Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Is Obama's foreign policy succeeding or failing?

Daniel Pipes says that Barry's policies have at least one big fan: Obama himself. And there is a method to his madness - although the method is pretty crazy, too:
Is this a random series of errors by an incompetent leadership or does some grand, if misconceived, idea stand behind the pattern? To an extent, it's ineptitude, as when Obama bowed to the Saudi king, threatened Syria's government over chemical weapons before changing his mind, and now sends the U.S. military to aid Tehran in Iraq and fight it in Yemen.

But there also is a grand idea and it calls for explanation. As a man of the left, Obama sees the United States historically having exerted a malign influence on the outside world. Greedy corporations, an overly-powerful military-industrial complex, a yahoo nationalism, engrained racism, and cultural imperialism combined to render America, on balance, a force for evil.
In his own mind, Obama is the conquering hero of virtually every left-wing political fantasy of the last 50 years. What is so outrageous, as I've said before, is that he considers the rest of us to be mere bit players in the great unfolding drama of his life and accomplishments (starring, written by and directed by Barack H. Obama). I do not know of a bigger or more dangerous case of narcissism in America's political history.

3 comments:

RebeccaH said...

I think that pretty much describes it. What's truly frightening, though, are the numbers of people in this country who agree with him.

bruce said...

At least the old Communists had a clear idea of what they were doing. This new 'leftism' is so vague, passive-aggressive, and based on quack psychology, that it makes no sense: America is bad, but with a few slight changes, based on fashionable intuitions, it will be a force for good.

If you think it's so bad, why beat around the bush? Make revolution, try to tear it down and replace it, as all leftists from 1789 (French Revolution) till 1980 (Soviets) did.

All this 'yes but no but yes but maybe' tweakery is idiotic. EU Social Democrats know exactly what they are doing. But the millenial 'left' are just confused fashionistas.

bruce said...

As you say Paco, narcissistic fashionistas, yes that's it. 'Save the environment' is another example of narcissistic 'leftism': everything is terrible, but if we make a few easy incremental changes everything suddenly will turn around and we will 'save the world'.

Give me the old timers with their total revolution, something to fight against or for, not this death of a thousand pinpricks.