AJ DiCintio

Obama Being Obama
June 26, 2009

Soon after brave Iranians began putting their lives on the line for freedom, justice, and a better life, Nicolas Sarkozy condemned the violence by Iran’s government and supported fundamental human rights for Iran’s people.

(The same Nicolas Sarkozy, by the way, who, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, characterized candidate Obama’s Iran policy as “utterly immature” and composed of “formulations empty of all content.”)

So did Gordon Brown stand for principle.

And the EU leadership.

And both houses of the U.S. Congress.

However, except for squeaking a few platitudes, Barack Obama remained largely silent about an uprising that could lead to the overthrow of one of the world’s most repressive, most dangerous governments, explaining through his press secretary that his biggest concern is this:

“We’re not going to be used as political foils and political footballs in a debate that’s happening by [sic] Iranians in Iran.”

A mere “debate” occurring in Iran?

What a stunning perversion of morality and language. Even worse, it is no slip; for Obama spoke in exactly the same manner when he doubly insulted every freedom loving person in the world, first by characterizing the reality in Iran as a “robust debate” and second by displaying the astonishing chutzpah required to say that for the first time since the Islamic Revolution of ’79, the Iranian government has an opportunity to educate the planet about “what Iran is and is not.”

So there we have it. Instead of speaking maturely about important principles, the leader of the free world, who fancies himself a refreshing agent of change, exposed himself as nothing more than a political hack who counts talk as being so cheap he can blithely throw into the trash can words he intoned in his “new beginning” Cairo speech a few weeks ago.

America does not presume to know what is best for everyone. . . But I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn’t steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose. Those are not just American ideas, they are human rights, and that is why we will support them everywhere.

In addition to being shamefully unprincipled, the president’s behavior was also embarrassingly ironic; for Iran’s fascists responded to his “caution” by kicking him around as a meddling imperialist, thereby making (surprise, surprise) an Ugly American foil of him.

Now, since it is clear that, as others have, Obama could have given voice to the universal “human rights” he pledged to “support everywhere” and do so without endangering members of the Iranian opposition or opening the U.S. to real charges of being an imperialist bully, the relevant question about his behavior asks “why?”

As usual, Obama’s slobbering sycophants answer that question by dogmatically bending a knee to White House talking points — and then, with furious haste, returning to their contemplations regarding the thrill “God” (see Evan Thomas) sends up their legs or discussions about which cover photo best captures his almighty nature (see, especially, Evan Thomas’ Newsweek).

But because the rest of us should take the question seriously, my answer to it is this:

Obama is simply being Obama. That is, he is following the Obama Narrative to a tee by placing The Incredible Barack Obama at the Center of All Things.

Yes, the truth about Barack Obama of Chicago, Illinois, is this: He regards himself as the only one who can use his miraculous “gift” to soothe the savage breast of Iran’s terrorist supporting, nuclear arms coveting fascist gang — if only impudent demonstrators, pompous heads of state, meddling legislators, mindless commentators, and uninformed citizens would get out of his way.

(Regarding the “gift,” no less an apostle than Senator Harry Reid claims Obama revealed its existence to him without — as befitting a divine being — “the barest hint of braggadocio or conceit.”)

But there is a more important truth evident here, for asking the world to accept him as The One is what Obama has been doing all along. And millions, including congressional Democrats, have declared their complete faith in him.

For example, Obama has never deemed it important to use his rhetorical skills to explain the full consequences of a spending and borrowing binge unprecedented in human history; but congressional Democrats borrow and spend according to his every wish, at times giving testimony to their deep, unshakeable faith by passing bills without even reading them.

Trillions upon trillions upon trillions in borrowing and spending, including . . .

$800 billion for a pork-stuffed “stimulus” whose effects will be felt “sometime” and whose on-going future costs will be paid “somehow” by states and municipalities

Nearly $200 billion so that bailed out AIG could pay $12 billion to politically well-connected Goldman Sachs and foreign banks — 100 cents on the dollar

Tens of billions (and counting) to avoid real bankruptcy for GM and Chrysler in favor of a bogus bankruptcy that results in government ownership, thereby installing Obama as de facto CEO of entities we must now call “corporations socialized for an indeterminate period of time”

$1.5 trillion (and counting) for health care “reform” with not a mention of how to come up with a penny to pay for it, except that Obama has suggested he could appropriately multiply the “bread” brought in by a tax on soda and potato chips

Finally, on top of the incredible borrowing and spending, there is the $846 billion (CBO estimate) that Obama’s Cap-and-Trade proposal will suck out of the economy.

But right on cue, Obama counsels the public to fear not; for he promises (1) to protect Americans (especially seniors) from devastating increases in their utility bills (2) to convince China and India to implement America’s carbon policies (3) to create economic growth despite the burden of the onerous cost of the C&T program (4) to create millions of good jobs, especially for young people who deserve a particularly good return on all the hope they have invested.  

You say that these megalomaniacal fiscal and foreign affairs policies will avoid disaster only if Obama can suspend the laws of economics and human nature?

(Remember, we haven’t even touched upon national security policies, for example, Obama’s promise to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay without first having figured out where to send the prisoners. Does the call to faith sound familiar?)

Well, ye of little faith, The One will tell you that you have forgotten about his “gift.”

And after he has completed his labors, he will also tell you he has earned the right to indulge in a bit of perfectly human behavior.

Thus, on a metaphorical seventh day, he will reprise what he did recently when he swatted a fly into oblivion and grace himself with this perfectly arrogant assertion disguised as a humble question: “Pretty impressive, wasn’t it?”