Johnathan Freedland of the Guardian claims that the “world” will come to understand the fundamental sickness of America if it doesn’t elect the man the planet “yearns for” in November. He writes these words on behalf of the world:
If Americans choose McCain, they will be turning their back on the rest of the world, choosing to show us four more years of the Bush-Cheney finger. And I predict a deeply unpleasant shift. Until now, anti-Americanism has been exaggerated and much misunderstood: outside a leftist hardcore, it has mostly been anti-Bushism, opposition to this specific administration. But if McCain wins in November, that might well change. Suddenly Europeans and others will conclude that their dispute is with not only one ruling clique, but Americans themselves. For it will have been the American people, not the politicians, who will have passed up a once-in-a-generation chance for a fresh start – a fresh start the world is yearning for.
One of the conceits of the Left is that it is in the automatic majority, if not always in actual numbers then by virtue of inevitable numbers. Whenever the arithmetical majority doesn’t share its views the assumption is that they soon will. By definition the “vanguard” is always where the majority goes because they will lead it by the nose. Although one would think that the collapse of the Soviet Union might shake this certitude, it has not. John Podhoretz at Commentary thinks this kind of thinking is arises from living in an echo-chamber, a circumstance which sometimes gives rise to an alternate perception of reality. Podhoretez thinks that “the reason Barack Obama seems so rattled by the McCain surge is that he’s never actually faced a competent and agile competitor to his Right, and has never really been called upon to broaden his appeal to voters who live in a different ideological frame.” The term “flyover country” conveys the idea that the ideological other isn’t just someone you don’t agree with, he’s a person from another universe.
Perhaps the problem has to do as well with his campaign consultant, David Axelrod. … Axelrod comes out of leftist Democratic politics … and he has specialized in helping his candidates prevail in primary races when winning the Democratic primary is tantamount to winning the entire election. … the general-election contest was a slow-motion coronation. … So this is new for Axelrod, as it is for Obama. They are not running in a mostly liberal, mostly Democratic state. They are running in a 50-50 country, in which far more people describe themselves as “conservative” than say they are “liberal.” For them, it is probably difficult to imagine that Sarah Palin has appeal, but she does.
Johnathan Freeland’s amazement at how anyone could take McCain and Palin seriously recalls the famous remark of Pauline Kael, who upon learning that Richard Nixon beat George McGovern by a landslide in 1972 said, “how could that be? I don’t know a single person who voted for Nixon.” Kael probably traveled in a self-selected and heremetic social circle whose gatekeepers applied unstated but effective political filters. “All those who don’t belong, keep out.” But it is not just the Left which is cloistered. A glance at my social networking list would show precious few voters for Obama. If Obama were to win by a landslide I wouldn’t know anyone who liked him either. But while in the past the privilege of belonging to a circle was the province of the elite, today anyone can join his own ghetto. The Internet has made it easy for anyone to restrict his gaze to only what he wants to see. And from there it is but a single step to living in a self-referential world which could be shattered by exposure to contrary information.
Beholding information that will shatter your world view is not unlike looking on a Gorgon. But as the myths remind us, it is sometimes necessary. The Gorgon was a source of both death and renewal. “In Greek mythology, blood taken from the right side of a Gorgon could bring the dead back to life, yet blood taken from the left side was an instantly fatal poison.” When George W. Bush began to have misgivings about the strategy his commanders were pursuing in Iraq, he forced himself to look upon Medusa, as it were, and re-think his position. The result was the Surge. One of the weaknesses of Barack Obama, which John Podhoretz failed to note, is that it took him an unconscionably long time to admit the effectiveness of the Surge. He could not look upon Medusa and was the worse for it.
Faced with a choice between believing the judgment of a large number of voters who must live with their political choices and his own sophisticated, progressive and correct world view, it is easier for Freeland to imagine that Americans are collectively mad. It is the disappointment that ‘they’ are not going to be like him that cuts so deeply. When Freeland says that “suddenly Europeans and others will conclude” that America is hopeless, he doesn’t really mean that the USA will suddenly stop becoming successful, powerful, influential or rich. What he probably means is that America has lost the inestimable chance of becoming like Europe. Freeland ruefully writes:
Of course I know that even to mention Obama’s support around the world is to hurt him. Incredibly, that large Berlin crowd damaged Obama at home, branding him the “candidate of Europe” and making him seem less of a patriotic American. But what does that say about today’s America, that the world’s esteem is now unwanted? If Americans reject Obama, they will be sending the clearest possible message to the rest of us – and, make no mistake, we shall hear it.
There’s that “we” again.
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1. Doug:Obama’s African Hubris
Former Clinton aides currently working for Obama were the “mutual acquaintances” who directed Dick Morris to Kenya to advise the Odinga campaign in November of 2007, shortly after Odinga visited with Obama in America. Morris was an extremely divisive factor in the Kenyan elections, as a foreigner, a white man, and the creator of an antagonistic “have vs. have nots” campaign platform for Odinga’s ODM. He also suggested the current campaign of civil disobedience to protest the election result, including a “Million Person March”, a la Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam.
When things got out of hand following the election, Obama called Odinga repeatedly, but Mwai Kibaki, the leader of the Government would not return his calls as he perceives Obama to be biased toward his Luo relative Odinga in the conflict. Obama is featured prominently in ODM campaign posters, slogans, and songs in Kenya, and the plaintive phrase “A Luo will become President in America before a Luo will become President in Kenya” is often heard.
Sep 10, 2008 - 6:44 pm 2. Cannoneer No. 4:What a heart-rending tragedy American rejection of Transnational Progressivism will be for Euroweenies.
Pump, pump, psssss, pump, pump, psss
That’s my heart, pumping a fluid that is not blood.
Sep 10, 2008 - 7:01 pm 3. newscaper:Funny how Americans voting for Bush in 2004, over Kerry, the Great White [liberal] Hope, is forgotten/glossed over by this idiot.
Sep 10, 2008 - 7:04 pm 4. Doug:Reverend Wright Is Reverend Wrong! »
The New York Post learned today that Reverend Wright is actually Reverend Wrong. Apparently our “pious” Reverend Wright — who was the pastor and confidante of Barack Obama for 20+ years, baptized both of his daughters, married him and Michelle, and “blessed” their mansion — has been carrying on with a younger woman in Texas. Here’s more from the Post:
“He almost wrecked Barack Obama’s presidential dreams, and now firebrand pastor Jeremiah Wright has helped destroy a Dallas church worker’s marriage – and her job, The Post has learned.”
Payne’s husband, Fred Payne, 64, said he learned of the affair in late February, when he discovered e-mails between his wife and Wright.
“There must have been about 80 of them, back and forth,” he said. “Wright said things like he was going to leave his wife for Elizabeth.”
Wright has been married to his second wife, Ramah, for more than 20 years.
Sep 10, 2008 - 7:10 pm 5. Dawnsblood:The preacher reportedly wooed Ramah away from her first husband in the 1980s, when the couple came to marriage counseling at Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.
I think Ms Lucas speaks for me on this one. A bit of a language alert on the link though…
Sep 10, 2008 - 7:21 pm 6. NahnCee:“…between believing the judgment of a large number of voters who must live with their political choices and his own sophisticated, progressive and correct world view, it is easier for Freeland to imagine that Americans are collectively mad.”
Option Number Three is that we’re simply voting that way to seriously annoy Freeland and his Yurpizoid buddies. That we really, truly and sincerely do not care what they think and even the promise of bin Laden to go easy on us if we voted for Kerry was not enough for a majority of Americans to throw the last election to a perceived wuss.
The other thing is what, exactly, are Freeland and/or Europe going to do about it if we do not follow his mandate? As far as I can see, their only option is, “we won’t love you any more.” Which they’re all already anti-American so precisely how is that supposed to hurt even a scootch.
If McCain can figure out how to get us out of the United Nations and made that part of his campaign promises that would add to the landslide that’s already building up against B. Hussein. Maybe Mr Freeland will volunteer to help all the dedicated UN-ites relocate out of New York.
Sep 10, 2008 - 7:24 pm 7. James:I lived outside the US for majority of the Bush presidency, most of the time spent in a city that had a large number of people from all parts of Europe coming through. And to this day I still have a difficult time understanding the antipathy towards Bush. And what’s important to note in this is that I’m not pro-Bush. I’m quite critical of many of his choices. But what I found interesting about this was the number of people I ran into, from places that were essentially unaffected in any meaningful sense by the Bush presidency, who were more upset than I was, someone who deeply felt that Bush was harming my country.
It still amazes me. I’ll even give them Iraq as an issue, as a number of people from around the world are quite put off by that whole issue. And yet they are essentially silent, and frequently completely ignorant, about conflicts anywhere else in the world.
Freedland’s article in the Guardian just brings me to a greater awareness of this. He’s not too sure what it is that’s so bad about Bush. Iraq is mentioned, of course. And there’s some griping about global warming. But I’m left with no sense at all of what it is Obama would do over McCain with regards to this. For, if you believe that carbon emissions are the ultimate cause of global climate change, the US is certainly becoming an ever increasingly smaller source of all of that compared to the other rising powers. Furthermore, the advances in alternative energy, particularly solar power, that have originated in Bush’s America are absolutely stunning, a rate of progess unmatched by the research in the rest of the world combined, and far greater than in any previous administration. Granted, I don’t believe Bush deserves much credit for this and he could have done much more. But the point still remains.
I’m sure that these developments will continue at a rapid pace. I’m also sure that additional major advancements in how to deal with climate change will continue to come from the United States: improved modeling capabilities, more advanced analysis techniques, cleaner energy technologies, and more. Simply put, if global warming is a problem and some corrective action is necessary in order to address it, only the United States has the IT technology to adequately model and predict and calibrate and monitor any possible corrective actions. The biggest threat of carbon emissions will undoubtedly be the developing world. All of this will be unchanged regardless if Obama of McCain end up in the White House.
I really find it all rather odd.
Sep 10, 2008 - 7:26 pm 8. Langley:Biden: “Hillary a Better Pick Than Me”
At least he did not say that Palin would be a better pick.
Sep 10, 2008 - 7:27 pm 9. Leo Linbeck III:It may be that demographics and immigration play a powerful force in bursting our ghetto bubbles. As Europe shrinks and their industrious young leave to avoid supporting an increasingly aging population, the culture in Europe will become less diverse and more of an echo chamber. And since both neighborhoods and businesses are largely static, interacting with strangers becomes increasingly rare.
In the US, on the other hand, our income and geographic mobility, combined with our immigration policies, force a constant change in the composition of our cultural “ghettos.” Our flexible labor model also causes considerable proximity churn, mixing and remixing the adjacencies of our lives.
The melting pot cultural model is our best hope for the future, provided we don’t abandon it for a ghetto-friendly, hyphenated-American, politically correct stew.
L3
Sep 10, 2008 - 7:27 pm 10. Storm-Rider:“Until now, anti-Americanism has been exaggerated and much misunderstood: outside a leftist hardcore, it has mostly been anti-Bushism, opposition to this specific administration. But if McCain wins in November, that might well change. Suddenly Europeans and others will conclude that their dispute is with not only one ruling clique, but Americans themselves.”
And then there was this from the London Daily Mirror after George Bush was elected President over John Kerry:
“Were I a Kerry voter, though, I’d feel deep anger, not only at them returning Bush to power, but for allowing the outside world to lump us all into the same category of moronic muppets. The self-righteous, gun-totin’, military-lovin’, sister-marryin’, abortion-hatin’, gay-loathin’, foreigner-despisin’, non-passport ownin’ red-necks, who believe God gave America the biggest d*ck in the world so it could urinate on the rest of us and make their land “free and strong.”
Yea, the European Marxist/Socialists don’t like us American Cowboys and Rednecks, because we won the Cold War; and we also bailed them out of Hitler’s tyranny. They can’t forgive us for being free, for being strong, for being brave, and for being successful.
“Anti-Americanism has come roaring back like a bad rash, flaring up after years of remission. Anti-American rage is pervasive on our Left and the dominant media….Why do they hate us? It’s truly not our fault. The Euro-Left hates us for winning the Cold War, and for showing capitalist democracy to be far more beneficial and compassionate than any State-controlled society. It still drives them to rage”
http://www.americanthinker.com/printpage/?url=http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/10/the_evidence_for_neocommunism.html
Mark Steyn has made a study of European anti-Americanism as well, and he has made up his mind where he’ll hitch his wagon.
“It’s the Christian fundamentalists, Holy Rollers, born-again Bible Belters, and Jesus freaks of Godly America who are rational and skeptical, especially of Euro-delusions. It’s secular Europe that’s living on faith. Uncowed by Islamists, undeferential to government, unshriveled in its birth rates, redneck America is a more reliable long-term bet.” Mark Steyn
Thank God not every European is a Marxist – there is a glimmer of hope that Europe will become more pro-American, i.e.: pro-Liberty; but I fear only a glimmer.
“It (Socialism) is based on big and patronizing government, on extensive regulating of human behavior, and on large-scale income redistribution….There is always a limiting (or constraining) of human freedom, there is always ambitious social engineering, there is always an immodest ‘enforcement of a good’ by those who are anointed on others against their will, there is always the crowding out of standard democratic methods by alternative political procedures, and there is always the feeling of superiority of intellectuals and of their ambitions.” President of the Czeck Republic, Václav Klaus
“These alternative ideologies are successful especially where there is no sufficient resistance to them, where they find a fertile soil for their flourishing, where they find a country (or the whole continent) where freedom (and free markets) have been heavily undermined by long lasting collectivistic dreams and experiences and where intellectuals have succeeded in getting and maintaining a very strong voice and social status. I have in mind, of course, rather Europe, than America. It is Europe where we witness the crowding out of democracy by post democracy, where the EU dominance replaces democratic arrangements in the EU member countries, where [some people] do not see the dangers of empty Europeanism and of a deep (and ever deeper) but only bureaucratic unification of the whole European continent. They applaud the growing formal opening of the continent, but do not see that the elimination of some of the borders without actual liberalization of human activities ‘only’ shifts governments upwards, which means to the level where there is no democratic accountability and where the decisions are made by politicians appointed by politicians, not elected by citizens in free elections.” President of the Czeck Republic, Václav Klaus
http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/206
Sep 10, 2008 - 7:29 pm 11. Storm-Rider:“Until now, anti-Americanism has been exaggerated and much misunderstood: outside a leftist hardcore, it has mostly been anti-Bushism, opposition to this specific administration. But if McCain wins in November, that might well change. Suddenly Europeans and others will conclude that their dispute is with not only one ruling clique, but Americans themselves.”
And then there was this from the London Daily Mirror after George Bush was elected President over John Kerry:
“Were I a Kerry voter, though, I’d feel deep anger, not only at them returning Bush to power, but for allowing the outside world to lump us all into the same category of moronic muppets. The self-righteous, gun-totin’, military-lovin’, sister-marryin’, abortion-hatin’, gay-loathin’, foreigner-despisin’, non-passport ownin’ red-necks, who believe God gave America the biggest d*ck in the world so it could urinate on the rest of us and make their land “free and strong.”
Yea, the European Marxist/Socialists don’t like us American Cowboys and Rednecks, because we won the Cold War; and we also bailed them out of Hitler’s tyranny. They can’t forgive us for being free, for being strong, for being brave, and for being successful.
“Anti-Americanism has come roaring back like a bad rash, flaring up after years of remission. Anti-American rage is pervasive on our Left and the dominant media….Why do they hate us? It’s truly not our fault. The Euro-Left hates us for winning the Cold War, and for showing capitalist democracy to be far more beneficial and compassionate than any State-controlled society. It still drives them to rage”
americanthinker.com/printpage/?url=http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/10/the_evidence_for_neocommunism.html
Mark Steyn has made a study of European anti-Americanism as well, and he has made up his mind where he’ll hitch his wagon.
“It’s the Christian fundamentalists, Holy Rollers, born-again Bible Belters, and Jesus freaks of Godly America who are rational and skeptical, especially of Euro-delusions. It’s secular Europe that’s living on faith. Uncowed by Islamists, undeferential to government, unshriveled in its birth rates, redneck America is a more reliable long-term bet.” Mark Steyn
Thank God not every European is a Marxist – there is a glimmer of hope that Europe will become more pro-American, i.e.: pro-Liberty; but I fear only a glimmer.
“It (Socialism) is based on big and patronizing government, on extensive regulating of human behavior, and on large-scale income redistribution….There is always a limiting (or constraining) of human freedom, there is always ambitious social engineering, there is always an immodest ‘enforcement of a good’ by those who are anointed on others against their will, there is always the crowding out of standard democratic methods by alternative political procedures, and there is always the feeling of superiority of intellectuals and of their ambitions.” President of the Czeck Republic, Václav Klaus
“These alternative ideologies are successful especially where there is no sufficient resistance to them, where they find a fertile soil for their flourishing, where they find a country (or the whole continent) where freedom (and free markets) have been heavily undermined by long lasting collectivistic dreams and experiences and where intellectuals have succeeded in getting and maintaining a very strong voice and social status. I have in mind, of course, rather Europe, than America. It is Europe where we witness the crowding out of democracy by post democracy, where the EU dominance replaces democratic arrangements in the EU member countries, where [some people] do not see the dangers of empty Europeanism and of a deep (and ever deeper) but only bureaucratic unification of the whole European continent. They applaud the growing formal opening of the continent, but do not see that the elimination of some of the borders without actual liberalization of human activities ‘only’ shifts governments upwards, which means to the level where there is no democratic accountability and where the decisions are made by politicians appointed by politicians, not elected by citizens in free elections.” President of the Czeck Republic, Václav Klaus
brusselsjournal.com/node/206
Sep 10, 2008 - 7:34 pm 12. Langley:Biden: “Hillary a Better Pick Than Me”
At least he did not say that Palin would be a better pick.
OR
“Hillary would be a better pick than Obama”
Both of these statements are true. That things like this are being said by Team Obama suggests how rattled they are by the change in terrain.
Sep 10, 2008 - 7:47 pm 13. chiral:Obama needs a SHAMELESS celebrity to replace Joe Biden. The only person who fits is Al Gore. It’s laughable, but a last second “Obama/Gore” is crazy enough to happen.
They would almost certainly still lose, but Obama’s goal might now be changing from “don’t lose” to “don’t be completely humiliated”.
Sep 10, 2008 - 8:01 pm 14. Peterike:A fresh start the world is yearning for.
Yearn schmearn. Europe can bite me.
Sep 10, 2008 - 8:03 pm 15. bobal:They’ll get over it.
Sep 10, 2008 - 8:06 pm 16. James:Here’s another word cloud produced from the front page of the Huffington Post. Palin is still the center of everyone’s attention.
http://wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/178060/Huffington_Post_9-10-08
Those who didn’t see my post on this yesterday can see those results here:
http://wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/175812/Huffington_Post_-_Sept_9
Sep 10, 2008 - 8:06 pm 17. jwillie:Guess i missed something in Greek mythology – I always thought the notion that females had snakes in their head was an accurate reflection of reality.
Sep 10, 2008 - 8:07 pm 18. Bill in NC:“But I’m left with no sense at all of what it is Obama would do over McCain with regards to this. For, if you believe that carbon emissions are the ultimate cause of global climate change, the US is certainly becoming an ever increasingly smaller source of all of that compared to the other rising powers.”
Form. Over Substance.
Euro politics.
Democrat politics.
Obama politics.
For them, it is much, much better to say, and be said to say, the right things (believing is strictly optional, and mostly for suckers), and do nothing, than to say the wrong things, or even be skeptical of the “right things”, and nevertheless achieve positive results. This is the essence of the left.
You have seen “form over substance” succeed since at least high school.
We, like europe, can be loved again if only we will confess our carbon sins, admit that war is bad, and act like France (in our own damned interests, thank you) in failing tolive up to these ideals (though we are making progress.
The paradox is that we are called upon literally and figuratively to do so much for the rest of the world that we cannot act as Europe. The world becomes more dangerous when we (see, eg, Jimmy Carter) pursue form over substance. Taking it on the chin from those who resent needing us is the price the US pays for helping keep the world on an even keel — mostly even anyway. It’s a burden we dare not ditch.
Sep 10, 2008 - 8:07 pm 19. Insufficiently Sensitive:For it will have been the American people, not the politicians, who will have passed up a once-in-a-generation chance for a fresh start – a fresh start the world is yearning for.
I knew it wasn’t Hitler who was at fault for all those slaughtered millions. It was those g*dd*mn German people who fell for his oh-so-inspirational eloquence and elected him.
Sep 10, 2008 - 8:24 pm 20. E. Nigma:Mr. Obama conforms to the ideological and social norms Mr Freedland, his friends and associates, and a great number of other “Europeans”. I travel to France semi-frequently, and it is always a minefield to discuss American politics (when they bring it up, as I don’t), as the French mostly know more about my country than I do.
Sep 10, 2008 - 8:24 pm 21. Dave S.:Last January the subject of Obama and Clinton in the primaries was quite the buzz. I was told various “truths” about America that were, of course, “irrefutable”.
In retrospect, I am glad to say I was pretty restrained, knowing that most Europeans are fed several grades of hogwash about America and politics here. They think they know, but in truth they don’t have any idea.
When something unusual (to the European eye) happens in American politics, they usually struggle to find some Eurocentric rationalization. It is rare to hear them say,”I just don’t understand this.”
I live here (in the US), and there are times things happen that I don’t understand. But the European (especially the Frenchman) has to have a tidy intellectual rationalization for everything. Freedland has already set himself up to rationalize any possible outcome.
Bill in NC is right. We dare not ditch the responsibility we have taken on no matter how much the Euros resent us. If we do the power vacuum will be filled. The Soviet bear will gladly fill the void.
Sep 10, 2008 - 8:27 pm 22. AW:Ahhh, the Gorgon’s chirality…
Maybe it’s because I’m getting older, but in general leftist, internationalist dogma rings flatter and flatter. I remember when I first moved to Boston many years ago actual socialism was prominent in the city in many venues (socialist worker newspapers, lots of union organizing, bumper stickers, etc.) but it seemed to dissipate as time went on. I think what actually happened was the purveyors were dying off and also being priced out with the disappearance of rent controls all over the city. Eventually I got married and moved out to the suburbs near Worcester and found the same old lame drivel being pushed out here, where its adherents could afford to fester. It’ll take a few generations for it to die off, thankfully a lot of them don’t reproduce. It’s not even mundane anymore. The left is dead in every sense except for its intrinsic will to power.
It’s still prevalent abroad for the same reasons its prevalent in urban America: its institutionalized. Poor dumb bastards are too smart to know any better.
As this sick, perverted generation of the last “vanguard” dies out, I hope for a recolonization of the urban parts of the west (probably starting in the US which is as always ahead of the curve) by the fresh, fecund, freedom-lovers of the flyover country.
God Bless America. In God We Trust. This urge is being manifested right now in this election. Obama didn’t realize his “vanguard” was up against a more powerful force: a vibrant culture with deep-rooted conservative values underlies everything in America despite the coastal outliers. It’s as true as ever that America is built on God, Guns and Guts.
McCain reflects our martial spirit manifested in one of the oldest and most powerful forces for good on the planet (the U.S. Armed Forces.) Palin represents our more sublime culture of life and family, and family has a forceful dynamic of its own: hunter, provider, nurturer, defender, teacher. You’ll never hear of an archetype based on a community organizer or a bloviator, unless its a play on contempt for the weak-minded and weak-willed.
Obama thought he could purvey himself as an archetype of a Savior. The Messiah is such a unique archetype that no imitation is possible: it diminishes the imitator and accrues glory to the one and only manifestation of the archetype.
There’s a long tradition in US politics of the Ancient Warrior (Washington ala Cincinattus, Jackson, Grant, Eisenhower) and the Happy Warrior (Roosevelt, Reagan and Goldwater) McCain’s genius was to combine them versus Obama’s unworkable Redeemer paired with an improbable Happy Bloviator.
As always, those seeking evidence of a Divine Providence need only look at the history of the United States, playing out before us even now.
Sep 10, 2008 - 8:29 pm 23. Nomenklatura:It all comes down to one simple thing. Leftists don’t consider themselves Americans – they consider themselves better than Americans.
Self-awarded accolades like this are worthy of only one description: vanity.
Sep 10, 2008 - 8:30 pm 24. Fred:Freeland and his kind do not speak for Europe. In their heart of hearts they know that. It really drives them nuts.
Sep 10, 2008 - 8:30 pm 25. James:E. Nigma wrote: “They think they know, but in truth they don’t have any idea.”
Yes. And they are stubbornly resistant to any information which might give them understanding. Everything is interpreted in such a way as to buttress pre-existing beliefs.
In a sense, all of us are like this. We see the world through filters we find appealing. But with some of those people it’s at a dramatic, even pathological level.
I’m seeing something similar unfold, again, as I watch the left-wing media and blogosphere. The dominant explanation of the unfavorable change in the polls in recent days centers around such things as “most americans are stupid”, “the MSM supports the conservatives”, “Rove’s dirty tricks and lies.”
Amidst all of this none of them are asking with any sincerity, “What are we doing wrong?” There’s not question of strategy, no desire to question the current direction, all failures are explained as being the result of the idiocy of the electorate and the deceptiveness of the opponent. They’re wrapped in a narrative that says, essentially, “we are smart and we are moral, and that is why we suffer.” Beyond being wrong, it’s amazing how utterly destructive such a viewpoint is to one’s soul. Reminds me of Martin Seligman’s “Learned Helplessness.”
Sep 10, 2008 - 8:34 pm 26. Sean O'Callaghan:Not to worry. They might not like us but they sure as hell still need us – or the Russians will play them like the fools they are.
Sep 10, 2008 - 8:43 pm 27. Peterike:This is mostly off topic, but if you want to read a hilarious take-down of a Canadian female columnist going off on Sarah Palin (“she isn’t even female really”), you have to read as James Lileks drops a series of daisy cutters on her head.
http://www.lileks.com/bleats/archive/08/0908/091008.html
Nothing left when he’s done but the sound of wind over sand.
Sep 10, 2008 - 8:43 pm 28. Amit Green:“For he looks in the mirror & sees himself, and immediately turns away & forgets what kind of man he is”
Gazing on the Gorgon is very painful.
Especially when we see something about how our worldview is wrong & that worldview is part of our identity.
We prefer to turn our heads.
It doesn’t help that the right is basically calling the left idiots & the left is basically calling the right idiots.
Makes it hard to gaze at the gorgon and see the other side.
For example, I believe both the right & the left are correct about the War in Iraq.
We needed to do something, we then messed up *REALLY* badly, and finally fixed it with the surge.
So “When George W. Bush began to have misgivings about the strategy his commanders were pursuing in Iraq, he forced himself to look upon Medusa, as it were, and re-think his position.”.
So Bush can be commended to re-thinking his position. And doing what was neccessary, and fixing the problem.
Still. That means the left was correct. He did mess up. Badly. In Iraq.
And he hasn’t admitted that.
And it makes the left very angry. Rightfully so too.
Sep 10, 2008 - 8:56 pm 29. cjm:the uk is dying; putrification has already set in. they have regressed 100 years in 10, under socialism. thatcher was that last bob up to the surface, before they sink under for good. what do we care who runs europe? they are irrelevant and expendable now.
Sep 10, 2008 - 9:02 pm 30. ian:My wife, who is a French citizen, cannot understand for the life of her why so many people in the US care so much about what Europeans think of them. The European tour was where Obama completely lost her – she asked me ‘why is he campaigning in Europe? Isn’t he running for president of the US?’
Sep 10, 2008 - 9:14 pm 31. Mark:My sense is that if the Europeans really want Obama to win, they should shut up about how much they support his candidacy.
Freeland writes:
“suddenly Europeans and others will conclude” that America is hopeless . . . .
Meanwhile, back in Europe . . . . Conservatives (of a Euro kind) have won elections in Germany, France, and Italy. And in kind of Euro Canada. Conservatives are likely to win in Britain.
Spain is a peculiar case, still living out its civil war and nervously liable to equate conservatism with Franco.
Sep 10, 2008 - 9:28 pm 32. Alexis:One aspect of Mr. Freedland’s article that annoys me is how he seems to have a desire to become head cheerleader for a future American civil war.
He writes, “Yes, blue-state America will go into mourning once again, feeling estranged in its own country.” Firstly, this sounds like wishful thinking on Mr. Freedland’s part. Elections come and go, but people who live in a healthy democracy respect the results of elections.
Secondly, let’s say Mr. Freedland is accurate. Would the “world” really be better off with “red-state America feeling estranged in its own country”? Does Mr. Freedland truly regard “fly over country” as beyond the Pale?
Thirdly, Mr. Freedland’s pomposity is precisely the kind of arrogance that makes it difficult for liberals, progressives, and Democrats to ever get elected in the United States. Would any sane Democratic presidential candidate proclaim himself to be Gordon Brown’s poodle? Does Mr. Freedland really think that Americans are more likely to “behave themselves” if the European Union points a loaded gun at America’s head and threatens to shoot if we vote the wrong way? It was Mr. Freedland’s variety of high-handedness that led thirteen colonies to secede from the British Empire in the first place; apparently he desires to promote a new age of American isolationism as well — all because he happens to idolize one particular Chicago politician.
Mr. Freedland may be expressing his own feelings about America, but they are as diplomatic as the Zimmermann Telegram. He is venting a primal scream of raw hatred against people from the American interior and his is the kind of message that will serve the interests of neither Britain nor his Europhile allies in North America in the long run.
If Barack Obama and his supporters lose this election, they have only themselves to blame. Barack Obama didn’t need to make remarks that conveyed an impression of bigotry against rural voters. He didn’t need to associate himself with a racist church. And yet, these are peripheral issues compared to the essential one – his supporters want him to win too much. In politics, it is often crucial to mask one’s enthusiasm for one’s own cause so one doesn’t stir up a backlash. When Obama supporters at home and abroad threaten tantrums if their idol doesn’t win this election, they come across as a bunch of intolerant fanatics, not as rational people. When Obama supporters want him to win too much, it should not be a surprise when they find a chilly reception.
Bigotry isn’t the exclusive province of the Right and neither is political correctness the exclusive province of the Left. Leftists often talk about how we should try to understand our enemies and not demonize them; perhaps Mr. Freedland ought to immerse himself in the life of interior Americans and possibly learn that interior Americans aren’t quite the monsters he thinks we are. That is, if he doesn’t wish to become a latter-day Sayyid Qutb.
Sep 10, 2008 - 9:34 pm 33. Uncle Jefe:E. Nigma wrote: “They think they know, but in truth they don’t have any idea.”
Sep 10, 2008 - 9:35 pm 34. Uncle Jefe:Before I moved to Europe, lo those many years ago, I remember hearing about how so many of them spoke English, including Spain and Italy where I planned to spend quite some time. I found that indeed they studied English for at least 8 years in their schools, and that they loved to practice their English with you, but that in truth, many were nowhere near fluent in any sense in English.
The same could be said for their understanding of America in general. I remember my time there reading their papers, watching their news reports, and seeing America as Michael Jackson interacting with boys (which doesn’t give away the timeframe of which I speak, as his ‘fascination’ with boys spans decades…), of palm trees and beaches (oh, you’re from California…you live on the beach??), of David Koresh and of so many other things that happened during those Clinton years…
In other words, Europe saw what American MSM portrayed us as.
And we know how many of the sinistrophere self-identify as leftists/dems…
The Europeans get their news and views on America verbatim from the American MSM, or worse, the BBC.
Oh, and by the way, screw those who will share the feelings of poor poor jonathan. They want obama so bad?
Sep 10, 2008 - 9:39 pm 35. Dave:Please take obama, take biden, and for God’s sake, take medea benjamin and her pinko tribe with them.
They’re all made for one another, and deserve to share the same fate.
I remember back in 1991, I talked a couple from Birmingham, England, into taking a two-
week vacation in Texas. Namely to Port Arthur
with a side trip into Louisiana.
While these were not the arrogant type and knew enough not to believe everything they heard about us, they nonetheless spent the entire trip in a state of culture shock.
The most telling aspect was their utter surprise how Americans left vending machines, news racks and the like unattended and so seldom robbed or vandalized. Likewise the casual interplay between civilians and uniformed police officers.
Our day at the range brought a few surprises too. The Brit could not stand more than 5 rounds from my 03 Springfield. I would have had to shoot the other 345 by myself had it not been for the timely arrival of a former Viet Cong who graciously let me try out his Redstock. Their incredulity grew by leaps and bounds when he realted how he gained early citizenship because he wanted to be sure to vote in 1984 for Ronald Reagan.
Our habit of waving at any and all passerbys
had them wondering who was directing the conspiracy.
And on and on it went. Amusing as could be.
And it also left me pondering the possibility that there might be such a thing as American Exceptionalism after all.
Sep 10, 2008 - 9:54 pm 36. Doug:Obama plagiarized ‘lipstick speech’
Sep 10, 2008 - 10:19 pm 37. Uncle Jefe:Remarks by Sen. Barack Obama yesterday leading up to his controversial “lipstick on a pig” jab at the McCain campaign mirror almost word-for-word a political cartoon published last week in the Washington Post.
There is no doubt as to American exceptionalism.
Sep 10, 2008 - 10:21 pm 38. James:I admire what the British, Canadian, and Australian Militaries contribute to the current struggle, but their populaces are very soft and still haven’t awakened to the threat (and of course, we’re oh so close to caving vis a vis obama).
However, I don’t doubt what our reaction will look like if another 9/11-style attack (or worse) occurs.
With the rest of the world (excepting the above mentioned, plus Russia, China and India), I fear a white flag would pop up.
Land of the Free, Home of (because of) the Brave.
Another word cloud, showing what they are thinking about on http://www.democraticunderground.com. this is from the Forum page and doesn’t give any indication about the number of comments per thread but does give an indication as to what words are frequently appearing in the titles of the treads.
http://wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/178301/Democratic_Underground_Forum_Page
All Palin, all the time. Look hard and you might see “Biden” somewhere in there.
Sep 10, 2008 - 10:48 pm 39. Rob:OK, but if you read Freedland’s work over time you realize that he doesn’t really have America’s best interests at heart. He’s one of those pushing the meme that America was too powerful, and the EU had to be a counterweight, and then the US is in decline, so the EU should consider looking elsewhere for friends. Everything bad in the world, especially Muslim terrorism, is the fault of the West in general and the US in particular to him; the world is our victim and we need to make it right; if only the US put its military in the hands of the wise Europeans.
It’s a measure of this guy’s hubris that he thinks we’re just not going to get what he’s really after.
Sep 11, 2008 - 1:31 am 40. Panday:Freedland’s column expressing the “world’s desire” for Obama makes me want to vote against him out of spite.
Sep 11, 2008 - 1:40 am 41. Cas:I suppose someone should let on to Obama that America is supposed to be Leader of the Free-World, not follower. It’s not that the esteem of the rest-of-the-world is unwanted, it’s that becoming the rest-of-the world is unwanted.
Sep 11, 2008 - 3:42 am 42. RattlerGator:Amit Green, be careful of the hubris that has so harmed the left. Bush didn’t mess up *REALLY* badly in Iraq and no objective study of historical warfare could substantiate the claim.
There is nothing that has been done in Iraq that compares badly with any major American conflict in our history. If you have a contrary opinion, I’d love to have that exemplary major conflict identified. In truth, what we have objectively achieved is stunning (and still precarious) — especially given the Saudi Arabian and Syrian and Turkish and Iranian and Russian intransigence and active interference.
More Americans would do well to reflect on that fact and lay down the mythological mindset that sees warfare as either completely incompetent or completely competent. It’s a glaringly juvenile approach. Decisions and strategies will always be critiqued. This is something quite different than messing up really badly.
Every decision taken by the Bush Administration and the Commanders in Iraq you might identify as atrocious has another alternative that might very well have been worse.
To hell with those leftists that want a damn apology.
Sep 11, 2008 - 4:09 am 43. Xixi:I lived in England for six frightening years. Everything is expensive and nothing really works except their language. Humans have lived on that island for over 10,000 years and they still cannot make a commode that will flush a turd away on the first or second try.
Americans living in England abide by an unwritten and unsaid rule to pretend that everything there is wonderful. It isn’t.
English people who come to visit America sometimes get a clue but only if they visit family or friends and experience the real America of a middle class life.
Generally speaking the English have some of the worst teeth on the planet. Their nostrils are reforestation projects. They wear the same clothes for days on end. They stink.
That aside, they just do not realize that the standard of living of their middle class is more akin to that of just below the poverty line in America.
They do not understand the American expressions, “redneck” or “white trash” the same way Americans do. When they say “cowboy” they traditionally use it like we would uses “jack-leg” as in jack-leg plumber or jack-leg electrician. They use it in the sense that they hired a cowboy plumber instead of a certified plumber and got questionable results. They don’t understand that an American cowboy is a hero in the sense of a man assuming responsibility for himself.
Because they still have a class system in their society, they use redneck, white trash, religious right and cowboy as pejorative terms. We don’t. They have not done their homework about our usage and about our culture.
The Guardian, The Independent and the Times generally all make these cultural mistakes. Surprising, The Sun, sometimes gets it right. Maybe this is because The Sun has Page 3 with tits and appeals to working class blokes. A lot of our cultural values comes from hardworking blokes.
When I read Freedland or others of his ilk, I am mostly amused at the ignorance of his basic assumptions, regardless of the position he might take on any particular subject.
Yep, he’s another snot-nosed socialist, but who cares? He would miss the mark every time even if he liked Palin and McCain. He doesn’t understand our culture.
Sep 11, 2008 - 4:14 am 44. RWE:The best response to this trash is the one I would have given at the MTV Music Awards after that British “comic” made the same appeal as Freedland and called Pres Bush “an ignorant cowboy.”
It comes from a classic film, one that has even more meaning for us today than “Casablanca” did in 1943, and a film, like “Casablanca” we have all seen about 400 times. The fact that it is a proud American’s response to an arrogant European’s derision makes it all the more appropriate:
“Yippoiykae, Mother F**ker!”
The simularity of the character’s name to the the current Republican presidental candidate is coincidental but nonetheless delicious.
Sep 11, 2008 - 4:33 am 45. cedarford:Rob – OK, but if you read Freedland’s work over time you realize that he doesn’t really have America’s best interests at heart. He’s one of those pushing the meme that America was too powerful, and the EU had to be a counterweight…
No, if you read him you see a completely arrogant Jewish Transnationalist from Oxford Elites – completely down on what he considers an inferior cultural and intellectual civilization that has it’s only hope of being salvaged by Obamessiah. It is telling that he asserts that America has no choice but to redeem it’s evil racist ways because not only do British Elites demand it so, but that Russians demand it too. And all of Africa and the Muslim world, he proclaims in his multiculti venom.
The guy is also a proud author of a book on how great it is to be a Jew of such great heritage, and get to reshape nations through superior skill and wit over the locals..Felt compelled to add this bit of Christian-bashing to his piece:
The result is that (Palin is) a politician who conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan calls a “Christianist” – seeking to politicise Christianity the way Islamists politicise Islam – could soon be a heartbeat away from the presidency. Remember, this is a woman who once addressed a church congregation, saying of her work as governor – transport, policing and education – “really all of that stuff doesn’t do any good if the people of Alaska’s heart isn’t right with God”….
For America to make a decision as grave as this one – while the planet boils and with the US fighting two wars – on the trivial basis that a hockey mom is likable and seems down to earth, would be to convey a lack of seriousness, a fleeing from reality, that does indeed suggest a nation in, to quote Weisberg, “historical decline”.
I get more and more sympathetic to the historical fact that most countries eventually run the Jews out when their meddling and arrogance grows intolerable…and for the historical truth that civilization after civilization has found it necessary to renew the tree of liberty by drenching it in the blood of previously unaccountable elites. Nobilities wiped out to renew nations, putting the Mandarian class up on stakes in Civil Wars, sending the French aristocrats along in tumbrels, Latin and Russian oligarchs fleeing the firing squads for nations that welcome them and their loot.
If Americans choose McCain, they will be turning their back on the rest of the world, choosing to show us four more years of the Bush-Cheney finger. And I predict a deeply unpleasant shift.
Until now, anti-Americanism has been exaggerated and much misunderstood: outside a leftist hardcore, it has mostly been anti-Bushism, opposition to this specific administration. But if McCain wins in November, that might well change. Suddenly Europeans and others will conclude that their dispute is with not only one ruling clique, but Americans themselves.
Yeah, Freedland…and tell me again why we owe anything to your sort of elite Jewish Transnationalist and snide Oxford classism? Other than to declare we will act like Obama and seek to negotiate and reason with any of 100 nations and a 100 groups that would see a days butchery of Freedlands as a good days work if any actually starts in on your coterie. Nossir, no more evil white man’s intervention..we can talk to your posible future butcherers until the last Freedland is gone. And say that if we failed to peacefully stop it, at least we were sincere, were willing to discuss things, and scruptuously follows all EU and International law in the process….
Sep 11, 2008 - 4:36 am 46. Steve Skubinna:“If Obama were to win by a landslide I wouldn’t know anyone who liked him either.”
That is not the point. I suspect you, like myself, would not rend your garments and pour ashes upon your head if Obama were elected. You, like myself, would not pen bitter screeds asking how a majority (or plurality) of voters could have been so naive or credulous or stupid. You, like myself, would not spend the wilderness years endlessly carping about how this nation had let you down and deserves every evil that can befall it. You, like myself, would not actively root for America’s enemies and openly wish for national disaster in order to lay it at Obama’s door.
In short, you, like myself, would just go on with life and do what you do every day. No hysterical yet empty threats to leave the country, no hostile conversations begun under the bland assumption that any random stranger agrees with you and is as furious as you.
Sep 11, 2008 - 4:41 am 47. armchairpunter:Why would those of us who moved here from other countries (or descended from those who did)–in other words, nearly the entire voting populace–particularly care about what those who did not think about our election? I suspect these are the same folks who told us and our ancestors that we/they were crazy to embark for the new world. Or else, they are the same folks who would join us here in a heart beat if they could.
Sep 11, 2008 - 5:00 am 48. Joe Buzz:So…a progressive English writer now speaks for the non U.S. world. Who the hell died and made him king to level threats of harsh verdicts? Hey little buddy your island realm is safe, Barry and Nan are already saving the planet.
Sep 11, 2008 - 5:53 am 49. NYGOPer:Armchairpuncher is correct. Americans are derived from the stock that left Europe and elsewhere. Our forefathers had the strength and courage to risk thier lives and cross perilous oceans for a new world. They also had a religous faith in the Almighty that gave them hope in the furture and hope in thier fellow travellers that still filters down today. We see this in American optimism; the trust in our neighbors, and the faith in our institutions that were safeguarded by the sacrifices of those who came before us.
Our forefathers were children of the Enlightenment who learned from the mistakes of Europe and founded a great land. Those who stayed behind did not or could not correct those mistakes. Europeans of today were not blessed with such a heritage. God Have Mercy on them! I know that America will answer the call again and agin to save our cousins overseas because we come from a different stock!
Sep 11, 2008 - 5:57 am 50. RWE:Armchairpunter:
I am convinced that our attitudes are influenced greatly by the fact that we are a “race” of people who got disgusted with the way things were elsewhere and left. The Europeans do not seem to understand that, apparently assuming that we were trying to clone them and missed rather badly.
On today, the 7th anniversary of 9/11/01, we need to realize that the Left, especially that of Europe, wants the same thing that Osama Bin Laden wants: for us to be less dynamic, less powerful, less an agent of change, less an example, less of a competitor, less proud, less successful, – in short, less American. It is not a difference in basic desires, but rather one of degree.
Sep 11, 2008 - 5:59 am 51. slimslowslider:i for one am amazed c4 is not an obama fan. they share the same hates and the likes (the germans are very pro obama so why isn’t c4? its probably with whom he has his true loyalties).
Sep 11, 2008 - 6:06 am 52. 3Case:I dont think he could live in a country that has a black prez. is my best guess.
Never Forget.
Sep 11, 2008 - 6:12 am 53. Storm-Rider:I have not forgotten.
“I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” Thomas Jefferson
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5435311044755464205&hl=en
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j2BUYMULxI&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Finfidelsarecool%2Ecom%2F
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj-GkDJpr2Y&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fmypetjawa%2Emu%2Enu%2F
Sep 11, 2008 - 6:24 am 54. LarryD:Anti-Americanism goes back centuries. Americans are the heirs of people who got out from under their native elites and made good. Proving that the elites were part of the problem. The elites can never forgive us for that.
And they still morn for the times when their countries were the Great Powers of the world.
The American Left is pretty much either a clone of the European elites or wanta-be’s.
Sep 11, 2008 - 6:44 am 55. Ben Franklen:Freedland has a tin ear if he thinks a bunch of Germans gathering together in hero worshipping throngs will appeal to an American voter. Has it only taken a generation for Britain to forget the consequences of such a thing? What is it with Europeans and their cults of personality? Why are they so eager to turn over wider and wider swaths of their lives to the first charlatan who comes along?
Also, if you waste your time actually reading the piece, you will find that it contains the whole litany of canards about Palin that have already been debunked in the US. Don’t they even have access to the internet in the UK?
And my final question is, why does an uninformed, inarticulate and intellectually challenged guy like Freedland get paid to write such rubbish when there are literally thousands of bloggers doing a better job for free?
Sep 11, 2008 - 7:53 am 56. Wolf Pangloss:We don’t want Obama. The EU can have him for their president if they love him that much.
Sep 11, 2008 - 8:37 am 57. Eggplant:Ben Franklen asked:
“And my final question is, why does an uninformed, inarticulate and intellectually challenged guy like Freedland get paid to write such rubbish when there are literally thousands of bloggers doing a better job for free?”
Which is why the MSM hyenas are slowly going broke.
We need to undo decades of Gramscian damage due to the Cold War. The following needs to be done:
1) Break the leftist strangle hold of the MSM.
Sep 11, 2008 - 8:37 am 58. Roderick Reilly:2) Don’t watch moonbat movies and television shows (drive the moonbats out of the entertainment media).
3) Force radical leftists out of academia or at least designate and isolate them.
Why do I have this feeling that there are lots of Europeans who don’t particularly care who we elect?
And what’s with Obama debasing himself in Berlin with his butt-kissing apologies for American “trangressions?” Since when is it the task of someone wanting the President of the U.S. to play “Miss Congeniality” to the world? Oh, and Drama Queen on top of that. That “vast” crowd by the way was more like 75,000, and not the oft-quoted 200,000. Many of those in that crowd came for the brats and beer. Hey, Obama, we have brats & beer right here! You could’ve done your giant speech in Milwaukee for crissake!
The distant cousins of those Europeans who thronged to see the exotic American came to America generations ago because they didn’t want to be Europeans anymore. We don’t wish to be reabsorbed into Europe’s fossilized, dying fold, thank you very much. We did bring along reminders of what was once “home,” though, like brats & beer, and, perhaps “Arugula.”
Sep 11, 2008 - 8:43 am 59. slade:Because they still have a class system in their society, they use redneck, white trash, religious right and cowboy as pejorative terms. We don’t. They have not done their homework about our usage and about our culture.
This is just too rich. Zbiegnew Brzezinski was interviewed on Joe Scarborough this morning and made the exact opposite point – that the American people are dangerously ignorant of the rest of the world and that the priority goal of the next administration is to educate this country.
My view?
Which part of “Yippoiykae, Mother F**ker!” don’t you understand?
Sep 11, 2008 - 8:54 am 60. Clioman:So Freedland is unhappy? This is the sort of noise a lobster makes as the water temperature begins to rise in his kettle. Demographics rule. The Euros are stewing in their own juice.
Sep 11, 2008 - 8:55 am 61. slade:Anti-Americanism goes back centuries. Americans are the heirs of people who got out from under their native elites and made good. Proving that the elites were part of the problem. The elites can never forgive us for that.
In his book, The Radicalism of the American Revolution, Gordon Wood makes exactly this point – the Founding Fathers disagreed about the extent and nature of a government dominated by an educated group versus some more egalitarian configuration. In the end, the dispute was resolved organically by the immigrants themselves who expanded west and “did their own thing”. Much of our government structure evolved upwards from that.
Sep 11, 2008 - 9:03 am 62. voyeur:Here in London nobody gives a shit about the Guardian left – there are too many economic problems to deal with. Its a suprise to me that a lightweight, mediocre lefty like Freedland gets any attention at all in the US blogsphere.
Sep 11, 2008 - 9:11 am 63. Storm-Rider:The American Revolution is not over – there is struggle ahead, because American Marxist/Socialists would re-make us into another version of the elitist Europe that our forefathers abandoned – with the Marxist/Socialists at the top of the governing class of course. American Marxist/Socialists wish to reverse the American Revolution.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
“We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Abraham Lincoln
Sep 11, 2008 - 9:11 am 64. 3Case:Elegantly said, LarryD. Thank you.
Sep 11, 2008 - 9:16 am 65. Alexis:I find it interesting how Jonathan Freedland uses the word “poodle” for any British friend of America, but especially Tony Blair. In Britain, the word “poodle” has come to mean for Americans (and particularly rural Americans) what the word “******lover” meant for black people during Jim Crow. In this context, the word “HOPE” gains a sinister edge, for the word “HOPE” is tagged to Barack Obama as if he were a latter day Jim Jeffries.
Sep 11, 2008 - 9:24 am 66. 3Case:Freedland has a tin ear if he thinks a bunch of Germans gathering together in hero worshipping throngs will appeal to an American voter. Has it only taken a generation for Britain to forget the consequences of such a thing? What is it with Europeans and their cults of personality? Why are they so eager to turn over wider and wider swaths of their lives to the first charlatan who comes along?
The Euros remain Monarchists, no matter what they claim; having substituted Marxist State Socialism for the King.
Sep 11, 2008 - 12:41 pm 67. Al_Batross:“For it will have been the American people, not the politicians, who will have passed up a once-in-a-generation chance for a fresh start – a fresh start the world is yearning for” – Freedland
Bin Laden said this at the time of the last election, did he not ?
“Its a suprise to me that a lightweight, mediocre lefty like Freedland gets any attention at all in the US blogsphere” – voyeur
I agree, this is a pathetic bit of scribble, and a reminder, if one were needed, for me never to waste my time reading the Guardian.
Sep 11, 2008 - 1:11 pm 68. NahnCee:You know, though, when a majority of Arabs in the Middle East have bought into the lie that 9/11 was an inside US/Israel job, doesn’t that mean that writers like Freedland are doing a better job than, for example, writers like Wretchard and his wonderful analyses?
Sep 11, 2008 - 3:57 pm 69. norbert:“When George W. Bush began to have misgivings about the strategy his commanders were pursuing in Iraq, he forced himself to look upon Medusa, as it were, and re-think his position. The result was the Surge. One of the weaknesses of Barack Obama… He could not look upon Medusa and was the worse for it.”
Richard, that gaze into medusa quote is the greatest line I’ve read about hard decisions ever… simple and awesome.
Great comments by everyone else…
Sep 11, 2008 - 4:13 pm 70. hoss:“Suddenly Europeans and others will conclude that their dispute is with not only one ruling clique, but Americans themselves.”
And why, exactly, should I give a shit?
Sep 11, 2008 - 6:12 pm 71. slade:Some of this rhetorical red meat is so off the wall – I should say from left field but that is painfully blatant – that I can’t help but wonder how much of it is temperature-taking.
Sep 11, 2008 - 6:38 pm 72. PSGInfinity:Nahncee,
Or maybe this knucklehead is capturing a derangement borne of desperation at a world come irretrievably wrong. A world that is sinking into a barbaric abyss of MarxIslamic hectoring and savagery. A beautiful world slipping away, without the courage or the energy to save it.
Meanwhile, those horrible misfits across the pond continue to stumblebum their way over, under, around, or through every land mine placed in their way.
Feel the burn…
Sep 11, 2008 - 7:43 pm 73. PSGInfinity:I can’t help but wonder if America’s political divide springs from her immigration divide. Perhaps the redder areas were settled by America’s earlier, braver immigrants with the latter-day arrivals settling in the big cities. The latter ones would’ve been more timid, more herdlike, less likely to rock the boat…
…Kinda like Democrats.
Sep 11, 2008 - 7:48 pm 74. Lifeofthemind:Charlie Gibson’s attempt to sandbag Pallin, an attempt that failed IMHO, gives useful intelligence on the prevailing concerns of the Democratic elites and their allies. The AP hit piece on the interview, with the offensive title “Pallin tries to defend qualifications in interview,” http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080912/ap_on_el_pr/palin_interview_7, largely read as if it was written before the event it purports to chronicle, can be considered a list of talking points for party operatives to use in coming days. There are two big items that stand out. First is the effort to demonize allowing Georgia and the Ukraine into NATO by casting Pallin as reckless to the point of being deranged for being willing to warn Russia, as every President has since Harry Truman, that invading a NATO ally means war. Second was an effort to get Pallin to speak preemptively about a possible Israeli strike on Iran when the candidate prudently stuck to US policy as recently stated by the Secretary of State. Gibson repeated this three times in an effort to make Ms Pallin look foolish.
Sep 11, 2008 - 8:42 pm 75. Derek:Bloggingheads.tv had a segment with Gary Hart. He concluded with the comment that this election is a test of the American people.
No wonder they keep losing.
Derek
Sep 11, 2008 - 8:50 pm 76. Lifeofthemind:Since I am rather sure that I have not posted this here I will try to get it submitted.
Charlie Gibson’s attempt to sandbag Pallin, an attempt that failed IMHO, gives useful intelligence on the prevailing concerns of the Democratic elites and their allies. The AP hit piece on the interview, with the offensive title “Pallin tries to defend qualifications in interview,” http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080912/ap_on_el_pr/palin_interview_7, largely read as if it was written before the event it purports to chronicle, can be considered a list of talking points for party operatives to use in coming days.
There are two big items that stand out. First is the effort to demonize allowing Georgia and the Ukraine into NATO by casting Pallin as reckless to the point of being deranged for being willing to warn Russia, as every President has since Harry Truman, that invading a NATO ally means war. Second was an effort to get Pallin to speak preemptively about a possible Israeli strike on Iran when the candidate prudently stuck to US policy as recently stated by the Secretary of State. Gibson repeated this three times in an effort to make Ms Pallin look foolish.
Sep 11, 2008 - 11:50 pm 77. Lifeofthemind:Charlie Gibson’s attempt to sandbag Pallin, an attempt that failed IMHO, gives useful intelligence on the prevailing concerns of the Democratic elites and their allies. The AP hit piece on the interview, with the offensive title “Pallin tries to defend qualifications in interview,” http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080912/ap_on_el_pr/palin_interview_7, largely read as if it was written before the event it purports to chronicle, can be considered a list of talking points for party operatives to use in coming days.
Sep 11, 2008 - 11:52 pm 78. Lifeofthemind:Let me see if breaking this into parts will get it to post. Wordpress is being difficult.
Charlie Gibson’s attempt to sandbag Pallin, an attempt that failed IMHO, gives useful intelligence on the prevailing concerns of the Democratic elites and their allies. The AP hit piece on the interview, with the offensive title “Pallin tries to defend qualifications in interview,” http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080912/ap_on_el_pr/palin_interview_7, largely read as if it was written before the event it purports to chronicle, can be considered a list of talking points for party operatives to use in coming days.
Sep 11, 2008 - 11:53 pm 79. OldSalt:re: “Bush….I really find it all rather odd.” – James
That’s a fairly honest assessment, i.e. the world wide hostility to Bush mirrors the US Democrat-left’s, and the world actually has few issues with Bush other than, perhaps, an “interventionalist” foreign policy (bear with me, I’m an American trying my best at “Euro-speak” here).
I’ll posit a possibility: Any American politician who is openly Christian, and evangelical or fundamentalist (Bush is not quite either), will realize a hostile assessment among the European elite. In post-Judeo-Christian Europe, I still think that moral issues trump environmentalism (Kyoto, global-warming-ism, etc.).
The point is arguable, but to be a Christian is to (a) accept absolute values and truth, (b) espouse a single morality system over others, and to be (c) dogmatic about one’s religious positions. The leftist-elite considers such positions to be “judgmental”, and that such proponents are likely to be ignorant, domineering, and “just plain wrong”. Christian’s are directed by Holy Scriptures to “love God and love one another”, and to allow God to be the judge. Leftists are taught to educate the ignorant, and win against what they would consider the ignoramuses they hate.
The divide between the two world views could not be greater. The issue is arguable, of course. But regardless, I’d maintain that Bush (and now Palin) is hated not for what he’s done, but who he is.
Sep 12, 2008 - 12:14 am 80. ridgerunner:PGSInfinity,
“I can’t help but wonder if America’s political divide springs from her immigration divide. Perhaps the redder areas were settled by America’s earlier, braver immigrants with the latter-day arrivals settling in the big cities. The latter ones would’ve been more timid, more herdlike, less likely to rock the boat…”
Most of the red states, and red portions of blue states, were settled by Scots-Irish (=Ulstermen). See Fischer’s “Albion’s Seed” for differences in poltical and cultural outlooks between the immigrants from North Britain (Ulster, lowland Scotland, Northumberland) and those who were Puritans or Quakers from southern England.
Sep 12, 2008 - 9:20 am 81. Anti-Elitist:American troops believe in Barack Obama; that is why they contribute 6 times as much money to him than Senator McCain. It is strange that white males aged 40-55 somehow identify with a man who doesn’t know how many houses he owns. Be assured that he wouldn’t give you the time of day.
Sep 12, 2008 - 11:18 am 82. Ken:http://www.veteranjournal.com/soldiers-contribute-to-obama/
Wow. Out of hundreds of thousands of troops, 134 contributed to Obama.
Sep 12, 2008 - 7:57 pm 83. JFSanders:Anti-Elitist? Isn’t that the same thing as a self-loathing socialist?
And that piece of propaganda you posted has been debunked oh so long ago. Please contact your handler to have your play book updated.
Jim
Sep 13, 2008 - 5:30 am 84. buddy larsen:@old salt 12:14 –rings true. in fact, that’s really the only explanation –
Sep 13, 2008 - 11:52 am 85. SpeakEasy:More people should read Goldberg’s book “Liberal Fascism” but based on the title, many will pre-judge and miss an excellent read. I am not finished but related to this topic is how wrong so many Europeans have been so often when backing a “leader.” How Mussolini, Stalin, Hitler et. al. were so popular for so long until the other shoes dropped.
When reading reports of other countries disliking a particular US policy or candidate, I have always asked (myself mostly) WHO CARES? IMO there is a distinct link between those feelings of other nations and classic class warfare. Bitterness over not having what others have even though you have nothing to earn it for yourself.
Sep 13, 2008 - 1:39 pm 86. SpeakEasy:Anti-Elitist,
I have to call Shenanigans on that one. As an active duty military member who talks to other troops every day I can assure you you are wrong. Male, female, black, white, hispanic, asian; A LARGE, and I mean LARGE majority where I work support McCain/ Palin. I can say that many of us, me included, were emboldened by the Palin pick.
But that is just my unscientific man (or woman) on the street perspective.
Sep 13, 2008 - 1:46 pm 87. SpeakEasy:NahnCee:
You know, though, when a majority of Arabs in the Middle East have bought into the lie that 9/11 was an inside US/Israel job, doesn’t that mean that writers like Freedland are doing a better job than, for example, writers like Wretchard and his wonderful analyses?
Wow, imagine how a “majority of Arabs in the Middle East” could embrace a scenario that would allow them to ignore the destructive way their religion has been hijacked to perpetuate terror throughout the world! Do you even read what you write?
Sep 13, 2008 - 3:00 pm 88. buddy larsen:There WAS for a fact a shenanigan on that little story. Some sort of deliberate skew in the polling. I’d look it up but (yawn) that sort of crap is hardly worth a lifted eyebrow anymore. Our friends the “loyal opposition” have finally managed to educate & desensitize every last soul in the country.
Sep 13, 2008 - 5:03 pm 89. patuxent:American exceptionalism is what drives the Europeans in general and the European Left in particular right up a wall and nothing is more emblematic of American exceptionalism than the image of the cowboy. hence Bush the cowboy is the ultimate epithet worse even than bastard spawn of Satan it symbolizes what Freedland cannot even put into words. It grates a limbic nerve.
American democracy and the American revolution and republic were informed by the religious wars of the 17th century. Ours was a fundamentally conservative revolution. Europes revolutionary experience was rooted in the French Revolution and class warfare. The result is there are no true conservative parties in Europe only more or less socialist ones. One result of this is we Americans and Europeans cannot even agree on what the terms liberal and conservative mean. For them liberal economic policies refers to free market capitalism while for us that is the essence of conservatism.
It seems to me the Obama campaign has made two strategic mistakes. First they forgot Bush would not be on the ticket in the general election and second they forgot they were running for president of the USA and not Secretary General of the UN. Probably that echo chamber at work.
Sep 14, 2008 - 8:52 pm 90. Greg:Kiss my ass, Freedland!
Sep 17, 2008 - 11:57 am