Patterico's Pontifications

10/17/2009

The Long March Back

Filed under: Obama — DRJ @ 5:00 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

Obama followers found it easy to remember the words “Yes, We Can.” Roger Kimball’s words aren’t as easy to remember but they are equally compelling. After considering White House Communications Director Anita Dunn’s willingness to not only quote but endorse the words of Mao Tse-Tung, Kimball said:

What the left-wing excuse factory wants is for the American people to overlook the radicalism of the people populating Obama’s inner circle, of which Anita Dunn is a prominent member. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, let me once again remind readers of what Obama promised in his campaign. I don’t mean the long string of broken promises about helping the middle class, pulling out troops from Iraq, prosecuting the war in Afghanistan with vigor, etc. Those were just campaign promises, i.e., vote-getting expedients that events have led Obama to renege on.

No, I mean the one big promise that he has every intention of fulfilling: the promise to “fundamentally transform the United States of America.” That is what Obama and his lieutenants are about. They are egalitarians — not, perhaps, quite so radical as Chairman Mao, but (as the case of Anita Dunn shows) they have plenty of admiration for Mao’s goals. Obama himself has criticized the U.S. Constitution for being merely a “charter of negative liberties” that fails to promote “redistributive change.”

This is the point: last November, the American people thought they were electing a “post-partisan,” “post-racial” President who would work to restore unity and self-confidence to the country. They woke up on November 5, however, to find that they had elected someone who was deeply ambivalent about America, who distrusted its founding principles of limited government, individual liberty, and local responsibility. Like his radical friends — Bill Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, Van Jones, Anita Dunn — Barack Obama wishes to transform the United States according to a model whose basic shape was supplied by the utopian schemes of the 1960s. That’s why Anita Dunn said that Mao was one of the thinkers she most often turned to for wisdom about big-think political problems. It’s not that she admires his penchant for industrial strength homicide: rather, she admires his success at fomenting an egalitarian revolution. It’s not what we bargained for when we elected Barack Obama. But that’s what we’ve got. The question is how much worse will things have to get before the penny drops, before the scales fall from the collective eyes of the electorate? When will voters begin that long countermarch through the institutions in order to take back the country? If not now, when?”

Barack Obama wants to “spread the wealth” from one segment of society to another despite the “essential constraints” the Founding Fathers wrote into the Constitution. Some Americans want that to happen so I also have a question: “Are there enough voters willing to take back the country?”

— DRJ

46 Responses to “The Long March Back”

  1. The short answer is… no.

    There are plenty of voters willing to shake their heads. Lots of voters ready to gripe and moan. And quite a few willing to almost put a bumper sticker on their car – or they would if they weren’t afraid it would offend somebody or get them in trouble.

    Donate?
    Knock on doors?
    Persuade their neighbors?
    Put our a lawn sign?
    Volunteer in someone’s campaign?
    Run for office???????

    No.

    Gesundheit (254807)

  2. I quoted 3 paragraphs of a gazillion-paragraph philosophical article in the hopes of getting people to read that entire article. Those three paragraphs fit here, but I’ll quote the first paragraph.

    Of all the habitual fallacies and prejudices that have poisoned the wells of reason in our time, none, perhaps, has been so destructive as what Owen Barfield christened ‘chronological snobbery’. This is the strange belief that modern ideas and habits, simply because they are modern, are inherently superior to those of former times. This belief has become so prevalent that it is now recognized as a category of informal fallacy in itself.

    We also have to fight the “Helen Keller” partisans who will never see or hear anything. And, of course my open letter to President Obama was shrilly attacked, but not on the substance. (And my daughter did a masterful job there without getting into politics.)

    I think the Tea Parties and the 912 gathering are definite signs of people waking up. It’s a shame the RNC is not hearing the message. Like the RNC, the Democrat base just doesn’t understand what’s going on.

    John Hitchcock (3fd153)

  3. Being a liberal means thinking you never have to say you’re sorry.

    daleyrocks (d057d3)

  4. It’s hard to get enthusiastic about a party that smiles when Lindsey Graham pisses in their weak pitiful faces.

    hf (9bda9c)

  5. I expect the 70,000 people (actually closer to 1,500,000 or more) that showed up in DC on 20090912 will become 80,000 people (actually closer to 5,000,000) on 20100912. And state-run media will be all over that (not really).

    John Hitchcock (3fd153)

  6. hf, you really don’t get it, do you? You’re a “Helen Keller” partisan.

    John Hitchcock (3fd153)

  7. Wahhh turrrr

    hf (9bda9c)

  8. John – I think happyfeet is anything but the type of partisan you reference in the Helen Keller post. YMMV

    JD (6f7c10)

  9. hf = happyfeet? It’s hard to keep monikers straight and wording of comments can be even more difficult.

    John Hitchcock (3fd153)

  10. If hf = happyfeet, color me apologetic.

    John Hitchcock (3fd153)

  11. color you apologetic? RACIST!

    chrisa798 (9212b3)

  12. I believe so, but could be mistaken.

    There is a funny road sign upon entering Tuscumbia, AL, Ms Keller’s hometown.

    Brb

    JD (e4e95a)

  13. JD — Are you talking about “See what she couldn’t?

    DRJ (f462b4)

  14. Yes. That is what I was looking for. My little bro lived in Tuscumbia, and I took my little angel to Ivy Green. Those billboards were funny to me, but quite controversial.

    JD (e4e95a)

  15. Sorry. hf is mobile happyfeet

    hf (9bda9c)

  16. Time was, and not so long ago, that pols of both sides would just stir up the proles (that’s us)every election cycle and we would hoot and holler at each other while they looked down upon us from on high at cocktail parties throughout DC.
    Lately, the protestors that have been the most vocal have been the ones who traditionally did nothing; the moderates in the middle. The left has seized on this as a way to paint them as angry Repubs, whilst the right have attempted to attach themselves to the Tea Partiers as if they are part of the solution. Both sides are sadly mistaken. Most of us are sick of both parties and their profligate spending and sense of entitlement. And I don’t think they even really care anymore, so entrenched are they. Rampant corruption no longer shames anyone anymore. They just brazen it out. I sometimes feel that Repubs resign sooner because they normally have real jobs to go back to, whereas many Dems are lifers in the political world.
    i do not know where we are going to end up, but I am heartened somewhat by the fact that the center of the country appears to be finding its voice. That is most important.

    Gazzer (22ecdc)

  17. Gee, the “constitutional scholar” has criticized the U.S. Constitution. Shocka!

    Can’t wait to see what he says about “life, liberty & the pursuit . . .” whenever he gets around to reading the Declaration.

    Icy Texan (6fdd44)

  18. — Barack Obama wishes to transform the United States according to a model whose basic shape was supplied by the utopian schemes of the 1960s.

    Not so.

    He’s reaching back quite a bit farther than that, to the late 1800’s at least.

    And we saw how well that worked out in places like Russia, China, Germany, and later Viet Nam, Cambodia …

    But you get the idea.

    EW1(SG) (edc268)

  19. A recent Gallop poll noted a drop in the percentage of black voters who intend to vote in the mid term, a drop in young voters and significant movement of independents away from the democrats. The coalition that brought Barack Obama and the democrats into power is falling apart.

    As we all saw in the Tea Parties and 9/12 demonstrations, there is growing disapproval among voters, tired of being ignored by their elected representatives in both parties. The people who went to the Tea Parties were not radicals or paid demonstrators; they were disaffected citizens who want to be heard. Politicians ignore them at their peril.

    Democrat pollster Doug Schoen, on Fox yesterday, stated that the radical agenda being pursued by the Obama administration -government health care, cap & trade, amnesty of illegals and card check – was “upside down” – opposed by majority of American voters. This condition, Schoen asserts, coupled with rising unemployment, indicate that the democrats will lose their majority in Congress next November.

    We can always hope.

    Arch (2ad073)

  20. On one Sunday show, there was discussion of the NY 23 Congressional special election coming up soon. On This Week, EJ Dionne used the derisive term “teabaggers” to describe the people who are supporting the conservative party nominee. I think he may well win the election. This is a concerted effort by the Washington elites to let us know our opinions are not desired and will not be considered. The arrogance and nastiness of it is the most interesting part. He has to know that is a gay obscenity yet he still uses it.

    I wonder how much effect this will have next year. I’m not very happy with many Republicans and wonder at the reasoning that caused them to nominate a candidate who is well to the left of the man whose nomination by Obama caused the opening. I still don’t think they get it. My reading of the tea parties is that they are libertarian, not social conservative. The Chris Matthews interview was a real eye opener. He tried to bait the guy and was disappointed. It’s worth watching.

    That election will say a lot about how much effect the tea parties will have because the tea party folks are supporting the conservative and he is not far behind.

    Bill Owens (D) – 33 percent (+5)
    Dede Scozzafava (R) – 29 percent (-6)
    Doug Hoffman (C) – 23 percent (+7)

    Note the trends. Hoffman is up 7 since the last poll. This is a big indicator. A Hoffman win will really shake up the GOP.

    Mike K (2cf494)

  21. He’s reaching back quite a bit farther than that, to the late 1800’s at least.

    My own favorite personal analogy is the Weimer Republic, but most people look at me like I have two heads when I bring that one up.

    Dmac (5ddc52)

  22. opposed by majority of American voters.

    If sanity prevails, then yes. However — and I don’t want to alarm others or myself all over again — but I have a brother who is generally rather conservative and mostly pro-Republican. He’s disgusted by the political mess in “lefty” California and seems sensible when it comes to most issues overall. But I recall his saying right before the election last year that he would be glad if Obama won.

    I was speaking with him the other day about the guy, railing about things like Honduras, Iran, and the reality of healthcare reform in places like Massachusetts. I then asked my brother if his impression of Obama had changed since January. He said he still liked him. I was speechless (and more than a bit exasperated) for a moment.

    I then retored about his being a prime example of someone who’s a sucker for the dynamics of a good used-car or aluminum-siding salesman.

    For the sake of this country, I hope my brother is an anomaly. If not, then America really is going to be “God damned.”

    Mark (411533)

  23. From 1977 to 1988, I had an insatiable appetite for WWII history and WWII fiction. While I was learning about all that in my spare time, I learned a little about the Weimar Republic. It was definitely the catalyst for future events. And I can see Obamanomics and Obamanism leading to another Weimar Republic.

    Hopefully the Tea Parties and 912 and suchlike grass-roots movements can stop it all before it’s too late.

    John Hitchcock (3fd153)

  24. #21, sorry, Mark. Your brother is not alone, not by a long shot. A great many Americans like Obama, are actually sort of fond of the man, personally find him rather a like-able fellow, but disagree with his collectivist policies, and Chicago style politics.

    Obama is well practiced at the art of deception. He gets over on media types, most women, and nearly all young people seemingly without any difficulty. It’s mostly older white guys who don’t buy his song and dance. Some take a little longer to see beyond the glitz and the phony “compelling life story,” but as his numbers continue to slip, his brutish fellow travelers reveal themselves, his un-American agenda is exposed for the socialist clap-trap it really is, and his totalitarian strong-arm tactics sicken all who see them in action.

    ropelight (ca73a6)

  25. This is nothing but more Republican fear-mongering. Nothing new. It didn’t work last year. It’s not going to work again. Americans are wiser for it.

    The Emperor (1b037c)

  26. If you do not pass my healthcare bill, er… healthcare reform, er…insurance reform. Did I mention I inherited this mess? Are you gonna help or not? Somebody’s gonna have to sacrifice. What? No, not me! Geesh, I won.

    President Mop (44bf37)

  27. #25, You didn’t see the clip of Anita Dunn saying she put Mao right up there alongside Mother Teresa? Or is this just more of your usual loonie lefty moral myopia?

    ropelight (ca73a6)

  28. “This is nothing but more Republican fear-mongering. Nothing new. It didn’t work last year. It’s not going to work again. Americans are wiser for it.”

    Lovey – With the liberal media still covering the empty suit president’s dirty socialist ass, not everyone has woken up to what is going on. A majority of the population has, however, hence the decline in support for his popularity, although he can still read a good speech.

    daleyrocks (d057d3)

  29. Matthew 15:17-20 (New International Version)

    17″Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ 19For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20These are what make a man ‘unclean’; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him ‘unclean.’ ”

    Matthew 5:27-29 (New International Version)

    27″You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ 28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

    Lovey lies about what Lovey already said. Lovey slanders other commenters here. Lovey claimed to be “sexually virile” thus has been sexually immoral. Lovey got aroused by an account of rape of a 13-year-old, thus Lovey is guilty of raping a 13-year-old in Lovey’s heart. By Lovey’s own words, Lovey is in danger of spending eternity in hell.

    Matthew 7:15-23 (New International Version)

    15″Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

    21″Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

    Lovey claims to be a Christian but Lovey’s words and deeds are not the fruit of a Christian. And Christ will say “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoer!”

    Of course, Lovey can still change its ways as long as Lovey is still alive and not comatose.

    Comment by John Hitchcock — 10/17/2009 @ 11:49 am

    Just to bring it over to where Lovey is again spewing filth.

    John Hitchcock (3fd153)

  30. This is nothing but more Republican fear-mongering. Nothing new.

    This is a good example of the left seeing no evil, hearing no evil but speaking plenty of BS. I do wonder how many are incapable of learning from experience. This is the mentality that gave Argentina Peron. Argentina was the richest country in the world in 1900. Forty-five years later, they were on a path to bankruptcy and never recovered. Forty-five years ago, 1964, we were in the same position. Then we got LBJ and now we have BHO.

    We had several chances to turn things around, first with Ford who was actually quite conservative financially, and then with Reagan. Then we had 1994 but each time the Republicans “grew in office” and the trend line continued.

    Maybe the tea party movement can turn it around. NY 23 will be an indicator.

    Mike K (2cf494)

  31. Comment by ropelight — 10/18/2009 @ 11:12 am
    I know about the clip. I get it. Obama surrounds himself with America-hating terrorists. If a member of his inner circle admires Mao Tes Tung, he must also be secret student of the same. He does not like America. He has a scheme to destroy America and turn it into another Banana republic. Is there anything else you want to add to this?

    The Emperor (0c8c2c)

  32. I immediately came upon another example of leftist thinking, if you can call it that.

    I am amazed all over again every time I meet a Westerner in Lebanon who admires Hezbollah or gets defensive on its behalf. Last time I visited Beirut I ran into an American journalist who said Hezbollah “is trying to raise awareness of Global Warming. Don’t you think that’s interesting?

    Yes, it certainly is.

    What is it with these people ? And they think fundamentalist Christians are weird.

    Mike K (2cf494)

  33. I’m interested in the NY 23 thing as well. It should prove an interesting event.

    John Hitchcock (3fd153)

  34. Lovey, support any rapists lately? Get aroused at any depictions of raping a child lately? Lie much about yourself and others lately? Falsely accuse others of being sexual perverts lately?

    Read the Bible lately?

    John Hitchcock (3fd153)

  35. An Argentine historian, that I know, made the same analogy, he was a big fan of Jonah Goldberg’s’Liberal Fascism’, having lived through a good chunk of that enactment in his country. He saw Obama’s support as akin to the Peron movement, we discussed Adjami’s rendering of Canetti’s ‘theory of the crowds’ and he agreed.He couldn’t believe this was happening either

    bishop (4e0dda)

  36. “He’s reaching back quite a bit farther than that, to the late 1800’s at least.”

    I doubt it. He doesn’t have the education to do so. A guy who thinks his grandfather liberated Auschwitz surely can’t tell anything about the intellectual history of late 18th century. I bet he can’t even spell bolshevik and menshevik, let alone explain what they mean.

    He’s source indeed are the brainless, dope-addled 60s.

    Pansy (e9dcd5)

  37. Oops. Late 19th century, that is.

    Pansy (e9dcd5)

  38. Lovey? You there? Or did you get too pantsed to show your face? After all, you’ve been so busy showing your nether regions to everyone, I thought I’d help.

    Earth calling Lovey. Lovey, are you there?

    John Hitchcock (3fd153)

  39. An Argentine historian, that I know, made the same analogy, he was a big fan of Jonah Goldberg’s’Liberal Fascism’, having lived through a good chunk of that enactment in his country.

    The only good thing that can come out of such a debacle is when a good percentage of the limousine liberals of a country, be they in Argentina or the US (Hello, all you overpaid dopes in Hollywood or Wall Street!), get screwed as much as anyone else.

    I know one of the ultimate LLs, and a big supporter of Obama, Warren Buffett, at least had enough common sense not long ago to say that — to paraphrase — cap-and-trade, anti-global-warming policymaking was idiotic and would be nothing but a financial burden on the public.

    And I can’t help but snicker after learning that another of the US’s line of ultimate limousine liberals, but of the 1930s, and in reference to Franklin Roosevelt (and the supposed savior of this country during the Great Depression) tried to avoid paying the higher taxes that he himself had pushed into existence with the support of a Democrat-dominated Congress.

    Mark (411533)

  40. Classical liberalism is, like Churchill remarked elsewhere, the best of the worse possiblesystems. It should have been very clear what Obama was offering, yet the opposition candidate had like the chicken pox version of what was beingoffered, and the one who told the truth, well you know how that went. And even after the election, when the classical liberal case was being propounded, there
    was some strong antagonism to that strategy

    bishop (4e0dda)

  41. #31, yes, I do have something to add. It’s not on your laundry list of straw-men either.

    The cowardly Obama sent a women, Anita Dunn, out to his dirty work, he doesn’t want his own fingerprints on something so repugnant to American traditions as a government sponsored program of suppression of dissenting opinion.

    That’s what tin-pot dictators in Banana Republics do when they can count on enough useful idiots running interference for them to get away with it. They call contrary opinion a crime against the state, we call it tyranny.

    ropelight (ca73a6)

  42. Is there anything else you want to add to this?

    Yeah – since you issued a challenge to prove that you were lying about your earlier statements, you suddenly disappeared when said proof was provided ad nauseum. Since you stand exposed as a lying liar and hateful pedo – perv as well, it’s well past time that you don’t show your repugnant arse around here in the future.

    Dmac (5ddc52)

  43. Merely voting a bunch of Democrats out of office in 2010 or 2012 won’t solve the problem. See this post by Charles Murray. Murray looked at political self-identification, as recorded in the General Social Survey from 1972 to 2008, for whites aged 30-39 in six demographic segments: Traditional Upper, Intellectual Upper, Traditional Middle, Technical Middle, Working, Lower. For each year and segment, he subtracted the percentage of “conservative” and “extreme conservative” from the percentage of “liberal” and “extreme liberal”. In 1972 all segments were in the range +3 to -7. By 2008, all segments had moved right by 3 to 8 points, except Intellectual Upper, which moved 22 points left.

    IOW, the segment of society which does most of the perceiving and analyzing and communicating (including teaching) has become overwhelmingly leftist. How can culture be reformed or rebuilt when the very basis of thought and action is distorted?

    Rich Rostrom (f3a9de)

  44. If a Republican official asserted an admiration for Hitler, the outrage would reverberate for months. But a Democrat official asserts an admiration for someone who was an even larger mass murderer and The Emperor says so what?

    Typical.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  45. How can culture be reformed or rebuilt when the very basis of thought and action is distorted?

    It usually requires a very violent response!

    AD - RtR/OS! (2f0f4a)

  46. […] What the left-wing excuse factory wants is for the American people to overlook the radicalism of the…(Patterico) […]

    Chew on this: Yes we Can? « Chockblock’s blog (05b5a7)


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