Althouse: "What is odd is to have a president so convinced of his own magnificence

July 9, 2010

"What is odd is to have a president so convinced of his own magnificence — yet not of his own country's."

The Contempt of the Krauthammer:

388 comments:

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Unknown said...: bring on the Obama haters ...; 7/9/10, 10:30 AM
Known Unknown said...: Don't mess with The Hammer.; 7/9/10, 10:32 AM
Unknown said...: this is an underhanded way of calling him uppity.; 7/9/10, 10:33 AM
lucid said...: Krauhammer has it exactly right, and he says it with telling force.

Obama thinks he is better than all of us and, as with all narcissists, his need to feel superior evokes in him a contempt for everyone else.

This contempt constantly comes through in his vicious partisanship, in his moralizing attitudes, in his way of talking down to everyone, and in his attitude of disdain, so feebly concealed, for his own country.; 7/9/10, 10:35 AM
Steve M. Galbraith said...: Barack Obama's a man of the left who, like most on the left, views America always as a work-in-progress, as an ideal, as a product that is in development.

The greatness of America, to them, is in what the country can be and not necessarily what it has done. It's a different form of patriotism, one that I disagree with but certainly one that I don't think constitutes America hatred or anti-Americanism.

As to Obama's personal arrogance: which President in our lifetime wasn't arrogant? The path to the job and the job itself requires supreme confidence; otherwise, you'll be broken overnight.; 7/9/10, 10:37 AM
AllenS said...: "We are the ones we've been waiting for."

Nothing uppity about that.; 7/9/10, 10:37 AM
Phil 314 said...: this is an underhanded way of calling him uppity.

C'mon Danielle I know you REALLY wanted to use the "R" word. Be bold!!; 7/9/10, 10:38 AM
Joe said...: this is an underhanded way of calling him uppity.

Is EVERYTHING about race with you guyz?

Obama is an arrogant Leftist. He and his are what's good about America, thank G*d, that America has him and his Administration....without them, Social Justice could NEVER come about.; 7/9/10, 10:40 AM
Scott said...: Well, you write "G*d" so I assume you're an Orthodox Jew. I bet you're just feeling the Obama administration love for Israel these days, ain't you. Social Justice and all that.; 7/9/10, 10:42 AM
lucid said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/9/10, 10:42 AM
lucid said...: @danielle--

Please don't be such a racist. Let Obama stand on his own two feet and don't always judge him in terms of his skin color.

Remember, once upon a time people voted for him and as Obama himself said, he was also black before he was elected.

What we think about him now is based on bitter experience.

You apparently can't see anything except his skin. But try to keep your racism to yourself.; 7/9/10, 10:43 AM
Anonymous said...: Awww... how cute! Poor Charlie Krauthammer is jealous of the spotlight being on Obama.

Like any well-behaved Establishment Republican, he thinks that the attention should be focused on him and on his friends.; 7/9/10, 10:44 AM
Anonymous said...: While some might try to project their own feelings of this president as uppity onto others, I don't think of him that way at all. Rather I just call him what he is, a un-American socialist,plain and simple for all to see... if they will look, that is.; 7/9/10, 10:45 AM
Joe said...: Well, you write "G*d" so I assume you're an Orthodox Jew. I bet you're just feeling the Obama administration love for Israel these days, ain't you. Social Justice and all that.

You might want to re-think that...IF I'm reading you correctly, and on the Internet without inflection, it's sometimes tough, you seem to be assuming:
1) I'm a Jew; and
2) I support Obama.

NEITHER is necessarily true....I was trying to make the case from OBAMA's view point. You know "thank G*D I'm here, now good things can occur."

But I might be mis-reading, YOU.; 7/9/10, 10:45 AM
Phil 314 said...: This is the money quote:

"I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism."

Is this a call for equality, humility or mediocrity?; 7/9/10, 10:46 AM
Scott said...: Krauthammer is such an anomaly at the Post. I hope nobody there pushes his wheelchair down a flight of stairs.; 7/9/10, 10:46 AM
Shanna said...: this is an underhanded way of calling him uppity.

Way to be a jackass, danielle. That's not the point and you know it.

I love Krauthammer. That's a great line. Obama talks down to people like they are children. It's not about him being "uppity" it's about him being smug and superior.; 7/9/10, 10:49 AM
Tyrone Slothrop said...: Humility is the greatest virtue. No matter who you are, you need the help of others to achieve anything. No matter who you are, there is someone who is more able than you at some thing. Obama has no humility. None.

On the brighter side, people are noticing. Holder will investigate the Oscar Grant case (but not the NBPP). 2012 will be a total repudiation of this criminal administration.; 7/9/10, 10:50 AM
Unknown said...: I agree with most of what SMGalbraith wrote, except this:

"The greatness of America, to them, is in what the country can be and not necessarily what it has done."

I dont want to speak for 'the Left', if such a signular perspective even exists -- but personally, I think America's greatness is in what it is, how far it has come, and how much better we can get (our capacity to improve this country ... an example of the latter is gay marriage. that should be legal. and how we will be the first to find alternative energy sources. an example of how far we've come would be civil rights, women's suffarage; and building the best economy in the world.). I dont think that people more to the left than Althouse commenters think of America as a product.; 7/9/10, 10:51 AM
Scott said...: It is the habit of most Orthodox and many Conservative Jews to write "G*d" or "G-d" instead of "God" out of traditional respect for the Creator who presides over us all -- one so holy that we should not even utter his name.

"Neither is necessarily true..."

Stated like a true weasel. Tell us the facts, or be branded a pixel waster.; 7/9/10, 10:51 AM
Alex said...: this is an underhanded way of calling him uppity.

Racist asshole.; 7/9/10, 10:53 AM
Alex said...: Awww... how cute! Poor Charlie Krauthammer is jealous of the spotlight being on Obama.

As usual you miss the plot.; 7/9/10, 10:54 AM
Steve M. Galbraith said...: How does Obama's views of America and his own superior intelligence differ greatly than the general liberal/left view of American and of themselves?

The modern left has always had a love-hate relationship with America seeming to enjoy criticizing the nation's failures more than celebrating her successes.

And that their superior understanding of the world makes them better suited than those reactionary conservatives and others still beholden to their Bibles and guns and out-dated ideas like patriotism and nationalism.

Obama is one of many.

(And yes the right has its own intellectual problems).; 7/9/10, 10:54 AM
garage mahal said...: Kraphammer hasn't exactly been Nostradamus on his predictions...; 7/9/10, 10:55 AM
Big Mike said...: I dont [sic] want to speak for 'the Left', if such a signular [sic] perspective even exists ...

And yet so many of your comments on Althouse threads suggest that you regard 'The Right' as a monolithic entity. Interesting.; 7/9/10, 10:56 AM
Alex said...: BTW - good catch on Obama's part realizing that maybe Israel is suspicious of somebody with the middle name 'Hussein'. Genius.; 7/9/10, 10:56 AM
Steve M. Galbraith said...: I dont want to speak for 'the Left', if such a signular perspective even exists

Just to respond to this: We all post using broad brush strokes. The left, the conservatives, the Republicans, the Muslims, the Catholics.

Obviously, we don't mean every member of those larger groups. But we're talking about, generally, the majority viewpoint within those groups.; 7/9/10, 10:57 AM
jayne_cobb said...: Well we are talking about a man so incredible that his middle name apparently has affected our foreign relations.; 7/9/10, 10:58 AM
DADvocate said...: krauthammer makes the narcissism but doesn't realize that Obama is a greater narcissist that the previous narcissistic presidents. The ultimate narcissist believes he is more beautiful, greater than, more gifted than everything, including his own country. He has to prove it by demonstrating his wonderfulness by pointing out the many flaws of his country.; 7/9/10, 10:59 AM
Big Mike said...: Obama has spent his entire life, from prep school on, being told that he's smart. Perhaps the thing that the Obama administration misses the most is someone who can tell him that he may be smart, but he sure screwed up on whatever he's screwed up lately.

Every successful administration has somebody like this who can see the president anytime he wants. Obama had better get somebody like this really, really fast. Or by 2012 all the left-leaning historians in the United States won't be able to rank his presidency much above Buchanan's.; 7/9/10, 11:00 AM
Joe said...: "Neither is necessarily true..."

Stated like a true weasel. Tell us the facts, or be branded a pixel waster.

Whatever, dood/doodette...

but personally, I think America's greatness is in what it is, how far it has come, and how much better we can get (our capacity to improve this country ... an example of the latter is gay marriage. that should be legal.

And that’s the problem with the Left today….America is good, in so far, as it can be BETTER…not that America WAS good and IS good. America was sexist, racist, homophobic, bigoted and imperialistic….like Britain, France the Mayans, the Inca’s, the Aztecs, the Cheyenne, or the Chinese WEREN’T? This nation is special because it’s founded on the European Enlightenment, not blood and soil…ANYONE can be an American. This nation has done more good than any other nation in history….even when NOT at war. By being rich it made others rich, by being free it made others free…

But Leftists cannot have this….before you speak well of America there must be the obligatory 2 minute hate of America….and there is less love of her TODAY than love of her TOMORROW, after the likes of Barak and Danielle have made America “better.” So yes, I’d put Danielle AND Obama in the same boat, they have a high regard for themselves and less regard for their neighbors….their neighbors can be made “better people” by the efforts of folks like Danielle and Obama…not that their neighbors are ALREADY good people.; 7/9/10, 11:00 AM
Scott said...: American English is so fragrant.

You can't call someone's attire "gay" without referencing their sexuality.

You can't call someone "uppity" if they're African-American because it implies that the speaker is racist. But it's okay to call white people that.

"Crippled" is now a slur. "Handicapped" is becoming one too. In Britain, people with cerebral palsy are called "spastic." Just try calling someone that in the United States!

If I were allowed to hate anything, I would hate people who scold about politically correct language. If I encounter them, I want to female-dog slap them.; 7/9/10, 11:01 AM
Tyrone Slothrop said...: garage mafuckwadhal
garage madicknosehal
garage macuntlipshal
garage maasswipehal
garage mabuttlickhal

Hey, this is fun!; 7/9/10, 11:02 AM
former law student said...: I agree with Krauthammer -- the Federal government is simply not spending enough money. In fact, Bolden made the point that systematic defunding of NASA, before Obama, had left it incapable of developing the technology base needed to even think about a trip to Mars.

But let's break with the past, let's budget the trillions necessary to get to Mars right now. Just as we're the world's policeman, we must be the world's space explorer.

But why did the NASA administrator mention the importance of outreach to the Muslim world to an interviewer from al-Jazeera? Sadly, we may never know. I suspect a motivation similar to Reagan's, praising the space shuttle's "strong Canadian arm."

Krauthammer probably didn't realize, or had forgotten, that the rot of international cooperation in space goes back to GHW Bush:

But a new Bush Administration national space policy directive in
November 1989 noted that although leadership would continue to be a fundamental objective, “Leadership in an increasingly competitive international
environment does not require United States preeminence in all areas and disciplines of space enterprise. It does require United States
preeminence in the key areas of space activity critical to achieving our national security, scientific, technical, economic, and foreign policy
goals.” Nevertheless, in 1992, Vice President Quayle’s Space Advisory Board focused on the importance of international collaboration as a way
“to influence the direction of future space undertakings around the world.”; 7/9/10, 11:02 AM
Scott said...: Obama is a narcissist because his parents were weak or absent. He grew up in a world where love was something to be negotiated with strangers.; 7/9/10, 11:03 AM
YoungHegelian said...: SMG,

Excellent post on the nature of the left's view of patriotism and America. While I think it is spot on, I think it's much too kind.

I would be more sympathetic to left-wing critiques of the present and historical America if I thought that they basically weren't pulling their critiques out of their own offended consciences, which is a nice way of saying thin air. I mean, so America has done some nasty things, but haven't all states throughout history?

On what Archimedean point does the modern lefty stand to criticize? Marxism? Post-Marxist leftism? Religious belief?

All of the stands above are in and of themselves philosophically problematic, and come weighted with their own history of evil deeds done in their name.

When I see lefties take responsibility for the evils done in the name of Marxism, just like they want the right to take responsibility for the history of american racism, then I'll take them seriously as moral actors, but not before.; 7/9/10, 11:04 AM
former law student said...: He has to prove it by demonstrating his wonderfulness by pointing out the many flaws of his country.

You know, when I was a little boy, my father did not have to point out that his penis was much bigger than mine. But let's get Obama one of these foam hands to wear on his next overseas trip:

http://www.eereblogs.energy.gov/geothermaltechnologies/image.axd?picture=2009%2F11%2Ffoam+finger.jpg; 7/9/10, 11:08 AM
Anonymous said...: It makes sense that, when dealing with other countries, the President make clear that he is in charge, and that his country does not view itself as the sole superpower and maker of the rules of the world.

It doesn't matter whether this is really true or not; but it is important that this is the official message, because that leads to an American advantage in dealing with these countries.

It seemed that most of the world hated Bush because of his cowboy-cockiness. Obama is just as cocky, maybe more, but he displays the exact opposite to the world. The reasons are clearly strategic.; 7/9/10, 11:10 AM
former law student said...: When I see lefties take responsibility for the evils done in the name of Marxism

When I see righties take responsibility for the evils done in the name of capitalism: BP oil spill, deaths in the unsafe coal mine, child labor at Agriprocessors, the Triangle Shirtwaist fire -- you do feel responsible for all of these, correct?; 7/9/10, 11:11 AM
Alex said...: Obama should let Israel know who is in charge here. I'm sick and tired of those Jews leading us around by the nose.; 7/9/10, 11:12 AM
AC245 said...: Krauthammer probably didn't realize, or had forgotten, that the rot of international cooperation in space goes back to GHW Bush:

FLS quotes a Clinton administration document from 1995 blaming Bush (who had by then been out of office for years) as the reason why Obama, 15 years later, has changed NASA into a Muslim outreach and esteem-building agency.

That's almost as bad as checkmate-bitch-danielle throwing out the race card to start off the thread.; 7/9/10, 11:13 AM
Skyler said...: fls, you're missing the forest for the trees. Or, actually, you're missing the forest and the trees because your eyes are crossed.

Krauthammer need have no opinion of NASA budgeting to be correct about the childishness of wanting NASA to focus on making muslims feel good about algebra being invented by a man who was once muslim but has been dead for centuries.

It's not the role of government to make muslims feel good.

How is it supposed to make some muslim child feel good to realize that the only muslims that have had an impact on science and math have been dead for centuries? "No need to learn math, little muslim boy. You're no better than the last 600 years of your culture."; 7/9/10, 11:15 AM
former law student said...: AC can't distinguish between the Executive and Legislative branches of government, and misses the point -- American exceptionalism, or the lack thereof -- as usual:

Recommended Citation: U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, International
Partnerships in Large Science Projects, OTA-BP-ETI-150 (Washington, DC: U.S.
Government Printing Office, July 1995).; 7/9/10, 11:16 AM
YoungHegelian said...: FLS,

Do I feel responsibility for the evils of capitalism? No, because while capitalism has its failures and tragedies, I don't think it's inherently evil.

Nor, do I feel that your examples as to the evils of capitalism are anything but trivial compared to marxist regimes that murdered ~100 million of their own citizens, while the intelligensia of the first world sang their praises.; 7/9/10, 11:17 AM
Alex said...: Declare AIPAC a terrorist organization.; 7/9/10, 11:18 AM
former law student said...: Krauthammer need have no opinion of NASA budgeting to be correct about the childishness of wanting NASA to focus on making muslims feel good about algebra being invented by a man who was once muslim but has been dead for centuries.

Right, those are the prime missions for NASA, not just some mild courteous opening remarks to his Arab interviewer.

I guess Bolden should have just come out and said, "Yeah, I'm on a goodwill, PR tour. Ya got me," and pointed his gun finger at himself, said "Bang!" and blew imaginary smoke away from his forefinger.; 7/9/10, 11:20 AM
Brian said...: FLS:
The push for international cooperation in space travel was a way to spread some of the cost of developing it, and a way to get Russian scientists and engineers (who, with their expertise in developing ICBMs and what not) directed into peaceful endeavors like the space station, rather than selling their expertise out to countries that might like to become nuclear, or ballistic, powers (esp. after the fall of the Soviet Union).

Nothing in that quote of yours from Bush the elder's space policy says anywhere that the U.S can't lead in space. It says it doesn't require the U.S. to be pre-eminent in all areas of space expertise to meet the "national security, scientific, technical, economic, and foreign policy
goals.”

Big difference. For example, if the POTUS says:

"It is not necessary for the U.S. to bear all the burden of defending new Democracies in eastern Europe. We have allies in NATO who want to see these new Democracies flourish..."

that's different from:

"the U.S. cannot defend new Democracies in Europe without help from our allies in NATO..."

Which version do you think Russia would like to hear?; 7/9/10, 11:21 AM
Joe said...: Hhmmmmmmmmmmmmmm’mmmmmm let’s see, under the constrained Market-Socialism/Keynesian Capitalism World Income has TREBLED in the last 40 years, whilst pollution fell. Marxism, killed 100-million plus, impoverished, immiserated, and destroyed the environment…and I’m supposed to apologize for CAPITALISM…man that’s Chutzpah Hey mayhap I am Jewish….; 7/9/10, 11:23 AM
former law student said...: Marxism -- from each according to his ability, to each according to his need -- works on the family level, so it can't be inherently evil. (Mom never said to my baby brother, "And just how do you intend to pay for this breast milk, young man.") I got free clothes, a roof over my head, and three squares a day.; 7/9/10, 11:24 AM
Skyler said...: "Right, those are the prime missions for NASA, not just some mild courteous opening remarks to his Arab interviewer. "

Seems to me that he said they were the primary areas of focus required by the president.; 7/9/10, 11:25 AM
Original Mike said...: "Right, those are the prime missions for NASA, not just some mild courteous opening remarks to his Arab interviewer."

I sure as well hope that's the explanation. We'll see.; 7/9/10, 11:26 AM
Skyler said...: fls, the government is not my mommy. Anyone trying to take on the role of being my mother is inherently evil, excepting my mother of course, and even then only before I became of age of majority.; 7/9/10, 11:28 AM
Joe said...: works on the family level, so it can't be inherently evil.

As Marxism was NOT a family life style, but instead a SOCIETAL level one, yes FLS it CAN be inherently evil.

Marx never used your momma's boobs to justify the "Dictatorship of the Proletariate."

Nice try however....

In fact, Locke made the point that governnance WAS NOT the equivalent of family life and therefore could not be compared...at leat my side, IF it is my side, doesn't try that poorly thought out idea.; 7/9/10, 11:28 AM
Unknown said...: "bama talks down to people like they are children. It's not about him being "uppity" it's about him being smug and superior."

Obama is professorial. If you view that as being superior, then that's your choice.; 7/9/10, 11:28 AM
Joe said...: Let’s trot out the “They meant well excuse” next, why don’t we? Marx/Engels/Lenin/Stalin/Mao/Pol Pot MEANT well, so the disasters that they wrought are a little bit more OK, right? Of course that doesn’t work for Hitler or Mussolini…thye menat well too, but as they lost the war, they are EVILLLLLLL, whereas the Left’s Heroes, get better Press.; 7/9/10, 11:31 AM
Unknown said...: "America was sexist, racist, homophobic, bigoted and imperialistic….like Britain, France the Mayans, the Inca’s, the Aztecs, the Cheyenne, or the Chinese WEREN’T?"

since they did these awful things too doesnt make it OK that America did these awful things too ?

i guess you didnt learn that lesson growing up.; 7/9/10, 11:31 AM
Joe said...: Obama is professorial.

Well I don’t need Professor Obama lecturing me, then….how about that? I didn’t hire Professor Obama, I hired POTUS Obama….; 7/9/10, 11:32 AM
AC245 said...: FLS -

Can you please point out which page in that document you're citing holds the basis for your blaming Bush (I) for Obama's repurposing of NASA?

I've run a search but the words "Islam" and "Muslim" do not appear anywhere in that document, so I'm a bit confused how you're laying Obama's actions at Bush's feet.

Surely you aren't stupid enough to confuse Bush's policy of having NASA cooperate with other spacefaring nations on international space projects with Obama's policy of using NASA as a Muslim outreach program, are you?; 7/9/10, 11:35 AM
Original Mike said...: My family didn't have Siberian gulags.; 7/9/10, 11:35 AM
Right is right! said...: An "Obama" is what you get for worshipping at the alter of Affirmative Action. Without AA he would be an assistant manager at a Wal*Mart.

How many decades will it take to repair the damage that this radical Marxist Muslim is inflicting on our once great country?

What an "uppity niggaz" indeed.(Given that your typical rap star gets to say it on "urban radio" hour after hour, then so can I. That is equality. Deal with it.); 7/9/10, 11:35 AM
Moose said...: Man o man.

So Danielle - all those pictures of Obama doing an excellent Mussolini imitation - those are just bad lighting?; 7/9/10, 11:36 AM
former law student said...: The evils of capitalism are small and accidental, while the evils of Marxism are huge and intrinsic. Got it. But still, wouldn't that make it all the easier for right-wingers to accept responsibility for the evils of capitalism?

And Locke said that Marxism would not scale up? Marx had yet to be born. What about the simple communism of an Israeli kibbutz? What is the size limit of communism where the evil predominates?; 7/9/10, 11:36 AM
YoungHegelian said...: FLS,

Marxism works on the family level?

WTF?

No, FLS, Marxism is in its own words, a "science". You once again trivialize the topic at hand.

Marxist of every stripe have written tomes and tomes on a marxist approach to whatever, and it doesn't all boil down to "each according to his needs."

Do you think that Daddy Stalin murdered all those people because they just got in the way of infant formula deliveries?; 7/9/10, 11:37 AM
Joe said...: since they did these awful things too doesnt make it OK that America did these awful things too ?

i guess you didnt learn that lesson growing up.

Really my point was that all the things America’s Guilty of, everyone else is too, and in spades…but Leftists don’t ever mention that. America held slaves….wow, so did Rome, so did the Inca’s, so did the Aztec’s, so did the Turks, but somehow they aren’t the focus of evilllllll like the US is.

And funny how no one mentions the 400,000 folks who died ENDING slavery, please note the slaves did NOT free themselves…but no, no mention of that fact, only that America HAD slaves, geeeeeeee just like 99% of the world. In fact, it was Christian Puritans, that began the Abolitionist Movement that ended slavery, WORLDWIDE. Same with sexism or homophobia…but only the US and more generally the West have to take any heat for it.; 7/9/10, 11:37 AM
Joe said...: What about the simple communism of an Israeli kibbutz?

Which doesn't work...either economically or socially. It was the Utopian Dream of European Jews, that like the many communes that dotted the US, have also not worked.

Marxism, Collectivism, doesn't work...Marx simply makes it MANDATORY that we attempt and fail, and starve and die. In Eretz Ysreal, hey I might be a Jew, it's only politics that provides the subsidies...When Mapai or Mapam are in charge it's easier to milk the rest of Israel for the money to make the kibbutzim seem to work.; 7/9/10, 11:41 AM
TosaGuy said...: "Obama is professorial."

Then most of my professors were much better at than he is. A true scholar doesn't talk down to his students and he also learns from them.

I still find it amazing how people still find Obama's part-time instructor gig as somehow making him a world-class intellect. It's not like he has done what such intellects do....like invest thousands of hours to research and write groundbreaking scholarship....he hasn't even penned an article in some obscure academic journal.; 7/9/10, 11:45 AM
former law student said...: Marxist of every stripe have written tomes and tomes on a marxist approach to whatever, and it doesn't all boil down to "each according to his needs."

Do you think that Daddy Stalin murdered all those people because they just got in the way of infant formula deliveries?

So which work by Marx contained directions for mass slaughter? Das Kapital?; 7/9/10, 11:47 AM
Anonymous said...: Joe said:

America held slaves….wow, so did Rome...

Rome didn't have a race-based system of slavery like the American south did. It was based on conquest.

Additionally, a Roman slave could earn his freedom; many freedmen even went on serve in the very highest political positions, for example under Emperor Claudius.

And as Rome progressed, more and more "progressive" rules were enacted on how slaves could be treated.

Slavery in the American south was entirely racist, there was no path out of it, and the treatment of slaves was much more harsh.; 7/9/10, 11:51 AM
Joe said...: So which work by Marx contained directions for mass slaughter? Das Kapital?

Aaaaaah, the Nazi Holocaust Denier gambit, "Where did Hitler ever order the Final Solution?" Well played, sir.....

The whole Dictatorship of the Proletiate Thingeee comes to mind....

But the the fact that MARXIST-Leninism wasn't rebuked as "heresy" by other Marxists, pretty much puts it in with the Left, whether they like it or not....

Social Democrats are left with the unworkability to Social Democracy, but others are left with the unworkability AND Evil of Marxism.; 7/9/10, 11:51 AM
Opus One Media said...: Drivel; 7/9/10, 11:51 AM
former law student said...: "Where did Hitler ever order the Final Solution?"

Huh? Hitler hated Jews from the get-go. You can read about it in Mein Kampf.; 7/9/10, 11:53 AM
Scott M said...: Seen through the lens of the unbelievably racist Missouri head of the NAACP in St Louis, Obama's kissing the head of a European in that picture. Scandal.; 7/9/10, 11:53 AM
Joe said...: Additionally, a Roman slave could earn his freedom; many freedmen even went on serve in the very highest political positions, for example under Emperor Claudius.

And as Rome progressed, more and more "progressive" rules were enacted on how slaves could be treated.

Slavery in the American south was entirely racist, there was no path out of it, and the treatment of slaves was much more harsh.

So much myth so little truth….Slaves, in America could be free, hence “Freed men” and a number owned slaves themselves…..
Yes, Roman slavery was legally more fair, but practically, well read I Claudius and you begin to see that what was LAW and what was REAL were two different concepts.
Slavery in the South, BECAME racist, “indentured servant” was the time-limited equivalent of slavery and was applied to whites, a goodly number of Scots-Irish came to America under its terms. There WAS a path out and it was no more harsh than anyone else’s slavery. Sorry dood/doodette….if you can develop a scale of “cruelty” for determining slavery and then run some numbers to demonstrate that US slavery was more cruel than say Aztec slavery I’d be very interested. So, all-in-all thanks for playing but American Slavery was NOT unique in its ubiquity or it’s evil.; 7/9/10, 11:57 AM
Steve M. Galbraith said...: Marx's "dictatorship of the proletariat" - the intermediate step between capitalism and communism - is inherently evil and unjust.

As any dictatorship is.; 7/9/10, 11:59 AM
Joe said...: Huh? Hitler hated Jews from the get-go. You can read about it in Mein Kampf.

And yet, no one can find ANY documentation that “proves” Hitler knew of or ordered the Final Solution……Which is JUST the gambit, you employed, asking where Marx called for the De-Kulakization of the USSR, or the GULAG-which is a lovely Russian acronym, should anyone wonder. To your point, can you show me where, in Mein Kampf, Hitler called for the extermination of the Jews? Obviously he hated them, just like Marx hated the bourgeoisie, but you will be hard pressed to find where either called for their genocide. Yet, in both cases, that’s what happened.; 7/9/10, 12:00 PM
chickelit said...: The child learned to depise America abroad at his mother's knee. He's even said that she was his biggest influence. Electing him was like electing his mother so how can this be about race?

Why are people so surprised by this little truth?; 7/9/10, 12:02 PM
Scott M said...: Marxism -- from each according to his ability, to each according to his need -- works on the family level, so it can't be inherently evil. (Mom never said to my baby brother, "And just how do you intend to pay for this breast milk, young man.") I got free clothes, a roof over my head, and three squares a day.

Holy shit, FLS. How deep do you suppose you stepped in it there? Since you paint the family as a sovereign unit having it's own government (like a state) with no higher authority to be accountable to (like a state) please allow me to retort.

A family, has two ruling elites that have complete sovereignty over the activities, property, and day to day lives of their proles (the kids). The ruling elites are completely unanswerable to the proles and can do whatever the hell they want with the resources of the household and, in fact, are the unchallanged lords and masters of all household income and property. The children have no say whatsoever and cannot do anything about their lot in life until they are old enough to move out and support themselves.

Your analogy fails on many levels, but mostly because I do not want my adult life to be controlled by ruling elites treating me, my labors, and my property like I'm a child in the family you illustrate. This opens up your argument to one of the main problems conservatives have with communism and socialism, that being paternalistic, unaccountable ruling elite.

Sure, it might work if you can genetically engineer the ruling elite to be 100% competent and 100% benevolent, but, as you can't, I would rather fight than live under your family writ national.; 7/9/10, 12:04 PM
Right is right! said...: Will Jews forever get a pass because of "holocaust"? For the most part I have no problems with Jews like Krauthammer who are truly religiously devout and are patriotic Americans. But they are a small minority. Too many Jews know that Western Civilization is built on Christianity but are trying to tear down this foundation so that they can bring about their Marxist utopia under which they can then fully enslave us. Until we face this truth this country will continue its long sad decline.; 7/9/10, 12:04 PM
Issob Morocco said...: Former Law Student opined and queried some bloggers with this gem.

""When I see lefties take responsibility for the evils done in the name of Marxism""

"When I see righties take responsibility for the evils done in the name of capitalism: BP oil spill, deaths in the unsafe coal mine, child labor at Agriprocessors, the Triangle Shirtwaist fire -- you do feel responsible for all of these, correct?"

Wrong, evils are done by individuals, who can band together or operate on their own. So whether capitalism is evil at times or Marxism is evil at times is based on what the individuals actions, again whether in a group setting or as an lone operator did.

The inverse of your rather lame argument is the better way to judge whether the capitalist or the Marxist system is best for the individuals. So while you can equivocate the evils, let's see you find the good deeds done in these systems by individuals.

Marxism???? Hmmm....what good has come from this? Hmmm....

Capitalism?? Hmmm....Electricity, transportation, better food and food supply, increased lifespan due to medical inventions and better lifestyles, brought about due to higher productivity, higher pay and more leisure and family time driven by capitalism. You get the point if you have an open mind. My guess is you don't.

Cheers!; 7/9/10, 12:05 PM
virgil xenophon said...: Someone once said that Marxism's failure can be explained by its inability as a working philosophy to take into account the psychic dimensions of the human animal due to the fact that Marx unfortunately wrote before Freud.

Obama has no such excuse.; 7/9/10, 12:06 PM
holdfast said...: The answer appear to be about 300 people, though maybe you can go up to 500. It also helps if the collective is a voluntary association. Adult Israelis are not required to live on a Kibbutz - they are free to leave any time, whereas the inhabitants of most democratic peoples republics tend to be held in forcibly, lest they be tempted by the evils of capitalism.; 7/9/10, 12:07 PM
Anonymous said...: @El Pollo Real-

Electing him was like electing his mother...

An essential aspect of his mother was her choice of a black man from Kenya as her mate, and as the father of her child.

I think that was what she used to define herself more than anything else.; 7/9/10, 12:10 PM
Scott M said...: What is the size limit of communism where the evil predominates?

Neither communism nor direct democracy work well above the village or city level. On the other hand, capitalism works better the more players that are involved, while communism just gets worse the bigger it gets.; 7/9/10, 12:10 PM
Joe said...: I see Cedarford has a friend.....

So Tidy are the Jews Plutocrats or Socialist or BOTH, Plutocratic Socialists who aim to pollute our precious bodily fluids....

Oh not are THE Jews, but am I...there we go, because I just MIGHT be a Jew....so am I a plutocrat, a socialist, or both and do you have fluoridated water in your town?; 7/9/10, 12:11 PM
Opus One Media said...: Joe said...
"Slavery in the South, BECAME racist, “indentured servant” was the time-limited equivalent of slavery and was applied to whites, ..."

Ohmy. I was going to highlight every sentence but like Joe's post, that would be way too tedious.

so let me get this straight. slaves were kidnapped out of Africa, bound in chains like cordwood, tossed overboard if necessary to lighten the boat, brought along the slave trade route, sold and traded as property, no rights, no thought ever of freedom unless their owner decided it was ok...not allowed to own anything, read, learn to read, nothing...and that is like being an indentured servant how?

I think indentured servants differed from slaves the second the slave was abducted and the indentured servant signed his papers.

Just a thought Joe. How does that strike you? Plausible? Seems right to me.; 7/9/10, 12:11 PM
Opus One Media said...: Dead Julius said...
"An essential aspect of his mother was her choice of a black man from Kenya as her mate, and as the father of her child...."

Actually Julius, that comment more defines you than anyone else.; 7/9/10, 12:14 PM
Henry said...: Regarding Slavery:

In his draft copy of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson included a blast against the slave trade:

He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither.

This was removed by the Continental Congress as unsupportable by the southern states. It is also unsupportable by the facts. The slave trade was a domestic evil, robustly supported by New England merchant mariners as well as the south.

One of the great tragedies of U.S. history is the intellectual descent of slave-state leaders who believed slavery an evil to be gradually remedied (Washington, Jefferson) to the argument of a later generation that slavery was a positive good (Calhoun).

The U.S. was not the last Western nation to abolish slavery (Brazil was), but by 1865 it was way behind the vanguard.; 7/9/10, 12:17 PM
William said...: If you carry it out to the second decimal point, I believe Obama is less smug than Kerry or Gore. He is a representative of a political class that suffers from too much self esteem. There must be a way of getting these honor student, prom committee overachievers to tone down their high opinion of themselves. Life is a transient event and maybe those who are so relentlessly accomplished have missed the point.......Just recently, there was a poll of presidential historians who claimed that Harding was the dumbest President ever. Maybe, maybe not. But consider this: Wilson jailed Norman Thomas and Harding set him free. Harding was able to accomplish a White House quickie without causing scandal to his wife or to his country. Harding was smart enough to get elected and wise enough to know that he wasn't all that bright. He never tried to upstage America.; 7/9/10, 12:17 PM
David said...: danielle said...
"this is an underhanded way of calling him uppity."

Ok, I'll go overhand. He's uppity. "affecting an attitude of inflated self-esteem; haughty; snobbish."

We here in Northern Wisconsin know uppity. Just across the border are all those people in Michigan's Uppity Peninsula. Want to see people put on airs? Check out dem upers.; 7/9/10, 12:17 PM
rhhardin said...: Obama is convinced of the audience's idiocy, mostly.; 7/9/10, 12:19 PM
Joe said...: And yet HDHouse, they had no rights and were functionally slaves…how’s that sound to you? Want to go on about how US Slavery was Uniquely evil or just brush the margins?

Oh one other thing, if I were a Nubian did I have a say in my captivity or transport to Memphis, or Alexandria, or Rome…and HDHouse you did know that many Greeks singed THEMSELVES over into slavery to become Roman tutors? Slavery, not uniquely American and anything you can say about it here you can say about it in Teoteohicuan, Tenochtitlan or Rome or Istanbul.; 7/9/10, 12:19 PM
yashu said...: Ugh, I thought that obnoxious new moby (Tidy Righty)-- who turned up a few days ago, fooling no one-- had slithered away already.

Repulsive.; 7/9/10, 12:20 PM
Original Mike said...: "Sure, it might work if you can genetically engineer the ruling elite to be 100% competent and 100% benevolent, but, as you can't, I would rather fight than live under your family writ national."

Yeah, no kidding.

Extending the "families are like Marxism" analogy; It would work if the ruling elite were motivated by unconditional love for the citizenry. But do we really have to explain to you, FLS, that that's not even remotely the case and never will be?; 7/9/10, 12:22 PM
Right is right! said...: Joe, I don't know what you are. But until you are will to face up to the obvious truth, you are more part of the problem and not willing to do the hard work required of the solution.

To Yashu, what kind of name is that?; 7/9/10, 12:23 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Krauthammer can no longer swallow the Koolaid. It's about time Chuck!; 7/9/10, 12:24 PM
Joe said...: One of the great tragedies of U.S. history is the intellectual descent of slave-state leaders who believed slavery an evil to be gradually remedied (Washington, Jefferson) to the argument of a later generation that slavery was a positive good (Calhoun).

Well said…by then Slavery was RACIAL…only Blacks were being enslaved, not whites or Moors, or Mestizos (Yes, I know their conditions were abominable, but technically not slaves), so there had to be an ALTERNATE explanation/justification for Slavery. And that became that Blacks weren’t like “us” and so needed White Folks…and so it was a Positive Good. I can’t drive by Calhoun St in Charleston without spitting, to this day…I’m on my way looking for a good Pastrami Sandwich, after synagogue.; 7/9/10, 12:26 PM
Scott M said...: Krauthammer can no longer swallow the Koolaid. It's about time Chuck!

This confused me. CK has been very critical of both Candidate/President Obama as well as his administration for as long as I can remember.; 7/9/10, 12:26 PM
David said...: HDHouse said...
Joe said...
"Slavery in the South, BECAME racist, “indentured servant” was the time-limited equivalent of slavery and was applied to whites, ..."

Gotta go with HDHouse on this one. (Gasp!) Black slavery took over in the deep south because whites, whether indentured or free, were unwilling to go there. The heat and disease was too much for them. Also the land system made it very difficult for anyone to get good land-which had been distributed in large grants, partly because it was such a difficult environment.

There were a few black indentured servants in early America, but indentured servitude was almost exclusively for white. It was a bargain with some mutuality. Slavery really had nothing in common with indentured servitude.; 7/9/10, 12:27 PM
bagoh20 said...: Obama said he believes in Greek exceptionalism and I beleive him. I don't think he meant the classics either.; 7/9/10, 12:27 PM
E Buzz said...: I am planning a trip out to the Atlantic ocean later this summer, I wonder if Barry will have raised the sea levels by then.

But yeah, calling him a little bit satisfied with his Godliness and coolness is also calling him an uppity N WORD.

OF COURSE!!! I'm glad the lefties didn't buy into Obama's masturbatory fantasies.

How must it feel to be so fucking stupid to have voted for a guy who said he can raise the sea level? LOL. Idiots.

You think Barry has ever watched "How things are made"?

Isn't that the most vile awful show ever, because it shows how greedy and materialistic we pig sucker Americans are?; 7/9/10, 12:27 PM
Joe said...: Joe, I don't know what you are. But until you are will to face up to the obvious truth, you are more part of the problem and not willing to do the hard work required of the solution.
What kind of “solution” do you propose Tidy, I hope it will be FINAL, in its scope.; 7/9/10, 12:28 PM
Steve M. Galbraith said...: Tidy Righty: please, no one is buying what you're selling.

You're either pretending to be an anti-semite (Tidy Righty?) or you're an actual anti-semite.

In either case, no one is interested.

My guess is that this is Titus but I could be wrong.; 7/9/10, 12:28 PM
Joe said...: Slavery really had nothing in common with indentured servitude.

Save that indentured servants had no real rights either….and were subject to vagaries and whims and lusts of their masters, just as their slave brethren were. The difference, and it is a KEY one that this servitude was time-limited.; 7/9/10, 12:30 PM
Joe said...: My guess is that this is Titus but I could be wrong.

When did Titus become an anti-Semite? I miss, almost, his discussions of clumbers and his husbnd...; 7/9/10, 12:32 PM
Anonymous said...: "Because I said so" works well on the family level too. Perhaps that's part of the appeal of misplaced analogies between society and family.; 7/9/10, 12:32 PM
bagoh20 said...: The problem is that Obama's judgment is so bad that he thinks he IS all that. How can you expect much from someone that easily fooled.

He did stop the rising of the oceans as promised, but I wish he would have warned about the oil thing rising. I'm sure he just didn't want to worry us.

I think in the "rise of the oceans" speech" Obama proved Krauthammer s' point pretty clearly.; 7/9/10, 12:37 PM
Calypso Facto said...: fls said: "When I see righties take responsibility for the evils done in the name of capitalism: BP oil spill, deaths in the unsafe coal mine, child labor at Agriprocessors, the Triangle Shirtwaist fire"

I see he has somehow confused capitalism with industrial accidents. Because those NEVER happen in Marxist countries? Does Chernobyl ring a bell? FLS doesn't endorse Marxism with this argument so much as Luddism.; 7/9/10, 12:38 PM
Right is right! said...: SMGalbraith, I am also very critical of the black power movement and racists like Jesse Jackson and Louis Farrakhan. Does that also make me a racist?

No, in truth I can be critical of some jews and not be an anti-semite. But for an apologist like you SMGalbraith that is to be shouted down. You know what you can do with your PC...; 7/9/10, 12:39 PM
E Buzz said...: "Does Chernobyl ring a bell?"

Those mines in the coldest parts of Russia where people were sent against their will were so totally awesome too.

I'm glad the left is so honest about what the hell happened back then.; 7/9/10, 12:41 PM
yashu said...: (Don't feed the trolls.); 7/9/10, 12:41 PM
bagoh20 said...: ""When I see righties take responsibility for the evils done in the name of capitalism: BP oil spill, deaths in the unsafe coal mine, child labor at Agriprocessors, the Triangle Shirtwaist fire"

Deal!

And you accept responsibility for over 100 million lives that didn't want the alternative and were shut up permanently for it.; 7/9/10, 12:41 PM
Joe said...: No, in truth I can be critical of some jews and not be an anti-semite.

Because they are some "good" Jews, but, in the end, they have to go to the camps, too, right Riechfuhrer Himmler?

But that's too easy...tell me Tidy who are the good Jews, the non-Socialist ones?

And isn't the enemy Socialism, not the Socialist Jews? And if it IS, why even mention the Jooooos?; 7/9/10, 12:43 PM
X said...: You're either pretending to be an anti-semite (Tidy Righty?) or you're an actual anti-semite.

He's pretending to be right-winger. I find his jew hatred credible.; 7/9/10, 12:43 PM
Joe said...: Those mines in the coldest parts of Russia where people were sent against their will were so totally awesome too.

And don't forget the White Sea Ship Canal or the Baikal-Amur Mainline...or for that matter, the gas pipeline laid in the 1980's.

But that was all good clean fun.; 7/9/10, 12:44 PM
E Buzz said...: "But that was all good clean fun."

It was, and we all remember it fondly, or not remember it because it's not discussed in our modern high school curriculum, or college for that matter.

To discuss it is gauche anyway.

We need to talk more about how Sarah Palin didn't give birth to her son. And also how sea levels can rise at will, if only the right man is a Democrat politician from Chicago who is able to run the most expensive campaign in history with millions in dubious credit card transactions.

We are truly free when we are subsisting on grass and government cheese, it's the better alternative.; 7/9/10, 12:54 PM
blake said...: DJ--

Well, that's a take on this I hadn't—can't!—comprehend!

CK's column as jealousy!

Curious, though, are there any factual errors? Does BHO not apologize for America? Does he not (unusually) use "my" to refer his cabinet?; 7/9/10, 12:55 PM
DADvocate said...: Obama's directive to NASA to reach out to Muslims is another symptom of narcissism. Obama believes he is so great and powerful that he simply wave his hand and he can make anyone feel better about themselves. But, geesh, he's so childish in his beliefs about the world and his own powers.; 7/9/10, 12:55 PM
E Buzz said...: "Obama's directive to NASA to reach out to Muslims is another symptom of narcissism."

But Reagan and Bush!; 7/9/10, 12:57 PM
blake said...: DJ--

Well, that's a take on this I hadn't—can't!—comprehend!

CK's column as jealousy!

Curious, though, are there any factual errors? Does BHO not apologize for America? Does he not (unusually) use "my" to refer his cabinet?; 7/9/10, 12:57 PM
Joe said...: We are truly free when we are subsisting on grass and government cheese, it's the better alternative.

So true wiping a tear from his eye So true, thank you for reminding me of the love of Comrade Stalin/Napoleon/Obama.; 7/9/10, 12:58 PM
Joe said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/9/10, 12:58 PM
LouisAntoine said...: Has Krauthammer ever apologized for his role in dragging the U.S. into an unnecessary war in Iraq? Has he apologized for the deaths of over 3,000 US servicemembers?

This column is just more petty grist for the endless satanic mills of the commentariat. A man who makes his living literally bloviating in the newspaper calling someone out for arrogance. Because Obama uses "I" a lot (a completely unfounded assertion, by the way).

In other words, when there is so little substance to the critique, I wonder why these commentators don't just draw a picture of Obama with a mustache and the word "poop" underneath, as it's basically the same level of discourse.

"Obama SUX DOODY DOODY DOODY DO" would suffice.; 7/9/10, 1:01 PM
Rich said...: SMGalbraith:

"Obviously, we don't mean every member of those larger groups. But we're talking about, generally, the majority viewpoint within those groups."

My perception is that we tend to talk about the lunatic fringe of the other groups, not the majority viewpoint. I am quite confident most here would consider my to be liberal but I do not recognize myself in these various critiques of being un-American, or America-hater, or freedom-hater, etc. I do not recognize those features in my friends whom I consider to be liberals, just as I don’t in my friends whom I consider to be conservatives.

YoungHegelian:

"I would be more sympathetic to left-wing critiques of the present and historical America if I thought that they basically weren't pulling their critiques out of their own offended consciences, which is a nice way of saying thin air. I mean, so America has done some nasty things, but haven't all states throughout history?"

Joe:

"Really my point was that all the things America’s Guilty of, everyone else is too, and in spades…but Leftists don’t ever mention that. America held slaves….wow, so did Rome, so did the Inca’s, so did the Aztec’s, so did the Turks, but somehow they aren’t the focus of evilllllll like the US is.

And funny how no one mentions the 400,000 folks who died ENDING slavery, please note the slaves did NOT free themselves…but no, no mention of that fact, only that America HAD slaves, geeeeeeee just like 99% of the world."

But are we not supposed to be exceptional, not just no worse than others (and by the way I, a “liberal,” do believe we are exceptional and much better). Measuring ourselves by the conduct of other, non-exceptional states seems far too low a bar for our exceptional nation.

We are exceptional. What others do is not any standard for our own conduct.

I once saw a debate on PBS, Oxford Debating Society or some such, and the question was Resolved: America is a disappointment. The side arguing for the affirmative won, based on this argument: Of course America is a disappointment, because it promises so much more than any other nation. Measured against other nations, it is exceptional and a glorious example. Measured against its own, exceptional, promise and values, it remains a disappointment. It must always be so, for in striving for its exceptionally high – indeed inaccessible– standards it will always necessarily fall short. But we continue to strive, and that’s what has made, and continues to make, America truly exceptional.

You “conservatives” believe, if I understand you correctly, that “liberals” see only the faults in America and do not acknowledge her greatness. To a great extent you are probably correct. But it is equally plausible to say “conservatives” see only its greatness and are too complacent about the striving we still have before us.; 7/9/10, 1:04 PM
Joe said...: "Obama SUX DOODY DOODY DOODY DO" would suffice.
No MM you're confusing the LEFT'S critique of Boooosh....with Krauthammer.

And be careful, remember Iraq is one the signal successes of the OBAMA Administration, so it obviously wasn't an unnecessary war.; 7/9/10, 1:04 PM
LouisAntoine said...: Notice, too, how Obama habitually refers to Cabinet members and other high government officials as "my" -- "my secretary of homeland security," "my national security team," "my ambassador." The more normal -- and respectful -- usage is to say "the," as in "the secretary of state."

"The national security team"? Does that sound right to anyone? Anyone? Bueller? There is no such thing as "the national security team." Honestly. How can anyone take this crap seriously. Krauthammer really comes off as a petty little bitch.; 7/9/10, 1:08 PM
Joe said...: But we continue to strive, and that’s what has made, and continues to make, America truly exceptional.

You demonstrate my point, it’s not what we have done, but what we have YET to do, that you love…how about a little love for Appomattox, the defeat of the Kaiser, the Dawes-Young Plan, the Defeat of Tojo, Hitler, and Mussolini, Bretton Woods, GATT, the Marshall Plan, Containment, Electronics, Brown v. Board of Education, MLK, Reagan, and the liberation of 50 million Muslims?

As to Conservatives being “complacent” as they or we have to hear about Triangle Shirt Fires, BP Oil Spills, Child Labour, Sexism, Racism, and Homophobia, as well as Globalism, Imperialism, and Global Environmental Damage…..on a daily basis.; 7/9/10, 1:11 PM
Joe said...: There is no such thing as "the national security team."
Is that by Imperial Fiat? Or by Federal Law?; 7/9/10, 1:12 PM
LouisAntoine said...: OK, Joe, I'll bite. Can you tell me, what is "The National Security Team"?; 7/9/10, 1:14 PM
Happy Warrior said...: He is waaay to good and smart for us; we don't deserve him. In fact, let's put him out of his misery... elect anyone else in 2012... even a hamster!; 7/9/10, 1:16 PM
traditionalguy said...: The Lawless One is quite proud of fooling the Dems and the Repubs both into passive acceptance of the Death Panel appointed by him for our Country. Our money destroyed, no oil or coal extraction allowed, Doctors and Hospitals like Castro's Cuba, the military shrunken, our food scarce and expensive, the other big nations of the world ready to play king on the mountain with us, and the Jews in Israel allowed to be killed off to make the muslims proud of themselves. That is some record for one smiling liar to accomplish so easily.; 7/9/10, 1:17 PM
Rich said...: Joe:

"You demonstrate my point, it’s not what we have done, but what we have YET to do, that you love…how about a little love for Appomattox, the defeat of the Kaiser, the Dawes-Young Plan, the Defeat of Tojo, Hitler, and Mussolini, Bretton Woods, GATT, the Marshall Plan, Containment, Electronics, Brown v. Board of Education, MLK, Reagan, and the liberation of 50 million Muslims?"

All great things. Great. You get no argument from me about that. And that includes the last one on your list, for which I, a "liberal," give enormous credit to George W. Bush. Reagan too. A great man, about whom in my callow youth I was wrong.; 7/9/10, 1:17 PM
Opus One Media said...: "does Chernobyl ring a bell"

Oh I can't wait to hear what this is about.; 7/9/10, 1:18 PM
Brian said...: I had a long post before lunch, but didn't post it. So it goes:

@FLS:
You're right, Bolden is on a P.R. tour. So again, why is the head of NASA on a P.R. tour in Qatar? Telling Al-Jazeera (according to the SF Examiner, he told Al-Jazeera before he told anyone in Congress) that his foremost mission was now outreach to Muslim nations.

I'll give Obama the full benefit of the doubt: He genually wants to use a government agency to try to direct Muslim anger away from America, help Muslims feel like they have a stake in the space program, and somehow get Indonesia (and other countries) on board with space exploration.

But it has to be the head of NASA? No deputy administrator (who could have told Congress what he was doing) could do it? Had to phrase it as the "foremost" mission of NASA?

This is tone deaf, at the least, to the domestic audience here at home, FLS (and HD). Couldn't they have gotten ahead of this and gotten congress on board that it was in our national interest to offer the Muslim world a path to modernity?; 7/9/10, 1:19 PM
chickelit said...: That is some record for one smiling liar to accomplish so easily.

And his mother is laughing at us through him.; 7/9/10, 1:20 PM
Calypso Facto said...: Montaigne: I think Krauthammer was probably referring to this Obama speech a few weeks ago, when he said "I’ve just told my national security team that now is the time for all of us to come together."

So maybe the President can help define it for you? Or maybe you can educate him that there's no such thing...; 7/9/10, 1:21 PM
Joe said...: OK, Joe, I'll bite. Can you tell me, what is "The National Security Team"?

1. The President
2. The President’s Special Advisor for National Security Affairs
3. The Staff of the National Security Council
4. The Secretary of State
5. The Secretary of Defense
6. Director of National Intelligence
Would be a start, and I believe established by law as members of the National Security Council. Of course, you may not have heard of these people or posts, believing it was always Rove, Cheney and a chimp doing things in DC.; 7/9/10, 1:22 PM
Quaestor said...: danielle wrote: "this is an underhanded way of calling him uppity."

Projecting again?; 7/9/10, 1:23 PM
Mark O said...: So far as the record discloses, Obama is good only at winning popularity contests. That's how he became president of the HLR, no because he was the best student or even the best writer. Before we annoint someone "brilliant," we ordinarily have a reason. With him, can't ask because he's black.

But, I would love to see his college grades, his LAST scores and, although I think these could be subject to preferential inflation, his HL grades. If his brilliance resides in his oratory, he's fairly ordinary.

He's a construct. Based on what I have seen and read, I don't think he's all that bright and he certainly carries all the prejudices one might have expected but he denied.; 7/9/10, 1:24 PM
Anonymous said...: Calypso @1:21 PM just completely owned Monty. Let's see if Monty has the character to fess up, or if he's a "petty little bitch." Stupid and sexist is no way to go through life Monty.; 7/9/10, 1:27 PM
Quaestor said...: garage ma-heep-o-poo wrote: "Kraphammer hasn't exactly been Nostradamus on his predictions...

Nostadamus hasn't been exactly Nostradamus in the prediction field either.

I predict garage mahal will reply with a snarky ad hominem; 7/9/10, 1:31 PM
garage mahal said...: Me snark?; 7/9/10, 1:33 PM
LouisAntoine said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/9/10, 1:33 PM
Joe said...: OK, Joe, I'll bite. Can you tell me, what is "The National Security Team"?

So after being PWNED by Calypso, how does it feel?

That's the BEST you can do?
HONESTLY; 7/9/10, 1:35 PM
Mick said...: He said before he was elected that the Constitution is a flawed document. Well flawed to him maybe, since it doesn't even allow him to be POTUS. He is a Non Natural Born Citizen Usurper (his father was never a citizen, much less when he was born), who still may be a British subject to this day (why can't we see his passport?). He still harbors great admiration for royalty, and bows in their presence.
He is Non Allegiant to America, and has been installed as such by the World Government Banker Debt-Masters to put the final nails in the coffin of the sovereignty of We the People.; 7/9/10, 1:36 PM
Joe said...: My, with Tidy and Mick in today, who has time to miss Cedarford?

If ONLY Lonewacko could be persuaded to drop by......; 7/9/10, 1:38 PM
LouisAntoine said...: Can I explain something to you Joe? You can only "PWN" someone if you win an argument with them or refute their point indisputably.

let me go slower for you.

"national security team" as an entity only makes sense if you say "my" and you are the president. There is no body known as "The National Security Team" which is the alternative expression suggested by Krauthammer.; 7/9/10, 1:41 PM
Joe said...: Your Question:
OK, Joe, I'll bite. Can you tell me, what is "The National Security Team"?

And Calypso neatly pointed out OBAMA's answer...I'd say you were Pwned...but in a post-modern world your narrative has as good of purchase as Calypso's, I guess....

Your complaint was about "National Security Team" not the use of "my."

Don't get to go back and change your topic, AFTER the pwnage, but thank you for contributing.; 7/9/10, 1:44 PM
yashu said...: (Joe, heh. At least Mick tends to restrict his droppings, in a comment section, to *one*. Always the same one.); 7/9/10, 1:45 PM
garage mahal said...: He said before he was elected that the Constitution is a flawed document. Well flawed to him maybe, since it doesn't even allow him to be POTUS.

Wonder if Mick thinks this part of the Constitution is "flawed"

1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws..; 7/9/10, 1:47 PM
Scott M said...: ? You can only "PWN" someone if you win an argument with them or refute their point indisputably.

That's not entirely true. You can do it pretty convincingly without any argument at all with a T2 Ishtar flying 5 heavy Ogre II's, 3 250MM RG's, and T2 vamps all around. Assuming your target's not a inty that can mwd out of range before you engage, that is, or a capital set to tank before your fleet can show up.

That's a handsome recipe for pwnage without ever uttering a word. The end, though, is usually quite indisputable.; 7/9/10, 1:49 PM
Automatic_Wing said...: "national security team" as an entity only makes sense if you say "my" and you are the president. There is no body known as "The National Security Team" which is the alternative expression suggested by Krauthammer.

Um...no. There are alternatives to using the first-person possessive when referring to a group of people that work for you.

Haven't you ever heard your boss say "The IT team did a great job on that project" or "The Human Resources team will be collecting that information"?

Perhaps you've never held a job?; 7/9/10, 1:49 PM
LouisAntoine said...: Poor Joe: if only my post weren't directly above, you'd be free to assert whatever you wanted about it and how much you "pwned" me. Unfortunately for you, it is right there if you scroll up. You and calypso just didn't quite grasp what I was saying. But if you enjoy Krauthammer's laughable assertions, who am I to take away your febrile pleasures?; 7/9/10, 1:50 PM
Joe said...: garage man, don't go there...now will come the long screed about McCain and the Panama Canal Zone, and the Kenyan Father, and Dual Citizenship, and dual allegiance, and yada yada yada.......; 7/9/10, 1:51 PM
Steve M. Galbraith said...: When did Titus become an anti-Semite? I miss, almost, his discussions of clumbers and his husbnd...

My post is that I think this was Titus pretending to be someone on the right who is a bigot.

Whoever this person is (and I believe he is a Moby), his arguments are worthless.; 7/9/10, 1:51 PM
Joe said...: MM shorter:
DID NOT....
I WIN....
Thank you for your contribution, sadly due to budgetary considerations there will NOT be a trophy for everyone this year.; 7/9/10, 1:52 PM
Skyler said...: Well flawed to him maybe, since it doesn't even allow him to be POTUS. He is a Non Natural Born Citizen Usurper (his father was never a citizen, much less when he was born)

Good grief, that's just stupid beyond words. Citizenship exists when the mother is a citizen, and there is no question about his mother's citizenship. Unless Sullivan wants to start saying that his mother wasn't REALLY his mother.

There are enough reasons to be against B. Hussein that we don't need stupid, idiotic claims like that.; 7/9/10, 1:52 PM
Joe said...: Perhaps you've never held a job?

A purely rhetorical question, right? I believe he and Jeremy have both held jobs, "Do you want fries with that?" springs to mind.; 7/9/10, 1:54 PM
Joe said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/9/10, 1:54 PM
former law student said...: And yet, no one can find ANY documentation that “proves” Hitler knew of or ordered the Final Solution……Which is JUST the gambit, you employed, asking where Marx called for the De-Kulakization of the USSR

No great leap of faith is required to bridge the gap between Hitler's calling Jews parasites within the body politic, and his eventual program to exterminate them. What does one do when the house is riddled with parasites? Cherish them and put them in a gilded cage? No, one calls the exterminator, naturally.

In which of Marx's books does he describe similar parasites, which Stalin went on to destroy?; 7/9/10, 1:56 PM
LouisAntoine said...: Let me put it in simpler terms for you there, Joe.

Do you think it is proof of overwhelming arrogance that the president of the United States said the words "my national security team" in a speech?; 7/9/10, 1:57 PM
Scott M said...: FLS

Just out of curiosity, do you rescind your communism/family analogy to national government?; 7/9/10, 1:59 PM
Calypso Facto said...: That would be a nice attempt to dodge Monty, except that Google has 4,690,000 results for Obama + "THE national security team" so yeah, I'd say THAT'S actually the MOST common usage.; 7/9/10, 1:59 PM
LouisAntoine said...: My national security team. ARROGANCE!

My national security team... THE ARROGANCE!!!; 7/9/10, 2:01 PM
Joe said...: In which of Marx's books does he describe similar parasites, which Stalin went on to destroy?

IIRC, they were called the "bourgeoisie" and there would have to be a revolution to replace them, with a Dictatorship?

Would you care to continue this trip down Comparative Dictatorship Lane? Did Marx call for the death of millions, No, did Hitler, no…did they in the end produce the deaths of millions, why yes, yes they did.; 7/9/10, 2:01 PM
chickelit said...: Garage wrote: Wonder if Mick thinks this part of the Constitution is "flawed"

I think one of Mick's points is that Obama's citizenship was diluted by his father. He was entitled to British citizenship at birth. I have this argument with my Dutch wife who wants to register our kids as Dutch citizens. I tell her, beware the NL's military obligation for our son.; 7/9/10, 2:03 PM
Joe said...: MM calypso at 1.59 PM....
Not once, but if it's a CONTINUAL pattern, yes...why?

A data base of a single point is meaningless, I would ahve to ackowldege that.; 7/9/10, 2:03 PM
Fred4Pres said...: Krauthammer is right.; 7/9/10, 2:06 PM
A.W. said...: mmm, and if you don't recognize Obama's perfection, well, then you are a bigot.

So the latest thing is Obama is saying isrealis don't like him because of the middle name hussien. Yes, really.

http://allergic2bull.blogspot.com/2010/07/president-asshole-strikes-again.html

Hey, Barry, here's a hint. How about you prove to be competant at your job, then you can get all egotesticle.; 7/9/10, 2:10 PM
A.W. said...: and yeah, my spelling is somewhat deliberate, there.; 7/9/10, 2:11 PM
Original Mike said...: ""national security team" as an entity only makes sense if you say "my" and you are the president."

Sorry. I'm not seeing it.; 7/9/10, 2:11 PM
Joe said...: I tell her, beware the NL's military obligation for our son.

There's STILL a requirement?

Have him join the Royal Dutch Marines, that'll make a man of him...and give him a chance to get to Aruba on the Dutch taxpayers expense.; 7/9/10, 2:11 PM
Unknown said...: Well, all the National Socialists' heads are exploding because Mr. Krauthammer nailed one of the key problems of their Messiah.

We elected someone who is both anti-American and un-American, a true communist who hates this country and wants to destroy it. His ego, preserved by the fact that no one dared criticize him (the R word, you know), knows no bounds although his abilities and intellect, as we are seeing, are severely limited. Like most of the National Socialists here, he sees himself as part of an ordained ruling class and superior to all around him.

PS A few points about slavery and bonded indenture:

Slaves were taken prisoner by other blacks and Moslems and sold to white captains at African ports. If they were kidnapped, it was by their own.

Slaves in the US could buy their freedom. A slave would have to have a marketable skill (blacksmith, etc.) or be an exceptionally good field hand, but they could do jobs on the side and purchase their freedom.

Bonded indenture was usually a contract made in Britain where the servant was given transport to the colonies for a specified term of service. The contract was often abused by the owner to the point that any indemnity (breaking a dish, etc.) would be added to the term of service. Widows and orphans were liable for a father's indemnity and many contracts became multi-generational. Eventually, it became a kind of peonage. It wasn't until the 1830s that the practice was finally outlawed.; 7/9/10, 2:14 PM
Anonymous said...: danielle: Obama is professorial. If you view that as being superior, then that's your choice.

"Professorial" is positive or neutral only its literal sense, describing someone of high earned rank speaking, appropriately, as a superior to those in tutelage. No tone could be less appropriate for the President of a republic of free men addressing either his fellow citizens, or foreign nations.

So if you're applying "professorial" to Obama, you're calling him exactly what Shanna and others are calling him - to wit, a smug, arrogant prick.; 7/9/10, 2:18 PM
E Buzz said...: Not sure it was professorial to have the inauguration cost 5 million dollars, and have countless huge speeches in massive stadiums with gigantic roman pillars all around.

And you can bet those were PHALLIC pillars, oh yes!!!

It's ok, the sea levels are gonna rise!

But right after this speech, a professorial speech. Maybe he will say "Massatoosits" again.

Rev. Wright was also professorial...he really was, in the ward Churchill mold, and other loonie radicals that infest the colleges.; 7/9/10, 2:27 PM
garage mahal said...: We elected someone who is both anti-American and un-American, a true communist who hates this country and wants to destroy it

Oh Jesus Christ. ALways wonder if you guys truly believe this nonsense, [a true Communist? WTF] or if it's just for show. I used to think it was just show, but I'm not convinced anymore.; 7/9/10, 2:29 PM
Joe said...: Oh Jesus Christ. ALways wonder if you guys truly believe this nonsense, [a true Communist? WTF] or if it's just for show. I used to think it was just show, but I'm not convinced anymore.

He's not a Communist, he's just a product of his education, upbringing, and life after college...he's a quintessential Progressive, someone suspicious of America and Capitalism. Someone who sees no problem with hanging out with the likes of Ayers and Dohrn, or hiring Vann Jones.; 7/9/10, 2:34 PM
E Buzz said...: I loved it when Barry built up that huge structure just so he could have a swell huge party with a lot of celebrities, while millions of gallons of oil poured into the gulf.

Cool! Just check out the pics! Professorial, and smart.

So smooth; 7/9/10, 2:37 PM
chickelit said...: I used to think it was just show, but I'm not convinced anymore.

To be honest Garage I used to think that you were part leftist shtick. I'm not so convinced anymore. That's how good you are at it.; 7/9/10, 2:37 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Did Obama ever have a summer job in high school or college?

If not, why didn't he? Didn't need the money? Flipping burgers beneath him?

If he did, why haven't we ever heard about his summer jobs from co-workers, employers etc?; 7/9/10, 2:38 PM
Joe said...: I’d say faculty lounges, graduate student lounges, and campus coffee shops are full of folks exactly like Barak Obama. Are they Communists, no, not usually…are they redistributive worshippers of the State, fans of Post-Modernism and the Post-American World, supporters of Trans-National Progressivism, sure and sometimes it’s tough to tell them from the Communists. Ah, to be fair, that’s not true, the Progressives like Obama still believe in elections, but the Communists are bigger fans of one man, one vote, one time. Still when the wrong people win elections it’s cause for shame to Obama and folks like Obama and Carter are loathe to criticize the one man, one vote, one time crew, but to be fair they still believe in holding htem here.; 7/9/10, 2:40 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Well flawed to him maybe, since it doesn't even allow him to be POTUS. He is a Non Natural Born Citizen Usurper (his father was never a citizen, much less when he was born)

Aaaaack. Not this stuff again.

It's worse than being stuck in an elevator with Musak playing disco music over and over; 7/9/10, 2:40 PM
Scott M said...: If he did, why haven't we ever heard about his summer jobs from co-workers, employers etc?

Well, we don't know much about Jesus' actual carpentry work either...aren't they both in the same class?; 7/9/10, 2:41 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Good one Scott!; 7/9/10, 2:42 PM
chickelit said...: Good one Scott!

Except for the historical time difference, recordkeeping, age of witnesses, yeah that was a good one.; 7/9/10, 2:45 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: I don't think that any should be surprised that Marx, himself, likely did not counsel the sort of totalitarian blood letting that was so endemic with socialist regimes throughout the 20th century, from Lenin up through Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Mao, Pol Pot, to the present. Marx spoke in the mid-19th Century of a Utopian society, and was unlikely to fully understand the ramifications of the implementation of his ideal.

I think that the best description of why socialism leads to totalitarianism to massive bloodshed was laid out by Hayek in the 1940s in his "Road to Serfdom". The short answer is that man is selfish and imperfect, and thus will innately work against the (supposed) good of the community to his own benefit. It thus takes state force to make him accept a socialist state, until his nature can be changed from self-based to community-based.

So, why can man be philanthropic with smaller communities, and can not/will not be with larger? This comes from the fact that his genetic legacy can benefit if he helps his genetic relatives. Thus, his loyalty is first to his immediate family, and then, traditionally to his extended family, and then to his (fairly small) community. Thus, it is totally natural for us to sacrifice for our children, and not much of a stretch to sacrifice some for our nephews and nieces. But, instinctively, there is nothing to be gained by sacrificing for the community at the national, and even state, level.

Marx was writing in the 19th Century, when communities were smaller, and when we were all that much closer to the small village and extended family ideal. So, he may be able to be excused for his idealism. And, even Lenin and his ilk were still close to this, at least in time. But by the time of Lenin, I think that the problem of enforcing a socialist state over an unwilling populace was becoming evident.; 7/9/10, 2:46 PM
E Buzz said...: it's super cool that no one in the media bothered to ask him about anything, just drool over him with puerile questions about how enchAAAAAHNted he was with being all President and stuff.

That's professorial. He doesn't have to answer to anyone, sort of like asshole bully profs.; 7/9/10, 2:49 PM
Scott M said...: Except for the historical time difference, recordkeeping, age of witnesses, yeah that was a good one.

You have to suspend your disbelief a little bit. Kind of like the same thing you have to do to buy unemployment payments as the best stimulus, Obamacare not causing cost increases or rationing, no tax increases on anyone that makes less than $250,000 (in which they never once mentioned COL for different locales), etc, etc.

It's gallows humor, to be sure, but the gallows is where he appears to want to go.; 7/9/10, 2:50 PM
wild chicken said...: It's rather important that a leader loves his country unconditionally. It was something we didn't have to worry about with Reagan, and the Brits didn't have to worry about with Churchill or the English with Elizabeth I or France with DeGaulle. It's an attitude that comes out expressly and between the lines and it's crucial to instill trust. It's as simple as that.

O is too much the self-styled sophisticate put it to rest. We're always going to wonder who's side he's on.; 7/9/10, 2:50 PM
AllenS said...: Obama has taken community organizing to a large audience. When he's done, the US of A will look a lot like the south side of Chicago does now. Things are not getting better, they're getting worse.; 7/9/10, 2:52 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: He's not a Communist, he's just a product of his education, upbringing, and life after college...he's a quintessential Progressive, someone suspicious of America and Capitalism. Someone who sees no problem with hanging out with the likes of Ayers and Dohrn, or hiring Vann Jones.

I would agree that President Obama is not a communist. His father apparently was. But I would still suggest that he is a socialist, but in my view, much closer to Hitler and Mussolini in his view of socialism than Lenin or Mao.

I do doubt whether he has really studied the subject enough to really understand that that is probably where he sits. Rather, I would expect that it is more an attitude that results from hanging around the academy and those aforementioned individuals. Understanding where he sits economically and the reason for those beliefs would require more introspection than I think he is capable of. He just knows that capitalism is evil, and knows this because he has heard it so many times from those around him, with few, if any, countervailing views until very recently.; 7/9/10, 2:54 PM
Anonymous said...: You people, and these arguments, are deranged. And uppity. All you Obama-haters seem to be distracted by your deep desire to seize your inner black Jew and dwell in the psychological comfort of Marxist conformity. You know you want to.

Instead, you ought to be asking yourself:

How Could This Horse Be Worth One Million Dollars?

It's a horse, for G*d's sake. A million fucking dollar horse.; 7/9/10, 2:54 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: El Pollo:

"Age of witnesses, etc" Good one too! LOL.; 7/9/10, 2:55 PM
garage mahal said...: He's not a Communist, he's just a product of his education, upbringing, and life after college..

The same colleges that produced Krauthammer, the Bushes, Dick Cheney [briefly], Bill Kristol, and many of the conservative "think tanks"?; 7/9/10, 2:58 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Bruce:

I agree with you. Everything President Obama knows about economics and human nature, he learned from a circle of angry, resentful, far left liberal dweebs and/or black radical haters.; 7/9/10, 2:58 PM
Revenant said...: He is a Non Natural Born Citizen Usurper

You know, it takes effort to be more of an offensive nitwit than Cedarford and Jeremy, but you manage it. Are congratulations in order?; 7/9/10, 3:01 PM
chickelit said...: When he's done, the US of A will look a lot like the south side of Chicago does now. Things are not getting better, they're getting worse.

And he'll make damned sure that he's living in Hyde Park with a little help from his friends.; 7/9/10, 3:04 PM
Joe said...: The same colleges that produced Krauthammer, the Bushes, Dick Cheney [briefly], Bill Kristol, and many of the conservative "think tanks"?<

You, of course mean, in spite of, not because of….Bush ’41 prior to the great long march thru the institutions, Bush ’43 not the most conservative member of the GoP, Kristol not really a conservative, he’d admit as much, as far as domestic policies go he’s a Great Society liberal, but of course everyone knows what hot beds of Debate and/or Conservatism college campi’I are, I mean just look at the party affiliation and donor preferences of the faculty and staff…oh wait, scratch that. That there are conservative intellectuals has less to do with the Grove of Academe and the vagaries of personality.; 7/9/10, 3:05 PM
Joe said...: The same colleges that produced Krauthammer, the Bushes, Dick Cheney [briefly], Bill Kristol, and many of the conservative "think tanks"?<

You, of course mean, in spite of, not because of….Bush ’41 prior to the great long march thru the institutions, Bush ’43 not the most conservative member of the GoP, Kristol not really a conservative, he’d admit as much, as far as domestic policies go he’s a Great Society liberal, but of course everyone knows what hot beds of Debate and/or Conservatism college campi’I are, I mean just look at the party affiliation and donor preferences of the faculty and staff…oh wait, scratch that. That there are conservative intellectuals has less to do with the Grove of Academe and the vagaries of personality.; 7/9/10, 3:05 PM
Phil 314 said...: Wow, this thread just blew up!!

And all started from one little comment:

this is an underhanded way of calling him uppity.; 7/9/10, 3:07 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Hdhouse said:

"Obama is pragmatic". LOL that bogus line was a talking point and its now way past its expiration date. You libs need to get some new ones and quick.; 7/9/10, 3:09 PM