Well, my BHO-infatuated associate couldn't wait to get that one in front of me.... I had already read it a couple hours earlier on election day... and I knew it was just a matter of time until it was in my e-mail inbox. And, as always, Pat Buchanan provides some thought-provoking arguments.
And so it is... I am an avid reader of Mr Buchanan's column, but not because I embrace all I hear from the controversial, pugnacious, rightist-nationalist. The primary reason is because the man is an original thinker; I have read him for years, plus a couple of his books- and perhaps agree with about 60-70% of what he has to say... yet always entertaining and thought-provoking,. especially 2001's Death of the West. In contrast, I might see eye-to-eye with Sean Hannity 95% of the time... but with so little original thought, why bother watching? I could make a comfortable living betting on what position he will take on any issue, but with Buchanan... I go into it with a curiosity of what I'll find lurking within his latest saturnine diatribe.
And I could tell that the annoyingly bubbly Obama supporter was certain I'd be shocked that Pat Buchanan was laying into the GOP with such vigor- but of course, if you've even seen the McLaughlin Group once over the last couple years... you'd know Mr Buchanan is not a happy GOP-camper these days. Actually, he has been harshly criticizing the party... and more specifically George W. Bush... for at least 5 years already. He certainly has some valid points, too, regarding deficit spending and his standard warnings of imperial overreach. He's basically an isolationist, who dislikes free trade and overseas engagements, always has been.
But, with high-profile Republicans such as Colin Powell jumping on the BHO bandwagon, Buchanan's column would look to some like yet another one throwing-in-the towel on John McCain... and this is exactly the spirit in which it was inflicted upon me- "Hey, have a look at this! Good grief, Pat Buchanan too?!!"
In reality, Buchanan all but endorsed McCain, enthusiastically supported the choice of Sarah Palin... and recently said of Obama: "if he's not a socialist, he does the best imitation of one that I've ever seen" And this begged the question; does this latest "slam" of the GOP, and a few opportunistic "conservative" defectors... plus a general widespread dissapointment with George W Bush... make Obama more qualified to be President than John McCain, somehow? Is that the logic? Seems to be a pretty common way of thinking this election year, IMO... somehow The One has all the answers the voters want to hear, and if not, they have an enduring confidence in his Midas touch... primarily because he is the most-opposite-of-W-choice available. Not a lot of logic in that, but that's how love is. And, does anyone actually think ol' Pat voted for Obama? Seriously?
How does all this cumulative dissapointment with the prior administration indicate that Obama's long-ago-discredited, redistributionist socialist nonsense is suddenly going to work just great this time? The only other one that might possibly buy-into that is Hugo Chavez- even Cuba's finally tip-toeing away from it. I sure hope Target is all stocked-up on red Che Geuvara T-shirts... should be the hot Christmas item among the stubbornly-ignorant fashionistas of the American electorate this year.
And regarding America's plentiful and daunting foreign-policy challenges of 2008-on, IMO the election of a pacifist former pot-head to the position of Commander-in-Chief because people are sick of hunting terrorists is extremely short-sighted... and foolish. This delivery of a victory to enemies of the United States by presenting a (dream-come-true) strategic and martial Bambi to the likes of Al Qaida, Iran, Syria, Hamas, Hezbollah, Venezuala, and Russia is a good idea... because you're pissed at George Bush? And those who thought BHO sounded well-thought-out and convincingly reasssuring on defense issues during the campaign... well, just watch and learn; it doesn't take much scratching of the surface to see that Obama's ignorance of defense issues is shocking, to say the least (but in fairness, clearly above average compared to most other community organizers). Like most on the left, his view is based more upon how he'd like things to be... than the actual world that confronts us.... coupled to a misguided attempt to seek the moral high ground vs. his domestic political opponents.
The vodka is likely flowing freely in Moscow tonight, with Vladimir Putin laughing his New-Czarist ass off, believe it... and he could very-well have tanks in the Crimea by spring. Guess why... 52% of the American electorate just invited him to do it, because they are generically "sick of war". It was Trotsky who said "You may not be interested in war... but war is interested in you". I heard some say they "couldn't sleep at night" with the trigger-happy maverick McCain (and his allegedly short-fuse) with a finger on the button... well there's two sides to that; Vlad the Invader wouldn't have been sleeping so soundly either.
So Obamafiles, Obama-ites, Obamiacs, and Obama-mamas, et. al.... enjoy the party... while it lasts. It is pretty obvious to the less-infatuated that many both in the US, as well as abroad, harbor such lofty expectations for this most unqualified, disengenuous, and misguided man that massive dissapointment is all but waiting-around-the-corner... especially since he clearly lacks the stature to control Pelosi and Reid domestically (can you say "trillion dollar deficit?... then watch the dollar plunge to €0.30) -anyone who voted for Obama out of dissapointment with Bush's large deficits is surely in for a nasty shock. Once again, just because George W Bush happened to get it wrong... doesn't mean the political opposite is an improvement. And just wait for that "early test" we've been hearing so-much about... where Mr Obama will promptly receive a harsh introduction to strategic brinkmanship favored by so many of America's sworn enemies (as even hallucinating, crazy-aunt-in-the-attick Joe Biden seems to see coming).
Those deliriously celebrating this setback of everything pragmatically achieved (from the first Reagan administration, on through the 2nd moderate Clinton term) remind me of the words of French PM Edouard Daladier, upon seeing crowds cheering his return from the signing of the Munich Agreement (1938), with Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini (and thinking France had now acheived a guarantee of peace in their time). While descending from the plane, he observed the many joyous French citizens greeting him at the airport... with disgust... and said "These people are crazy!". Even though he was the one who negotiated and signed this (shameful attempt at appeasement) as best he could... Msr. Daladier was still wise enough to know naive, wishful thinking when he saw it.
