the Jewish vote, liberal Jews in Chicago financed his early career, and other misguided persons of Jewish descent continue to support him, but the numbers could soon change, and perhaps faster than we think
“…the state is not simply dependent upon capital, but has its own particular interests.”
Absolutely. I have to laugh when leftists argue that government can make more equitable decisions than private actors because it doesn’t have a profit motive. Yes, but there ARE other motives, ones just as insidious and self-serving as excessive greed. And what’s worse, they are far less obvious to the general population than avarice.
I think Marxist is the controlling theme in that man’s persona. Israel, just like the Catholic Church, is an inconvenient obstacle to his aspirations, and nothing more.
Jim,
Cardinal Dolan may finally stand up for the basic tenants of Catholicism!!!
The priests who have been giving Communion to abortionists like Kerry and Kennedy would haqve been de-frocked loooong ago if the Catholic Church actually practiced what it preaches!!!
I’ve been using “chameleon” as that seems to give a fair sense of the camouflaged
reptile he’s become.
I’ve also been saying that I was born during the Hoover Administration and that I can’t remember any President of either party that’s been as loathsome and empty as this Obama.
“He should be selling bogus stock certificates or snake oil or the Brooklyn Bridge to the naive & gullible”
why do this when ‘da one can milk the treasury for hundreds of billions of dollars for a few years worth of “let me be clears” and “need to pay your fair shares”
why sell/con one person at a time when one can forcibly take from all of us at once
My first reaction was not con man but BS artist. A con man has a specific goal and he knows exactly what that is and how he intends to obtain it.
BS artists are rife in the university, narcissistic, vaporous, slippery: empty inside, without the solid, base lusts of the con man. They wish to pose and preen and to be admired.
Um – election? Re-election? How’s that for a specific goal.
The man’s a con.
Watching the You Tube video of part of the O’s speech, just as he completed saying that … all of Israel’s leaders agree that there needs to be a Two-State solution…
I noticed one side of his lip curl up in a sneer — as if he hated saying it.
Body language — hard to hide his deep animosity — even for as one who is as slick at saying whatever he finds convenient for the moment as he.
I can’t understand why no one — not even on the right — has asked Obama what’s in the Khalidi tape.
They keep asking the L.A. times to release it — Why not directly ask Obama what’s in it that it should be so “protected.”
Why not create a public demand for it to be released?
Donald Trump where are you?
That 30 minute video, “Daylight” is so excellent — showing just how much the O has “Israel’s back” — the “knife” in it…. I can’t imagine anyone seeing it continuing to believe O’s deceitful words.
Was it shown to all at AIPAC?
Roger, take a much deserved bow! This one hit it out of the ballpark.
Living in the eye of the Iranian storm I have VERY little patience (or interest) in parsing through another pundit’s gobblygook. Wondering when the sh-t is about to hit the fan can become all consuming.
NEVERTHELESS, reading your assessment made me laugh hysterically, something which is in short supply during these perilous times.
Thanks for a jaw dropping, eye opening expose. I posted it to my Facebook page, hopefully they will be duly entertained.They too need a respite.
Terry:
‘He should be selling bogus stock certificates or snake oil or the Brooklyn Bridge to the naive & gullible.’
Forgotten 2008 already, have we? :]
He is. He’s Reverend Ike without the humor.
The important thing to remember about Obama is that he doesn’t tell the truth and he doesn’t abide by his oath to “faithfully”……”preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States”.
“This is one strange dude” indeed. And the most pro-Arab president in my life time. His preference, or bias, can be seen in how he behaves with the leaders of the countries, bowing to one, insulting the other. Behavior that alarms many Americans.
Not that long ago I could not imagine voting for a Republican presidential candidate either. Strange dude changed all that. I believe in a strong military, in working hard, and in a divided government. I like our two party system and the give and take it encourages. Obama and I do not believe in the same things or in what makes America special and strong.
I hope Floridians can see the AIPAC speech for what it was, a campaign stop. We have had three years to see where the president’s loyalties lie and we have, through his actions. In matters of loyalty, words matter less.
”One strange dude ….” Obama is creepy, like what I imagine it’s like meeting a sociopath.
Terry (and Adina – or anyone else in the know) – a question:
I heard it reported on the news early yesterday, that Obama and Netanyahu had already made a deal whereby Israel was going to put off any strike until after the (US) elections in order to give sanctions ‘time to work’ (translation: ‘in order to give Obama time to be re-elected, the-safety-of-the-world-be-damned’)
I was kind of horrified (no, actually I was completely horrified)… But I haven’t seen any follow up reporting on this. Not even in the blogosphere.
Is it true? Has a (expletive-deletedly awful) deal been hammered out?
I doubt if it’s true.
The Netanyahu/Obama meeting starts in about 5 minutes from now (as I write).
If there is no press conference when it’s finished, with no statement from each, only perhaps a photo-op & no questions from the press, then, this means that there is no agreement at all, so to speak, they agree to disagree.
Heard it reported on Fox. Special Report w/ Bret Baier. Someone else was asking about this on Yahoo – also mentioned hearing on Fox. Not dreaming this up in my paranoid mind… (wish I had been)
A) It was a leak by the administration to try and create facts on the ground
B) It was true and a covert agreement has been arrived at
C) It was total bull. Hopefully
via Drudge, to
http://freebeacon.com/netanyahu-to-obama-israel-reserves-the-right-to-strike/
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told President Obama that Israel would decide for itself whether to strike Iran.
“My supreme responsibility as prime minister of Israel is to ensure that Israel remains the master of its fate,” Netanyahu told Obama….”
Miriam, highly, highly doubtful.
Don’t believe all the spin, in either direction. But DO believe that few-in any positions of consequence in Israel-don’t understand that pre-emption is existential. Everything else, which points in the opposite direction, (of wait and see how sanctions develop)is smoke and mirrors.
Listen, I was hoping it was just spin by the administration. But you should have hear Brett Baier report it – as it was a done deal. My jaw dropped. Glad that it seems to have been just another of the admin’s dirty tricks. I do believe at this point that it was an attempt to present a fait accompli and hope that the facts would follow.
Netanyahu would never enter into such a deal with Obama. First, he has no desire to see Obama get reelected, and second, and more importantly, if it ever came out that he’d artificially stalled an action on which Israel’s very existence may depend, for any reason, but especially for the trivial reason of giving Obama political cover, his own political career would be over in a heartbeat. He’s a better politician than that. He’s a better man than that.
With respect to Adina and Terry, both quite bright people, just living in Israel doesn’t make anyone prescient in these things. It’s like living in the US with regard to geo-politics – you have opinions, sources, friends, ideas, etc.
According to this theory, I have the most insight because I can hear the Shiite preachers in Persian broadcasting from the big mosque on the hill above the moshav where I live.
We bring our education, our hopes, our fears, and – in some cases – our sources. In Israel, there are many such sources, few of whom agree with one another.
But I don’t think Bibi will count on Obama for anything. It’s more a question of when the ‘establishment’ in Israel takes off its own restraints and his (Bibi’s). Then we will – hopefully – act.
And here it is.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/attack_offered_israel_advanced_weaponry_vJzadL8Qw5XoQ7akSRO9yK
Looks like a deal was offered – don’t think (from BB’s words and tone) that it was accepted.
Sociopath – narcissistic sub-type.
Not maybe, not ‘like’ – but definitely.
Willing to sacrifice the lives of our troops by timing an Afghan pullout to coincide with his election rather than the fighting season. Shocked me when I thought I had lost the capacity to be shocked by his sociopathic callousness.
Willing to sacrifice the safety of both the US as well as the rest of the world to push off an Israeli Iran strike until after his (hoped-for) re-election – at which point it will become impossible and a US strike highly implausible.
My capacity to be shocked has been worn out.
Ever since the 2008 presidential campaign, it’s been evident that to believe anything Obama says is to accept the short end of the odds. I pray that the attendees at AIPAC are too smart for him to take them in. Israel’s future is too important.
Obama just sees the Jewish vote as one, big, cash cow to go to during an election. Then, after the election, he pretty much forgets about them and usually comes down on the side of Islamists.
Don’t take my word for it. Just look at the disgraceful way his administration behaved with Egypt. Not once after throwing Mubarak under the bus did Obama think about what effect a takeover by the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt would have on the security of Israel. NOT ONCE. Everybody in his administration kept dreamily screaming, “Arab Spring, Arab Spring,” and not one of them would admit what would happen if the Salafists AND the Muslim Brotherhood took over the country. Obama’s sock puppet Clapper even had the nerve to tell Congress that the Muslim Brotherhood was a “mostly secular” organization and that there was nothing to fear from it. Well, here we are months later, with the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists in power and with the Egyptians taking American hostages and threatening to tear up the Camp David Teraty with Israel. But, thanks to the mainstream media always carrying water for this president, they never seem to remember any of those problems with the president. Just disgusting. And Jewish people still give money to this guy? Some things I will never understand.
>>Everybody in his administration kept dreamily screaming, “Arab Spring, Arab Spring,” and not one of them would admit what would happen if the Salafists AND the Muslim Brotherhood took over the country.<<
I've got to call you on that, Libertyship46. Is it even possible to scream dreamily?
That BHO is a con man has been quite clear for a long while, and now his sugar coating , his outer layer of lies, half truths, faker’s vocabulary, are crumbling; It is crumbling for a very simple reason : on a matter of life or death as is set the Iran vs Israel dispute there is no place for syntax finesse and empty sentences ; there is no such a place because the western world, the american people ( not yet intoxicated by BHO lies- or just having an hangover )the Gulf monarchies wich are providing us an always ready oil faucet and of course Israel , all of them do need to see acts, deeds, wich are stopping once for all the lunatics shiite antisemite petronazis of getting their nuclear toy.
Unfortunately BHO is not only a con man but his inner nature , his not-so-hidden agenda is the agenda of a Marxist-Muslim-Mole who has a clear strategy to debase and sink the whole western world.And what a better playing field for such a mole than the mideast with its oil fields, where up to now he has been able out of feigned naivity , to throw out all the previous western friends in Tunisia , Lybia, Egypt and to prop up the muslim brotherhood ( which is an anti-western fascist-jihadist group )or in the shiite arc wher BHO has been giving a helpful hand to the butcher in Damascus, to the lunatics antisemite theocrat in Teheran, to the growing iranian expansion all over the persian gulf and up to Lebanon.Really there is no coincidence, when you connect the dots you see the results ; You can nowadays write BHO ‘ name with an acronym ” Mr 3M ” standing for marxist-muslim-mole.
Philippe, I rather agree with you about Obama’s “mole” strategy but at this point I have no idea what Obama internally thinks about it. He may have just told so many lies to so many people that he is coming unmoored from any internal goals and is just reacting or coasting on instinct.
Roger, nice piece. Obama is one strange dude, indeed.
the previous western friends in Tunisia , Lybia, Egypt…
The new regime in Libya is an unsavory lot, but Gaddafi was never anything but an implacable enemy of the US. He pulled in his horns after seeing Saddam get the chop, but his motives never changed.
Note his elaborate maneuvering to get the airline bomber Megrahi out of jail, his close friendship with Hugo Chavez, his mutual esteem with Louis Farrakhan, and his covert alliance with Iran.
As for Egypt – Mubarak was a very poor friend. He was corrupt, and openly fostered Islamist, anti-Israel, and anti-American feeling, while posing as the “good cop” blocking the Moslem Brotherhood. The Tunisian strongman was not much better.
“Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks” says the posting guidelines – but those do not apply to Simon himself who launches into an ad hominem attack on the President. Apparently it is possible to hate, like or dislike the man from viewing a speech and watching him on the telly. Dear me.
Now, now, we’re all sorry that you don’t like Roger Simon and I’m sure he’s going to cry himself to sleep tonight because of your comment.
Yes, but you have to admit he does it brilliantly. Obama could use him as a speech writer.
How is it “ad hominem” to point out that where Israel is concerned, the President’s statements rarely match up with his actions?
Granted, that is common practice with this administration generally, but the President and his staff seem to have what amounts to an obsession with Israel. Mostly consisting of trying to run their MidEast policy on the Arabist principle, which has been the stock-in-trade of transnational progressives in and out of the U.S. State Department for several decades.
It comes down to “Palestinians good; Israel bad”, no matter what the subject is. The main reason seems to be that the “transpro” crowd are caught in a cleft stick. That being, they need oil to run their (hopefully eventually completely socialist) economies, but they don’t dare develop their own for fear of the wrath of their environmentalist friends.
This means dealing with the people in the MidEast who have the oil- the Arabs. But they want more than money; they want the “Zionist entity” erased from the map. Or at the very least, they want the West to ostensibly be on their side as they use “Zionism” to channel their own populaces’ unrest about their crappy lives away from their own leaders.
Unfortunately, this game of unrealpolitik has started to come unraveled, mainly due to the fact that there is a fourth player at the table in this poker game. Namely, Islamist fundamentalism. A movement which is more than happy to attack all of the above, in the process offering the discontented populations of the Arab crescent a simple answer to all their problems. Namely, turning back the clock about twelve centuries and rebuilding the Caliphate- by the sword. Starting with removing the leaders they don’t like and letting the Islamists run things.
Up to now, the restless populations thought they had only two choices; either put up with their (corrupt, often stupid) leaders, or become Westernized. They generally chose to stick with their leaders because being Westernized doesn’t sit well with their cultural patterns. Now, along comes the resurgent fundamentalist Islamist movement, offering them a third choice; become “truly Muslim”, and beat the ever-loving Hell out of everyone else for their crime of not being Muslim.
To understand the appeal of this, you have to understand that Islam is a tribalist culture in which family, clan, and the faith trump everything else. Obama and his minions do not understand this, and frankly are carried away by a romanticized view of the “mystic East” which conflates Islam with Hinduism, Buddhism, and several other- isms that it actually has nothing to do with. Other than the fact that Islamists hate followers of those other -isms almost as much as they hate Jews and Christians, which is saying quite a mouthful.
The Obama worldview is that anything that is not Western, technological, and Christian is automatically superior to anything in those three categories. They see those factors as having brought only evil to the world, and so, to save the world, those factors must be subjugated to a more “enlightened” rule- by the morally superior, non-judgmental, mystical belief systems which they have “oppressed” for so long.
Obama makes no distinction between his own transnational, progressive, secular worldview and that of the likes of the Muslim Brotherhood, because he genuinely believes there is no difference. He loathes our civilization; so do they. Therefore, in his mind, they are as secular and progressive as he is.
No, Obama and his cohorts do not understand Islamism. Anymore than they understand people they think of as “bitter clingers”. All they know, or care about, is that the Islamic movement is against everything they are also against, and that anything which represents what they mutually dislike needs to be done away with. That includes Israel.
And again no, Obama & Co. do not understand that the Islamists don’t like them, either. They see them as fellow progressives, and are certain that their mutual dislikes form an unbreakable bond. Also, that said Islamists are at base too stupid to run the Brave New World Obama & Friends are certain they can create from the chaos inbound, and will beg the enlightened progressives of the (hopefully by then destroyed) West to run it, with the Islamists acting as their adoring acolytes- and muscle.
Yes, as their delusions go, this is probably one of their most dangerous.
No, Obama does not like Israel. But it’s nothing personal; with him, it’s just a part of his overall distaste for our civilization in general. But since it’s the part that is closest to the mystical Eastern world he adores, he has put it at the head of his “To Do” list.
The rest of us are second on that list.
clear ether
eon
Excellent analysis.
I’d add that I don’t think that Obama has any principled beliefs that he adheres to within an intellectual analysis. That is, he follows the socialist, anti-west, anti-capitalist, anti-American beliefs of his upbringing (socialist mother, father, grandparents) but he himself didn’t arrive at these views by his own intellectual analysis.
Obama is a singularly uninterested and uncurious person – who does no factual or theoretical analysis of anything: history, policy or program. Obama has only one interest: Himself. His agenda is to manipulate you into his control. Period.
Therefore, his speech was meant to manipulate and misinform – to ensure that you are ‘his’. That’s all. He has no interest in the well-being of any people or nation. That’s why he appears as empty – because – he is.
This seems correct. Your analysis is consistent with President Obama’s behavior; for example, his astonishing practice of taking both sides of every issue. I have been using the word “unserious” to describe him, but your term “uncurious” is clearer. Thanks!
Very nicely put.
That was a brilliant post. Kudos to Roger as well. Great stuff.
You don’t seem to understand what is meant by an ad hominem attack.
This logical fallacy arises when one uses a personal attack instead of a valid argument when making a point during debate.
It doesn’t simply mean saying something negative about a person.
Mr. Simon’s essay makes some negative points about President Obama. It is an opinion piece, not an argument against anything, so the concept of the fallacy does not apply.
If you think Mr. Simon is being too mean to President Obama, the useful thing to do is provide an argument. In other words, an explanation. Tell us what you think Mr. Simon has gotten wrong.
Instead of doing that, you made a negative comment about Mr. Simon. That actually is an example of ad hominem.
Your response provides a great example of how the fallacy comes into play even when people are not using harsh language.
Perfect explanation. You are right – many people make the mistake of saying that criticism of someone is ‘ad hominem’. Absolutely not! That would mean that any criticism of a politician would be unacceptable!
And yes, it’s Benjamin who has committed the fallacy of ‘ad hominem’! Rather than pointing out how he felt Roger Simon erred in his opinions of Obama, Benjamin simply stated a negative and ungrounded comment on Simon’s personality (that he is able to hate just from the distance, ie, without knowledge).
When was the last time any significant number of people took a logic class? I took the last real Logic class our university system offered about ten years ago, after which it was replaced by a “critical thinking” class. The professor was an adjunct, too conservative to get tenure, with a J.D. and a Ph.D in Philosophy. It was a 200 level class that counted as a non-lab science or a math class. The U had discontinued the bachelor of education program but those in it were grandfathered, so the Ed slugs piled into the class. Thirty three people started the class, seven took the final, and five passed the course. I received the only B I’ve ever received as an adult. I don’t know if anybody got an A. The final was a passage of about 2000 words from John Marshall’s decision in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia. You had to distill Marshall’s baroque early 19th Century legalese into standard form, identify all the syllogisms, analyze all the syllogisms for logical validity, and identify any fallacies. Then you got to analyze another 100 syllogisms for logical validity. It was a take home, but that wouldn’t do you any good if you didn’t understand the material. It was the toughest class I’ve ever taken and only the navigation portion of my Master’s License was even in the same league.
Wow – quite the class. But I am very, very sure that this logical ground was extremely useful to you all your life. I mean it – getting to the basic foundation of an argument and checking its validity – is a powerful analytic tool.
BUT – I’m puzzled. You don’t mention the informal fallacies, which include, for example, that infamous ad hominem. Did your professor take you through any of these?
We had a whole unit on the subjectivist fallacies; argumentum ad hominem, argumentum ad baculum, the appeal to the mob, whatever in Hell that is in Latin, argumentum ad populum, I think, and the others I can’t recite offhand. Most Democrat propaganda is the appeal to the mob: most people think … therefore:
I’d had some logic in HS and a little in college long ago. I took it because I was dealing with having to become an “instant expert” on so many things that I knew little about as I became more and more an advisor and supervisor and not an advocate specialized in certain departments of government; I knew all you needed to know about labor, trades, and crafts issues, maritime issues, and cop and CO issues from experience, but I was now having to deal with all sorts of issues that I had little experiential grounding in. Most union grievances are subjectivist fallacies – I don’t like it, therefore – so being able to attack a position on its fallaciousness gives you a start before you have to find the experts to attack it on the facts. A copy of “The Art of Reasoning” was on every desk and my very marked up copy is in the bookcase behind me as I write this.
Benjamin, by chance you don’t attend Georgetown U. do you?
The reason for asking is:
Are we going to be seeing/hearing the media and blogs reporting, Roger L. Simon referred to me as a “
sluin an ad hominem way?That is right. Use the rules of civility posted on this blog to try to stifle criticism of Obama. When was the last time a lefty blog even pretended to being restricted to rules of civility? The time for civility with Obama has long passed. He is a Communist. In the effort to rid ourselves of this particular vermin, civility be damned.
I hope the Jews, along with others, wake up from their slumber. We’re all being thrown under the Islam bus. Oh, he mouths pretty words to soothe the conscience and lull one to sleep, but the evidence is there. He bowed to king Abdullah. He’s supported the Islamists in Egypt, Libya, and even in Iran (he didn’t support the dissidents, oh yes). So the Israeli’s are essentially on their own. For only a fool would trust Barack, the guy who had to hide all his records. Now why would he go through all that trouble? Obviously there must be something incriminating in them. If I were Bibi, I’d get the Moussad working on finding all those missing records, missing interviews with college friends and professors, and his close working relations with communists and other radicals.
When Obama gave his Cairo Speech he refused to call The Torah, ” Holy ” , despite calling the Bible and The Koran ” holy ” each time he referred to them.
When Obama ended his speech to AIPAC he said , ” G-d bless the people of Israel “.
Now Israel comprises many people Jews, Arabs, Christian, Druze, Armenian, etc. There is a HUGE difference between saying, ” G-d Bless the State of Israel ” , and what Obama said.
The difference is not merely one of nuance. It is a concrete manifestation of the way Obama thinks and how he views the future for Israel
A weasel is a weasel no matter how it pretends otherwise.
Ed Lasky writes an excellent article titled, Fisking Obama at AIPAC, in The American Thinker that critiques Obama’s speech at AIPAC. Mr. Lasky points out several instances where Obama tries to take credit for helping Israel when it was Congress that deserves the credit. I encourage all PJ Media readers to read this insightful article.
Hey Mr. Simon – for your sake sure hope you wore at least one bulb of garlic.
We tend to forget, I think, that a large Jewish migration to the US occurred rather recently from Russia, central and western Europe. Many of those Jews were leftists – or at least NOT steeped in western conservative principles – and they and their descendents remain so in many ways. They began voting Democrat in the time and aftermath of FDR and have never stopped. It’s a deeply ingrained habit the Dems are able to exploit irrespective of foreign or domestic policies. Obama is just continuing a long tradition.
We tend to forget that Jews were leaders in all the major left-wing movements: Socialism, organized labor, feminism, the civil rights marches of the 1960s.
Jews are mostly leftists, always have been. In Europe they hoped that secular socialism was the antidote to Christian fundamentalism which had led to the Inquisition and the pogroms.
And in Israel they started out with something very like socialism, with the kibbutz and all, and then they learned from experience and tempered that. They embraced capitalism and created an incredibly rich culture, society, and economy that has provided untold benefits to all of civilization.
The book Start-up Nation provides a wonderful description of the economic benefits we all reap from Israel’s amazing contributions to technology and commerce.
It is important to realize that the Israelis are an incredible force for good in this world, and a very significant player in the world economy. If there is one place capitalism has a chance of becoming perfected–so that it isn’t tainted by so much cronyism and instead becomes true to free market principles–that place is probably Israel.
A lot of people don’t know much about Israel, and make a lot of assumptions based on what they have heard about The Jews. I would hate for people to get the wrong impression about what’s happening in Israel today based on your brief, high-level historical observations. I’m not sure the Inquisition is all that relevant to this discussion.
Thanks. There are a good number of hard-core righties, including Jewish ones, who regularly flail Israel as some sort of Mideastern version of Czechoslovakia in 1960. This is wildly inaccurate.
And alot of prominent conservative thinkers, writers and government appointees are Jewish, perhaps because of the cautionary lessons they saw unfold under communism (and also painful lessons regarding Israel). It goes both ways – if not in numbers, definitely in intellectual impact.
You got to see the Obama telepromptor show, every word and movement teleprompted and choreographed. Here is Barack sans telley in 2006. Remember he was already being coached before and after the 2004 DNC speech.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzUj63Jou4Y
You could call it his ambien speech.
I don’t mean to imply that he couldn’t speak w/o his telly. He could. He just says a great deal of pre-approved talking points in interviews. He certainly can talk about his books on Book TV as he did in the 1990s.
One little piece of trivia. He didn’t start using his ear trademark smile until after he had his teeth capped in the 1990s. Before that they were crooked and small. There are hints that he had his nose slightly tapered but the jury is still out on that.
I know that the Breibart vetting is trying to find Obama videos from the 90s. I’ve seen all of them that are out there and they are revealing but I know there is a lot missing or scrubbed.
When you have to keep defending your record over and over and keep pleading folks not to believe your critics, it tends to spoil the effect.
Obama: “I really am for Israel, don’t believe my critics”
Reagan didn’t have to keep repeating: “I really am against the U.S.S.R. and I really am in favor of a free market–don’t believe my critics.”
JFK didn’t have to keep repeating: “I really am for the space program and I really do want to see Americans go into space–don’t believe my critics.”
Good point!
It is no mystery what the Nazis did to six million Jews, but it is a mystery why so many Jews in the U.S. apparently can’t see, or can’t bring themselves to imagine, the situation with Iran could well mean a second Holocaust.
That situation being what it is, I can’t imagine ANYONE who supports Israel or even supports basic human rights give Bam the time of day.
Even weirder is to have such a strange person as Barry Barack Dunham Sotero Hussein Obama in the presidency to begin with. But the weirdest thing of all is that Bam has as high an approval rating as he does. It is beyond belief.
Those people who support the man are no longer my fellow countrymen. I am not a citizen of the Red Queen’s country (a reference to Alice in Wonderland but one could see it as a sort of stretched pun referring to the prez, his Commie past, etc, if one wants.)
It’s like a nightmare that I can’t wake up from.
An Préachán
yes. If 3 years of being a schmuck can be wiped out by a few minutes of teleprompter pep rally, then ‘they’ maybe have a problem that thank the Lord we haven’t caught…yet.
Millions of Americans feel as you do…trust me, you are not alone.
Obama has ridiculed this country and insulted us, stolen from us – but we aren’t going down.
This is an example of the type of message that I post on major newspapers…
Obama’s campaign has never provided evidence of his eligibility for POTUS. The pdf file posted on WhiteHouse.gov was proved to be Fraudulent and a forgery, manufactured digitally using Adobe and Adobe Illustrator by Sheriff Joe Arpaio. You can pull the BC from the site itself and examine it. Here are the step-by-step instructions, along with the proof: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s9StxsFllY
A self-admitted dual citizen (father was British National from Kenya at the time of Obama II’s birth), he does not meet the “natural born citizen” requirement required by the Constitution. An explanation of natural born citizen is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qz0_LNLA9GY
If the courts won’t examine evidence, why doesn’t the Congress call for Obama to release his records (the evidence)?
http://obamareleaseyourrecords.blogspot.com/2010/12/exposed-attorney-who-worked-on-mccain.html
Failure on the part of Congress to begin investigation and arrest of a Usurper who has committed unknown thousands of felonies is in itself a felony – Misprision of Felony by our elected officials.
An election does NOT overturn the Constitution and the rule of law. Is a Congressman not a “proper authority” to look into such serious concerns and isn’t the oversight function of Congress among its most important duties?
Americans demand redress.
WE CAN’T GIVE UP. It’s now a matter of educating those who are ignorant and maybe can’t help themselves…if you don’t know something, how do you know you don’t know it? LOL
Pass it on…let’s get busy.
This arrogant pr*ck isn’t going down easy.
It should be beyond belief-there are lies, damned lies, statistics and poll results.
I think Roger hit the nail on the head at the end. Obama doesn’t have to convince anyone that he’s pro-Israel. He only needs to provide just enough of a thread for Jews to hang onto that they’ll have some excuse they can use to let themselves vote Democrat. To accomplish this, he doesn’t have to do all that much. One or two speeches like this and they’ll be back to dark speculations about how Republicans, deep down somewhere, are really, really antisemitic.
Democrats who vote based on actual policy issues, rather than blind allegiance, aren’t a serious part of the Jewish electorate. It’s telling that when a republican won Anthony Weiner’s old district, the media dismissed it as an aberration because the Orthodox community there considered support for Israel an issue. And, to some extent, this reaction to Obama’s anti-Israel policies is an aberration.
Interestingly, it will be demographics, not policy, that changes the Jewish people. Sarah Silverman’s famous call for young Obama-supporting Jews to cut off their racist grandparents if they don’t vote Obama got it backwards: elderly Jews are overwhelmingly democratic, it’s the young ones in my generation who are increasingly (though still in very small numbers) drawn to conservatism. On the downside, younger Jews who do stay liberal are both more secular and increasingly hostile to Israel.
So we’re moving to a world where the Jewish community is split into a committed but less politically uniform core, and a (politically, not necessarily culturally or religiously) assimilated group that remains rock-ribbed democrats and could give a flying @#(% about antisemitism or Israel. That’s been a recurring theme in Jewish history all the way back to the Patriarchs.
Thanks for pointing that out, yolanda. It’s interesting, but I don’t think it’s a great fisking.
I like this piece better: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/03/obama_at_aipac_another_missed_opportunity.html
I agree with these conclusions from that piece:
“…for Obama, the Muslim world and its sensibilities matter. Israel, on the other hand is an annoyance, whose leaders have the ability mainly to create political problems for him at home.
If Obama is re-elected, Israel’s leverage on US politics will be severely diminished in a second term. Obama will not have to face the voters again or raise money from the Jewish community. Is there any reason to expect that Obama will pursue a new harder line against Iran, and coordinate more with Israel in a second term, assuming the situation is not resolved by January 2013? Is there reason to think Obama will blame Israel less and the Palestinians more in a second term for failure to achieve peace, or that the pressure on Israel to make concessions will be more intense than ever before?
The answer to these questions, I think is obvious. Barack Obama did nothing at AIPAC to allay the concerns of any American who stands with Israel.”
Do read the whole thing.
Roger Simon voted for the O. in 2008, did he not?
No.
A good piece Roger and like you I was more interested in what he didn’t say, like how Iran would be dealt with if sanctions don’t work, and everyone knows they won’t including Obama.
However, what struck me was the look on his face during the speech. It was a closed off almost forced look, like he was doing something very distasteful. Many times his eyes were almost closed and there was considerable tenseness there. The dissonance between his words and his thoughts and instincts were on clear display for anyone who cared to see it. Look at his aspect when he addresses groups that he identifies with and the difference is clear. I believe he knew he had to make an effort to keep Jews in the fold and found the task odious. I saw a heart of darkness.
Also, he was very likely listening for applause and cheers that weren’t forthcoming.
Next to his fumfuhing whenever the teleprompter lags, one of The One’s trademark tics and tells is his built-in pauses to allow time for applause. This is a standard procedure for Presidential speechwriters, but in his case, they are longer than usual.
The reason seems to be that Obama expects affirmation from the crowd no matter what he says. And he needs it to bolster his colossal ego. It’s not enough for him to be powerful; he also demands worship. (The King of Id had nothing on The One in this department.)
Much of the lip-biting, eye- closing, etc., you saw was very likely him trying to avoid a meltdown. Because he was thinking, “Why aren’t they applauding? Don’t they know who I am? They’re supposed to cheer! I deserve it, and they’re not doing their job!”
I’m wondering if, during the campaign in the fall, we might not see him have a full-blown temper tantrum in a situation like this. Or in a debate.
By that time his self-control may be just about exhausted.
cheers
eon
Signed…
“Eager for the psychotic break”
For the record, what was this Shimon Peres speech about, praising Obama as a “natural born leader” and other glowing remarks ?
Of course, Israel relies on American support, but such baldfaced lying seemed creepy beyond belief.
Absolutely agree!
Peres is President of Israel, but his party affiliations are more important in this context.
He came from the Likud Party initially, but more recently was in Kadima. This is equivalent to going from British Labour to New Labour. In short, he’s fundamentally a European-style socialist.
And Euro-socialists love Obama, for reasons even they are unable satisfactorily to explain, as Douglas Adams would say.
I suspect there may not be more than meets the eye here. Just one socialist fawning over a fellow member of the club.
cheers
eon
I have to agree and I’ve been saying for some time that Captain Socialist is a prime candidate for a meltdown-in-public type of event. However, this may come well after he loses the 2012 election and is really pissed.
For the record, his ego is not colossal. It is miniscule. This is the mark of an individual who constantly needs external validation and who boasts and who belittles others. Bully is the typical tag/designation. The self-actualized, confident mature adult needs little to no external validation and knows the words they speak are accurate to their core beliefs and they stand by them with or without applause.
I have watched for years how our leftwing members of politics have turned our nation into the high-school lunchroom and divided it all into the “cool kids” table and “nerds”. It’s a very simple analogy, I know but it seems that every BS thing I detested about adolescent behavior in high school has become the very signature of the democrat party.
Yes, Obama is a clinical narcissist and his only focus is on: Himself.
He requires constant adulation and subservience and he feels threatened when it is not forthcoming. His first reaction to non-adoration is: anger. I suggest he’s got a violent temper. It was easier for him to handle his narcissism (it’s too entrenched for therapy) when he was playing minor roles as a community organizer.
As president, he meets up with many people, most of whom are far more knowledgeable and intelligent (Obama is ignorant of history, political theory, economics etc – and unable to explore and analyze these areas) – and yet, Obama as a pathological narcissist, requires their subservience and requires that they acknowledge His Power. This becomes more difficult as he meets more of these people. And, as president, he must ‘appeal’ to a much increased population than as a minor community organizer whom he can tell to ‘go out and do this’.
Such an authoritative voice doesn’t work over a large population. Obama tries: he tells people that they don’t understand him because they are ignorant; or rednecks trapped in religion; or lazy; or bigoted, partisan. He tells them that all they need to do to deal with high gas prices is: inflate their tires, or drive less. All they need to do to deal with the debt is: not be so greedy and pay more taxes.
It doesn’t work. We aren’t his hired help and he’s not our community organizer.
So – he’ll get more and more angry and indifferent to what is now an unwelcome task of talking to these ‘ungrateful voters’. His handlers will have to provide him with more and more ‘Love-Ins’, ie, parties and programmed meetings filled with vetted adulation and cheers. He’ll become more dismissive of criticism and complaints about the economy etc; he’ll retreat into anger and isolation.
“He’ll become more dismissive of criticism and complaints about the economy etc; he’ll retreat into anger and isolation.” We have seen that before and it wasn’t pretty. Richard Nixon and this guy is way more dangerous than Tricky Dick.
The deviousness of Dicky with the incompetence of Jimmah.
Yowks.
Bravo…You hit the Bullseye..Could not have said it Better..+1000
The strategic gamble in dealing with Comrade Obama is whether or not you should try to provoke him. Somebody with sharp argumentation skills could easily provoke the arrogant, narcissitic SOB to explode. I know I could; I’ve dealt with a zillion union reps that are just like him. The quandry is whether you’d lose support for being “mean” to the President. Particularly with the young and with women being confrontational or “mean” is about as close to a mortal sin as there is in their world.
Even if Obama could be so provoked the media would never report it. Just as they wouldn’t report the truth about the slug in 2008. This time they will have to double down on whomever runs against him because at least he has his abysmal record that MSM will spin and distort recognizably. I don’t see the old liberal Jews in Palm Beach changing one whit, but I do see the Cuban community that outnumbers them coming to the forefront of Florida politics with Marco Rubio. He supports the state of Israel as has a dominance of the GOP leaders and the rest of us.
Oh, he can be provoked! He’s pretty much your standard Alinskyite that the Meany School, lefty law schools, and colleges with “Labor Studies” curriculae produce. The one thing they all have in common is an insufferable arrogance and since they surround themselves with sycophants, they aren’t accustomed to and have no tolerance for any criticism. When you’re dealing with the union rep version of Comrade Obama, you just find a way to say something incindiary in your opening statement and you get to watch them go off like a bottle rocket and become irrationally angry for the rest of the hearing. Angry people don’t think clearly, so you make them angry.
I agree with you on the lip biting and eye closing and the other things. I guess what I saw was the revelation of an inner darkness. He seemed to hate both what he was having to say and who he was saying it to. I hope that the Jewish community realizes that if he gets re-elected, and that seems increasingly probable given the opposition, that he will extract revenge for what he thinks they and their allies are making him do.
Yes, this is something to be clear about – when Obama, as a pathological personality, is denied the adulation and subservience that he psychologically requires, he’ll become enraged – and filled with malice. He’ll have an overwhelming need for revenge. Massive, violent, abusive – revenge.
Even if he’s elected – and I hope that will not occur – even if elected, his need to destroy any and all who have dared to oppose him, will be overwhelming. And, without any need for accountability, any need to appease the electorate – he’ll move into violent demagoguery and attacks against all who rejected him.
With his capacity for rhetoric, and the gang of radical socialists around him (Jarrett, Holder, Chu, etc, etc, he’ll exact a crippling vengeance. He needs to show that He is The Controller – and knowing that people tried to reject him will so unsettle him that his emotional instability, even if he wins, will move him into this disastrous phase.
This is why Eric Holder will NOT be thrown under Obama’s bus.
I’ve long had the sense that the US Jewish community has some very deeply rooted blinders about who its friends and enemies are. Certainly not an uncommon observation, but its amazing to me that Obama has more than a quarter of the ‘Jewish’ vote. His policies and actions have been anything but supportive of Israel, and when compared to the previous Bush administration the contrast is profound. How can this not be blatantly obvious???
How much of it is religious fear of the Christian Right and its prevalence in the Republican party?
How much is it do to the left’s continual references and comparisons of the right to ‘Nazis’? Are those false comparisons intended for this purpose?
As a moderate, (fiscal, foreign policy conservative, social librel), it just seems like it should be so obvious that the Democratic party sees and treats the Jewish vote, much like the black vote, the gay vote, the hispanic vote, as nothing more than useful idiots. They say the words, throw the platitudes, add some slush to the coffers and then turn their backs after the election. It’s so frustrating and so sad to see.
Its doubly-sad to recognize that the Jewish community completely misunderstands that if push came to shove…if history repeated….the people who would stand shoulder to shoulder with them…who truly embrace ‘never again’…would be the card-carrying Republican down the street. The guy with the pickup and the NRA sticker.
The US Jewish community sees Israel as an albatross around their neck, a ball-and-chain of “outdated” tradition around their ankle that binds them to and reminds them of “the old ways”, an expectation that they do not wish to live up to.
They want to play the Hedonism game just as much as any other Liberal or Progressive.
And on top of that, they believe that if only they were free of Israel, then anti-semitism would vanish form the earth.
…I think there was enough to console the anxious hearts of lifelong Jewish Democrats, particularly those who thought they would be committing a sin against their ancestors for pulling the lever for a Republican for the first time in sixty years!
Are those some of the same people who were clamoring to invest with Bernie Madoff ?
I’m guessing George W Bush was weird like that.
No, wait. I once was introduced to George W Bush. He was seemed perfectly normal and decent. Of course, he’s a big-government RINO, but not weird.
Hmmm.
Two points. First, I think there should be a concerted movement against the Obama Protection Society at the LA Times regarding the Khalidi tape. My general take is that if they’re hiding something, they must have something to hide. A birther-like movement might get the tape released – look what Donald Trump managed to do. (btw, I’m not a birther, but Arpaio’s videos of his investigation were fascinating)
Second, when I first saw Obama speak (on TV), I was wowed. He was even more eloquent than Bill Clinton. After I turned the TV off, I sat and mulled over what he said and then it struck me – this is baloney! I think rational people are best served by reading transcripts of his statements rather than listening to his speeches – that way you can separate the words from the delivery.
I am with the Iranians on this one. I do not believe a thing the man says.
Obama says the right words. He claims that he does not bluff and is prepared to use miliary force. What is most important is how the Iranians will react to that. I do not think they will take it seriously because they see him as weak and the US as in no state of mind to take on another war. They are right about that and it is not just coming from liberals.
Ron Paul has done quite a bit of damage already. It is obvious that substantial fractions from both sides oppose action against Iran. Among them it is primarily Republican Paulites that want to open the doors, eliminate sanctions etc. Iranians know this and have a low opinion of Obama. So sanctions are not likely to have any effect.
Obama cannot bluff. You need credibility to do that. Obama has none.
part Manchurian candidate
Caroline Glick:
“The day before Obama is scheduled to give a fraudulent, saccharine, speech at the AIPAC conference in which he congratulates himself for not yet ending the US’s military cooperation with Israel and refers to himself repeatedly as Israel’s greatest friend ever, ECI released a new half hour video documenting Obama’s actual record on Israel. It is a must see video for all American Jews who consider themselves pro-Israel, (that would be almost all American Jews), and a must see video for all Americans for whom Israel is a voting issue.”
Daylight – The Story of Obama and Israel
Frankly, with this egregiously Orwellian, outrageously schizophrenogenic speech, I think we’ve just seen the behavior cross over from narcissistic to sociopathic.
So thank you for providing this link to Glick and the ECI “Daylight” video! It does indeed need to go viral.
What a shame that what also needs to happen with it—that it be condensed into a 45 to 60 second clip that saturates the mainstream TV networks from now until November—hasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell of ever happening, because even if enough money could be raised to pay for the air time, it would never be shown.
Not to worry…I forwarded it to my Congressman.
*Great* move!! Whooppee!
The absolute truth is Barack Hussein Obama has plans for our America,and that is to destroy the economy,then rebuild a one world government. First he has to shred our Constitution. Only fool’s believe the man !!
Yes, you got that right. I read a facebook item that said it is already pre-determined by the “elite” that Obama will “win” the vote in November for presidency-because he is doing the job they want him to. Also, that “they will stage another Pearl Harbour, 9/11 as an excuse to attack Iran and that it will happen by October at latest this year.” It will be done in time to make Obama look like a hero in defending USA against the “bad Iranians,” so as to give him some “credibility” among the American people when he is “voted” in again.
The “elite” want to subjugate every strong Islamic Govt.and “democratise” them, so they can bring them under the Global Government planned. Iran is next.
Log onto jesuknecht.blog.spot. (dunno if I got that right-give it a go.) It is very enlightening about the goal of the Global Govt. “elite” and their plans for us all.
Yasher koach. To echo a commenter above, you hit it out of the park.
It’s interesting that BHO’s appearance has generated a fair amount of analysis of his body language. Israel Hayom also had an excellent piece on that today (http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=1485).
I’m reminded of BHO’s deer-in-headlights look and death-grip on his chair last time Bibi visited the WH and explained the history and strategic reality of the Middle East to him in public (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-DL4ihfM8M).
I think we are at a bad time of year: everyone wants “The Whole Megillah”: a comforting story.
What we have to realize that there are many many people in this world who are listening and may like the agenda for reasons of their own, and not necessary the ones you might think.
There are many anti-Semites who love Israel, seeing it as a giant ghetto, which keeps Jews out of their countries, and provide a killing ground when the time comes. Antonio Quiroga wrote an interesting story on the subject.
No matter what the future hold it is everyone’s interest to see Israel hang on a bit. There are many who would like to play Lucy van Pelt to Israel’s Charlie Brown, keeping its hopes up until a final definitive betrayal. An attack on Iran might be such an event and further, a chance to finally distance oneself from Israel.
Saudi doesn’t want a Iranian bomb and will get its own if necessary. Islam really needs Israel especially the Arabs. Without Israel, they would fall on each other simply because there would be no unifying symbol left. The best thing is to have Israel as a stick to beat the West while keeping it as a focus.
Obama and his support realize that keeping Israel around is good business and may provide chances to work great harm on that country in the long term.
The thing I’ve never liked about Barack is the condescending look that appears on his face when someone doesn’t agree with him. It’s as if he expected absolutely nobody should dare say no to him. And sadly there are way to many people who surround him that in fact never disagree with him in anyway. You can see in the exchange with Gov. Brewer on the tarmac. His head is tilted with the chin out while he has the little smirk on his face as he’s looking down his nose at her. And this from a guy that wants the woman’s vote? Or during the debates with McCain as he would dryly smirk as if he knows some inside joke about the other person while he lets a slight sigh and rolls the eyes. The barging into a meeting of world leaders during the climate conference when he was snubbed by the Chinese. Of storming out of the debt debate and boasting to Cantor, “Don’t call my bluff!” He’s attitude and demeanor is just not befitting to the dignity of the office of the Presidency.
My father was an old-school staunch Democrat from the old Roosevelt coalition. I grew up hearing that Republicans were the “fat cats” who had no compassion for the “little people”. He never pulled a lever for a Republican in his life.
In the 2008 election, at the age of 93, he voted for McCain!
Unfortunately, he is an exception. I saw emails my father’s friends sent him assuring him that Obama’s support for Israel is “solid”. I’m afraid that a lot of the Jews in Florida from that generation are so tied to an ingrained liberal ideology, that they are looking to be reassured by any B.S. that Obama throws at them.
In a similar vein, I was hoping that his disgraceful “decree” against Catholic institutions would turn off Catholic voters. Maybe it will, but my gut feeling is that he somehow managed to ride out that storm.
I think the only hope for our country is that he will take some spectacularly offensive and autocratic action which will wake up the American electorate. It would have to be within two weeks of the election. Not likely. Sigh!
Wow – kudos to your dad! That’s awesome! My dad and I had a standing joke that our votes cancelled out one another. But then again, he was the guy who called me (from Israel actually) to ask ‘what happened to Jerry?’ Me: ‘dad, he had a heart attack’. Dad: ‘its very easy for THEM (CIA?) to do a “heart attack”. Now his vote no longer cancels out mine. Sigh.
(Did you get that it was Jerry Garcia? His generation just said ‘Jerry’ and everyone knew who that was…)
My dad was considering whether or not to convert so that he would share the same tribe as his kids. Never did. He passed three months ago, christian faith intact and strong. Olov hasholom.
There is only one way to watch a speech by Barack Obama, and that is with the volume off. Look at his expressions, mannerisms and especially the eyes, then you will know for sure what Barack Obama believes — it’s written all over his face.
I watched the speech for a time, and noted Obama was using his Harvard dialect & he was not Happy!Perhaps he was trying to look grave? Look up his speeches to the NAACP, you wouldn’t recognize him.
He is a phony, selling a load of cr##p to American Jews, plain and simple.
Now I’m going to go listen to Dennis Prager, one of America’s sane Jews who also restores my faith in humankind.
Mr. Simon, you gained a fan with this post. The writing is so concise, so unaffected – just well done.
This was especially good:
“You expect to hate him, then you start to like him, then you start to hate him again. At the end, you don’t really know what you think, although in my case you revert to your previous view — extreme distaste.”
Obama, observed Richard Epstein of the time he met him at U of Chi for his stint at “teaching” Constitutional law, plays “intellectual poker” to avoid disclosing what he thinks. The body doesn’t lie, and his actions don’t lie, but Obama is so busy hiding something it exudes exactly this sense of being there, but not, at the same time.
I suspect he is a fraud on so many levels for so long, he may not know his own mind, as Mr. Simon says. On the other hand, his abundant lack of real skills or conviction, except the desire to advance, keeps him wondering where the parade is going, so he can claim to lead it. He only seems confident when the audience is guaranteed to clap no matter what he says.
thanks for the view of BHO at Univ. of Chicago. What a master BS artist.
If you start with the premise that Obama is anti-American and anti-Semitic everything is much clearer. He is the Manchurian candidate writ large.
Which is why he views lying as a justifiable means to an end. The only question is how many lies are uttered on behalf of the Left’s agenda and how many are a product of his own malignant narcissism.
The only thing that disturbs me here is the possibility of Obama winning the Jewish vote again. How is it possible? Blacks vote blindly for Democrats largely out of misunderstood history, ignorance of economics and lack of information. (Yes, I am Black, but I escaped the plantation long ago).
But the Jewish community is highly educated and informed. I can’t understand how they can choose party loyalty over their own self-interest. I mean their survival on a global scale depends on having a president in the White House at least sympathetic to them. If the enemies of Israel could design their Ideal American persident, they would just build Obama again.
Obama has made it clear he dislikes Israel; he talks about Netanyahu derisively, refuses to even go there and meet with the people or give the appearance that he supports the nation under the eyes of his fellow Arabs.
If you heard nothing Obama ever lied about before, listen to the list of his Greatest Hits. He is touting his record as the Most pro-Israel, the Most oil drilled ever, the Most tax cuts ever, and the Most Illegals deported ever. Never a mention of the reality that disproves his claims or the fact that all of those things happened because they were out of his direct control.
Never a mention that he has played the most rounds of golf ever, taken the most days of vacation ever, that he has the highest deficit, highest unemployment, highest number of czars, highest non-Constitutional appointees, etc.
Somewhere there is an imaginary world where all the things Obama says are true, where the great masses of people have benefitted from his majestic rule. But here in reality we can’t afford his delusions anymore. I just hope the people who heard him speak saw through is Sith mind tricks. We’ll see in November.
“…Obama winning the Jewish vote again…”
Rest assured, though he might retain the majority of the Jewish vote, his percentage will go down by a significant number. People are not aggregates, they are individuals – and rest assured there is a substantial minority among Jewish voters who are disabused of Obama’s virtues. Saying this as someone who lives in NYC’s upper west side. Even here the winds of dissillusionment are blowing. Listen, if Obama is losing the gay male vote (and he is – not the majority, but a significant minority) then the Jewish vote can be eroded as well.
Miriam, I hope to goodness, for all our sakes, that you are right.
I have to tell you that the sight of that man standing up in front of God and everybody and lying like a rug before an audience of *Jews,* and them *applauding* him for it, was beyond chilling. I still feel “zero at the bone” every time I think of it–with apologies to Emily Dickinson—or maybe not.
She was of course speaking about a snake, so I decided just now to go back and read the whole poem again, and was struck by the applicability of the last two stanzas:
Several of nature’s people
I know, and they know me;
I feel for them a transport
Of cordiality;
But never met this fellow,
Attended or alone,
Without a tighter breathing,
And zero at the bone.
End the problem.
Obama’s campaign has never provided evidence of his eligibility for POTUS. The pdf file posted on WhiteHouse.gov was proved to be Fraudulent and a forgery, manufactured digitally using Adobe and Adobe Illustrator by Sheriff Joe Arpaio. You can pull the BC from the site itself and examine it. Here are the step-by-step instructions, along with the proof: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s9StxsFllY
A self-admitted dual citizen (father was British National from Kenya at the time of Obama II’s birth), he does not meet the “natural born citizen” requirement required by the Constitution. An explanation of natural born citizen is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qz0_LNLA9GY
If the courts won’t examine evidence, why doesn’t the Congress call for Obama to release his records (the evidence)?
http://obamareleaseyourrecords.blogspot.com/2010/12/exposed-attorney-who-worked-on-mccain.html
Failure on the part of Congress to begin investigation and arrest of a Usurper who has committed unknown thousands of felonies is in itself a felony – Misprision of Felony by our elected officials.
An election does NOT overturn the Constitution and the rule of law. Is a Congressman not a “proper authority” to look into such serious concerns and isn’t the oversight function of Congress among its most important duties?
Americans demand redress.
– when Roger described being the presence of Ahmadinejad?
I called Barry the Ivy League Huey Long months before George Will got it. Hustler. On the other hand so was Clinton.
I’ve always said this;
1. To understand Bill Clinton, you need to see the 1949 Robert Rosson film version of “All The King’s Men”, starring Broderick Crawford. Clinton is basically Crawford’s version of Willy Stark. (Ignore the remake with Sean Penn. In fact, ignore Sean Penn, period.)
2. To understand Hillary Clinton, watch the 1962 version of “The Manchurian Candidate”, directed by John Frankenheimer, and pay very close attention to Angela Lansbury’s bravura performance as Mrs. Iselin. (Ignore the remake of this film entirely.)
I remember that during the Clinton administration, somebody observed that the main problem with the Clinton “co-presidency” was that Bill was dangerously stupid, and Hillary was stupidly dangerous. (And this was before Vince Foster, Travelgate, etc.) Neither one of them has changed appreciably in the intervening years. Bill is still motivated mainly by his libido and his love for the sound of his own voice. As for Hillary, like Mrs. Iselin she is still looking for an easily-manipulated, photogenic dunce to use as a sock-puppet to further her megalomaniac dreams of “power that will make martial law look like anarchy”.
As to what movie might be a good clue to Mr. Obama’s mental processes, I’d call it a toss-up between “Forrest Gump” and “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure”. As H. Beam Piper might say, I see no evidence that he engages in any sort of mental processes whatsoever.
clear ether
eon
For those who have already read “comments”-last night I posted my first on this site, it is between 30 and 31: worth a read. I would love to believe that the voting process is fair and democratic, but it is all a big show having the various candidates, to appease the American people; there are other people (the so-called “elite”) who decide who will be president. Fraid its gonna be more of the same after the next election.