There is no chance in hell that Obama, being Obama, will ever take advice from Victor Davis Hanson. However this sure makes interesting reading. I particularly agree that Obama ought to rein in his wife Michelle. Also step seven – stop blaming Bush would be a great idea.
by Victor Davis Hanson
I offer a ten-step healing program for our president in the spirit of our therapeutic age.
I am trying to be disinterested here, with no particular interest in what follows of either seeing his recovery in the polls, or even watching them sink further. My aim is only to point out how and why he is turning off thousands by the day.
1) Impose a moratorium on all the racial talk. After the beer summit, the “stupidly”, the “stereotyping”, the “cowards”, the Van Jones rants, the “wise Latina”, the suing Arizona, the exempting the Black Panthers, the al Qaeda as racists (e.g., nine years after 9/11 we at last have a reason to really hate these terrorists), etc., we get the message that race permeates the presidential world view—and that all issues, from those of terrorism to policing to immigration to the environment, are seen largely through racial us/them lenses. This obsession has turned off an increasing multi-racial nation, and is reaching the point of caricature. Take a deep breath, Mr. President, and promise to go through one day without self-referencing yourself as black, without speaking to an identity-politics group, and without reviewing the American past in terms of race. Just one day…
2) I’d quit the golf for a while—and for two reasons. The Left made the argument that golf is an aristocratic waste of time, our version of upper-class fox-hunting, as a perquisite to the narrative of a carefree Bush—alligator shirt, shades, bright slacks, colorful cap, swanky loafers—on the links while the country was mired in crises. OK, we got that message. And so now, fairly or not, a polo-shirted Obama putting around amid the spill, two wars, and depression-like economics seems, well, narcissistic and self-indulgent. And whereas Bush quit teeing off, Obama won’t, and has already trumped in 18 months his predecessor’s aggregate links outings. Will we hear a “Bush did it” on golf too— as if the evil W. cleverly created a paradigm in which presidents are now forced to play golf when they should not? Try bowling instead.
3) Don’t make any more appointments. Simply quit while you’re behind. These offices are better left unfilled. After Van Jones, Anita Dunn, Steven Chu, Hilda Solis, Eric Holder, Charles Bowden, and Donald Berwick, we got the message already: illegal immigration is OK; farming is not; we are all racial cowards and should feel bad; Muslims in contrast should be made to feel good; redistribution is good—Mao was even better; and George Bush was in on 9/11. In short, Obama is incapable of not appointing someone who is both hard left and unhinged in his expression of such ideology. It would be safer simply not to plant these figurative liberal land mines, since they will all inevitably go off at one time or another. Empty seats are better than empty suits.
4) With all due respect and in complete candor, I would not send Michelle Obama out any more. After the “downright mean country”, “never been proud of my country before”, and “raise the bar” tropes of the campaign, we thought she would, as did past First Ladies, speak about literacy, or her own interest in curbing childhood obesity. But now she’s been unfettered twice on the political circuit: once to speak on behalf of Sonya Sotomayor when she immediately went into a ‘poor me’ riff on how hard it is to go to Princeton on a full-ride (“And for me, the voices came from people who at first told me, ‘Don’t bother applying to Princeton, not a school like that,’ because they said I’d never get in. Then when I got in, they told me not to go because I wouldn’t be able to compete against students who would be more prepared. And then when I decided to attend, they told me that I shouldn’t go to a school so far away from home because I would have a hard time making friends; I would feel out of place and I wouldn’t make it through. Voices of people sowing seeds of doubt in my head.”). And now she revs up the NAACP on the eve of its slander against the Tea Party. Fairly or not, the image of the First Lady is of someone who vents deep-seeded anger, partly over her own unease that she has not quite earned her laurels, partly as a way to enhance career advancement. In short, if one were worried about the president’s tendencies to blame others, sending Michelle out is homeopathic quackery.
5) Just do not mention America in the abstract anymore. After 18 months, we know that the president simply cannot reference our founding without a “but”. He seems to have forgotten that 600,000 killed each other or died 150 years ago over slavery. The Argonne, Okinawa, and Inchon are not in his lexicon. Nor is the greatest economy and defender of freedom in civilization’s history. Edison, Bell, the Wright Brothers—they might as well be Martians. If it is a question—and it sadly always is—between evoking America as dropper of atomic bombs, genocidal hegemon, enslaver, racist, anti-Muslim, etc, and not evoking America at all, then please stay quiet. Our grandmothers tried to teach us “If you can’t say something occasionally nice, then don’t say anything at all.” He should heed that. A simple truth that we all learned in Kindergarten escaped Barack Obama: America’s sins are simply those of all humankind; but only in America is the sprit of self-critique and collective betterment such that we daily strive to address and solve our innately human shortcomings rather than accept them or give into them. Instead, Obama seems to have been taught that if America alone is not perfect, then it is essentially not very good. Millions of us wince now when the president starts in on the U.S. in the abstract, since we know anything positive will always be qualified by “nevertheless”, “however,” “yet,” and “but”.
6) Either stop living up the good life or stop demonizing others who do. OK—if you believe Vegas is bad, doctors are greedy limb-loppers, insurance people are con artists, and the Tea-Partiers unwholesome ‘tea-baggers’, then please no more jetting around on your private jumbo jet in times of economic crisis. Don’t serve aristocratic meals and bring in celebs for private shows. In short, the President is figuratively trying his best to talk of two nations and still live in John Edwards’s house, of lecturing down in the fashion of Al Gore from his nice energy-guzzling nest, or being a John Kerry man of the people from 11 estates. The high life and blue-collar rhetoric don’t mix. In these tough times, if Obama wants to sound like Harry Truman, then now and then live like Harry Truman rather than some zillionaire Silicon Valley geek. If he wants to sermonize like Jimmy Carter, then at least get the props right of the cardigan sweater and dialed down thermostat.
[...]
Read the rest: A Ten-Step Reset Regimen for the President
Tags: Victor Davis Hanson
Something else he should do – get rid of Eric Holder!
Also once in a while to admit to have made a mistake would be a big help for him.
11. Resign
waldensianspirit wrote:
That would be Nirvana.
It’s hard to tell where the ideology stops and the incompetence begins. The Obowmao regime is the most ham-fisted bunch of goofball stumblebums ever to defile the halls of the WH. They make Carter’s morons look smart.
Speranza wrote:
Sure would. He should take pelosi, boxer, reid (if his own constituency does not do that for him, schumer, frank, and hoyer (obviously not a comprehensive list).
Carl Rove tells us what we already knew. My Biggest Mistake in the White House
huckfunn wrote:
Sort of like an Animal House frat of left wing loons.
huckfunn wrote:
Gee Mr. Rove ya’ think?
When so-called scientists running amok:
The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger
The strong version of Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett’s argument in The Spirit Level implies that President Obama’s fight to reform health care was pointless. Extending the availability of health insurance cannot substantially improve Americans’ health. Instead, the president would make us all happier, healthier, and longer-lived, their logic suggests, if he could get the richest, say, 5 percent of Americans to leave the country.
Snip
I love Victor Davis Hanson. What a great article.
If zero read it, he wouldn’t understand a word.
This is a foreign language to the narcissist-n-chief.
Why do we not see this man on television?
chickadee wrote:
Don’t forge Obama is one of the brightest guys out there, even O’Reilly says so. /
Formercorpsman wrote:
Why does Charles Johnson not have his articles on LGF any more? Come to think of it I know the answer to that question.
Speranza wrote:
Well the answer to your question is obvious.
But there is some room for his type of opinion on Fox at least. Why he is not at least utilized as a point of view is beyond me.
@ Speranza:
Eric Holder should have never been allowed to take office. If the Democrats were going to insist on putting him in, the Republicans should have made them put him in over their unanimous objection. The man is unfit for office, like so many of Obama’s appointments. Like Elana Kagan, whom VDH doesn’t mention, but who is so unfit for the Supreme Court. I don’t think the Republicans have the balls to filibuster her.
Guggi wrote:
That’ll be coming. If Obama gets his way and drags us down into a socialist hell, people with the money will simply go elsewhere. Russia is starting to look more free than America, or at least less Communist. That’s a hell of a turnaround in world events…
@ Speranza:
Just curious, does anybody link to VDH at LGF? Does LGF still have the spin-off links?
huckfunn wrote:
That he couldn’t figure out the mistake and address it at the time, and has waited so long to weigh in on the subject, doesn’t do anything at all to bolster that “genius” label he was carrying around for so long.
Iron Fist wrote:
Plus they have cheap vodka and caviar!
@ buzzsawmonkey:
Just what my liver needs!
Iron Fist wrote:
caciar or vodka ? :-p
tanker on the horizon wrote:
I don’t really bother to go over there much anymore, but it seems to me, he was thrown overboard as well.
Iron Fist wrote:
It is surreal when you have tried & true socialist bastions firing the shot across the bow about how much we’re spending.
@ Speranza:
Rove:
If only! Instead they get honored.
Speranza wrote:
Pretty much. Remember the famous quote at the end of Animal House after the guy’s brother’s Lincoln is totally trashed? “You trusted us. You f*cked up”. Fits Obama perfectly.
@ Guggi:
I love this:
That never stops climate scientists.
Another reason to stop playing golf is that spelled backwards it’s flog.
I’m tellin’ the NAACP about this cleary a racist sport.
@ buzzsawmonkey:
And outright lying worked so damn well with the American public Obama and Democrats have intensified their strategy. There is no signs of them letting up either.
Speranza wrote:
Victor Davis Hanson is a Pajama’s Media Columnist and a rational intelligent conservative who’s arguments lefties find difficult to defeat. Thus he is a doubleplusungood unperson in Big Lizard’s Digital Oceania.
pimf whose
Excellent article, Speranza! Thanks for bring it to my attention.
The Osprey wrote:
VDH, Charles Krauthammer, Meark Steyn, Caroline Glick -all verboten at The Animal farm.
Kali wrote:
No problem. I always look for Victor Davis Hanson stuff.
snork wrote:
That was a great line!
@ Iron Fist:
Hey You get a mention in my post that comes up at 11:30!
Great article.
@ Speranza:
But not here!
Hey my next one you will like!
Here is where Hanson deviated from the Party line and become an unperson:
US Jews wondering: Will Chelsea Clinton convert?
Secretary of state and former president’s daughter to marry Jewish banker Mark Mezvinsky in a few weeks. American Jews following preparations and rumors, eager to accept Chelsea into ranks
Yitzhak Benhorin
Published: 07.15.10, 16:28 / Israel Jewish Scene
share
WASHINGTON – Many Jewish media outlets in the US have recently been grappling with the question – Will Chelsea Clinton convert for her fiancé? Discussions of this fateful issue are being held as the former first daughter, who is now 30, is about to marry the love of her life, Mark Mezvinsky, at the end of the month.
Jewish news agency JTA and established Jewish newspaper Jewish Week have recently been discussing the possibility that Chelsea may convert, based on assessments that the Mezvinsky family, which belongs to the Conservative movement, will not be able to find a rabbi willing to marry a Jew to a Christian. The Conservative movement discourages intermarriage and forbids its rabbis from officiating at or attending weddings in which one of the partners did not convert
Hey we Jews got enough problems without having a ” Clinton” to worry about.
@ The Osprey:
VDH went out of his way to defend teh Jazz Man and llok at how he’s rewarded.
@ Nevergiveup:
Maybe they will both convert to Islam!
The Osprey wrote:
What a degenerate shit head The Johnson is. And VDH at one time tried to defend CJ without necessarily agreeing with him.
Meanwhile in the workers paradise of North Korea:
Amputations without anesthesia in NKorea
Rodan wrote:
there is not a shred of honor or decency in Snowball.
@ citizen_q:
Oh fuck I had that coming up as a thread!
@ Speranza:
Oops sorry about that. You can delete it if you want. I was just scanning the news and thought others might find it interesting. If you were going to do a thread on it, I guess that I was right.
citizen_q wrote:
Its ok. If people start commenting on it here I will delete my thread. I do not have the authority to delete comments. The North Korea story will go up either today or tomorrow morning.
@ huckfunn:
I don’t know which is worse – the stinkin’ lying,filthy Dem maggots who ran their mouths or that the MSM didn’t set the record straight immediately.Had the situation been reversed it would have been front page news. I can’t think of too many other ‘issues’ my lib acquaintances babble on about that p*sses me off more than this one.
This and the ‘Mission Accomplished’ bs. It says a lot about how far we have fallen that so many American men can’t understand why this needed to be done – makes me wanna puke.
… and it makes me proud to be an American that so many volunteered to get the job done !
/rant
Speranza wrote:
Wrong pig. Sorry to be on a crusade with this, but people, if you are going to do an Animal Farm allusion do it right. “Snowball” may be more descriptive of Chuckle’s physique, but really, which ones character sounds more like Chuckles?
Killgore Trout is Squealer.
No longer free.
Welcome to the American Dark Ages.
@ Speranza:
Nope he only cares about his Iceweasel!
Government says “OK. NOW you can cap the well.”
Thanks, Daddy.
@ Speranza:
I will refrain from comment in preference of a thread. I can imagine how much work it takes to find appropriate material, and prepare a thread.
Bumr50 wrote:
I have been using “Welcome to the neo-Dark ages” as a signature in a local gun forum for quite a while now.
Rodan wrote:
Spit right in face!
@ Rodan:
Good morning.
Maybe the GOP will finally grow a pair?
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=38074
Instapundit is thinking like me. Nukes aren’t necessarily cheap, but they are cost-effective compared to other options on the table…
@ gulfloafer:
Morning!
The Osprey wrote:
Par for the course. Dishonest is dishonest, Charles should know that for sure.
@ Iron Fist:
There are other options. Some are already on their way:
http://www.infowars.com/steve-wynn-takes-on-washington/
@ The Osprey:
Chuck is Snowball. UMH is Napoleon.
UMH = asswhistle.
@ gulfloafer:
Maybe, and that would be great, but it still highlights the lack of initiative among GOP leadership.
We need leaders who are willing to make commitments and principled stands BEFORE “testing the waters” and seeing how people react IMO.
I sometimes get the feeling that they are behaving in a manner more to our liking only after we’ve pitched a fit for a week. While it’s definitely good to see that they are listening to the conservative base, they should’ve been in touch enough to know how the base will respond.
Hopefully that changes a little in November.
@ Formercorpsman:
“There were no lies and no academic fraud revealed by the stolen CRU emails.”
This is simply a flat out lie.
There. Fixed the punctuation.
Does this sound familiar?
http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/news/politics/cedra-crenshaw-tea-party-illinois-wilhelmi-20100714
@ Bumr50:
I’m optimistic.
@ Guggi:
Thank you for that link.
A beautiful example of politically motivated social science.
The economic idiocy of the book (and the reviewer) is breathtaking. I enjoyed the attempt at a cultural explanation by comparison with Nordic countries.
@ Bumr50:
http://www.aimsurplus.com/
http://www.bravocompanyusa.com/
http://www.rainierarms.com/
http://www.skdtac.com/
http://swfa.com/default.aspx
http://www.policehq.com/
http://www.palmettostatearmory.com/
http://www.wideners.com/
http://www.laruetactical.com/
http://www.cmmginc.com/
http://www.danieldefense.com/
http://www.dsarms.com/
http://www.dsarms.com/
http://www.gem-tech.com/
http://www.kestrelweather.com/
http://www.magpul.com/
http://www.tacticalnightvision.com/
http://www.surplusammoandarms.com/
http://www.operationparts.com/
http://www.quanticoarms.com/
http://www.riflegear.com/
http://www.tacticalresponse.com/
http://www.mdtstraining.com/
Poteen wrote:
Charlie Johnson is an asinine jerk.
citizen_q wrote:
Hey no problem. Good to see that people are scanning the headlines.
Poteen wrote:
I’ll admit, the bloom is off the rose for me as it pertains to Animal Farm. At one point, I could actually sit back & ponder after seeing some insane rant from the new crew, and wonder if this is really LGF?
As if there were some shred of sanity that might somehow leak through?
Well of course the answer is no. It has descended into ideological hell, all the while wagging the finger against supposed ideological hell.
It is a mockery of rationale thought, and objective opinion. I truly think it makes the Daily Kos, or Huffpo appear somewhat saner in comparison.
“There were no lies and no academic fraud revealed by the stolen CRU emails. This is simply a flat out lie !”
“Yes your Excellency, of course your Excellency… I don’t know what I could have been thinking your Excellency … I take complete responsibility for my writings…. and I’m prepared to face my punishment…. torture me if you must but please your Excellency, spare my family … Oh I beg of you, please, spare my family !!”
@ Formercorpsman:
Essentially, their insanity does not surprise me anymore. It is an expectation, and bore at this point.
@ Iron Fist:
other options on the table…
Is that bottled sunshine I see behind the napkin holder ??
@ Iron Fist:
@ gulfloafer:
“Maybe the GOP will finally grow a pair?”
and:
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2010/07/rick-lazio-calls-out-andrew-cu.html
Obama is only trying to do what he did in Chicago. He is trying to ‘organize’ the citizenry of the US. How dare the US Citizenry not want to be organized into a mindless body! The strategy of a community organizer is always ALWAYS to blame a 3rd party. The school system is bad because ‘they’ don’t give us enough money. The housing sucks because ‘they’ don’t give us enough money. There is no self-responsibility. If someone is failing in school, it is because ‘the system’ has let them down rather than they’ve been watching MTV all night instead of opening a book.
This is what community organizers do. Rally the people of the (insert any federally recognized minority here) community and blackmail money from the government. They are truly government employees who do nothing but tell the government they want more money.
Rodan wrote:
Hey, I defended him against censorware/firewall services that were blocking conservative and counterjihad blogs. I personally stuck my neck out because it was the right thing to do at that time.
At present, if someone were to accuse CJ of “hate speech” I would be unable to offer any argument to rebut that premise. Nonetheless, I do not believe that his blog should be firewalled simply because it is, in fact, “hate speech.”
Formercorpsman wrote:
If the richest 5 percent of Americans voted for Obama, arguably the rest of us would indeed have been better off if they, and their campaign contributions, had left quite some time ago!
But I don’t think that’s what Obozo meant, exactly.