“Fundamentally Transforming the United States of America”: an update

Regular readers of Roger’s Rules know how fond I am of quoting President Obama’s declaration to his followers, toward the end of October 2008, that he was only a few days away from “fundamentally transforming the United States of America.”

I say “fond” not to indicate affection but frequency: I regard Obama’s statement as at once one of the most honest and most frightening things he has said.  Obama may be an expert prevaricator;  he may have been essentially less than candid with the American people (remember all those promises — promises — that he wouldn’t raise taxes on any family making less than $250,000 a year?).  But the true Obama keeps peeking out. He’s going to “spread the wealth around,” remember, he faulted the Supreme Court for not venturing into issues of “redistribution of wealth” and not “breaking free” from some “essential constraints” placed upon politicians by  “the Founding Fathers and the Constitution.” And he also, as I keep reminding you, promised to “fundamentally transform the Untied States of America.”

To help you think about some of what   that would mean, take a look at this sobering discussion between  Jerry Gordon, senior editor at the New English Review, and the historian and author Richard L. Rubenstein, a contributor to the New English Review (thanks to my friend Roger L. Simon for bringing this to my attention).  Dr. Rubenstein is a soft-spoken and measured commentator.  But though he speaks quietly and makes his points in a sober, understated way, what he says is dynamite. Obama, he points out, is a “revolutionary” figure who is aiming to   transform the “American political system and economic system” and America’s relationship to the rest of the world.  He is suspicious of Europe, contemptuous of Great Britain, and hostile to Israel. In his obsequious behavior to the King of Saudi Arabia, he has underscored his deep filiation with the Muslim world. He aims, in short, for “radical transformation. He is the most radical President America has ever had.” Depressing, but necessary, viewing for this summer Sunday.