Quote of the day
posted at 10:25 pm on October 9, 2009 by Allahpundit
“Among these crosscurrents, my thesis is simple: The question of whether America is in decline cannot be answered yes or no. There is no yes or no. Both answers are wrong, because the assumption that somehow there exists some predetermined inevitable trajectory, the result of uncontrollable external forces, is wrong. Nothing is inevitable. Nothing is written. For America today, decline is not a condition. Decline is a choice. Two decades into the unipolar world that came about with the fall of the Soviet Union, America is in the position of deciding whether to abdicate or retain its dominance. Decline–or continued ascendancy–is in our hands.”
Blowback
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Ojesus has infected our nation with a malady much worse than ED–it is called premature capitulation.
hillbillyjim on October 10, 2009 at 12:33 AM
Kini:
Krauthammer voted for McCain…at least I seem to remember an article entitled McCain gets my vote or words to that effect…why would you think otherwise?
He certainly has not been a fan of Obama’s.
Terrye on October 10, 2009 at 12:35 AM
Just read the whole CK piece…dang good. I needed to read something like that to give a little hope.
With the right leaders, and we could use a little help in that department, our kids can have a better more prosperous life.
WashJeff on October 10, 2009 at 12:35 AM
PC is due to PE
Premature Emasculation
Mojave Mark on October 10, 2009 at 12:35 AM
balantblue:
Very true. The US has survived worse than this pompous bag of wind.
Terrye on October 10, 2009 at 12:36 AM
Krauthammer & Hume…..the dynamic duo
The Ugly American on October 10, 2009 at 12:37 AM
Not really. We have never had a person with such a lack of American sensibilities, and such a dislike for our nation and culture, as The Precedent. He is a precedent. And the lunatic Washington junta on the Hill are his useful idiots.
progressoverpeace on October 10, 2009 at 12:38 AM
Nighty night, Canopfor!
Laura in Maryland on October 10, 2009 at 12:39 AM
After generations of moral relativism taught in our schools, victimology accepted and promoted, self satisfaction preached as the highest good, and ideology promoted above the truth, the logical outcome is self loathing. Why shouldn’t the liberals hate America just as the Arabs hate the Jews? It is the logical outcome of their philosophy and training. It is the path they have chosen.
Thankfully, it doesn’t matter in the end. What matters most is what we do about it. We can always find fault or cast blame, but in the end, what did we do with the time we were given? There is a truth and we must preach it. For “whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness”.
ClanDerson on October 10, 2009 at 12:44 AM
Terrye
if we can free ourselves from the clutches of Lobster Backs
we can turn this ship around.
i dont care what anyone says
blatantblue on October 10, 2009 at 12:48 AM
balantblue:
I agree.
Terrye on October 10, 2009 at 12:51 AM
He’s not a fan of anyone on the conservative side either. I think he pulled the switch for Obama and just publicly says he voted for McVain.
Why would I think otherwise? His Palin comments support my accusation.
Kini on October 10, 2009 at 12:51 AM
progressoverpeace:
The United States is about more than one president. I know Barack Obama is the least American of American presidents, but that might actually work against him too.
Terrye on October 10, 2009 at 12:52 AM
Kini:
Krauthammer was a well known conservative long before anyone heard of Palin. I like Palin, I supported her and I still do, but that does not mean that every single conservative out there is going to feel the same way.
Terrye on October 10, 2009 at 12:55 AM
Premature predictions of American decline:
The permanent war economy: American capitalism in decline (1974)
The present danger: “Do we have the will to reverse the decline of American Power (1980)
The decline and fall of the American republic (1971)
Secrets of the temple: how the Federal Reserve runs the country (1989)
The decline of the American economy (1988)
The shadows of power: the Council on Foreign Relations and the American decline (1988)
American power: the rise and decline of U.S. globalism, 1918-1988 (1989)
America in decline: an analysis of the developments toward war (1984)
The decline and fall of the U.S. dollar (1969)
Business week (1984)
Fixed-income investment opportunities: the decline of the U.S . dollar; still more to go? (1986)
Upward dreams, downward mobility (1993)
The decline and fall of the American empire (1992)
The decline of the American empire (1993)
The decline and fall of the American Empire (1971)
The decline of the American middle class (1993)
Trading Places: How We Allowed Japan to Take the Lead
andy85719 on October 10, 2009 at 12:56 AM
And as far as supporting your accusation, I have heard a lot of Palin supporters say they hated McCain, I could just as easily say they lied about voting for him.
Terrye on October 10, 2009 at 12:57 AM
I think it will work against him more and more.
Besides, this apology and we’re-not-so-hot routine has long since gotten old.
It’s like, some people may have expected a word or two in that direction (though I don’t know why), but few expected it to be his entire mantra forever, and it’s beginning to grate on people’s nerves.
Alana on October 10, 2009 at 12:57 AM
I voted for them both, McCain and Palin and I pretty damn sure that McCain would not have gotten a Nobel Peace Prize anytime soon.
Terrye on October 10, 2009 at 12:58 AM
that last was to Terrye at 12:52.
Alana on October 10, 2009 at 12:58 AM
I posted this over at the other amazing Krauthammer essay, but I’ll repeat it here, just because:
****************
A few years ago, I decorated my office in Thomas Sowell essays.
Last year, the theme was Clarence Thomas S.C. Opinions.
Maybe this year it’s time for a Krauthammer makeover.
****************
notropis on October 10, 2009 at 1:02 AM
FIFY
This is a Precedent beyond any means in this country’s history.
We have a Socialist in power that wants to destroy and rewrite the Constitution into a Marxist dictatorship.
Kini on October 10, 2009 at 1:02 AM
Amen. Republicans would do well to campaign on repealing all the socialist garbage that Obama/Pelosi/Ried are strapping us with.
Christian Conservative on October 10, 2009 at 1:04 AM
Yes. We have to stop it, reverse the damage, and somehow make sure it cannot happen again.
Daggett on October 10, 2009 at 1:06 AM
Alana:
It might work against him. After awhile it is all so ridiculous. And if he can’t denuke the world or whatever, how will it look?
They say it is all about him not being Bush..and yet exactly what did Bush do, other than fail to kiss their behinds?
Terrye on October 10, 2009 at 1:06 AM
Any conservative or republican, would never get a Nobel raspberry from 5 guys from Norway drinking too much vodka.
Palin supporters probably voted for Obama also.
McCain set his candidacy up for failure, and he got what he wanted.
Now we have to live with what just crapped on our dinner plate.
Kini on October 10, 2009 at 1:07 AM
I mean come on..we know why they hated Bush..he was too American for them.
Clinton passed the Iraqi Liberation Act and somehow they overlooked that. For years they screwed around that crazy bastard Saddam, the UN was involved in all that for years before there was a George W. Bush in the White House…he just did it his way. That is what they did not like.
It is all so petty and silly.
Terrye on October 10, 2009 at 1:09 AM
Kini:
Palin supporters voted for Obama too? Well gosh, then who were the 57 million or so people who voted for McCain Palin?
Terrye on October 10, 2009 at 1:10 AM
Me, voting early and often
Kini on October 10, 2009 at 1:13 AM
It’s not about The Precedent not being Bush. It’s about him being black. This is just another affirmative action honorific, as valuable as all the past ones. But this one comes from “the world”. The politics are actually secondary in this. Someone as far to the left, who did the same, who wasn’t black, wouldn’t even have been in consideration. Of course, such a person never would have made it to the White House, either, and he would have been laughed out long ago, given all the idiotic mistakes this imbecile makes …
progressoverpeace on October 10, 2009 at 1:13 AM
Your point is well taken.
Even now, our GOP leader Michael Steele is ignored by our own.
Sarah Palin is ignored by our own….
Or is it? Maybe it’s the left telling us who we should vote for? McCain demonstrated that he really didn’t want the presidency, that was clearly apparent by his campaign.
RINO’s worked against us….
Kini on October 10, 2009 at 1:24 AM
Thanx for the link
Was witty and funny, yet tragic, specially on a day like today which started with a punch to America’s collective gut
macncheez on October 10, 2009 at 1:24 AM
Kini:
Whining about RINOs is useless. Find someone and get behind them. If Republicans could do that for a change, they might well beat Obama.
Terrye on October 10, 2009 at 1:33 AM
progressoverpeace:
Well, they gave Kofi Annan a Nobel prize in spite of the terrible job he did at the UN…but the thing that really burns my ass is that in spite of the lectures about racism we always get from these idiots, you will never see a black man leading a major European country. No siree. The big bad Americans might vote for someone who was not white, but not those guys. Hypocrites and snobs.
Terrye on October 10, 2009 at 1:36 AM
The Nobel fiasco, in my opinion, is all about trying to put Obama in a position in which he feels obligated to draw down quickly in Iraq, and especially, in Afghanistan. It seems that this was his instinctive intent regardless, but surely he will be intelligent enough, hubris and all, to see through this transparent ploy.
These high-flying pseudo-elites on the Nobel committee would like nothing more than to see America permanently humbled, and put on equal terms with the socialist democracies of the EU. Maybe this will have the reverse effect than that which they were wanting, if The One will ponder this through an objective lens.
Yeah, right.
hillbillyjim on October 10, 2009 at 1:37 AM
We, as a country may survive, but we will be forever changed by any laws or bills passed. Also, what of our allies that we are abandoning? Iran’s freedom fighters got only a glance backward from our president. We hae left Israel dangling in the wind, and I am sure there will be an armed conflict soon. We are not drilling for oil, which will keep us dependent on foreign oil for years to come. Our soldiers are demoralized, and we are on the verge of losing a war that we were wining…We are in such debt that we may never get out from under–yes it is not hard to be pessimistic.
Yes, I believe that a single administration will break America…
lovingmyUSA on October 10, 2009 at 2:47 AM
It’s a shame that parts of this thread have degenerated into the usual Palin vs. Whomever. This speech/article is brilliant and deserves to be studied, if not precisely replicated in policy.
alflauren on October 10, 2009 at 2:51 AM
I wish CK would run for office. Rather, I wish someone like CK could get elected in America.
RightOFLeft on October 10, 2009 at 3:16 AM
One of the many good points worth savoring in CK’s whole speech is that he describes our superpower status as a “benign hegemon”, unique in the world’s history. In our international conflicts, we have not sought to colonize nor claim territories for ourselves. The world’s balance of power faces serious threats should we cede that role, given the dangerous ambitions of malignant nations.
onlineanalyst on October 10, 2009 at 4:38 AM
Dr.Krauthhammer stated clearly what I would state had I his expertise and intelligence. I do not have these things, but I can certainly say that Krauthammer is spot on one hundred percent correct in his evaluation of Obama and this country.
History has NEVER seen a country like this one and that is how it is. A unique dynamic created America: a synthesis of many and varied factors beginning with the establishment of European colonies in the New World. And these are not limited to the colonies established by Britain, but also those of the Spanish and the French.
America is unique in having broken away from Britain by revolution. Unique yet again in that a group of outstanding men came together at just the right moment to declare independence, fight a winning war, and write a most astounding Constitution.
We fought Britain again in the War of 1812.
Waves of immigration through the years further enhanced this country, excepting to some extent the recent illegal immigration from the border with Mexico. I dare say some illegal immigration can be handled by America, but not tolerated at the rate we see today.Reality.This immigration is a bit of an anomaly as previous waves of immigrants had to travel across the oceans to reach the US. Not so with Mexico.
In any event, time and history and culture have flowed in a unique manner to make this country what it is. A mostly happy happenstance and an anomaly in itself is America.
Tough people making an effort to build a tough nation over time. It happened and it is unique. Of course Latino-Americans are part of the tough folk who built this nation.
But again, the US must find some way to slow illegal immigration if not stop it. But stopping it is impossible and so slowing it should do the trick.
What happens to U.S. is up to U.S.
And we are most fortunate in this fact.
But what Obama is trying to do to U.S. is not acceptable to this nation.
More and more of U.S. are realizing this and this is the true teachable moment Krauthammer has gone to extraordinary lengths to provide U.S. He speaks to U.S. of the fact of American exceptionalism.
Many foreign nations will balk at this, but let them yammer.
They yammer for they also know the truth and they don`t like it.
Krauthhammer`s effort is nothing short of heroic as far as I am concerned. Both mentally and physically.
I salute you, Dr. Krauthammer!
Sherman1864 on October 10, 2009 at 4:49 AM
Get real.
I love CK but I can’t see much value in this speech.
It is really just a polished version as Beck’s bombast but it seems to lack Beck’s realism.
Nothing is written in stone about our future? True. But there is a trajectory and it ain’t pretty.
The federal debt. The burgeoning Hispanic population and all their future Demoratic votes. The brilliant electorate who installed President Bush twice then The One. A news media that is lying so much that the whole population doesn’t believe much of the information they get. And a ruling elite that believes we can pull off:
Greening the world by sticking corks in every feasible energy source.
That tax breaks to US corps resulted in jobs going overseas but the EPA, OSHA, unions and all the rest had nothing to do with it.
Flooding half baked pork projects with money and medicareizing healthcare are our biggest priorities.
Huge investments in education (and many other Human Services) will result in long term rewards. Have they looked at how PhD’s live in India? But we may have tech breakthoughs. We invented VCRs here. And where were they made?
Objectified, focused and reasonable goals are out the window and the energy, drive and cold, measured planning of capitalism is being replaced with the nuttiest system of bailouts and handouts in world history. Compare the US worker and his expectations and effort with the Chinese. It is a cold, hard world and The One is about the worst leader we can have for it.
And I wretch every time I hear a remark like “..well, we put a man on the moon…” and then justifying the idea that we can put the poor in McMansions with PhD’s for all their kids and green cars in their driveways.
IlikedAUH2O on October 10, 2009 at 4:50 AM
Correct. Thats the essence of it.
the_nile on October 10, 2009 at 5:42 AM
likedAUH20:
I am sorry, but guys like Beck get their material from Krauthammer, not the other way around.
Terrye on October 10, 2009 at 6:37 AM
OH I was not insinuating that CK took anything from Beck.
BTW, we put a man on the moon, why don’t we just pay everyone to go to medical school and cure every disease known to man. Doctors make a lot of money and I have a chart right here and parents want their kids to be doctors…there should be a right to be a darn MD if that is what you want..Hey, I can be Precedent!
IlikedAUH2O on October 10, 2009 at 6:53 AM
Pretty good review of the media who cried wolf, except the story goes like this -the wolf really shows up (Marxist destruction) and nobody pays attention (today’s media)
Things are a lot more serious today because of the basic moral decline of the American citizen, and the propagandized hatred of America and its traditional values.
Nothing -lasts forever -except eternity!
Don L on October 10, 2009 at 7:16 AM
Atta go Doc. No more Georgetown luncheons.
Randy
williars on October 10, 2009 at 7:42 AM
Decline may be a choice today, but for how much longer? How much longer before the choices made today set up irreversible conditions that foretell our decline? 2010? 2012?
petefrt on October 10, 2009 at 7:46 AM
I’m so confident in Our Dear Leader that I just ordered
some of these:
Emergency Food Kit
275 Servings in weatherproof bucket for 84.99 at Costco
(Shelf life of 10-20 years)
petefrt on October 10, 2009 at 7:55 AM
OT but here they come again
US-mortgage-backer-may-need-bailout
http://finance.yahoo.com/loans/article/107936/US-mortgage-backer-may-need-bailout?mod=loans-home
CWforFreedom on October 10, 2009 at 8:01 AM
“The government has stepped into the breach, facilitating loans with down payments as low as 3.5 percent and offering other incentives to stabilize the market. Real estate agents in some hard-hit areas say every single one of their clients is using the F.H.A.”
Bubble maker..
the_nile on October 10, 2009 at 8:16 AM
I saw that in a email COSTCO sent me and I thought wow. For them to even stock something like that was kind of chilling.
scalleywag on October 10, 2009 at 8:23 AM
But Terrye, the GOP has to put out a candidate who is perfect in every way, or we’ll sit home and
bite oureselves in the ass“teach that GOP a lesson”!clnurnberg on October 10, 2009 at 8:28 AM
Yep, you never know when some tea bagger is going to terrorize the place nowadays.
petefrt on October 10, 2009 at 8:28 AM
Sounds like the words of a Founding Father. Wisdom has no boundaries, knowledge is power and patriotism underrated.
ProudPalinFan on October 10, 2009 at 8:50 AM
Obama: “Hmmm…abdication or dominance? Abdication or dominance?” *votes “present”*
/celebrity uber alles
bluelightbrigade on October 10, 2009 at 9:01 AM
Dead.On.
bluelightbrigade on October 10, 2009 at 9:03 AM
I reject the notion that certain ethnicities are predetirmined to vote a certain way.
I think the vast majority of Americans, especially “minorities,” are conservatives to some degree or another. They just don’t know what the conservative philosophy is. And they don’t realize the massive damage the Progressive ideology has done to their cultures (example: the destruction of the black family, the War on Poverty, etc.) and to their countries of origin. This message needs to get out to these communities.
visions on October 10, 2009 at 9:10 AM
You folks who worship acorn head need to order you a fake Nobel Peace medal and a joker poster of acorn head and hang it on your wall. Even you clowns have a mentor you look up to.
bluegrass on October 10, 2009 at 9:32 AM
Good remark and so true.
I’ve relaxed a little from yesterday’s announcement…thanks for helping me calm down.
yoda on October 10, 2009 at 9:34 AM
When the era of maximum dominance began 20 years ago–when to general surprise a unipolar world emerged rather than a post-Cold War multipolar one–there was hesitation about accepting the mantle. And it wasn’t just among liberals. In the fall of 1990, Jeane Kirkpatrick, -heroine in the struggle to defeat the Soviet Union, argued that, after a half-century of exertion fighting fascism, Nazism, and communism, “it is time to give up the dubious benefits of superpower status,” time to give up the “unusual burdens” of the past and “return to ‘normal’ times.” No more balancing power in Europe or in Asia. We should aspire instead to be “a normal country in a normal time.”
I really like CK. He’s the perfect combination of erudition and humility. C.S. Lewis wrote that true humility dispenses with all modesty, and I couldn’t agree more.
That said, I think the italicized text argues for the same extrapolation used to explain the inevitablity of Europe’s decline. We are a very tired Nation. One that is now deeply attracted to an existence that only a social democracy can provide. Conservatives have few, if any, answers to the societal problems or ills that face us. A return of rights to the States is easy in theory, very difficult in practice. If politics is the art of what is possible, as Thaddeus McCotter noted in his talks with Peter Robinson, then the Constituion is held captive by that too.
George Washington implored the Country to always keep the Constitution in mind, but his writing was meant to stoke the affections of the heart. Without these affections decline may not be inevitable in the the way science defines inevitablility, but science, whatever its greatness, can’t teach us what Washington was trying to. He is our Dad, after all.
We (especially) are not a people who wonder while standing still. Americans wonder and act simultaneously. We’re not philosophers -in the words of Franz Rosenzweig- who stand stunned by wonder, and who then remove ourselves from the stream of life to ‘hook it.’
I think we’re a Nation least adapatble to social democracy. It’ll be a cage for so many of us. We’re not suited for enervation; it’s like gangrene getting into the body politic. We’re suited for immense sin, immense repentence, immense love and immense life.
That cultural evolution is not the result of human reason consciously building institutions, but a process in which culture and reason developed concurrently is, perhaps, beginning to be more widely understood. It is probably no more justified to claim that thinking man has created culture than that culture created his reason. [The Three Sources of Human Values - F. Hayek]
Eirenic Rebel on October 10, 2009 at 10:00 AM
Who would you rather be running the country, Charles or Barack? No contest. Sad, that.
marklmail on October 10, 2009 at 10:09 AM
I’m reading Mark Levin’s “Liberty and Tyranny”… A sobering tome…
Khun Joe on October 10, 2009 at 10:19 AM
It’s because we look to practical application of the idea of Recovery that it “degenerates” to that level.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l8ts15kIrA
Romney is “clean”, the “last grownup”, “trusted on economics” (what a difference 3 months make) but Palin has to do “her homework”, has to “stop speaking in platitudes and cliches” (from a Romneyite?) Regardless of whether Palin holds federal office, SOMEBODY is going to have to sell the country on expansion and development and she’s bubbly about more oil wells in her backyard. If Krauthammer is serious about reversing Democrat policies he’s going to have to force himself to see some good in Sarah Palin.
Republicans who govern like Democrats are no better than Democrats and choosing them is choosing the decline.
Chris_Balsz on October 10, 2009 at 10:23 AM
Thank you Mr. Krauthammer for your wonderful speech. As I read your words, I found them not only informative but very insightful. The idea of America is changing so rapidly, and I wonder “what happened?” The America I grew up knowing and loving is changing before my very eyes. To make a long story short, without the Americans and the grace of God, my father would never have escaped Poland, my mother would never have escaped East Germany, and my family would not be Americans today. America is a very special place, the American people are an exceptional people, and not because we are better than others, it is because we are freer than others. God Bless you Mr. Krauthammer. I hope others will read your words and decide to keep America strong for herself and for those who need her.
InquiringMind on October 10, 2009 at 10:23 AM
Ironically, Chris, Krauthammer reaches the same conclusions that Palin makes re expanding and using our own energy resources to lift us out of debt, protect our security interests, and restore the value of our dollar, esp. in trade.
He reached similar Palinite conclusions re the danger of and inertia caused by expanded social program programs in health care. Krauthammer recognizes that rationing is the inevitable result and that innovation ceases when the government determines how the health-care dollar is used.
Palin and Krauthammer are actually on the same page, but each expresses those same points in different language. He and she would benefit from some face-to-face discussions of depth. They carry the banner of restoring this nation to its former role on the world stage.
Barry the Foolish believes that there is a limited “pie,” and it must be redistributed equally. He presumes that America has ascended by crushing others, rather than seeing that our achievements have lifted countless peoples with our innovation and experiences.
onlineanalyst on October 10, 2009 at 11:44 AM
InquiringMind: My experience is similar to yours except it was my grandparents, not my parents, who came to America to pursue their dreams and ambitions in liberty.
That was another point Krauthammer made about the foolishness of European models (and communist/socialist models) of society. They stagnate because they limit their citizens to a fixed class and douse any hope of a better life.
onlineanalyst on October 10, 2009 at 11:49 AM
They stagnate because stagnation is the core principle, and most important foundation, of all collectivist ideologies. It is the theory of the static environment that leads people to even think that centralized planning and control is possible. These people are STATICISTS. Their ideas are crushed under the weight of growth and dynamism in society, as no central planning can ever react to the multi-dimensional and powerful forces of growth. Stratification of resources of all types is inevitable (just from the minor fact of population growth, for example) and all collectivist, centrally controlled systems are unable to deal with this, except to hold growth back as much as possible. In the more complicated areas of developing whole industries to serve new functions, central planning can never accomplish anything of value (as was seen in the USSR, which had more than enough brain-power, but could not even manage to get its bountiful harvests to market without half of it rotting along the way). This is the key that staticist thinkers just don’t take into account, as when you hear leftists claim that drug discoveries are all done at the universities and that the drug industry is functionally worthless. These simple-minded, staticist leftists don’t understand the difference between discovery and industry exploiting that discovery.
In the end, centralized systems stagnate because they must. People promote centralized systems because they are staticists, who have simple-minded views of unchanging worlds (in which is it obviously an easy task to just ‘manage’ existing industries from a single, central authority). And those are the “nice” people on the left. The control freaks are a whole other story … much, much worse, though all of the centralizers are death to freedom and innovation.
Sorry, onlineanalyst. I just feel the need to give this spiel every so often.
progressoverpeace on October 10, 2009 at 1:51 PM
That is not what I said. I am not talking about governing like Democrats…I am saying that if you have the choice between a Republican who votes the way you want him to 80% of the time and a Democrat who votes the way you want him to 5% of the time, you are better off with the 80%..Why? Because by the time you find someone that you agree with 100% of the time the Democrats will have turned us into Norway.
I assume that I will not agree with anyone all the time. I just do not think that is realistic.
Terrye on October 10, 2009 at 2:01 PM
Paul Rahe: Obama’s agenda
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October 9, 2009 Posted by Scott at 12:05 PM
Hillsdale College Professor Paul Rahe writes:
Charles Krauthammer has an article in the forthcoming Weekly Standard that, to their great credit, the editors of that journal have now made available online here. Although it only says what should be obvious, Krauthammer’s article is nonetheless a piece that should be read in its entirety by every American.
Krauthammer’s point is simple and unassailable. There is, he argues, an intimate connection between the foreign policy being pursued by the Obama administration and its domestic policy. The work undertaken in the domestic sphere by what I have called “Obama’s wrecking crew” will, he points out, put a stop to the pattern of dynamic economic growth that made it possible for the United States to defeat Japan, contribute decisively to the defeat of Nazi Germany, contain communism, and ultimately defeat and prepare the way for the dismemberment of the Soviet Union.
It will produce economic stagnation of the sort that the Europeans have suffered from for decades, and it will eventuate in a collapse of the American dollar.
This, as Krauthammer shows, Obama and his minions understand, and this they want — the elimination of the foundations for American hegemony and the crippling of this country. They regard the role that we have thus far played in the world as shameful; they are intent on dismembering the alliances that gave us our heft in the world; and they are not only appeasing our sworn enemies but openly, publicly embracing them and their agenda.
This explains the praise showered on President Obama by Vladimir Putin, Hugo Chavez, and Fidel Castro. This is the meaning of our attempt to install a dictator in the Honduras on the model of Castro and Chavez; it is the meaning of our recent betrayal of Poland — on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of that country.
It explains why Obama initially responded to the open theft of an election in Iran by professing his confidence in the Iranian government and why the State Department recently cut off funds for the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center in New Haven, Connecticut, which was collecting information on the imprisonment, torture, and murder of those in Iran who protested against the theft of that election (for the details see this post).
It explains the deliberate insults offered Gordon Brown of Great Britain and Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, which I catalogued here and here. And, of course, this explains the speeches given abroad again and again by President Obama, apologizing for American behavior in the past. and signaling a radical shift in American policy.
It is for this change of posture that our President has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. And if you think that the United States is the principal source of evil in the world, you should vigorously applaud. My bet is that in his acceptance speech Obama will confirm Charles Krauthammer’s worst fears and my own.
Paul A. Rahe holds the Charles O. Lee and Louise K. Lee Chair in the Western Heritage at Hillsdale College. He is the author, most recently, of the companion studies Montesquieu and the Logic of Liberty: War, Religion, Commerce, Climate, Terrain, Technology, Uneasiness of Mind, the Spirit of Political Vigilance, and the Foundations of the Modern Republic, and Soft Despotism, Democracy’s Drift: Montesquieu, Rousseau, Tocqueville, and the Modern Prospect.
reshas1 on October 10, 2009 at 2:02 PM
If you get Krauthammers point then build a party that aggressively seeks to govern accordingly. Just seeking to beat Obama isn’t enough. That means bouncing guys who will vote against you AT LEAST 20%, if they don’t “grow in office” and become pragmatically 50/50.
Chris_Balsz on October 10, 2009 at 3:54 PM
The GOP better run some people in the primaries because I’m voting the incumbent out R or D. Out with them all and we GOPer’s will hear many lies on our side of the election this coming election. Beware politicians, there are many recordings of your blabbering and that will be the evidence that will slip you out of office.
mixplix on October 10, 2009 at 4:00 PM
If the attitude from the Not-So-Nobel Committee is sincere in it’s rewarding peacekeeping efforts and warm fuzzies for the world, Why hasn’t the United Nations been awarded, instead of Obama? It is responsible for the “peaceful” assembly for some of the worlds most vicious terrorists.
But, then again, the Prize has been named after a scientist whom invented an explosive that has caused the destruction of innumerable lives and property damage-Which Obama is in process of accomplishing; Perhaps the Nobel Committee is clairvoyant!
Cybergeezer on October 10, 2009 at 4:58 PM
What we need is a Jihad for the Constitution. That would get some press!
Cybergeezer on October 10, 2009 at 5:03 PM
Thanks for that link. I just listened to the whole speech, and am glad I did. It was a refreshing dose of optimism to counter Obambi pulling the plug and letting America swirl down the drain. Krauthhammer’s message is simple: put the plug back, and turn on the faucet.
Obambi has turned the idea of the Pax Americana on its head: no American leadership, and ultimately no peace, either. But as Krauthhammer says, all we have to do is stop what we’re doing.
So let’s do it!
MrLynn on October 10, 2009 at 8:11 PM
AGENDA FOR 2010:
1. Elect Republicans in sufficient numbers to return both House and Senate to control by responsible adults.
AGENDA FOR 2011:
1. Pass omnibus bill which repeals every foolish bill passed in 2009 and 2010.
2. Start over.
3. Start continuing ad campaign to remind voters that “Republicans DO…Democrats Pretend”.
landlines on October 11, 2009 at 12:47 AM
I wish I could express myself the way C Krauthammer does. I admire him so much. That man is a genius.
elclynn on October 11, 2009 at 10:32 AM
landlines
it’s all about balancing power. Not letting it get into the hands of one particular party. It’s the system that works best for all of us.
elclynn on October 11, 2009 at 10:35 AM
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