Barack Obama is a mere mortal. Despite being elevated to God-like status by many on the left, he is flesh and blood like the rest of us.
This is important to understand because despite the media insistence that conservatism is dead (which they proclaim every time Democrats win the White House, an aberration in itself), it is actually the left that is in trouble.
An outstanding article by Bruce Walker of the American Thinker gets into why the left is collapsing globally. The only institution that denies this is the Jayson Blair Times, and that is only because they are collapsing even faster than the leftinistras that they worship.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/06/09/the_collapsing_global_left_96906.html
In America, the right is poised for a resurgence in 2010 that will make the 1994 Gingrich Revolution seem like child’s play. More importantly, the Obama magic seems to be about the man himself, but not anything beyond him.
For the last 40 years, the country has drifted rightward, with occasional blips just to slow the brakes.
Some will argue that we finally elected a true liberal President, but the fact is he got elected by running as far and as fast away from liberalism as possible. Even after the election, Rahm Emanuel put the word out that any liberals caught acting like liberals on camera would be deported. Nancy Pelosi was sent to China to shut her up.
This is important because Presidents can either shape a generation or fade away. John F. Kennedy created a generation of Democrats, while Ronald Reagan created a generation of Republicans. Other Presidents such as Bill Clinton and George Herbert Walker Bush, did their jobs, and faded away (Clinton refuses to go away, but from a historical perspective he is peripheral.).
Ronald Reagan was so important and liked that he got his successor elected. Not even the popular Dwight Eisenhower could pull that one off.
Barack Obama will either serve four or eight years. Yet does anybody think Joe Biden will inspire aybody outside of his own family. Barack Obama is already treating him like the Court Jester in the room.
Barack Obama is a once in a generation politician, but despite the lofty and bold rhetoric, he is a cautious and timid man when it comes to advancing his beliefs. Some say Clinton wanted to “be” president moe than he wanted to “do” the work. Barack Obama may not be that callow, but he is not a Kennedy or Reagan that fights with determination.
Yes, it is early. Yet Mr. Obama seems to be famous for being famous. In this sense he is no different from Zsa Zsa Gabor or Arianna Huffington.
He does not seem to want to do the heavy lifting. He is letting Congress do the heavy lifting, so that if they screw it up (and with the Pelosiraptor in power, they will), he leaves no fingerprints.
Mr. Obama is likable, but at some point people are going to want some meat on the bones. I am amazed that he got elected without having to offer anything tangible. Times are tough, and people wanted change.
Yet at some point, and that point is rapidly approaching, people are going to say, “I like you, but are you going to get anything done?”
All throughout the world, leftist policies are failing. The Europe that Mr. Obama admires is collapsing. Europe knows it is one more leftist weakling away from being a Caliphate. The backlash has happened. Europeans are tired of foreigners that would rather destroy their societies rather than integrate. They are not interested in being hospitable to scum, as Nicolas Sarkozy referred to rioters in France a couple of years back.
President Obama has blamed his predecessor long enough. Problems are happening on his watch, such as North Korea kidnapping American citizens.
The only thin Barack Obama should be judged on is whether or not he can get the job done. With Nancy Pelosi on his side, he most likely cannot.
Republicans get kicked out of office for acting like Democrats. Then Democrats act like Democrats, and people turn back to the Republicans.
My only worry is that Republicans will get elected and act like Democrats again, but that is for another time.
For now, Barack Obama is well on his way to leaving behind a coalition that will last a generation. Unfortunately for him, unless Joe Biden turns into somebody else, it will be the Republicans enjoying a generation of power, only weeks after the pundits incorrectly for the billionth time declared their demise.
President Obama is one man. There is no thriving liberal movement anywhere of significance in the world today.
eric
If you take a serious look at European elections, a couple of things stand out. First, turn-out is at a historic low. In Eastern Europe, less than one third of the electorate came out to vote. In Europe overall, it was well under 50%. Second, the actual number of people voting right and center-right was actually down, it’s just that the number of people voting left and center-left is down even lower. This points to a couple of obvious conclusions. First, voters are very disappointed with the way ruling parties dealt with recent economic events. Second, base populism and xenophobia play well when times get bad and serious candidates with realistic plans do not step up to the plate.
Many of the right and center-right platforms are actually quite pro-EU, much as much of the right and center-right in America is quite pro-free trade and immigration for cheap labor. This runs contrary to the notion that their voters are rejecting “Globalism.” But on the other hand, in some of the countries in which the left and center-left have been the main proponents of the EU, the right and center-right have espoused xenophobic platforms. So, it’s a mixed bag.
Only one thing is certain – the differences between these center-right and center-left parties are essentially negligible and most voters know it. That’s why turn-out has been so low and that’s why incumbants suffered such defeats. When it comes to the real meat of economic matters, center-right or center-left, the ruling parties have taken and will take pretty much the same course, and it is that course, a course set not by political affiliation but by the wants of the Oligharic Elite, that is failing.
Obama would be wise to realize this, but contrary to the idiotic ranting of most of the American Right (this particular column excluded), Obama is no agent of radical change. He never was and he never really said he was. But he needs to be. We need him to be. The “New World Order,” aka Global Economic Colonialism, is failing. It naturally fails the exploited, and inexorably cannibalizes the economies of the powers. The “Consumption” or “Service” economy can not succeed in the long run. It is the Production Economy that succeeds. As we can see with the dramatic rise of China, political theory has little to do with it. China is still a communist country, with 90% of the economy under the auspices of the government. Yet China has enjoyed 30 years of double-digit growth, on the eager dime of the US and EU, because it is a Production Economy. THEY MAKE THINGS.
The EU and US are in decline because we have completely opened our markets with the myth of “Free Trade,” by which all of our production comes from the despotic Third World, slowly destroying the fiat – the valuation of our currencies – and destroying the power of the workers, the people – by removing their value as producers. But this is a short-term system no matter how you look at it. Eventually, the “Free Traders” will have no one left to buy their wares except for each other and there just aren’t enough of them of to make that profitable.
Right or Left, it is Economic Colonialism that is destroying the West. If anyone thinks they’ve “won” anything by seeing victories of the Right or the Left, without a victory for those who would end this colonialist disaster, they are a fool. As the Right will win ad then will lose, then the Left will win and then will lose, and we’ll just keep going round and round until the West has been bled dry of all it’s riches and we too are just another part of the despotic Third World.
JMJ
A couple years ago, conservative talk radio predicted the end of the Democratic Party and continuously scoffed at their activities… meanwhile, as you imply, the Republicans started acting like Democrats and kept increasing government size, spending, and catered to the “undocumented” aliens… Bag em and tag em and now they’re documented…but I digress and will add a smiley doohicky thingie in here lest one thinks I’m serious… :>).
Pres Obama says the right things, and by supporting him, it makes people feel good. We have little ticklers in our brains that make us feel good any time we do something good for someone – whether it’s a good deed, or dropping off food at a needy family’s home, or giving money to the street guy – so by supporting the save the whales, save the children, promote health care, and give the illegals a chance crowd, it makes people feel good. I didn’t say it makes them smart, or right – punchy, maybe… but after a while, when the needy family demands a meal; the old lady requires a paid staff to walk her across the street, or the street guy spits on you if you don’t give him money, reality hits, and Dems lean right for a while… it’s cyclical…
Jersey, we must have posted simultaneously… although we both focused on different aspects of the post, there seems to be some parallel between “cyclical” and “…As the Right will win ad then will lose, then the Left will win and then will lose, and we’ll just keep going round and round”… :) let’s see about that smiley thingie…
Yeah, we seem to be talking about the same thing from two different perspectives. But rather than argue that ‘Republicans behave like Democrats/Democrats behave like Republicans,’ and that somehow is the ‘mistake’ they’re making and it is causing real world distress, I would argue that really they’re just not that much difference between them period. Each espouse “Free Trade,” though each has a small “protectionist” wing. Each espouse “Legal Immigration,” while both continue the “illegal immigration” status quo. Each espouse “Liberty,” while both enforce a massive police state. Each employ innane rhetoric to placate the masses – “lower taxes,” but never which taxes or how much lower; “less spending,” but never how much less or from what it should be cut. And each play on “hot button” issues that have little or nothing to contribute to our overall standard of living, like “gay marraige,” or “abortion,” or “flag burning,” or “gun rights,” or whatever other non-issue du jour.
Meanwhile, in the real world, “Free Trade” is cannibalizing our wealth and creating more unabated “Illegal Immigration” which is driving down our standard of living, a vicious cycle that may well be our final downfall. Our Military Industrial Complex continues to grow and grow, sapping ever more of our wealth on an ironically and paradoxically Keynesian and yet anti-Keynesian massive taxpayer expenditure that invests in nothing, creates nothing, has no dividends, no future end or payoff. It creates new enemies, new excuses for new endless wars, perpetuating itself exactly as Eisenhower warned us so many years ago. And our Police State does much the same, but not only does it not invest, not create, not payoff, it actually destroys the society, ruining families, lives, savings, upward mobility, stifling the working class while buying it’s votes for jobs as police, guards, probation officers. And our Medical Sector grows and grows, devouring a fifth of our worth, dealing drugs to the general masses in no real different way than a common schoolyard pusher – “This will make you feel better, this will make your problems go away, this will make you more charasmatic, better in bed, stronger, better…” – but in the end inevitably destroys our bodies, our minds, or savings.
I could go on. These are the REAL issues, and NEITHER party does a D@MNED THING IN THE WORLD to address them. And I guarantee – THESE THINGS WILL DESTROY US IN THE END.
JMJ
Jers, you are absolutely right. The afore mentioned issues have destroyed a sizeable segment of the population and continues to destroy as we speak and /or write. The question is how do we find leadership that will address the “real issues” as you put it. What do we do now?
Toma
Jersey, Eagle, Micky and eric. Lets run for congress in our respective districts, and try to select people, liberal and conservative, that we feel that we can trust to maintain integrity, honor and responsibility in their words and deeds. Surely there are people in this country that we can rely on. Isn’t there? I’ll make one suggestion if I may. The first thing we need to do is move the seat of power. D.C. is in a quagmire of rot. Perhaps the Islands or Witchita.
Toma
I wish I knew what to do, Toma. I really do. When you look at the history of republics, throughout time, either the democracy collapses in on itself or the ruling class destroys it. Mass stupidity or ruling greed and lust for power – usually a combination – are the fatal diseases of old republics. We are an old republic. We may just be dying of old age.
JMJ
Ref:”In America, the right is poised for a resurgence in 2010″
I hope your right!
I have thought about this quite often but the way in which the Left has indoctrinated the nincompoops that went to the polls (many for the first time), they have a psycological advanatage. As I listen to some of these
psychos calling in to talk radio shows and trying to persuade the likes of Andrew Wilkow, Mark Levin, and Sean Hannity that we on the Right are totally off track. Yet they offer no persuasive argument and refuse to listen the rationale offered by the radio hosts which is logic that proves their wrong and we are right…end of story (Wilkow’s favorite expression).
I heard one guy today trying to argue with Wilkow without listening to one word Andrew was saying…these idiots will talk over the host all day long and the more they do, the more idiotic they sound.
ps Good post but I still refuse to call Obama by the title of the office he stole.