The rogue Obama
Having observed Obama just about every day now for at least six years, I’ve come to some firm conclusions. And here’s a quote with which I concur [hat tip: Artfldgr]:
But to Obama and his core supporters, he’s not a rogue. To them, he’s a principled man achieving what he set out to achieve. It’s all about ends and means. Not all ends are worth all means in the radical’s book, but some ends are worth any means to achieve them. From the day that Obama sought his first public office in the Illinois Senate, representing that sliver of east Cook County bordering Indiana, through his carefully planned Senate campaign, to his presidency, his means are fluid, but his ends are unshakeable.
Radical leftists don’t give thought to what the “enemy” thinks about what they say (Rule #12). They only think about what those they wish to convince to their cause believe…
Obama ignores public opinion polls for the most part. Unlike previous Democrat presidents like Bill Clinton, he has no desire to be liked. The adoration of his core supporters means power to him, people who will do what he needs done. Personal loyalty is earned by commitment to the cause, and that loyalty is just as easily lost.
That coldness about other people, the viewing of them as merely a means to an end, useful or not useful for his purposes, is one of Obama’s most salient characteristics. In fact, it was clearly present in his very first political act at the beginning of his very first political campaign at the local Chicago level, the behavior that should have given everyone the willies but somehow didn’t: his treatment of Alice Palmer. Jokes about Obama’s throwing people under the bus aren’t really all that funny, because of what they imply about his ruthlessness. That’s why it’s always puzzled me that people perceive him as affable or likeable. It’s an impression I’ve never gotten, and that’s on a visceral level (boy, I’ve been using that word “visceral” a lot lately) as well as an intellectual one.
What are Obama’s purposes? His own self-aggrandizement, for one, but he’s so convinced of his marvelousness that, as the quote indicates, he doesn’t really need people to love him or even like him. He has plenty who adore him, and he adores himself. What he needs is power for its own sake, plus power in the service of the leftist agenda which he definitely espouses. That agenda is composed of, but hardly limited to: reducing America’s status and power in the world, helping third-world countries gain more power (including, if necessary, Islamist fundamentalist third-world countries), making people in this country more dependent on big government and therefore on the Democratic Party, taking from the rich to give to the poor. His favorite tactics include Alinsky’s rules, harming his opponents, smearing his opponents, lying, fostering envy and hatred between races and classes, and expanding executive power to get around limitations placed on him by the Constitution. This is what makes him seem “rogue” at this point to a lot of people, but he’s only “rogue” if you look at him in terms of conventional presidents. If you look at him in terms of tyrants, he’s not rogue at all.
[NOTE: The word “rogue” has two general meanings. The first is a person who is dishonest or immoral. I guess Obama fits that bill. The second meaning is a person “who causes trouble in a playful way.” I see nothing playful about Obama, although I suppose he’s “playful” in the sense of playing the long game.]
[NOTE II: This is slightly off-topic, but it’s a good article about something I’ve written on many times in the last few years, the makeup and background of Obama’s security advisors, who are politically-oriented PR hacks.]
The surprising thing, though, is Obama is quite loyal to those he has appointed who have failed miserably.
RickC:
Failed? If you mean that seriously, you are misunderstanding Obama’s aims. Holder, et al, have not failed at all. They have only failed by to achieve our goals and live up to our standards. They have faithfully executed exactly what Obama wants done.
I prefer this fuller definition of ‘rogue’ when applied to our Emir:
“resembling or suggesting a rogue elephant especially in being isolated, aberrant, dangerous, or uncontrollable”.
A rogue elephant is a very fearsome and vicious creature; including domesticated ones, most often in India, who sometimes rather suddenly go bonkers.
When looked at through this lens, Obama’s actions become understandable. Our problem has always been to try to understand what he was doing based on our own values. In his world, our values are only the quaint, outmoded beliefs of bitter clingers. No more analysis. He’s a foolish knave. Period. Full stop.
Moreover, he is following the Alinsky tactic of flooding the zone with so many new outrages that we are left gasping for breath. It is really hard to keep up.
As noted he seems to float above the fray, caring not about opinions, lives ruined, or dangers to the U.S. Has there ever been any President who has so outrageously flaunted our laws and societal norms? Maybe FDR. It’s hard to recall.
Kimberly Strassel’s article is spot on. The NSC is supposed to be a body of serious adults with deep understanding of foreign affairs. What Obama has done is put shallow political thinkers in charge.
Based on what we can now clearly see, there is no reason to cut Obama and his prog supporters any slack. The only way forward is opposition at every step. Barrage your Congress critters. They work for us. They pay attention to voters’ opinions. It takes some effort, but if 10% of the population write to their Congress critters once a week, that’s 30 million communications a week. Citizenship is not a spectator sport. Get involved!
“This is the president we have, one who believes he is not simply above the law, but that he is the law, and he will stop at nothing to achieve his ends.”
Most telling is Obama has shown this in every policy decision he has made.
Obama IS the law. Eric Holder has made that clear by his actions.
“Obama IS the law.”
Then I don’t see how he can go away peacefully. Assuming we have elections in 2016, I then would expect after all the misdirection that Mooch will be the jackass nominee. I don’t see how King Putt can let loose of the ring of power. Anyone not part of core Team Putt might prosecute this clown show.
My initial take is that Lurker is exactly and horribly correct:
“’Obama IS the law.’
“Then I don’t see how he can go away peacefully.”
I take this to plausibly explain why the Democratic roaches have clustered so hard around the great Emir. They too are in it for the long haul, with 650 million bullets already being stockpiled by DHS.
It will not end well, but we have two years before the end of the current (bad) string, and we’d best get ready for tomorrow’s badness even as we try to fight down today’s.
It makes perfect sense, Lurker.
This is another insightful essay on the real BHO neo, but I do not think BHO is all that interested in taking from the rich to give to the poor. He loves to rub elbows with the rich and is more than happy to rake in their millions to fill his pockets. However, he is content to borrow money to give to the ‘poor’ and of course his cronies. Yet somehow this noble genius, the mightest intellect to ever strut across the stage, ignores the simple reality that borrowing 40% (and eventually 50-60-70%) of every dollar spent to advance his far leftist schemes will eventually come crashing down.
In this blindness he is truly the epitome of the arrogant marxist intelligentsia of the last 100+ years.
If you have the AG, IRS, FBI, CIA, NSA, military, your own party (dems) and MOST of the nations press in your pocket … who’s left to stop Obama from doing anything he wants?
parker:
I correct it to “taking from the non-Obama-supporting rich.”
Although technically he will take it from them, too. It’s just that he’ll then give it back in special advantages.
JJ said,
“Barrage your Congress critters. They work for us. They pay attention to voters’ opinions.”
No they don’t. Complete waste of time for me. Blumenthal and Murphy, along with such notables as Delauro and Courtney. I may as well talk to a wall as write these people for all that they pay attention to anyone with a conservative view.
Yeah…this is not going to end well.
Neo,
I had intended to add an example sentence to my claim Obama had been loyal to those who had failed. Sebelius was the first example and Shinseki was the second. I agree totally that Holder has not failed at least as far as Obama is concerned.
Example …
“We’re taking a historic step to strengthen our justice system and protect the rights of the most vulnerable members of society,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “How we treat those in need, particularly young people who must appear in immigration proceedings – many of whom are fleeing violence, persecution, abuse or trafficking – goes to the core of who we are as a nation.”
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/06/06/obama-immigration-lawyers-children-border/10060725/?AID=10709313&PID=4003003&SID=1336j9abc18s1
And they will do it YOUR tax $$.
A quibble with the cited article which stated: America will deal with any nation from Obama’s perspective since we are equal in all respects. Prior commitments and public opinion guide his steps, but the conviction of American unexceptionalism remains unchanged.
I watched BO’s entire West Point speech. It was delivered in the usual sing-song cadence and bland pseudo-intellectual phrasing which seems to have escaped almost everyone’s notice, even opponents who bizarrely credit him with making good speeches. Maybe the ones I watch are beamed from the planet Ringling.
But there is one moment BO is genuine, connected, sincere, pumped. That is the moment he states (this from memory) “I believe in American exceptionalism with the very fiber of my being.”
True, part of BO does believe that America is exceptional in the way Greeks etc think they are exceptional (a statement, btw, which is so incoherent logically as to be a fantasy).
But the true BO does believe with his whole fiber that America is exceptional, exceptionally evil, exceptionally responsible for all that is wrong in the world, the exceptional progeny of the exceptionally poisonous culture of the West and the white race.
The passive-aggressive moment was a psychological orgasm for BO. He got to tell the “truth.” He got to fool the stupid. He got to feel smartest. And he got to say what he really believes, which he usually cannot do without affecting his future plans.
He pretty much pulled one over on everyone except the cognescenti. Like the rest of his presidency.
RickC:
But Sebelius and Shineski were both asked to resign (Shineski rather ignominiously, immediately after he had outlined his new plan of attack for the VA’s problems) after they had served their purpose. Sebelius stayed till the March 31 new launch date and then she went.
Not loyalty, pragmatism. He used them and then kicked them out when they were no longer useful. Holder remains very very useful.
What I’ve noticed over the last week is that several articles in the MSM have talked about Obama’s concentration on his “legacy” from this point on. Interesting choice of word, since it pretty much carries a positive connotation, at least for me.
jack, Lurker and Don Carlos:
It is plausible that BO would love a shooting war just because it would be so destructive to this country and provide our enemies with opportunity.
It is plausible that BO would have conversations with our enemies to invite them to create circumstances in the US where he assumes “emergency” power, circumstances where a lot of the populace regards it as necessary and good.
But I am disturbed by the remarks here and there (not you three, but elsewhere) by non-Leftists who are saying in effect bring it on. I have even seen a few remarks here and there saying in effect, we need the military to rectify things.
Those remarks here and there are what BO wants. He is trolling for them. He is preparing for a crack down on “domestic terrorists,” meaning us, anyone who disagrees.
We need to remain calm and think about this calmly.
My personal belief is that our greatest opportunity in the near term is that the Leftists overplay their hand. We have little or no influence on what happens.
They control the culture and the means of communication, literally. They do not control the minds of tens of millions, maybe even the majority. That is a source of great hope.
BO is creeping up to his moment, and we have to be patient and see what we shall see.
I hope to God if He exists that we do not see the breaking point. But there is nothing we can do about it other than walk on eggs in hopes we do not add the “reasons” for the breaking point.
We are beyond rational discussion. Prayerful optimism and thoughts about the long term are what is available.
And if things happen, it would be a grave miscalculation by BO in my opinion.
“Has there ever been any President who has so outrageously flaunted our laws and societal norms? Maybe FDR. It’s hard to recall. The only way forward is opposition at every step. Barrage your Congress critters.” JJ
No, Obama is beyond the pale. Opposition is hamstrung with a GOP that elects RINO’s. Support for the GOP means continuance of the status quo. I’m in agreement that barraging our Congressional representatives is for the most part, wasted effort.
Congressional Democrats are radical leftist ‘progressives’ who only lessen their ideological support when their political survival is directly threatened by scandal so severe that it cannot be ‘spun’.
Congressional Republican support for Comprehensive Amnesty for 11-33 million ‘undocumented democrats’ (with more literally pouring over our ‘former’ borders every day) demonstrates beyond dispute where their actual loyalties lie, which is neither to Constitutional nor conservative principles. A Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Jeff Sessions, etc. is far too few, they are ‘prophets’ “crying out in a wilderness” of apathetic indoctrinated voters, being led to their doom. Their votes dragging the rest of us to our shared fate.
The problem is NOT Obama. The problem is not radical, seditious Congressional democrats. The problem isn’t even activist democrats in the media, NGO’s and academia.
All of these are symptoms.
The problem is an electorate that has been so successfully indoctrinated into the left’s memes that it has lost its moral compass. The problem is an electorate willing to trade a little liberty for some economic security and politically correct self-esteem.
An enemy is not someone you can easily understood. If you could, they wouldn’t be an enemy normally.
Leftism collapses because of wallet issues.
They’re way ahead when it comes to totalitarianisms.
Getting into street battles is to play on their (psychic) turf.
I see agent provocateurs all the time trolling anti-0bama blogs.
These often take the form of formenting extremely bizarre, over the top anti-Semitism typical of Nazi agitprop.
Many have ‘tells’ indicating that the poster is either a recent immigrant or a Russian shill/ SVR agent.
For those unaware, Moscow is STILL fully engaged in agitprop campaigns in the West. Hyjacking blog threads is so cheap that its official policy.
Moscow’s prime tactic is to divide and conquer. So you have agents working the Left and the anti-0bama at the same time.
Manipulating Western public opinion is the SVR/ KGB’s primary mission — not spying.
Moscow is totally on board with Barry’s domestic agenda because it must atrophy American power.
Moscow loves Barry’s twisted and confused foreign policies since they atrophy American diplomacy. De facto, Barry has destroyed all of our alliances. He’s thrown everyone to the wolf.
And Moscow loves playing chess with a retard. By Putin’s standards, Barry is positively dull — arrogant — but dull.
By Russian standards, Barry wouldn’t be deemed able to run a post office… where you have to show up to work.
Putin’s problem is Barry’s problem: they both working to counter-economic scripts that must leave both nations drastically poorer.
Being grasping is not the same as being able to hold, to manage, to succeed in the longer run.
There are twenty ‘Napoleons’ for every ‘Washington.’
They always play out as tragedy.
“’Obama IS the law.’
“Then I don’t see how he can go away peacefully.” Lurker
Partially true, Obama is the law within certain constraints. Obama cannot start holding summary executions of political prisoners on the front lawn of the WH. Obama cannot declare himself ‘Presidente for life’.
Without sufficient cause; such as a nuclear terrorist attack, complete collapse of the monetary system or an CME event or EMP attack… Obama cannot declare nationwide martial law, as the troops wouldn’t support him without an undeniable need for martial law. And absent a 2/3 rds congressional majority, martial law is a prerequisite to ‘fundamentally transforming’ the US Constitution. Which is absolutely necessary to the final transformation of America.
So, barring a ‘wild card’ event, there will be a 2016 election and Hillary is prepared to not only carry forward Obama’s legacy but to create her own, as the First Woman President.
“Leftism collapses because of wallet issues.”
Not when it holds all the cards. The Soviet Union collapsed because of its inability to compete with the US. What happens when the left has no ideological competitor?
GB…
They dynastic end looks like the waning days of Rome.
Chunks of the empire simply float away.
America (circa 2001) was an unconventional cultural empire that more or less spanned the globe.
Barry-0 has ALREADY chunked off major pieces.
I’d say that to a large degree, he’s destroyed the logical guts of NATO and all of our alliances.
Israel is the canary, the ‘tell’ for this devolution.
Bibi has to fly to Moscow to get any results.
Trips to DC are strictly for show, nothing can be accomplished thereby… other than containing a fulsome panic.
Why is there no mention of Valerie Jarret, Obama’s Rasputin – the power behind the throne. She was never elected but probably exerts more power than anyone but Michelle. Supposedly, she even has her own Secret Service detail.
The question that has to be asked and, with some thought, carefully answered – Can the United States survive two more years??????
“They dynastic end looks like the waning days of Rome.”
Perhaps but after the fall of the republic aka Caesar declaring himself dictator of Rome, there was a centuries long ‘fall’ before Rome fell to the barbarians. We are arguably, in the last days of the republic but because of constitutional restraints (to which our military in toto owes allegiance) Obama cannot declare himslf dictator in all but name. He needs a legitimate excuse for that, i.e. martial law.
It is also problematic that Obama wants to be a dictator. As he’s too lazy and hasn’t the temperament to impose his will through force. Though the hard core left certainly aims to consolidate power such that a nomenklatura rule.
My perception of Obama is that he’ll welcome becoming the democrat party’s premier spokesperson. Collecting ala Bill Clinton, astronomical speaking fees while living a life of wealth and leisure, laughing at the rubes.
parker, Neo,
http://freebeacon.com/columns/divorce-beltway-style/
Blert, I was thinking about the Roman Empire and Pax Americana up to about 2006. The trends started becoming more than just pattern based.
Geoffrey B:
You misunderestimate Hussein. Misunderestimating totalitarians has previously occurred, taking nations by utter surprise, yielding megadeaths and ruin. I cite the Reichstag fire as one example. And it was a misunderestimation that Pol Pot would never kill Cambodians just because they wore glasses. Allende was misunderestimated, but in that rare case Pinochet saved Chile from ruin by early action. Allende misunderestimated him.
Do not project your values, your conduct, your sense of honor onto Hussein. Even a little bit. Obama continually tests the limits of his powers as we see them, continually enlarges his scope of malconduct, and smiles when you say there are things he cannot do, cannot get away with. He has been extraordinarily effective in achieving his objectives.
Do not misunderestimate the dangers we all face.
Tonawanda:
We are all calm here. But we must communicate with one another, not obliquely but directly and honestly. I do not ask God to relieve me of my problems big or small. God’s moral code tells me what I should do, and it is thereafter up to me. All big answers are provided in the Lord’s Prayer.
“Leftism collapses because of wallet issues.”
No. If wallet issues cause, or contribute to, the collapse, it won’t be Leftism that goes down. The collapse will instead be Leftism’s ultimate triumph, and its carte blanche to securing final power.
Remember Cloward-Piven.
It is true that Obama is not going to run again. But that does not mean he is going to cease being the President. All the groundwork is being laid. Many think, and say, that these wizards are devoted to using distractions. Consider this: All talk of Hillary’s upcoming candidacy is a distraction.
“Geoffrey B:
You misunderestimate Hussein.”
Perhaps but I think not. I am prepared however to be proven wrong. And if so, Obama shall reap the whirlwind. No one who overthrows our Constitution shall long survive it. It is far too hallowed to allow its destruction without the profoundest of consequence.
Geoffrey Britain,
(@5:46) “The problem is an electorate that has been so successfully indoctrinated into the left’s memes that it has lost its moral compass.”
Take heart, even with the MSM and the IRS running interference in the last election, Obama still was only able to muster a 4% win. Close may only count in horseshoes, and it certainly doesn’t count at the ballot box, but it is an indicator of the underlying composition of the nation. I, personally, do not believe that the moral compass is entirely lost.
Geoffrey Britain @ 11:27pm:
You are too smart to believe your own hopeful words. The Constitution has been under attack for over 100 years. It has sustained a lot of damage, unlike Old Ironsides, the U.S.S. Constitution; British cannonades just bounced off that hull. Today it is honored in the breach, it is being IGNORED, and no one is falling out of their chairs.
Where are the young lions who will rise to defend it? When?
A “rogue” in rpg terms is a sneaky, dirty fighter that does maximum damage via criticals to vulnerable enemies.
Those were not hopeful words. Perhaps I was unclear. If the left succeeds in overthrowing the Constitution, there will be civil war and the leaders on the left will be among the first to perish. Not all the security in the world will be able to protect them.
The Constitution has been under attack arguably since 1913 but for the left to triumph completely and irreversibly, the Constitution must be transformed to such a degree as to become unrecognizable. No Second Amendment, a First in name only, etc.
But as T states, there are far too many who retain their moral compass for the fundamental transformation of the Constitution to be accomplished legally, absent martial law. So the cultural wars will rage on and the left will continue to pursue its gradual indoctrination of America.
In WWII Britain’s young lions did not arise until after Dunkirk nor ours until Pearl Harbor. Our crisis has yet to arrive but it’s just over the historical horizon. Obama is creating the conditions that invite foreign aggression and fiscal calamity cannot be indefinitely postponed. If Hillary is elected in 2016, those policies will continue until reality’s consequence arrives.
Obama doesn’t have enough of the people, and if the West Point speech was any indication, he doesn’t have the military, either.
GB is correct that Obama is a symptom, and he’s correct that the people are the problem. But there’s too much being read into the people’s “fall from grace.” I think people have always been predominantly ignorant and self-centered.
I think they voted for Obama because they thought it “would be cool to have a black president.” Never mind the fact that choosing a leader based on skin color is a horrible idea.
When the economic shit hits the fan, all that talk of racial harmony will go right out the window. The people will be incensed that Obama has hurt their pocketbooks.
Up to now, the decline has been managed. That’s about to change.
The EPA regs basically guarantee that the U.S. will be in recession before the elections (19 states generate 50% or more of their power from coal!!!). If the employer mandate in Obamacare ever comes to pass, voters will grab their torches and pitchforks.
The electorate will be IN NO MOOD to tolerate shenanigans from Obama if that happens.
Cloward-Piven was a theory. Don’t get too excited about it; after all, how’s that theory working out in Argentina and Venezuela these days?
I feel safe in predicting that if Obama tried to remain in office past his second term, he’d be assassinated within a month. As a “community organizer,” Obama knows how to take the political temperature, so he knows this.
So, prediction: Obama will go away quietly, because he’d be killed if he tried anything else. He will do as much damage as he can on the way out. The most lasting kind of damage will be economic, but this is exactly the kind of damage that will wake up the proles.
Democrats will all be tossed under the bus, and they will each enjoy their own “Judas” moment as they deny the messiah in turn, in order to save their own skins.
I will make one more note:
The EPA regs would be devastating if they went into effect, especially all at once. I expect that just like Obamacare, they will be phased in or exemptions will be given, etc. until after the election.
But like Obamacare, there is a fundamental problem: the regs must come into effect at some point, or they might as well not exist. If they come into effect, that’s when the backlash comes.
Matt…
I strongly suspect that 0-care has already begun an economic contraction.
I already see blue collar and construction trades wages being rolled back $5-8 per hour.
I already see employers seeking to hire 29-hour per week troopers. This is usually phrased as “30-40 hours per week.” Something most odd for positions that heretofore were always 40 hour jobs.
Nah, didn’t you hear, blert? It was “the weather.”
So I suppose we should be thankful Obama has made climate change priority #1: he’s fixing the root cause of the poor economy!
Reminds me of when Caligula did battle with Poseidon and returned to Rome with his booty of seashells.
Matt…
Funny you should mention that antic combat.
The first (and insane) emperor of China also declared combat with the ocean.
He was equally successful.
He died of Hg poisoning before long.
There’s a scene in Gone with the Wind (the book) after Scarlett has been caught in Ashley’s embrace, and Rhett forces her to go to Ashley’s birthday party afterwards. Scarlett goes, braced for the worst, and is astonished that Melanie (Ashley’s wife) comes to her side and defends her to everyone.
Afterwards, Rhett, at home drinking, confronts her, and tells her that, yes, Melanie was told Scarlett was in her husband’s arms, but she obviously refused to believe this. And he says,
“There’s too much honor in her to conceive of dishonor in anyone she loves.”
I think of that often when I hear decent people trying to figure out the means and motives of the Leftists in our midst. They are vicious — they do not adhere to our standards.
And they hate America with a burning intensity. So Obama’s unleashing of five of the most evil and deadly of our enemies to prey on our young soldiers is perfectly in character. Only a man who HATES us could do such a terrible thing.
The occupant of the White House is our enemy.
Oh, I think he’ll do more damage than just economic. We have as a guide his releasing ‘on parole’ five of the most vicious Talibanis in Gitmo, the worst of the worst. Just wait until we see his pardon list. Expect for starters the Blind Sheikh to be on it, Johnny Taliban, too, and Bergdahl, if convicted of anything. I also expect blanket pre-pardons for any of his henchmen and henchwomen, like Eric the Red Holder and Cruella de Sebelius. Pre-pardons, you say? Isn’t that illegal? Well, when has legality ever stopped The Choomster? And when has the opposition party ever had the cajones to stand up to President Historic First’s multiple illegalities?
Our autocratic Emperor may have no clothes, but he does have a pen and a phone.
“Cloward-Piven was a theory. Don’t get too excited about it; after all, how’s that working out in Argentian and Venezuela these days?”
Matt_SE, you mistake me. I did not say I thought it would produce a successful economy. Its point, first and foremost, is to collapse the existing economy and provide the Left with the opportunity explicitly to seize control of the whole thing, imposing their program as a result. It has worked out just fine in that regard.
As for Obama going away quietly because of what the electorate would do to him if he doesn’t, I think you are indulging some nice optimistic magical thinking.
Betsy, Matt only became aware of the Leftist zombie hordes in the last 6 years or so. Judging by his entrance here, that would put it to 2-3 years for the net.
Thus unlike some of us that have been here since 9/11 and the Iraq conflict, viewing the Left’s machinations both historically and presently, Matt still prefers to invest in hope and optimism. That’s probably what you are seeing.
If wallet issues cause, or contribute to, the collapse, it won’t be Leftism that goes down. The collapse will instead be Leftism’s ultimate triumph, and its carte blanche to securing final power.
I concur with the general assessment. Although the tactical specifics are yet unknown.
Most people assume Hussein isn’t the last President of the United States of America. The Disunited States of America is getting more and more plausible by the second.
A hyper inflation event or Great Depression type, generally creates a lot of millionaires by redistributing wealth from those who had their assets in cash, to those who had their assets in resources not tied to the fiat currency like land or precious metals.
@Beverly
““There’s too much honor in her to conceive of dishonor in anyone she loves.”
I think at their core, liberals love themselves (this is often coupled with self-loathing). Loving Obama is the manifestation of that. When it comes down to a choice of Obama or themselves, I think most of them will abandon Obama. The tiny core that remains will be marginalized.
As I’ve said before, this is the essence of Obama’s DISASTROUS foreign policy: liberals are embarrassed to be associated with such a rank amateur, and when forced to choose, they abandon him.
@RickZ
Yes. The outrages will run the gamut, and nobody will be able to stop them because Obama has gamed the system. That won’t make these moves any more popular, though. They will just confirm the worst suspicions about the left.
@betsybouds
Cloward-Piven requires there to be a replacement system that works, whether the professors explicitly stated that or not. Collapsing the economy is the easy part.
In post-Saddam Iraq, for example, the main complaint was that the new regime couldn’t keep the electricity on.
In Argentina and Venezuela, the regimes didn’t plan on collapsing the economy since they were already in control. The economies collapsed as the inevitable result of socialism; the governments “ran out of other people’s money.” When they couldn’t make their system work, the people took to the streets.
Nobody is going to support a government that is incompetent…that can’t “keep the trains running on time.” That is the minimum requirement.
Obama and the left cannot deliver that minimum (See: Obamacare, VA scandal, et. al.).
As for “magical thinking” or not, we’ll just have to wait and see.
@Ymarsakar
“Matt only became aware of the Leftist zombie hordes in the last 6 years or so…Matt still prefers to invest in hope and optimism.”
No and no.
Unlike many here, I’ve always been a conservative and that’s only gotten stronger over time. No “change” story for me. I’ve been aware of leftism’s failure at least since 1979 (when I was 8).
I have some optimism for our side, but it’s really more contempt toward the left. I refuse to be cowed by a herd of retards.
You shouldn’t confuse my entrance to this site with my entrance to conservatism.
Interesting case, Argentina. National socialism aka Peronismo has been going on there for >60years now and it’s not done. Argentina keeps going.
Venezuela is cratering rather more rapidly under Chavezmo and “Bolivarianism”, possibly because so much of the economy is petro-dependent, not diversified, and the idiots at the helm have that in a chokehold. Chavez’s “estate” is said to exceed $2 Billion, and he wasn’t at it nearly as long as the Castros.
If these are the American future….
Matt_SE,
What I believe Ymarsakar is getting at is the Left’s staying power is based on more than their policy agenda.
Matt_SE: Whether or not a system works depends on what the people who initiate it want it to do. I myself think Obama’s definition of the upshot of his efforts is this country’s destruction: He is an unaligned destroyer. Some people think he is a dedicated Leftist; others think he is a fully persuaded Muslim. I think he recognizes that the Left and Islam are allies of convenience against free people, and he uses them as such–now supporting one, now the other. He himself may be a Muslim, but that is irrelevant to his goal–which is destruction of the United States of America as a Constitutional Republic. When he accomplishes that, his program will have worked, his self-designed, and undertaken, task will have been completed. And he himself will walk away and leave the Left and Islam to fight over the wreckage. Try this simple test: If that were what he wanted, what would he be doing differently?
Ymarsakar: I do not know whether this clown will be the last President of the United States or not. In any event, his being so (or not) is independent of his leaving office at the end of his second term.
And yes, Eric, the Left’s staying power is based on far more than their policy agenda; so is Islam’s. None of these wizards is going to forego using force to retain control.
I will add that I think he almost certainly will deign his system to have worked if what he walks away from is a condition of, and a system in, total chaos.
betsybouds,
Indeed. Destruction is a prerequisite stage for creation.
Where I think comments for posts like this one go off track is the narrow focus on Obama as the heart and fount, as though the Left’s agenda depends on Obama holding onto the White House. Obama isn’t the origin. He’s merely an avatar and agent of the Left’s full-spectrum activist social movement playing his assigned role just as a professor or journalist plays his or hers.
Obama is fungible. He played his role for the team. He’ll move on, perhaps to play another role for the team, and be rewarded.
Enough real structural changes have been engineered during Obama’s tenure that the foreseeable course is in place even should the GOP sweep the next cycle of elections. While the Dems of course prefer to win any and all elections, the Left holds enough of the social nodes outside of elected office, including agencies and judiciary in government, to contain any regression due to temporary displacement from elected office.
To a large degree, elected office is a dependent variable that can be harnessed through control of the other social nodes.
That’s why I advocate for a Right activist social movement. The Right needs to compete on the full spectrum of social nodes, not just elected office.
Good points, Eric. They are the kinds of points–as are so many here, and in some other places–that will only be tested by time. Which, may I say, is moving pretty fast these days. Heh.
I do find myself a bit amazed by the ease with which so many people say that what we need to do now is kick the bahstuds out in the Novembers of 2014 and 2016. Many also seem to think even ordinary conservative citizens are just poorly educated and stupid. Many are arguably poorly educated, but I don’t think they’re stupid. I think the more basic culprit is a massive failure of imagination.
I wasn’t talking about a change story. I’m talking about people waking up and seeing the Leftist alliance for what it is.
“Conservative” isn’t your get out of jail free card there.
betsybouds: “I think the more basic culprit is a massive failure of imagination.”
What strikes me is the variety of views on the Right that practically promote limiting social political action or even inaction by people of the Right. Being an activist trying to generate a social movement from the Right is like pulling teeth.
Republicans are run by old guards like Krauthammer. Two guesses how well that is going.
I should not have qualified my “failure of imagination” comment to the right. I think it actually applies to most of the country. Few people seem able to understand, or even contemplate, the possibilities and probabilities in what is going on.
Never THINK it can’t happen here.
When American citizens traded their soul and their free will in return for welfare and a government authority to tell them what to do, they permanently lost things like imagination: thinking too.