In Praise of Obama

Few things define America more than the fierce defense of one’s individualism and independence.

Ingrained in our DNA is the admiration for our own individualism, and admiration for others who succeeded with their plans and achieved whatever they determined to achieve.  Success against odds is valued the most in direct relation to how much the odds were stacked against and the individual beat them all off and succeeded by sheer determination, effort, conviction and persistence.

Consider Obama. From nothing: black, poor, with a name including ‘Barack’ and “Hussein” plus an African last name sounding almost identical to America’s number one enemy, without a career of previous success in military, business or government, without major legislation passed by Congress that carries his name, without even rich friends at the time, he made it all the way to the highest position of power and prestige in the World, second only to God.

In its face, no one can deny that his man has amazing talents, skills, ambition and courage.  Is he a good actor, orator, strategist, propagandist and leader?   Obama has amazing control of his every word, facial and body expression and timing; all precisely adapted with impeccable intuition to the place, time and audience.  Whatever your ideology, he is undeniable all of that, which made him an exceptional politician. 

The art of a politician is to get elected, period.  More than that: after 4 years as President, the numbers in our economy, unemployment, debt and the list of countries that follow our lead are against him.  Once again: the numbers on the polls are also what they are and President Obama has an approval rating which may get him re-elected even with those added obstacles piled on top.  He is sailing into even stronger winds, beating even larger odds, to succeed again on the only measure that really counts when it comes to a politician: win elections.

While Obama is a living proof of one of the values Americans hold dearest, Individualism, what he sells is the exact opposite: collectivism in a national and international scale.  Such is his talent, determination, poise and smarts that he is actually succeeding on making us want what Americans traditionally despise.   While we admire his individual triumph, he makes us embrace the subordination of our individuality to embrace collectivism, the sharing of the wealth, the individual conceding to his model of social organization designed from the top.  One has to admit that anyone capable of such has extraordinary abilities.

Each obstacle Obama beats on his effort to sell himself to us, makes him even more admirable.  One has to admire his resiliency and self-confidence; this is a person who gets stronger with obstacles that would be fatal blows for most of us, like his decades old association with Reverent Wright.

Consider that Americans would probably never accepted a member of a group that has radical leftists (not the traditional American Democrats or liberals), but people who bombed American institutions like the Pentagon or Police precincts (Bill Ayers), a preacher of 20 years who is on the record screaming ‘God dam America!’ (Rev. Wright), avowed radicals like Van Jones, and the list goes on. 

Still in the vacuum, consider what would you make of a candidate (any candidate) with this added record of missing a large number of voting sessions in Congress, often arriving late when he did attend, voting a non-committal ‘present’ in numerous occasions, missing half the Intelligence Daily Briefings at the White House, every meeting with his own creation: the Presidential Jobs Task Force while finding time to play golf.  Imagine such Candidate also proposing to weaken one of our national treasures and source of pride: our mighty Military by effectively reducing the number of warheads to a third, and publicly announcing he intends to bring that number to zero.

Imagine that Candidate telling you that one of his first executive decisions if elected President will be to scorn American’s ‘Motherland’ and best friend, the United Kingdom, by rejecting and returning present: a bust of their national hero and America’s friend Winston Churchill out of its perch at the White House.

Top it up with the list of friends that Candidate like(d) to hang-up, who shaped his ideology: Saul Alinsky, Frank (Marsha Davis, a card-carrying member of the Communist Party) a group that the FBI would declare openly anti-American and outright dangerous could even make it to the gardens of the White House?  A person Inspired by Marxists professors in college and studious of Franz Fanon and other traditional enemies of America (from Dreams From my Father).

The disconnect, distance and dissonance between him and all previous American presidents put together (whose differences appear minimal when compared to this Candidate) are best highlighted by Peggy Noonan on her article The Stranger in the White House.

Well, such is the extraordinary talent of Mr. Obama that he is sitting in the Oval Office and may gain reelection.  Whatever your ideology, this is nothing short of admirable. Regardless of your political views, Obama already has a place in history as one of the shrewdest politicians of all times.

Arguments about whether he appeals to our primordial instincts, intellect, sympathy for underdog our white-guilt are immaterial. He appeals to what works and gets elected; he wins.  Consider that even now, while he is the most powerful man on earth and with exclusive use of the bully pulpit, topping the polls, Obama still manages to impress us as the benefit of the American tradition of supporting the underdog.  That is outright mastery!

If your ideology is aligned with President Obama, you should truly be ecstatic.  If not, you are truly in trouble because Obama on his own merits and by virtue of his own talent, determination and will power, is a very strong force to reckon with.