The American Spectator

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Old New Politics

5.13.08 @ 12:01AM

OBAMA THE ONLY WAY
Re: Philip Klein's Stop Believing Obama:

This is in regards to your Stop Believing Obama article. It is interesting to see how far we've come. To see a time in which an even-handed approach to two nations at war is so inconceivable it is mentioned in a treasonous tone. The exact problem to our approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the lack of an even handed approach, a lack of respect to the powers that be in the Palestinian camp. We attack and put down the actions of Hamas and rightfully so, but we do not take the same "even-handed" approach when it comes to the actions of Israel. For some reason this would be unthinkably treasonous, and a presidential candidate that would take this approach would be unacceptable. If you wish to ascribe to the thought that people commit acts of terror against our nation and against Israel because they our jealous of our freedom, they hate our way of life, or they have a lunatic driven hate of all things non-Muslim than you are no greater enlightened than our president and we have seen where his logic has led us. Sir an even-handed approach is the best way for our country to gain respect and trust in the middle east and is the true way to fight the war on terror. To not believe so is the definition of discrimination. It is to believe that a group of people are inherently evil, or that they do not have the comprehension level to wish or want for peace and thereby to wish to prosper. This points to the belief that these people do not have the cognition to ensure their own longterm survival. Sir I look not to defend Hamas, Hezbollah, or any other terrorist organization. I am a patriotic American citizen with no religion. I simply want to attack the lunacy of attacking an even-handed approach as an unpatriotic, treasonous, and intolerable one, when in fact it is the only way.
-- Parham Farahat

Philip, it is not a new kind of politics, in fact it is just one of oldest known. Nothing works better on a mass of ignorant people than setting one's self up as a god like figure and attacking the credibility of anyone that dares questions the all mighty. This theme is played out time and time again throughout the ages and it works when you have enough ignorance running amok. We've got a butt load running about and you can find them most nights dialed into ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, PBS, NPR and even FNC to some extent. Ignorance and one vote more than the other guy wins every time.
-- Thom Bateman
Newport News, Virginia

In addressing Obama's position on the Mideast, Philip Klein speaks of Israel as if it is an American state and deserving of unequivocal support from a U.S. president. In light of this, the assertion that Obama has a mixed message on Israel's fundamental security is valid only if seeking the type of bluster that Senator Clinton offered up by threatening to "obliterate" Iran.

If Israel wants perpetual war, then the Jewish community should support American and Israeli leaders that bluster in their sleep. If not, I suggest that such utterances are rather counterproductive and ignore the sometimes nightmarish reality of the present, and certainly the less homogeneous future of Israel.

Rather than bluster, Senator Obama offers the insight of his own interaction between the Jewish and Palestinian communities in Chicago. I suggest that Senator Obama is a very discerning judge of character and history, a leader of high personal integrity, and an individual that is empathetic to the oppressed -- a history that blacks, Jews, and Palestinians share.

If international combatants could both believe the American president is on their side, it may just well be the impetus needed for progress. Obama is doing well to maintain his status as a champion of peace, and neither the Jewish nor Palestinian or Arab communities of America should try to paint him into their corner. The ref must stand in the center of the ring.
-- Doug Mytty

Concerning Phillip Klein's article on Mr. Obama's waffling, we can never know ahead of time whether or not a candidate has that capacity to grow to meet the awful demands and crises that hem the President of the United States. We've not always been lucky in the past, and we will probably not be lucky enough in 2009 to get a man guided by principle to same degree or with as much backbone as George W. Bush. But if we cannot say in advance who possesses the needed strengths for the office, we can sometimes see clearly who is without them, and, despite his and his handlers' coy efforts, Mr. Obama's song and dance has shown him to be a reed in the wind.

Besides following the common leftist anti-American view of the world, and proposing not-so-clandestine socialist solutions for what he would like to convince us are America's great failings, Mr. Obama also would have us believe he is a perfectly rational and largely unaffected man with whom any of us would enjoy conversing and with whom we could, every one of us, find common ground. None of this is true. Any person who does not now suspect Mr. Obama of hiding his actual views, values, and beliefs in order to facilitate his election to the presidency is either a party-line Democrat or a fool -- if one cares to make the distinction. The unhappy truth is that even if reporters could solidly demonstrate Mr. Obama's perfidy, those with the greatest access to the public ear would avoid it, and the others would find themselves shouting in the wilderness. It will be our good luck if Mr. Obama were to accidentally expose his real mind to the public's view.

If the public could then grasp what they were seeing, they might reject his candidacy. For the rest of us the indirect evidence uncovered so far is sufficient, despite it having been belittled and spun unmercifully by the left and the major media, but we must wait and hope.
-- Don Carlson

BETTER THAN CASH
Re: Larry Thornberry's The Last Cattle Call:

Thanks for your Eddy Arnold column. One of my early memories is driving with my Dad to Vermont one summer and the only 8 track in the truck was of Eddy Arnold and included Tennessee Stud. Must have heard it hundreds of times. With apologies to Johnny Cash I think Mr. Arnold's is better. Sorry to hear he passed. RIP
-- Lee Phelps
Brandon, Florida

Alas, Mr. Thornberry, reading your article brought a flood of memories, and not a few tears. When I was a kid, my dad played Arnold's records, with much the same passion as yours. I remember trying to sing Cattle Call and yodel like Eddy. Occasionally, I still try, but mostly I just whistle it now.

Original, unsophisticated, pure, and genuine, listening to Eddy Arnold's balladic music during those Cold War years reminded one of what American culture, and being an American, was all about and why it
mattered. It was natural, inspiring the heart and nurturing the soul. Cowboy's were heroes, tall in the saddle, yet human. What marvelous years they were. While there are a few exceptions, today's music is
nihilistic, culture is trash, nothing matters, it is unnatural, disheartening, and abandons the soul. Cowboys are murderers, slouching in their Humvees, and inhuman. The years grow desperate. What's to become of us?
-- Mike Showalter
Austin, Texas

REQUIRED READING
Re: William Tucker's Parlez-Vous Nucleaire?:

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Barack Obama, Economics, Business, Religion, Law, Iran, Israel, United Nations, NATO