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Friday, July 25, 2008
Barack Hussein Obama, World Citizen
Unsurprisingly, much of the world’s media is writhing with onanistic glee over Senator Obama’s Berlin speech. I don’t recall when being able to inspire hundreds of thousands of chanting Germans again became a positive quality in a world leader, but I digress. Still, for Senator McCain, there’s an opening here.
If I were John McCain, I would have my staff working overtime to produce an ad – tonight – that sounds and looks something like this:
“Citizen”
FADE IN: Frozen black and white footage of Obama speaking in Berlin.
NARRATOR: When Barack Obama goes overseas, he says that he’s a…
(The footage moves)
OBAMA: …citizen of the world…
(The footage freezes, then dissolves).
CUT TO: Footage of John McCain.
NARRATOR: John McCain is an American citizen. Born on a military base in Panama. The son of an Admiral who was the son of an Admiral. He served more than two decades in the Navy. The choice – American or…
CUT TO: Obama speaking in Berlin.
OBAMA: …citizen of the world…
NARRATOR: …is clear.
CUT TO: A picture of John McCain.
MCCAIN: I’m John McCain, and I approved this message.
Yes, the press would go absolutely nuts over it. But, frankly, it’s more than fair – if Obama doesn’t want to defend his conception of himself as a “citizen of the world”, then he shouldn’t describe himself as one in the opening lines of a major speech. Someone who does that, frankly, deserves to have his patriotism questioned.
More than that – it would become THE issue of, at the very least, the next week. It would start a debate that, frankly, could only turn out badly for Obama – “is Barack Obama a patriot, yes or no?” It would be especially effective and cutting for Obama because, frankly, there are some obvious and serious questions about his loyalty.
I’m not talking about the Islamic stuff – I’m quite sure that Obama isn’t a Moslem, given that Moslems believe that Mohammed was God’s final prophet and such a fixed belief would clearly conflict with those obviously held by Obama. No, I mean the lingering questions about Senator Obama’s attachment to the United States and to Western Civilization itself.
See, we still know surprisingly little about what Obama really believes. In Obama we see two things. First, we see a far-left background. Obama’s views, when expressed in votes and in unmoderated statements place him, as the McCain camp pointed out last week, to the left of Bernie Sanders, self-proclaimed socialist Senator. But, second, we see someone seemingly willing to disown their own words and throw their own friends and advisors under the bus with a frankly shocking ruthlessness.
Maybe that all makes Obama just another politician – and I’ll grant the possibility – but I see something potentially more dangerous lurking in the candidate’s psychology.
Think about this man’s background. He follows a father – and keeps the name of a father – who absolutely rejected him. Indeed, he embraces that side of his with a shocking fervor. He doesn’t seem to hate his father at all for rejecting him in such a fundamental way. But, he was also basically abandoned by his mother – and neither has he ever shown any sign of holding onto any particular ill-will towards her.
Now, let’s take a step back from that and think about it for a second. Why did his parents both leave? There are multiple reasons, personal, career, and familial, but – at a basic level – both left because they couldn’t stand to live in America. The greatest place in the world, both could have lived there, but both chose to reject it.
Is it really inconceivable that a man might displace his hatred for his negligent parents onto the country that they abandoned in the process of abandoning him? Is it impossible that, deep down, he might not blame the country for the way his parents abused him and seek, at least subconsciously, to punish it for that? Or, even more on the level, might not a son seek to transform the country into something that his parents could have lived it – a problematic proposition given that both of his parents appear to have been communists.
It’s plain from Obama’s statements, made time and time again, that he really means this. He doesn’t think that America deserves any special place in the world. When he, for example, tells Americans that they’re going to have to use less of the world’s resources, he’s making the statement founded upon an honest belief that they aren’t entitled to more than an equal share of those resources. He seems to genuinely hold that socialistic, anti-Western, and anti-American view. But I doubt if the American people do.
You win elections by forcing your opponent to defend unpopular ideas and things. Perhaps, under fire, Obama will abandon his “citizen of the world” line but, frankly, given that it appears to be one of his most cherished beliefs, I doubt it.
One of the best ways to set upon another person is to find something that they will stand upon – and this might be it – and to attack them in a way that preys upon their own psychological weaknesses and their desire for fairness. Unfair attacks are better than fair ones because they discomfort the victim. Part of the way that McCain ensures that he beats Obama is for McCain to force Obama down into the mud.
Posted by Adam T. Yoshida on July 25, 2008 in International Politics | Permalink
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Comments
Do any of you members of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy happen to know Karl Rove or any McCain advisers? I know they'll fall in love with Yoshida's script the moment they read it.
Posted by: Kalim Kassam | 2008-07-25 1:03:53 AM
What the heck do you cannucks care about this? You can't freakin' vote?
Posted by: JH Bush | 2008-07-25 1:19:57 AM
The damage to McCain was done by Rove and co. when they trashed him in order to get GWB elected. His time has passed. Given the state of the US economy, what good do you anticipate that holding the current course will do for the US? Sure Obama's speeches are full of platitudes and lofty phrases, but I actually think he may write his own material. Why not take a chance on someone with a bit of intellect and passion?
Posted by: o'really | 2008-07-25 1:27:28 AM
Because he doesn't believe in American or Western supremacy and because he's a socialist.
Posted by: Adam Yoshida | 2008-07-25 1:43:23 AM
Thanks Adam, it's always nice to see the ridiculous straws the ultra-right will grasp at as the pendulum swings back toward the left. You're going to look progressively sillier out there on the lunatic fringe. Enjoy.
Posted by: Voice of Reason | 2008-07-25 3:05:46 AM
Is it true the large throngs were at that venue because of a rock concert or series of them,then stayed on to listen to the Great Obama?
If that's the case they weren't necessarily HIGH on Obama. The media won't report that of course.
JH Bush,it's mainly the Left who are all atwitter about this. They love to use their tired, worn out talking points linking Harper to Bush, it's about the only string they have to play on. Also our MSM is a Left as in the US. So it's not an interest in US politics so much as a battering ram to beat at our Harper Conservative government.
Chalk it up to extreme desperation of the Liberal Left and their toadies in the media in this country. They appear close to losing their freaking minds. Truthfully, it's an embarrassment to see such moronic behaviour.
Posted by: Liz J | 2008-07-25 6:23:48 AM
I am a doughnut
Posted by: Merle Terlesky | 2008-07-25 7:43:20 AM
"I'm quite sure Obama isn't a Mosem"
http://www.adamyoshida.com/2008/01/obama-2008-mcgovern-1972.html
Flip flop. Flip flop.
Posted by: Pattern Recognition | 2008-07-25 8:48:59 AM
Pattern Recognition, maybe I am not paying attention, but I do not see the flip flop. In any case, people are allowed to change their mind.
Posted by: TM | 2008-07-25 9:33:25 AM
Does this mean Obama will be the next Carter? If so, yikes.
Posted by: Zebulon Pike | 2008-07-25 10:06:47 AM
Totally hilarious take on Obamamania.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/gerard_baker/article4392846.ece
Posted by: set you free | 2008-07-25 11:10:39 AM
SYF: Someone mentioned that very article to me today. How appropriate!
Where did all this messianic talk begin? Obama is just another partisan politician. The only President who deserved such a status was Lincoln, for freeing the slaves and restoring the Union. April 4, 1865 - Lincoln enters Richmond, which Union troops captured the day before. White Southerners avoided him, but the freed slaves greeted Lincoln as if he was Moses. Ten days later, he was martyred by an assassin's bullet. There's no way Obama or anyone can measure up to that.
Posted by: Zebulon Pike | 2008-07-25 1:06:39 PM
This was sent to me by a friend in the US...
Hello everyone, As you know I am not a very political person. I just wanted to pass along that Senator Obama came to Bagram Afghanistan for about an hour on his visit to "The War Zone". I wanted to share with you what happened. He got off the plane and got into a bullet proof vehicle, got to the area to meet with the Major General (2 Star) who is the commander here at Bagram. As the Soldiers where lined up to shake his hand he blew them off and didn't say a word as he went into the conference room to meet the General. As he finished, the vehicles took him to the ClamShell (pretty much a big top tent that military personnel can play basketball or work out in with weights) so he could take his publicity pictures playing basketball. He again shunned the opportunity to talk to Soldiers to thank them for their service. So really he was just here to make a showing for the American's back home that he is their candidate for President. I think that if you are going to make an effort to come all the way over here you would thank those that are providing the freedom that they are providing for you. I swear we got more thanks from the NBA Basketball Players or the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders than from one of the Senators, who wants to be the President of the United States. I just do n't understand how anyone would want him to be our Commander-and-Chief. It was almost that he was scared to be around those that provide the freedom for him and our great country. If this is blunt and to the point I am sorry but I wanted you all to know what kind of caliber of person he really is. What you see in the news is all fake.
In service, CPT Jeffrey S. ....... Battle Captain
Obama the Messiah....sure.
And Zebulon, an FYI...Lincoln offered to return any run away slaves to the South if only they would rejoin the Union...they said no...three weeks later the first shot was fired. The Civil War wasn't about slavery. And Lincoln was no "emancipator". That war was about "Federalization"
Posted by: JC | 2008-07-25 7:09:10 PM
That letter about Senator Obama's visit to Bagram, Afghanistan sounds a lot like Chretien's visit to NYC after 9/11. The families of Canadian victims said that he was cold and distant towards them, and merely went through the motions. Little wonder from a man who now can be called a 9/11 Truther. He's the second worst PM in Cdn history, surpassed only by Pierre the Terrible himself (remember the innocent victims of his reign of terror.)
Yes, the war was very much about slavery - as stated by the Confederate Vice-President, Alexander Stephens in 1861 - slavery was the cornerstone of the Confederacy. Lincoln changed his attitude on slavery as the war went on. True, at first he did not want to interfere with it. But as time wore on, and the Confederacy showed greater resistance, he started the abolition of slavery. Thank goodness he did, for he started the nation on its rebirth of freedom.
Posted by: Zebulon Pike | 2008-07-25 7:48:37 PM
Obama promises a unicorn in every pot for all Americans! Except those nasty ones, you know the kind he's talking about...
Posted by: Philanthropist | 2008-07-26 2:12:42 AM
ZP,
"Lincoln changed his attitude on slavery as the war went on. True, at first he did not want to interfere with it. But as time wore on, and the Confederacy showed greater resistance, he started the abolition of slavery. Thank goodness he did, for he started the nation on its rebirth of freedom."
You must not much like Tom DiLorenzo eh?
http://www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo139.html
Posted by: Kalim Kassam | 2008-07-26 2:44:00 AM
Kalim, I still maintain that Lincoln's goals were to bring the Cotton States under the umbrella of Taxation, Federalization and Central Banking.
And that "Emancipation" was in this case a bullet proof vehicle in which to further his goals of dominance and control. (Another Messiah?) I'm not saying I agree with slavery, far from it. All people should be at liberty...without governmental or religious interference in their lives, on any level.
Posted by: JC | 2008-07-26 8:42:26 AM
More books have been written about Lincoln than anyone but Jesus Christ and Shakespeare. I'm not about to accept the claims of a couple of revisionists' - DiLorenzo and Bennett.
Lincoln did more than anyone to extend human freedom by abolishing slavery in the US. It is hard to imagine what the world would be like today had he not done so. To blame him for the later expansion of government services and taxation is to ignore what had to be done to win the war. Moreover, it ignores what the Confederacy had to do as well. With their tax-in-kind and exemptions for slaveowners, theirs was hardly a model of a libertarian society.
Posted by: Zebulon Pike | 2008-07-26 9:24:32 AM
Apparently, both Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush spoke at various times of being "citizens of the world."
The difference betweent their using this cliche and Obama?
At the time they spoke at international gatherings, both Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush were the POTUS. They'd earned their spurs, so to speak, and had actually DONE a few things with the other citizens of the world to make the world a better--and safer--place.
What's Obama done so far?
He hasn't earned any spurs; he's still trying to get onto the horse.
Posted by: batb | 2008-07-26 9:44:18 AM
batb: you're right. Obama hasn't accomplished much. He's very inexperienced, with less than one full term in the Senate. Lincoln had only one rather undistinguished term in Congress before his presidency, but he was a rather unusually able person. I wonder how such a greenhorn will be able to deal with 535 members of Congress, some of whom have held office longer than he's been alive. Even Lincoln found it best to avoid Congress at times.
But who can say what will happen? My interest is in the past, not predicting the future.
Posted by: Zebulon Pike | 2008-07-26 3:22:21 PM
JC: If the best you've got to attack Obama is a fake letter from a non-existent soldier (seriously, who calls himself "Battle Captain"?), your side might as well concede the election.
Posted by: Cal | 2008-07-29 11:31:40 AM
You are pathetic. lol.....
Posted by: Marshabio | 2008-11-08 9:49:23 PM
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