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The Obama Watch
Obama’s Walesa Moment
A snub heard round the world.
Last week, President Barack Obama rejected the world’s most powerful living symbol of anti-communism, anti-Sovietism, and victory in the Cold War. The White House declined to have Lech Walesa stand in for the late Jan Karski, who posthumously received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Our president spurned Walesa, first president of free Poland, who had once risked everything to courageously join Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II in keeping Solidarity alive in Poland. Like Reagan and John Paul II, Walesa knew that Solidarity could be the wedge to split the Communist Bloc from top to bottom, as it indeed did, thereby making possible elections in Poland in June 1989, the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, the execution of Ceausescu on Christmas Day 1989, the liberation of Eastern Europe en masse, and peaceful victory in the Cold War.
Obama’s snubbing of Walesa follows several peculiar actions that upset the people of Poland. On September 17, 2009, he canceled plans for a joint missile defense system between the United States and Poland, one of our most dependable post-Cold War NATO allies. Obama did so for pro-Russian reasons. His action on that particular date was stunning: It was precisely 70 years to the day, September 17, 1939, when Russia invaded Poland, in compliance with the sinister Hitler-Stalin Pact. Poles certainly noticed the irony.
Obama’s snubbing of Walesa also follows his recent private assurance to Dmitri Medvedev and Vladimir Putin — inadvertently caught on tape by an open mic — that, in regard to missile defense and nuclear issues, he would “have more flexibility” “after my election.” In other words, more pro-Russia steps at Poland’s expense.
Obama’s snubbing of Walesa also came alongside a terrible gaffe about “Polish death camps.”
Obama’s staff seems surprised that Poles reacted so suspiciously to Obama’s gaffe. Gee, I wonder why they’re suspicious….
To me, none of this is a surprise. And it’s also uniquely in line with the thinking of Obama’s mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, a stalwart pro-Soviet, CPUSA member (card no. 47544), who, in his propaganda columns for Communist Party organs like the Chicago Star, defended Yalta and the Soviet takeover of Poland and other Eastern European countries. Davis attempted to argue that Stalin was creating “new democracies” in Poland and the Communist Bloc, and insisted that Eastern Europeans were welcoming the Soviets with open arms. He blasted U.S. policies like NATO and the Marshall Plan.
There’s so much that could be said about Obama’s snub of Walesa. It truly is enlightening. But two things stand out to me, especially in light of the fact that we Americans have a historic election coming up this November 2012, arguably the most pivotal since November 1980:
Shortly after the election of 1980, when Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter, a fearless Lech Walesa stood on a snowy, windswept plain on the outskirts of Gdansk and spoke openly about the U.S. election and its effect on the world. “It was intuition, perhaps,” he said, “but one year ago I envisioned what would happen. Reagan was the only good candidate in your presidential campaign, and I knew he would win.” Walesa spoke presciently that December day: “Someday the West will wake up and you may find it too late, as Solzhenitsyn has written. Reagan will do it better…. He will make the U.S. strong and make it stand up.”
Lech Walesa foresaw Ronald Reagan’s “Morning in America.”
What did a young Barack Obama think of that election, of that dawn of a new day in America, of that change in the national mood for the better — and not just for America, but for Poland, for the Communist Bloc, for the world, for freedom, for history? Obama told us the answer in his memoirs. In chapter 7 of Dreams from My Father, Obama described his arrival in Chicago, the step in his sojourn that would change his life and America’s. The ambitious Obama employed the word “change” seven times, including the need for “Change in the White House, where Reagan and his minions [emphasis added] were carrying on their dirty deeds.”
Obama was not exactly inspired by Reagan’s election. Obama was the anti-Walesa. “Reagan was on his way in,” Obama sniffed, “morning in America.”
Obama perceived an America that needed a “change in the mood of the country.” Ronald Reagan’s “morning in America” needed change.
This is a mesmerizing insight into Obama’s ideology and political mind. Consider: Even among liberal academics and journalists, both at the time and today, there is a consensus that among President Reagan’s greatest achievements was his dramatic change in the mood of the nation, and decidedly for the better, lifting up America and restoring its sagging morale after the years of Carter and Watergate and Vietnam. As even the cynical Reagan biographer Edmund Morris agreed, Reagan had “changed the mood overnight,” and decidedly and wonderfully for the better. That was one thing about Reagan where conservatives and liberals alike, plus literal millions of Reagan Democrats, came together and applauded Reagan — except for the young Obama.
No, Obama wanted to change the mood that Reagan changed. To what, one might ask?
Well, we’re finally getting that answer, thanks to the millions of oblivious Americans who blithely voted for Obama’s “change” in November 1980. Really, it’s unthinkable to imagine that an America that elected Reagan to landslide victories in 1980 and 1984, and today regularly judges Reagan not only the greatest president of all time but, in one 2005 poll, the “greatest American” of all time, could elect Barack Obama — and may do so again. But, hey, these are Americans. And they do not vote rationally. In 2008, they elected a man who shunned Lech Walesa and missile defense with Poland, both of whom/which Reagan vigorously supported.
Obama’s Walesa moment is yet another defining moment. So is the election of November 2012. I’d love to hear Lech Walesa’s thoughts on that one. Will Americans “wake up” and “do it better” this time around?
About the Author
Paul Kengor is professor of political science and executive director of The Center for Vision & Values at Grove City College. He is author of the new book The Communist: Frank Marshall Davis, The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mentor. His other books include The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism and Dupes: How America’s Adversaries Have Manipulated Progressives for a Century.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (53) | Leave a comment
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Booger| 6.4.12 @ 6:25AM
From the desk of President for Life B. Hussein Obama,
Dear Vlad,
About that Poland thing... I mean seriously, what are we going to do? I know, the knuckleheads over here in Amerikkka let them into NATO, so that does make the situation a little more difficult. We were lucky you managed to get a lid on things in the Ukraine and Georgia before it got to that point.
So listen, here's my idea. We'll use the "German" model and just partition Poland up. Your guys can take the Eastern sections, and NATO will keep the Western sections (until the rest of Our Great Plan goes through, of course). This will give you a good launch platform should you ever need it. Just tell the world you need a frontier to protect your interests and all that. I can assure you of the State Department's backing. Maybe we should wait until after my election in November, though, since I don't want to lose any flexibility before I'm safely re-elected.
Now, about that other thing.... yes, I'll be happy to accept those donations you suggested. I'll have Eric Holder get an approved list of bundlers over to you right away to funnel the money to the campaign. And yes, I think having a few "consultants" from the NKVD do some training for our people with the SEIU and New Black Panthers is a great idea. Look forward to setting it up soon.
Your Comrade in The Struggle,
President for Life B. Hussein Obama
Jack in Wi| 6.4.12 @ 9:01AM
This whole ceremony at the White House was just Obama playing ethnic politics with an important part of his base. Obama 's blunder should give us a chance to study the great things Poland has done for Western civilization. Poland saved the West on 3 occasions. At the battle of Vienna in the last 17th century King John Sobieski arrived with the Polish army to drive the Turks from taking the city. In the 1920's the brave Polish Calvary stopped the Red Army from invading Europe before Warsaw. Of course we know how Poland and her Catholic Pope along with Mr. Walesa helped bring down the Soviet Union.
CJW| 6.4.12 @ 9:32AM
Jack
Finally a comment I agree with.
Don't forget the Poles who stormed Monte Cassino during WW II.
What group was Obama pandering to?
benny havens| 6.4.12 @ 1:32PM
Don’t forget General Thaddeus Kosciuszko. He served under General George Washington in the Continental Army during our war of independence. A statute of him stands on the campus of the USMA, West Point.
Bob K| 6.4.12 @ 10:38AM
Playing ethnic politics?
Obama is from Chicago, remember?
Chicago's Polish/Americans are the largest European/American ethnic group in the Chicago Metropolitan Area. There a 1.5 million of them! Polish is numerically the third largest language spoken in Chicago behind English and Spanish.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poles_in_Chicago
Obama ignored Walesa not because he is playing ethnic politics but because this is what happens when a narcissistic, poorly educated example of success through Affirmative Action is chosen by the Democrats to run their party. And their party is loaded with these examples and they can't explain them away fast enough!
Dai Alanye | 6.4.12 @ 1:02PM
Correct! Ideology before good judgment. Obama's ego is such he feels able to flout every rule, then lie about it later.
Al Adab| 6.4.12 @ 3:52PM
It is as you say and raises serious questions about the mans mental stability, capacity or state. Time to undertake a careful reading of the 25th amendment.
Moe Blotz| 6.4.12 @ 6:37AM
Will we wake up and do it better this time? You betcha dupa we will.
CJW| 6.4.12 @ 7:10AM
Lech Walesa started the downfall of the Soviet Union by having Solidarity stand up the the commies, and then having Poland stand up to the Soviet Union. Walesa is a hero and should have been treated as such by Obama. But Obama is a petulant socialist/commie still upset that Walesa did this.
benny havens| 6.4.12 @ 7:28AM
Our current President often shows how un-American he really is. Snubbing Walesa is just another display of his deep-rooted arrogant personality.
Another is when he returned the bust of Winston Churchill to the United Kingdom. When that happened did anyone ask does he have the right to do that? Originally the Prime Minister of Great Britain gave that bust, as a gift, to the American people. George W. Bush, who happened to be the president at the time, accepted it on behalf of the American people. That item belongs to us and I want it back. President Narcissist had no right in returning it. It was not his. I would suggest that when President Narcissist is voted out of office that the new President make a formal request to the government of Great Britain that the bust is returned and again be placed in the house of the people.
Von Mises Jr| 6.4.12 @ 7:32AM
Poland: White, European, Catholic, capital markets, fought Soviet Communism and Nazi Fascism.
Any questions?
Gary B| 6.4.12 @ 7:57AM
No questions. You hit the nail on the head.
KennesawJack| 6.4.12 @ 11:14AM
Amen, and amen.
Al Adab| 6.4.12 @ 12:19PM
No surprise here although it is certainly disreputable. What we have come to expect from this president is pandering to our enemies and snubs to our friends. Oh if only we had an administration that recognized the value of Liberty to the people of the world.
Von Mises Jr| 6.4.12 @ 1:04PM
Totalitarians despise liberty.
Al Adab| 6.4.12 @ 3:54PM
Thatcher, Reagan and John Paul II embraced Walesa and the Polish cry for Liberty. Courage will out while what this president demonstrates is, well, beneath contempt.
Doctor Right| 6.4.12 @ 7:45AM
Obama is an America-hating, freedom-hating Communist sympathizer?
What a shock...
c. j. acworth| 6.4.12 @ 7:55AM
Under Reagan it was "Morning in America".Under Obama, it's " Mourning in America".
Anthony| 6.4.12 @ 10:40AM
I like it!!
But fear not, better days are ahead. To paraphrase Jessie Jerkson; "From the White House to the Outhouse, it's morning time!!!!
Gary B| 6.4.12 @ 7:56AM
By his snubs, you shall know him. Talk about actions speaking louder than words...
Gary B| 6.4.12 @ 8:01AM
By the way, the accompanying photograph is terrific. Look at the pope. There is an image of a man of action. I fear we won't see another like him in a long time.
Cobalt| 6.4.12 @ 8:05AM
Obama is a Marxist, and his treatment of Lech Walesa shouldn't really suprise anyone..
How would comrade Frank Marshall Davis, and his protege Obama, explain the Katyn Massacre?
Katyn Massacre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyn_massacre
Peppermint Tea | 6.4.12 @ 9:08AM
Exactly, Lech Walesa was an opponent to communism, thus an enemy of BHO. And the Molotov/Ribbentrop partitioning of Poland that started WWII, will be nothing compared to the Barry/Vlad partitioning if BHO is re-elected. Remember The One was the one who nixed the contracted missile defense for eastern Europe.
John Doe| 6.4.12 @ 8:37AM
Paul
Either you deliberately don't understand what is going on you deliberately create false narratives.
The reason Obama didn't pick Walesa is far more simple than what you write. The older (voting) Polish community in the US hate Walesa and having Walesa there would have been counter- productive and would not have netted any new votes in November.
Walesa is seen by the Polish community in the US (who all support PiS - law and justice party in Poland) as a traitor as he apparently collaborated with the Polish secret police in the 70's and 80's codenamed "Bolek".
This isn't a secret for anyone who has any interest in Polish politics and I am surprised that you didn't pick it up.
Jack in Wi| 6.4.12 @ 8:45AM
He snubbed Walesa because he is is a prominent pro-life Catholic who isn't afraid to speak truth to power. We can't have the President near anybody like that.
Bob K| 6.4.12 @ 10:45AM
That is pure Bull Crap, you liberal troll!
KennesawJack| 6.4.12 @ 11:16AM
The real problem here is that the Poles don't know what Kool-Aid is.
JimH| 6.4.12 @ 8:54AM
Just wondering, has anyone spotted any Che posters up in the White House yet?
satan| 6.4.12 @ 10:22AM
No, why would they?
Skippy| 6.5.12 @ 5:43PM
Idol worship.
Same reason you do.
Dick Nome| 6.4.12 @ 10:28AM
He only has posters of himself up.
Louis Jenkins| 6.4.12 @ 9:07AM
The Polish nation has always been the "poor" cousin to europe. Time and again it has been divided, resettled, cleaned by pograms, and left to rot on the vine such as the great Polish uprising during Nazi occupation. And no one rendered aid. We should understand that Obama doesn't dislike Poland, rather he hates the country, and he wishes it were still part of the Soviet Block. Hence, the message he gave the Soviets, "When I'm relected...."
Bob K| 6.4.12 @ 10:55AM
Rather, he is so ignorant of history that he probably could not find Poland on the map.
And he has surrounded himself with so many sycophants who are as dumb as he is that they are surprised when his gaffe about "Polish death camps" is received hostilely by Poland.
Kwan| 6.4.12 @ 9:25AM
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that to Obama and the menagerie of Stalinists, Maoists, and Leninists that advise him freedom is the enemy that must be eradicated if "fairness" and "social justice" is to be achieved.
satan| 6.4.12 @ 10:18AM
Wow, A metric ton of fact free manufactured outrage. With all the real worrisome policies Obama has initiated, you would think it would be unnecessary to invent more.
PolishKnight| 6.4.12 @ 10:29AM
It would not surprise me if Putin was setting up for a repeat of the Georgina South Ossetia war: Have the Soviet friendly President of Ukraine Yanokovich engage in an attack at the Russian occoupied seaport of Sevastopol and then Putin rushes in to the rescue to annex East Ukraine. Putin would need to have Poland defenseless in order to keep them from rushing in to help out Ukraine hence his interest in keeping them from having the missile defense system.
Regarding leaving Poland to rot on the vine. To their credit, France and Britain declared war against Germany over the invasion of Poland even if it was a line in the sand declaration rather than solidarity with Poland. Nonetheless, it is appreciated. Germany had a clear intention to eradicate the Polish people (which I never really understood since the Slavic people have a lot in common with the German people.)
Cobalt| 6.4.12 @ 11:02AM
Winston Churchill Speech "The Soul of Poland is Indestructible" 1st October 1939
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixp2psrszZg
PJ| 6.4.12 @ 11:23AM
I think to be snubbed by this president of the United States & more than once has further strengthen the determination of Poland to seek local & reliable allies with a common goal: keep Russia out of their countries. See article: http://www.stratfor.com/weekly.....ary-force.
After experiencing Nazism & then Communism, I think Poland realizes they have to be responsible for its own survival considering western Europe or the USA has failed in that area. (And don't forget that Poland experienced some reneged business deals by USA after their committed participation in the Afghanistan & Iraq wars.)
The Walesa snub is a short-lived sting, but ultimately irrelevant to Poland. --------Like me they know that Obama is a gonna on Jan 21,2013 & the new president should be more friendly.
KyMouse| 6.4.12 @ 11:35AM
I've always liked the statue of Poland's King Jagiello in Manhattan's Central Park -- there's just something about his holding up those crossed swords -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K.....o_Monument
ABNCP| 6.4.12 @ 1:14PM
What if Putin decided to vet Obama a few years ago? What if he decided to try to gather the information Obama has paid almost a million dollars to keep hidden? To do the job our corrupt media has refused to do. One has to believe Putin has the desire, the infrasturcture, the technology, the muscle, the money and he sure understands the fantastic rewards to be had if he could get information about Obama that Obama cannot have made public.
Now what if Putin has come up with solid information on Obama's past, information that Obama is desperate to keep secret, things he can not allow to become public knowledge? Maybe, just maybe that would explain why Obama is doing pretty much every thing Putin would want him to do. Remember Putin was adamantly against the third site missile defense installation and raged against Bush for agreeing to it. Maybe that would help explain the Polish insults. Russia generaly speaking and Putin for sure, the old KGB guy, has never forgotten how Poland was critical in the collapse of the USSR. Maybe the pressure Putin is putting on him is part of the reason for those statements on the open mike, pleading with Medvedev to get Putin to give him more time to do what Putin has ordered him to do on our missile defense programs.
Anyway folks, I believe there must be reasons that allow Putin to push this incompetent boob around. He must have some serious stuff on Obama to be able to do that and get away with it. That's my take, what's yours?
Frekki| 6.4.12 @ 1:58PM
I don't need any more reasons to despise the buffoon in the White House, but given all the nonsense coming out of his administration I wouldn't be surprised.
nathan| 6.4.12 @ 2:16PM
I'm really sorry but putting missile defense in Poland and/or expanding NATO to eastern Europe needlessly provokes the Russians while addding zero and I mean ZERO to our own defense. The fact is we should be getting out of NATO and telling Europe to defend themselves not getting more involved.
Regarding the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe, the Soviets incurred about 80 percent of all deaths in the European conflict, and killed about 80 percent of the Germans killed in the conflict. British and American losses were relatively small by comparison as were the deaths inflicted on the Germans. Having done most of the heavy lifting Stalin had no intentions of giving up any ground in Eastern Europe and with 550 divisions at his command short of dropping nukes on him, the Americans and British had no way of forcing him to do so. Stalin from his perspective had a point that we shouldn't ignore.
John Navratil| 6.4.12 @ 3:27PM
nathan,
Perhaps you would like to ask our pro-western allies in the Eastern bloc what they thought.
In any case, if Stalin was so powerful, why did we hold back for days in order to let him "liberate" Czechoslovakia. We were there, the underground had risen to fight the Nazis and we let them go because the fix was in at Yalta.
It was pure Soviet hegemony. FDR and Uncle Joe divided the continent, much to the consternation of Churchill.
PolishKnight| 6.4.12 @ 4:34PM
What took down WWII Germany was ironically what took down Poland: A dual sided front. One wonders how well Uncle Joe would have done if Normandy hadn't happened OR if Stalingrad had fell along with the USSR.
Any thoughts?
ABNCP| 6.4.12 @ 3:24PM
nathan you sound like a page out of Pravda.
Most Americans don't really care what makes the Russians unhappy. They sure do not care about what make us unhappy. Iranian nukes as just one example of the many Russian insults we have had to put up with over the years.
Regarding the Soviet take over of Eastern Europe. I seem to remember Stalin and Hitler were buddy buddy in 1939. Stalin was more than happy to divided Poland with Hitler and sign a pact with that great humanitarian to provide Germany with training bases for their army and supply them with other war materials. The losses the Soviet army incurred were to a large part due to Stalin's purge of his best officers and his stupid
tactical and strategic decsions during the first years of the war.
You seem almost light hearted about the over 40 years the populations of Eastern Europe suffered because of the horrible communists system enforced upon them by the Soviet Union. Judging by your posts, left wing and radical left wing ideals are just fine with you.
nathan| 6.4.12 @ 3:40PM
Absolutely Stalin's conduct of the war was ghastly but it's equally true as Max Hastings points out that Russia did most of the heavy lifting. So sir you're Truman meeting with Stalin to decide what's going to happen. You tell everyone here what YOU would have said/done that would have gotten Stalin to say, "you know you're right. We have no business in Eastern Europe, I guess we'll just withdraw back to our borders." Tell the class what you say/do that gets him to to do that short of threatening to throw nukes at him or actually doing it because even with overwhelming airpower there weren't enough American and British divisions to do it on the ground without incurring horrendous casualties that the people back home were not going to tolerate. So what's YOUR solution?
And I'm sorry Jefferson said when reduced to despotism people have a right and an obligation to deal with said despots. THEY DO not others on their behalf. It was up to Eastern Europeans to fight for their freedom not us.
And for the record I supported Goldwater when I was 11 and knew why. I read National Review most of my life. I've never voted for a single democrat. I do not support neocon interventionism. I do not support democracy jihads. That explain it to you?
Skippy| 6.5.12 @ 5:52PM
Pretty clearly, yes.
You are either a liar or a whacko.
ABNCP| 6.4.12 @ 4:22PM
natham, I do not nor do I suspect others on this site really care about your political history. The action words I used were, " judging by your posts".
If you don't like what others conclude about your political likes and dislikes you have only yourself to blame.
Cincinnatius| 6.4.12 @ 7:13PM
Obama hates all men (people) who will stand for freedom. Walesa is therefore threatening to the little man Obama, Israel's prime minister also makes him feel small and worthless. "Obama's" comments about Reagan's "new morning" don't belong to the nineteen year old Obama, but rather to Bill Ayers, the real author of "Dreams".
truzak| 6.4.12 @ 8:16PM
I would hope that should Romney actually manage to get elected, one of the first things he does is reinstate the missile defense agreement with Poland, and invite Lech Walesa to the White House as part of a state dinner with the Polish PM or president.
And I would hope he makes these announcements in a very public way as a a way of communicating to the world the adults are back in charge while the little commie twerp is off writing yet another memoir - in between rounds of golf no doubt.
marque lunettes de soleil | 6.5.12 @ 5:18AM
Obama's snubbing of Walesa follows several peculiar actions that upset the people of Poland. On September 17, 2009, he canceled plans for a joint missile defense system between the United States and Poland, one of our most dependable post-Cold War NATO allies. Obama did so for pro-Russian reasons. His action on that particular date was stunning: It was precisely 70 years to the day, September 17, 1939, when Russia invaded Poland, in compliance with the sinister Hitler-Stalin Pact. Poles certainly noticed the irony.
Anyone But Obama| 6.6.12 @ 11:54PM
Frank Davis is Obama's father.