Sunday, August 3, 2008
The post-national candidate
COMMENTARY:
The post-national candidate
COMMENTARY:
As the mainstream media continue to fawn over Sen. Barack Obama, they overlook the major story of the 2008 campaign: He is an internationalist socialist, who is further to the left than any liberal Democratic
presidential nominee in recent history. George McGovern, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, even John Kerry - not one of them ever so explicitly defined himself on the stump as a deracinated globalist detached from his American identity.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, Mr. Obama´s recent world tour was not a success, but a dismal failure. Despite the large, cheering crowds and media glitz, the tour has given his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain, the opening he needs to win - and win convincingly - in November.
During his visit to Europe, Mr. Obama demonstrated the radical anti-Americanism at the heart of his candidacy. He proclaimed himself "a citizen of the world" - not simply a citizen of the United States. Also,
he vowed that, as president, he would consider the "needs, interests and perspectives" of all nations, and not just America´s "narrow, strategic" objectives.
In other words, Mr. Obama pledged to subordinate our national interest to international concerns. This is unprecedented for a would-be president. The primary role of commander in chief is not to be the spokesman for the international community; rather, it is to defend and advance U.S. national interest.
This flies in the face of the attempt by Europe´s ruling elite to create a socialist super-state. The European Union aims to eradicate national identity and state sovereignty in favor of a Continental federation. The EU seeks to forge a new world order based on multi-lateralism, the dominance of international institutions such as the United Nations and the International Criminal Court, and the projection of soft power. This leftist globalist world-view underlines European hostility to President Bush. He is everything they despise: a unilateralist, a cowboy and a patriot. In the eyes of most Europeans, Mr. Bush is a dangerous right-winger because he puts America´s national interest first and foremost.
The liberal media are trying to portray Mr. Obama´s warm reception abroad as a powerful sign he is capable of being a world leader. As usual, they are wrong. Europe´s socialists love Mr. Obama because he is one of them.
Mr. Obama would transform the United States into a North American France. He champions a redistributionist, soak-the-rich economic philosophy. He would raise income and Social Security taxes on those making more than $250,000 per annum. He wants to increase tax rates on capital gains and dividends.
Mr. Obama seeks to nationalize health care, expand government with nearly a trillion dollars in new spending, and impose burdensome regulations on corporations and businesses. He is also a protectionist,
who vows to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement and has opposed free-trade deals with Colombia, South Korea and Central America. Mr.Obama´s class-warfare policies would result in economic sclerosis, lower productivity and higher unemployment - exactly what the French (and the Germans) have today.
He is a European-style leftist on social issues as well. He supports abortion (even partial-birth abortion), court-imposed same-sex marriage, affirmative action, and massive legal and illegal immigration. Mr.Obama´s America would be poorer and more permissive.
On foreign affairs, he advocates Brussels´ line: U.S. withdrawal from Iraq; greater focus on Afghanistan; multilateral diplomacy to contain Iran; closer dialogue and engagement with China and Russia; and a
U.N.-led, law-enforcement approach toward fighting Islamic terrorism. In other words, the United States is to be emasculated, and its military strength and geopolitical interests tied down by a nexus of transnational institutions and intricate alliances.
Europe´s political class rightly senses that Mr. Obama represents a new breed of American statesmen - someone, like them, who believes the era of nation-states and American dominance on the world stage is over. They understand that his brand of post-modern internationalism signifies transformation of America into a paper tiger.
Mr. Obama repeatedly says on the campaign trail that he embodies a "new kind of politics." Instead of being post-racial and post-partisan, however, he is really post-national. His cosmopolitan liberalism plays well with effete, multicultural elites on college campuses and in Manhattan and Hollywood. But it won´t resonate in the heartland, where patriotism and American exceptionalism are still not dirty words.
Mr. Obama´s team will certainly use the images of his world tour in campaign ads. Mr. McCain would be wise to use Mr. Obama´s actual words against him. They reveal him for who he truly is - and it is someone
most Americans will reject.
Jeffrey T. Kuhner is a columnist for The Washington Times.
presidential nominee in recent history. George McGovern, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, even John Kerry - not one of them ever so explicitly defined himself on the stump as a deracinated globalist detached from his American identity.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, Mr. Obama´s recent world tour was not a success, but a dismal failure. Despite the large, cheering crowds and media glitz, the tour has given his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain, the opening he needs to win - and win convincingly - in November.
During his visit to Europe, Mr. Obama demonstrated the radical anti-Americanism at the heart of his candidacy. He proclaimed himself "a citizen of the world" - not simply a citizen of the United States. Also,
he vowed that, as president, he would consider the "needs, interests and perspectives" of all nations, and not just America´s "narrow, strategic" objectives.
In other words, Mr. Obama pledged to subordinate our national interest to international concerns. This is unprecedented for a would-be president. The primary role of commander in chief is not to be the spokesman for the international community; rather, it is to defend and advance U.S. national interest.
This flies in the face of the attempt by Europe´s ruling elite to create a socialist super-state. The European Union aims to eradicate national identity and state sovereignty in favor of a Continental federation. The EU seeks to forge a new world order based on multi-lateralism, the dominance of international institutions such as the United Nations and the International Criminal Court, and the projection of soft power. This leftist globalist world-view underlines European hostility to President Bush. He is everything they despise: a unilateralist, a cowboy and a patriot. In the eyes of most Europeans, Mr. Bush is a dangerous right-winger because he puts America´s national interest first and foremost.
The liberal media are trying to portray Mr. Obama´s warm reception abroad as a powerful sign he is capable of being a world leader. As usual, they are wrong. Europe´s socialists love Mr. Obama because he is one of them.
Mr. Obama would transform the United States into a North American France. He champions a redistributionist, soak-the-rich economic philosophy. He would raise income and Social Security taxes on those making more than $250,000 per annum. He wants to increase tax rates on capital gains and dividends.
Mr. Obama seeks to nationalize health care, expand government with nearly a trillion dollars in new spending, and impose burdensome regulations on corporations and businesses. He is also a protectionist,
who vows to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement and has opposed free-trade deals with Colombia, South Korea and Central America. Mr.Obama´s class-warfare policies would result in economic sclerosis, lower productivity and higher unemployment - exactly what the French (and the Germans) have today.
He is a European-style leftist on social issues as well. He supports abortion (even partial-birth abortion), court-imposed same-sex marriage, affirmative action, and massive legal and illegal immigration. Mr.Obama´s America would be poorer and more permissive.
On foreign affairs, he advocates Brussels´ line: U.S. withdrawal from Iraq; greater focus on Afghanistan; multilateral diplomacy to contain Iran; closer dialogue and engagement with China and Russia; and a
U.N.-led, law-enforcement approach toward fighting Islamic terrorism. In other words, the United States is to be emasculated, and its military strength and geopolitical interests tied down by a nexus of transnational institutions and intricate alliances.
Europe´s political class rightly senses that Mr. Obama represents a new breed of American statesmen - someone, like them, who believes the era of nation-states and American dominance on the world stage is over. They understand that his brand of post-modern internationalism signifies transformation of America into a paper tiger.
Mr. Obama repeatedly says on the campaign trail that he embodies a "new kind of politics." Instead of being post-racial and post-partisan, however, he is really post-national. His cosmopolitan liberalism plays well with effete, multicultural elites on college campuses and in Manhattan and Hollywood. But it won´t resonate in the heartland, where patriotism and American exceptionalism are still not dirty words.
Mr. Obama´s team will certainly use the images of his world tour in campaign ads. Mr. McCain would be wise to use Mr. Obama´s actual words against him. They reveal him for who he truly is - and it is someone
most Americans will reject.
Jeffrey T. Kuhner is a columnist for The Washington Times.
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