Tony Perkins’ Excellent Analysis of Obama
July 25th, 2008 by natalie
I think the following analysis of Barack Obama is one of the most insightful and concise I’ve read. It was in today’s FRC Action Update. If you are interested in receiving these updates, you can subscribe on this page of their website. You may also be interested in subscribing to the Washington Update – a daily e-mail sent by Family Research Council with usually 3-4 paragraphs of current happenings in the political world. It’s very informative and is a quick read.
Obama: In the World and of It
Hearts are still thumping from Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) rock tour through Europe, but back home the trip has prompted more than a few uneasy Americans to wonder what, exactly, the Illinois Senator is running for. The man campaigning for President appears to be more consumed with becoming world sovereign than leader of the United States. These days, it’s easy to become confused about Obama’s agenda as nations trip over themselves to throw out a welcome mat for the unconventional nominee-to-be.
Using his uncanny ability to touch hearts without ever touching on policy, Obama has perfectly choreographed the trip through Europe’s progressive hotspots, where his biggest selling point seems to be his ability to distance himself from the nation he’s vying to lead. In his speech yesterday, the man whose campaign is already calling him president spent more time apologizing for America than he did representing it. With the crowd cheering and cameras flashing, Obama talked of “hope” and “change.” He spoke of disarming America of nuclear weapons and addressing climate change. He dreamed of a nation “where every language is spoken,” and every culture leaves “its imprint”–an America that puts global citizenship ahead of its moral identity.
As David Brooks said in today’s New York Times, “When John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan went to Berlin, their rhetoric soared, but their optimism was grounded in the reality of politics, conflict, and hard choices… Reagan didn’t call for a kumbaya moment… Obama has benefited from a week of good images. But substantively, optimism without reality isn’t eloquence. It’s just Disney.” The problem, of course, is that a lot of Americans live in a Disney world.
“The man campaigning for President appears to be more consumed with becoming world sovereign than leader of the United States.”
Yet during the last eight years, we have taken actual concrete steps towards increasing our territory by invading several foreign countries.
I agree that Obama has aspirations for world wide influence (but is that a bad thing for the POTUS?).
I agree that Obama is objectionable on many many levels. However, I think popularity with our allies is a weak point for us at the moment, and I can’t see why his warm welcome in other nations should concern us… his stance on pretty much everything else, on the other hand…
Hi Naddy! Thanks so much for your thoughts (and sorry to be so delinquent in responding…). I think one of the key things that Tony Perkins points out is that the reason why all these foreign countries are embracing Obama is because he is very unAmerican. To answer your question, if achieving world-wide influence is sought in exchange for a commitment first and foremost to the people of American, then yes, I think it is a bad thing for the POTUS. If he has to bash his own country in order to receive applause from leaders and citizens of other countries, then he has no business running to be our President. I am truly appalled at how many people are blindly cheering him on and supporting him.
Like you mentioned, his stance on almost everything is very objectionable. His policies are ultimately destructive to the American way of life, which is founded on Christian principles, and which is the basis of our freedom. Sometimes I feel like our country is made up of too many straw people who might as well walk around singing, “If I only had a brain…”
Thanks for your response, Natalie. I think I understand better what you mean.
Although, I would point out that there are lots of things to criticize about our country at the moment. Obama and I would be bashing nearly diametrically opposed things, though!