Fully aware that politics and dining can sometimes be prickly companions, yet, lead to lively and engaging conversation I herewith delve into the deep end of the political pool.
During a recent trip to Orlando I had the great good pleasure to dine with one of my younger friends and his girlfriend. Now both of them are college graduates, seemingly smart and intelligent young people. Packy has always impressed me with his grasp of all things political and leans strongly to the Republican/Libertarian side of the spectrum. In other words, he knows what is going on and we agree on almost everything. On the other hand his girlfriend, who shall remain nameless, when prompted, indicated she is supporting Barak Obama. As much as I wanted to let it slide. I could not.
I began to question her. Why do you support Mr. Obama? What are the main reasons? What do you know about Barak Obama? How can you compare him to John McCain? She seemed a tad flustered. Not wanting to have a contretemps whilst consuming spinach and artichoke dip I back-pedaled a bit to give her time to collect her “thoughts”.
She answered almost all my questions with the standard clap-trap that has been appearing in and as spouted by any number of young people in print and news media interviews, namely – “because he is going to bring change”. Pardon me while I choke. I continued to probe her thoughts trying to get at the nub, the facts, the basis for these assertions, these opinions and the well kept spewing forth, “he will change things”, “he will bring about a new dialogue”, “Obama will make America respected again”, and on and on….
At no point did or could she support her thoughts with any cogent basis for her beliefs. And what is shocking to me is I know a lot of young (and not so young) folks who have bought into this nonsense. I asked her if she read the Wall Street Journal or Forbes or Newsmax or if she was familiar with George Will or Charles Krauthammer or listened to Rush Limbaugh. Of course, the answers were all negative.
I do not propose I know all the facts and nuance of the political landscape but I do make the effort to review, watch, and take in various media covering the spectrum – left to right – and at least have a somewhat informed opinion. It slays me that the youth of today (certainly not all of them) seem to blindly follow the leftwing media elites like so many lemmings going off a cliff.
For the benefit of my Barak-supporting friends I reprint, in its entirety, a recent illuminating column in The Washington Post by Charles Krauthammer:
By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, April 25, 2008
Real change has never been easy. . . . The status quo in Washington will fight. They will fight harder than ever to divide us and distract us with ads and attacks from now until November.
-- Barack Obama,
Pennsylvania primary night speech
With that, Obama identified the new public enemy: the "distractions" foisted upon a pliable electorate by the malevolent forces of the status quo, i.e., those who might wish to see someone else become president next January. "It's easy to get caught up in the distractions and the silliness and the tit for tat that consumes our politics" and "trivializes the profound issues" that face our country, he warned sternly. These must be resisted.
Why? Because Obama understands that the real threat to his candidacy is less Hillary Clinton and John McCain than his own character and cultural attitudes. He came out of nowhere with his autobiography already written, then saw it embellished daily by the hagiographic coverage and kid-gloves questioning of a supine press. (Which is why those "Saturday Night Live" parodies were so devastatingly effective.)
Then came the three amigos: Tony Rezko, the indicted fixer; Jeremiah Wright, the racist reverend; William Ayers, the unrepentant terrorist. And then Obama's own anthropological observation that "bitter" working-class whites cling to guns and religion because they misapprehend their real class interests.
In the now-famous Pennsylvania debate, Obama had extreme difficulty answering questions about these associations and attitudes. The difficulty is understandable. Some of the contradictions are inexplicable. How does one explain campaigning throughout 2007 on a platform of transcending racial divisions, while in that same year contributing $26,000 to a church whose pastor incites race hatred?
What is Obama to do? Dismiss all such questions about his associations and attitudes as "distractions." And then count on his acolytes in the media to wage jihad against those who have the temerity to raise these questions. As if the character and beliefs of a man who would be president are less important than the "issues." As if some political indecency was committed when Obama was prevented from going through his latest -- 21st and likely last -- primary debate without being asked about Wright or Ayers or the tribal habits of gun-toting, God-loving Pennsylvanians.
Take Ayers. Obama makes it sound as if the relationship consists of having run into each other at the DMV. In fact, Obama's political career was launched in a 1995 meeting at Ayers's home. Obama's own campaign says that they maintain "friendly" relations.
Obama's defense is that he was 8 when Ayers and his Weather Underground comrades were planting bombs at the Pentagon, the U.S. Capitol and other buildings.
True. But Obama was 40 when Ayers said publicly that he doesn't regret setting bombs. Indeed, he said, "I feel we didn't do enough."
Would you maintain friendly relations with an unrepentant terrorist? Would you even shake his hand?
To ask why Obama does is perfectly legitimate and perfectly relevant to understanding what manner of man he is.
Obamaphiles are even more exercised about the debate question regarding the flag pin. Now, I have never worn one. Whether anyone does is a matter of total indifference to me. But apparently not to Obama. He's taken three affirmative steps in regard to flag pins. After Sept. 11, he began wearing one. At a later point, he stopped wearing it. Then last year he explained why: because it "became a substitute for, I think, true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security."
Apart from the self-congratulatory fatuousness of that statement -- as if in this freest of all countries, political self-expression is somehow scarce or dangerous or a sign of patriotic courage -- to speak of pin-wearing as a sign of inauthentic patriotism is to make an issue of it yourself.
For Obamaphiles to now protest the very asking of the question requires a fine mix of cynicism and self-righteousness.
But Obama needs to cast out such questions as illegitimate distractions because they are seriously damaging his candidacy. As people begin to learn about this just-arrived pretender, the magic dissipates.
He spent six weeks in Pennsylvania. Outspent Hillary more than 2 to 1. Ran close to 10,000 television ads -- spending more than anyone in any race in the history of the state -- and lost by 10 points.
And not because he insufficiently demagogued NAFTA or the other "issues." It was because of those "distractions" -- i.e., the things that most reveal character and core beliefs.
