What happen to Change??
On Jun 12, 6:27 pm, Travis <[email protected]> wrote: > From: *Travis* > Date: Fri, Jun 12, 2009 > Subject: Obama Lies > > http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/11/AR200... > > *Obama Hovers From on High > * > > By Charles Krauthammer > Friday, June 12, 2009 > > *"And the Spirit of God hovered upon the face of the waters"* > > -- *Genesis 1:2* > > When President Obama returned from his first European trip, I > observed<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/09/AR200...>that > while over there he had been "acting the philosopher-king who hovers > above the fray mediating" between America and the world. Now that Obama has > returned from his "Muslim world" pilgrimage, even the left agrees. "Obama's > standing above the country, above -- above the world. He's sort of God," > Newsweek's Evan Thomas > said<http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2009/06/05/newsweek_editor_eva...>to > a concurring Chris Matthews, reflecting on Obama's lofty perception of > himself as the great transcender. > > Not that Obama considers himself divine. (He sees himself as merely > messianic, or, at worst, apostolic.) But he does position himself as > hovering above mere mortals, mere country, to gaze benignly upon the > darkling plain beneath him where ignorant armies clash by night, blind to > the common humanity that only he can see. Traveling the world, he brings the > gospel of understanding and godly forbearance. We have all sinned against > each other. We must now look beyond that and walk together to the sunny > uplands of comity and understanding. He shall guide you. Thus: > > (A) He told Iran that, on the one hand, America once helped overthrow an > Iranian government, while on the other hand "Iran has played a role in acts > of hostage-taking and violence against U.S. troops and civilians." (Played a > role?!) We have both sinned; let us bury the past and begin anew. > > (B) On religious tolerance, he gently referenced the Christians of Lebanon > and Egypt, then lamented that the "divisions between Sunni and Shia have led > to tragic violence" (note the use of the passive voice). He then criticized > (in the active voice) Western religious intolerance for regulating the > wearing of the hijab -- after citing America for making it difficult for > Muslims to give to charity. > > (C) Obama offered Muslims a careful admonition about women's rights, noting > how denying women education impoverishes a country -- balanced, of course, > with this: "Issues of women's equality are by no means simply an issue for > Islam." Example? "The struggle for women's equality continues in many > aspects of American life." > > Well, yes. On the one hand, there certainly is some American university > where the women's softball team has received insufficient Title IX funds -- > while, on the other hand, Saudi women showing ankle are beaten in the > street, Afghan school girls have acid thrown in their faces, and Iranian > women are publicly stoned to death for adultery. (Gays, as well -- but then > again we have Prop 8.) We all have our shortcomings, our national foibles. > Who's to judge? > > That's the problem with Obama's transcultural evenhandedness. It gives the > veneer of professorial sophistication to the most simple-minded observation: > Of course there are rights and wrongs in all human affairs. Our species is a > fallen one. But that doesn't mean that these rights and wrongs are of equal > weight. > > A CIA rent-a-mob in a coup 56 years ago does not balance the > hostage-takings, throat-slittings, terror bombings and wanton slaughters > perpetrated for 30 years by a thug regime in Tehran (and its surrogates) > that our own State Department > calls<http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2008/122436.htm>the world's > "most active state sponsor of terrorism." > > True, France prohibits the wearing of the hijab in certain public places, in > part to allow the force of law to protect Muslim women who might be coerced > into wearing it by neighborhood fundamentalist gangs. But it borders on the > obscene to compare this mild preference for secularization (seen in Muslim > Turkey as well) to the violence that has been visited upon Copts, Maronites, > Bahais, Druze and other minorities in Muslim lands, and to the unspeakable > cruelties perpetrated by Shiites and Sunnis upon each other. > > Even on freedom of religion, Obama could not resist the compulsion to find > fault with his own country: "For instance, in the United States, rules on > charitable giving have made it harder for Muslims to fulfill their religious > obligation" -- disgracefully giving the impression to a foreign audience not > versed in our laws that there is active discrimination against Muslims, when > the only restriction, applied to all donors regardless of religion, is on > funding charities that serve as fronts for terror. > > For all of his philosophy, the philosopher-king protests too much. Obama > undoubtedly thinks he is demonstrating historical magnanimity with all these > moral equivalencies and self-flagellating apologetics. On the contrary. He's > showing cheap condescension, an unseemly hunger for applause and a > willingness to distort history for political effect. > > Distorting history is not truth-telling but the telling of soft lies. > Creating false equivalencies is not moral leadership but moral abdication. > And hovering above it all, above country and history, is a sign not of > transcendence but of a disturbing ambivalence toward one's own country. > > If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we > are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the > intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. > … We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to > tolerate the intolerant. –Sir Karl Popper > <[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe> > > __,_._,___ > > -- > *~@):~{> > > -- > *~@):~{> --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. 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