Pride Goes Before A Fall

Obama, if you believe the media, is loved around the world. He's a great leader, a great man, a great orator. He's simply...great. He's greater than great. He's above the world, he's pan-human, like a god. That's all if you believe the media. But I think that's all a thin veneer, a $100 polish put on a $3 pair of boots by the media, which lives by Costanza's Rule: it's not a lie if YOU believe it.

Could it be that people around the world love him for other, less altruistic reasons? Look first at who has been the most hated. George W Bush, of course, was hated by the American left and by people world wide. He certainly had his faults, but he did liberate Iraq and put down the Taliban (though they've crawled their way back). Afghanistan is about to have an election where there will be actual choices for the first time in a long, long time. Iran was so encouraged by the liberation of Iraq that a month after their "elections" the people are still being locked away and punished for expressing their desire for freedom. He may not have protected the economy (not that the current state was all his fault either!) but he did liberate millions of people.

How about Reagan? Sarah Palin was/is absolutely despised after just being compared to him. He was hated world wide as the leader of "The Great Satan" and was called the anti-Christ because his first, middle and last names have 6 letters in them. He too liberated millions of people. He single-handedly led the West to victory in the cold war, proving that Communism eventually ends in bankruptcy and corruption. His call to tear down the Berlin Wall was answered, and people who had not known freedom for two generations were liberated. Those scenes of jubilation can't be forgotten. Unless you're a member of the committed left.

To the committed left, personal responsibility, free markets and individual liberty are all aberrations to be poisoned and killed like insects. For 233 years other nations, and at times our own people, have tried to alter and change the United States. As the most successful constitutional democracy in history, we have endured hard times, been brought to our knees a few times, but have never been knocked out. Roosevelt's New Deal and Johnson's Great Society were no match for Reagan's Shining City On A Hill. He succeeded because he knew what made this country great, and great leaders allow the strengths of those they lead to come to the surface.

Enter Obama. It's my belief that he is loved because he is the anti-Reagan. Carter's malaise brought us to our knees, but Reagan changed that. So for the committed left, and the America haters world wide, Obama represents the best chance in 29 years to knock the US from the top of the mountain. Of course they welcome him! He's going to do what the Soviet Union, Al Queda, the Taliban, the KKK, the Black Panthers, the Secessionists, the French, the English, the Nazis, the Empirical Japanese, SARs, West Nile and Swine Flu could not do. He's going to remake America into a weak imitation of the failed and failing societies around the world. Instead of bringing them up to our level, when he talks of level playing fields, he's bringing us down to theirs. And they don't have to any of the work!

The danger is that Obama views these open armed welcomes as validation of his world view; he sees an invitation to go and lecture everyone else about what we're doing wrong. The Democrats view his election as a vindication of their beliefs and a vilification of conservative values. The truth is far from this rosy interpretation. The left is joining the rest of the world in cheering the death of the things that have made America great, and the media is covering it as though it were Lindbergh landing in Paris, Armstrong walking on the moon and Reagan at the Brandenburg Gate all rolled into one. I think Obama is more like the Trojan Horse, waiting to bring misery to everyone inside our walls. The rest of the world can see it. Why can't we?

Our ace in the hole is that the truth always wins out in the end. As the reality of free market economics proves that you can't spend your way to prosperity and the recession lingers longer than it should, holes will begin to appear in the fabric of this deception. Obama's condescension will start to ring hollow to the less committed of those who supported him. Buyer's remorse will set in, and the pendulum will swing. Pride goes before a fall, and brother, Obama sure is proud.