Lowry makes several great points, but the centerpiece for me is a point Lowry only touches upon: "But Obama doesn't think in such antiquated, triumphalist terms."Obama famously made a speech in Berlin during last year's campaign, but at an event devoted to celebrating himself as the apotheosis of world hopefulness. He said of 1989, "a wall came down, a continent came together, and history proved that there is no challenge too great for a world that stands as one."
The line was typical Obama verbal soufflé, soaring but vulnerable to collapse upon the slightest jostling from logic or historical fact. The wall came down only after the free world resolutely stood against the Communist bloc. Rather than a warm-and-fuzzy exercise in global understanding, the Cold War was another iteration of the 20th century's long war between totalitarianism and Western liberalism. The West prevailed on the back of American strength.
We have a President who, because the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany stands as a victory for the United States (and all of Europe), will not pay heed. Obama's entire foreign policy is devoted towards bringing the United States down a notch or two. The apology tours are the tip of the iceberg of a philosophy of American un-exceptionalism.
John Kennedy stood in Berlin and proclaimed that we all are Berliners. Ronald Reagan stood in Berlin and proclaimed that the wall should be torn down. When Obama went to Berlin, as Lowry points out, Obama proclaimed himself leader of the world.
During the Cold War we needed a leader of the free world, not a leader of the world. We still do.
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Yes, and right now I don't see anyone big enough to wear Reagan's shoes. Do you?
ReplyDeleteSeriously, let’s think about this a little bit.
ReplyDeleteWho on the right and who in the great ‘independent’ middle really wanted to see President Obama standing in Berlin where the U.S. Army’s Berlin Brigade once faced down the full weight of the Soviet Warsaw Pact; where John F. Kennedy or Ronald Reagan once stood proudly defending freedom?
Be honest. I thought so. We’d all just as soon he stood to the side. And, the Progressives do not want him standing there in the pantheon on Heroes either. That would speak of American and Allied exceptionalism and a commitment to Democracy they have come to reject.
So, let’s return to the United States where we are ALL in need of leadership.
Obama is such an empty suit and a dope head. He probably really didn't know that Berlin has a wall!
ReplyDeleteWhen he gave his speech last year, I jokingly thought he might try to give them back to Russia, or maybe convince the Germans that communism deserved a second look.
ReplyDeleteAfter Honduras, I think I should have been more concerned.
Here is something I found at the American Thinker that is relevant to this thread:
ReplyDeleteIs Barack Obama Anti-American?