The American Spectator : A Reply to My Commenters

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A Reply to My Commenters

By Arnold S. Trebach on 1.15.13 @ 6:07AM

Why tear down an Obama critic who acknowledged voting for him?

The comments so far on my most recent piece (“Despair Inside the Beltway”), which ran here yesterday, have usually fit a familiar pattern: tear down the writer who voted for Mr. Obama even though he has now seen the error of his ways and is working for change. In my humble opinion, little progress toward change is made by tearing down those on your side — rather than by seeking to find ways of calmly and politely working together to defeat the president and his allies. Each opponent should seek to work in his or her own way toward a change in direction for our precious country.

My way of working for change has meant that shortly after Mr. Obama was elected I spoke out publicly about my despair over his policies. I also wrote numerous essays that explained my disappointment in detail. Those essays were published on the Internet in this magazine and in others, including PJ Media. One essay was published as a formal statement for the record of the hearing by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights regarding the New Black Panther Party litigation. My statement was quite critical of the failure of the U.S. Department of Justice, under Mr. Obama and Mr. Holder, to properly prosecute the Black Panthers for voter intimidation during the 2008 election. Soon after submitting that statement, I was appointed by the Commission as a member of the Maryland State Advisory Committee to that Commission. I served on the committee for two years and listed my political affiliation as an Independent. Generally, I took a conservative posture in deliberations.

While I am critical of many of Mr. Obama’s policies, because of my background in the civil rights arena, I tend to focus on my deep disappointment about his policies, and those of other black leaders, in race relations. For many months, I have been working on a book that chronicles that disappointment. A draft copy of the title page and the foreword will be found below. Soon I will be looking for a publisher.

I should have mentioned how I voted in the last election. For the first time in a long life, I voted almost exclusively for Republicans, including Mitt Romney for President. He was clearly the best qualified and most honorable candidate for the top position. A major part of my despair for the country is the manner in which our president and the Democratic Party openly worked to destroy the reputation of that kind, decent, honest man. That action was truly despicable. What makes it even worse was that it worked.

THE BETRAYAL OF THE DREAM
Racial Absurdities in the Obama Era

Arnold S. Trebach

FOREWORD

The dream of course was that believed in by those of us who were involved in the original civil rights movement of the Fifties and Sixties. We naïve idealists really thought that when we beat those miserable segregationist bigots we would all be living in an era of brotherly and sisterly love and equality. We naïve idealists also thought that black leaders and officials — indeed all minority folks — would never go back and support racial bias and a racial spoils system that discriminated against white people or against anyone not quite like them.

Also we never had nightmares that any criticism of a black official — say one like President Barack Obama or Attorney General Eric Holder — would be labeled racist just because the official was black. It was, we thought, the same as saying that we just got a black quarterback on our football team; be gentle when you tackle him.

We idealist dummies were wrong. Some of us, including me, are royally outraged at the black and other minority leaders who are destroying the dreams we had every right to have. Such biased behavior on the part of black leaders, especially those in the Obama Administration, has been a prominent part of the Obama Era. That has made this book very difficult for me to write because when I started to get down a story about something awful that had happened on the racial front, the Obama-Holder gang did something even worse. I keep writing you can’t make this stuff up and perhaps that ought to be the title of this collection of essays and reflections about how far we have come since my days on the streets of Knoxville as a protester — and how wrong we have been.

These essays cover a lot of years and areas on the racial front. They reflect anger and dismay and at the same time hope for the future. My hope is that they are read now — and also after Mr. Obama has left the Oval Office. I also hope that we remember the good things he did and move beyond the bad.

Bottom line here: many of my heroes were black civil right leaders who believed in the dream and lived it and in some cases, like Martin Luther King, Jr., died for it. I still believe in those heroes and in the dream that this country has the internal ethical strength and moral courage to be that shining city on a hill of true equality and compassion for all of our people.

About the Author

Arnold S. Trebach, J.D., Ph.D., the author of several books, is professor emeritus of public affairs, American University. He was involved as a front line protester in the original civil rights movement and has been a federal civil rights official.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (147) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

Appleby| 1.15.13 @ 6:42AM

I think the reason that so many people (many of us in your age cohort, who were the first member of their extended family to attend university and trying to get educations while y'all were marching and burning and chanting and preventing us) are angry is that this late in the day you have discovered what you were doing, long past the time that the damage can be repaired. You are like the little boy who pounded nails into his mother's coffee table, and after his spanking he pulled the nails out. "I pulled out all the nails now, Mommy," he said. "Good for you," said Mommy, "now go and pull out the holes."

Your confession to the damage you did has not pulled out the holes. And at this point in time it never can.

Job| 1.15.13 @ 7:57AM

hmm one has to wonder if you read this mans article above. lemme translate; while your armchair quaterbacking he has been on and continues to be on the front lines.

Marching with Dr. King was honorable. Mitt Romnes father was at Dr. Kings funeral. Are you for church bombings. Are you for a Black man walking ten blocks for a water fountain when they are on every corner?

FYI I never voted for Obama or Clinton.

Trebech welcome to the fold but don't let Republicanism fool you.

PolishKnight| 1.15.13 @ 9:45AM

Which is why many liberals never repent, Appleby. Who wants to go from being a smug, superior leftist to a fool? However... in the past that has largely been the way conservatives have been made. Young people slowly grow up to become conservatives. This either means people get more stupid as they get older, or they get wiser. I prefer the latter.

In addition, the last election saw the beginning of an amazing trend: Most white males, even in college, didn't vote Democrat. This means that white males have officially figured out that a party that bashes them due to their race and gender is not their friend. In other words, a majority of them are no longer fools. It's no longer cool to be a young white male leftist.

CJW| 1.15.13 @ 10:57AM

Appleby
You are criticizing Trebach for the same conduct as yours. You said you did not vote for Ford, thus helping Jimmy the boob Carter, and did not vote for Dole, thus helping Bubba. And you feel proud to say you will not vote for anyone that does not meet your specs, regardless of the opponent. That is your right, but we cannot pull the nails out of Carter's mistakes in Iran, Dept of Energy and Dept of Education, and Bubba's follies, too numerous to mention, but most importantly his abject failure fighting terrorism. He failed to respond to WTC attack of 93, Khobar Towers, two embassies, USS Cole, created the wall between CIA and FBI, etc. All this led to Sept 11, 2001.

Elections have consequences, and there is never a perfect choice.

TLP| 1.15.13 @ 10:58AM

I don't know Mr. T.

What I'm taking from all a this is that you've got the Thin Skin of a Liberal.

It's not that nobody likes you. It's just that we don't really need another You, right now.

This site is Full of Guys like You. Mushy Guys. Linguini Spines. Guys with their Finger on the Ban Button, should anyone run afoul of the Etiquette that one would expect from a Gentleman well schooled in the ways of the Marquis of Queensbury Rules of purporting one's self.

Maybe you could sell Toothpaste?

Better yet? Those Testerone Tablets. Hell, Purp's probably already hard from just looking at your picture.

Although, I can see myself buying Toothpaste from you.

Now, quit your crying, and act like a Man.

It's embarrassing.

Occam's Tool| 1.15.13 @ 4:43PM

Tim: he's also a fan of giving heroin to heroin addicts as a treatment. EEEK.

I am certified as a suboxone prescriber, and work with Native Americans as the Clinic's Psychiatrist for a reservation program.

Dr. Trebach. It's clear you don't understand. You hurt your country greviously, well beyond the ability of a simple mea culpa to extirpate. I also DON'T like your drug policy, as I think it would make things easier for middle class whites at the ruinous expense of the minority communities, particularly the Native American one.

Von, you may not know this, but Dr. Trebach is well known for his Liberal Drug Policy advocacy.
Me, I believe in keeping things illegal and forcing involuntary care upon addicts.

Warrior| 1.15.13 @ 9:30PM

Thin skin? What's the old saying, for an educated guy, he's not too smart. It's not like the candidate had allegedly authored books. The candidate had nothing to hide and released all his educational transcripts and was completely transparent. No questions need be asked about Wright, Ayres, Dohrn, Khalidi, FM Davis, Indonesian passports, voting records...

We should all just welcome another liberal to espouse his moderate viewpoints to all us extremist right wingers. Notice the pattern, we are all wrong and he needs to be understood.

OT, I'm still waiting for that prescription that will alleviate my hard to control anger around the left. Maybe I'm wrong, but addicts buying and using illegal drugs are criminals. Instead of trying to treat them like alcoholics, they should be incarcerated to provide them the involuntary care you refer to.

Bob K| 1.15.13 @ 10:58AM

You could have supported your "mea culpa" with a criticism of how the Academy and the Press were also culpable in sheltering and protecting Obama.

And we are also curious about why this election should have been "a great happiness" for most of your neighbors in friends "inside the beltway." It will not prove to be a great happiness, indeed, "for most of the people in the country."

SCMike| 1.15.13 @ 6:49AM

Unfortunately, too many folks misuse the internet’s anonymity to cast aspersions under the mistaken notion that replacing argument with insults is somehow more effective.

In 2008 I suspected that Obama was an empty suit who was up to no good, but most folks pay more attention to what a candidate says rather than what s/he does.

Fast-forward to November 2012 and we find that a lot of folks who otherwise would have voted Republican stayed home, thereby handing Obama another four years. Not too smart, but Romney’s team was unaware of the success of the focused negative campaigning in the key swing states and did not fight back.

I too fear that the next four years will wreck what’s left of our economic and military power and ruin our healthcare system by stifling medical innovation and driving professionals into early retirement. While I don’t blame those who tire themselves out and just give up, I will try my durndest to fight the good fight as best I can.

We’re both on the same side. You realized your error later than some, but earlier than most. Let’s continue our attempts to convert the smitten and do what we can to lessen the damage this administration is causing.

Kitty | 1.15.13 @ 6:51AM

It didn't take a " J.D., Ph.D., the author of several books, ...professor emeritus of public affairs, American University" to see Obama for what he was before Election Day and not vote for him. And they call flyover country stupid.

Von Mises Jr| 1.15.13 @ 8:19AM

Arnold just confirmed that he is a "feel good" liberal academic posing as a conservative thinker writing for a conservative site. We are supposed to appreciate Arnie since he has "good intentions." And like all liberals, he is thin-skinned and cannot take criticism. Quite frankly, in the time I have visited this site, I don't know if I ever saw (262) comments mostly calling the author an idiot.
But Arnie just proves Orwell's statement that "some ideas are so absurd that only a intellectual could believe them."

Job| 1.15.13 @ 9:56AM

lets stone him or how about another gang rape like yesterday. we just lost an election because we have no idea how to apeal to this demographic and many others. keep up the good work.

Von Mises Jr| 1.15.13 @ 11:03AM

I suspect old Arnie was stoned when he wrote both articles.

Job| 1.15.13 @ 12:16PM

minor chuckle for that VM

George S| 1.15.13 @ 1:45PM

I beg to differ. A JD PhD means a lot of education shoved in one ear which pushes out common sense from the other.

His reason for voting for Obama is classical elite narcissism: it makes me feel good and the hell to everything else.

donserge| 1.15.13 @ 6:54AM

PhD's who enter the voting booth without doing their homework and can not envision the damage that a man with Obama's background and beliefs can do to this country is disturbing to a lot of people.

cheeflo| 1.15.13 @ 2:34PM

Agreed.

Periwinkel| 1.15.13 @ 7:02AM

Dear Mr. Trebach,

Welcome to the New Revolution. I hope you are rested and ready for the fight. It will be long and hard. I hope you learn not to be so thin-skinned as you have shown in this article.

Conservatives get beaten about the head and shoulders every day for their beliefs. We are told we are stupid, bigotted and mean-spirited. You will be told that and more, too.

As I said, welcome to the revolution!

Periwinkel in Flyover Country

Bob K| 1.15.13 @ 10:43AM

Well said!

Virtue| 1.15.13 @ 7:06AM

Seduced by rhetoric and melanin. Here was a guy with no real world experience that matterded and whose two seminal literary works were autobiographies. He was a slow pitch to anyone who did their homework....

Controse| 1.15.13 @ 2:33PM

Autobiographies written by someone else you mean.

MelvinNC| 1.15.13 @ 7:13AM

You want to know why Doc? It is not so much yourself personally in which many comments to include my own were directed at, it was what you represent.
Or maybe I should say, what you used to represent. I'm sure your a fine man in your field, but the ideology that you espouse is what Conservatives are up in arms about.
No ideology's perfect, but the common sense of knowing that the ideology that Barrack Obama represents and ignoring the fact that is is detrimental to this Country is astounding. Academia knows that this ideology is wrong, but the hatred for this Country overrides the common sense of it.
Doc. if you feel slighted and burned by the comments yesterday, I have to tell you those comments were mild compared to what allot of Americans feel right now.
Being a Liberal I suppose you wanted a group hug after your admission of guilt. I'm sorry out here it doesn't happen that way.

nathan| 1.15.13 @ 7:34AM

Go back 4 1/2 years ago. Anyone who wanted/needed to know about BHO, who/what he was had all the information they needed. It was all there.

But we need to remember something, something we so clearly forgot four years later. McCain was just such a ghastly candidate. He really was. I mean come on. To vote for him even if you were a life long republican/conservative like I was, you really had to put on your gas mask. Seriously. He just plain stunk the place up. His rank arrogance of "I'm a war hero I deserve it" wasn't that much different from BHO's "I'm black I deserve it" and McCain showed far too many signs of the abuse he suffered finally catching up to him.

Fast forward 4 years. Did we learn anything from the previous election? NO. MR/PR were just about as bad. And MR's primary apponents could have been employees of Ringling Bros. I mean where was the makeup? Like take Newt, PLEASE! We kept getting this "the generic candidate can beat BHO." Too bad "generic" didn't run. Better him than anyone in the republican field. Let's face it we made WAY to easy to vote for the other guy and will again if we don't get our act together.

Doctor Right| 1.15.13 @ 7:40AM

It's great that you saw the error of your ways between 2008-2012 and switched your vote.

However, since you choose to self-identify as a man of letters (JD/PhD), one is left to wonder how someone presumably so learned could be so fully duped by Obama in particular, and by liberalism in general for such a long time?

You see, those of us without a string of degrees after our last names - the people who toil in flyover country - are often derided as too unsophisticated in our political opinions, yet to a man (and woman), none of us - including Doctors, Lawyers, Business men, teachers, truck drivers, brick layers, etc - EVER bought into the Left's baloney.

So why did you?

And please...don't toss the absurd ideal of "civil rights" into the equation as an excuse for being a Liberal Democrat. A cursory review of American history fully exposes the Democrat Party's eternal abuse of black Americans...but I digress.

In short, it's great that you've finally arrived at the party...but to the rest of us, the ones who've been here for years, listening to pointy-headed intellectuals belittle our religion, our culture, and our patriotism, we ask: what took you so long?

And yes...we blame you for a lot of the problems, too.

Sorry if that offends, but it is the truth.

Drunken Sailor| 1.15.13 @ 10:07AM

Couldn't have said it better DR. Nice job.

See, Dr. Trebach, it's not your stance now or the fact that you admit a mistake you were attacked for. Part of it was you never told us if you voted for him again (you have since corrected that).

The main thrust was that you didn't do your homework the first time and voted for him to begin with. If you had bothered to research his Illinois legislative history the first time, it should have given you pause.

Glad to see you have realized your error, no matter how late it is. Takes a big person to admit they made a mistake. Takes a bigger one to admit they deserve the tongue lashing they get for making the mistake.

Work on thickening that skin, do what you can to correct your mistakes and welcome to our side. The waters can be a bit choppy but the pain and effort are worth it if you truly love your country.

MelvinNC| 1.15.13 @ 7:43AM

"Princeton University administrators are considering divesting from companies involved in the manufacture and sale of certain firearms, a spokesperson for the Ivy League school said on Tuesday.
Princeton University officials are considering divesting from companies who are engaged in selling or manufacturing firearms."
The move comes one week after a coalition of professors at Princeton assembled a petition demanding administrators at the prestigious institution to take the action." Campus Reform .Org
I know I have said this before, and I'll say it again. This about is exactly why the Union will not stay united. States will separate due to this. Doc your a very smart fella, but college academia hates what this country is and what it represents. In all honesty Doc. Why can't your fellow academics just leave the rest of us alone, instead of forcing us to adopt the Progressive ideology?

Maxwell| 1.15.13 @ 8:18AM

MelvinNC, with all due respect, ALL of Princeton is a reflection of the University. I love to have breakfast on Sundays with all of the liberals. Of course my t-shirt is ALWAYS a gun related t-shirt, in black no less. Something along the lines of 'diversity' which lists all of the .45ACP manufacturers with the appropriate picture.

I have yet to run across Paul Krugman or his cat.

Now, Dr. Trebac, my question to you is, how could you not see what Barry was about? When I look at a person running for office I look at his track record, who are his 'friends', his views on guns, abortion, for smaller government or not, their view on the .MIL, EPA, Dept. of Education. You understand my frame of reference?

Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.15.13 @ 7:52AM

I have a colleague whose cousin is dating a man who is currently on probation for a domestic violence assault against a previous girlfriend. My colleague attempted to dissuade her from becoming involved with the felon, because of his (not atypical) pattern of physically beating his domestic partners, and isolating them from their families as he psychologically and physically manipulates them.

Despite the knowledge that the boyfriend was actively on probation with a history of doing this in two states with several different victims, the young woman continued to pursue her relationship with vigor. In the weeks which followed, she took a number of beatings, had her car wrecked, lied to the police and became estranged from her family.

The young woman involved was pursuing postgraduate studies at the university, and is reportedly quite intelligent. She was warned of what was likely to occur by those who had been a part of her support network during her whole life, who based their predictions on known facts, along with the inferences that accompany them about similar circumstances. She disregarded this advice, and experienced the forecasted consequences.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.15.13 @ 7:52AM

In the event that you don’t recognize where the analogy (or metaphor) comes to resemble your circumstance, among the reasons that all don’t feel only sympathy for the victim of such a pathology is that the rest of us are also forced to endure Barack’s attempts at beating and manipulation as he occupies the position of power you helped place him in as you pursued your romance.

Though you might be pledging today to help clean up the mess brought on by your relationship, many of us have seen this kind of phenomenon before, and are not convinced that you won’t shortly be trying to persuade us to “give him just one more chance”, or start a similar pathological relationship with a future suitor, should we survive this one.

R Martin| 1.15.13 @ 8:23AM

I don't know if Mr. Constantine Jr. has a PhD and/or a JD but this, Professor Trebach, is how intelligent writing reads.

TLP| 1.15.13 @ 10:42AM

I don't know anything about a PHD or a JD. But I'd be willing to bet that he has some BVDs, and he wears them when he's making the Takeout Deliveries.

I will have to admit, however, that was a Top Notch Analogy of the Situation that we face.

However, I would make one small adjustment.

In the case of our relationship with President Death To America?

I would change him from a Paroled Convict, with a History of repeated instances of Domestic Violence, to someone more closely related to The BTK Killer or Caligula.

I'm just sayin.

Warrior| 1.15.13 @ 9:32PM

Classic.

Tina B| 1.15.13 @ 8:31AM

If there had been a "contest" today, Albert, you would have won. Excellent analogy. Timmy? Judges? No? Oh, no contest, I get it.

Von Mises Jr| 1.15.13 @ 8:57AM

I give Albert my vote in exposing Arnie's bromance.

TLP| 1.15.13 @ 10:44AM

What's that, ya say?

Arnie has a Bromance? (Like that's a surprise)

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease tell me it's Pesco.

Pecos Pete| 1.15.13 @ 11:05AM

I would know, and it ain't me. Or any of my horses.

TLP| 1.15.13 @ 1:21PM

Nice.

Occam's Tool| 1.15.13 @ 4:46PM

What type of beer do your horses drink, Pecos, in case I find myself out in ABQ again sometime?

Pecos Pete| 1.15.13 @ 7:54PM

I'm cheap so they drink my home brew. I won't drink it, they have to.

Deborah D| 1.15.13 @ 9:16AM

Perfect analogy, Albert! I do sometimes feel quite battered! And, to take the analogy a bit further -- is a large part of the country trapped in the battered-citizen syndrome? Beat me, I love it? Makes one ponder. Thanks!

Bob K| 1.15.13 @ 11:41AM

Albert has a direct hit here.

There was an old criticism of intellectuals and scholars which was published in France a while back, written by Julien Benda. It was titled "La Trahisons des Clercs." It was republished in 2006 in English with the title "The Treason of the Intellectuals."

http://www.amazon.com/Treason-.....1412806232

Very briefly it was about the compromise of intellectual integrity by members of the intelligentsia.

About 50 years ago Russell Kirk wrote an excellent essay and book review in "Modern Age" about Julian Benda titled "The Treason of the Clerks." You can find a PDF of it by googleing that title and Kirks name.

I think, perhaps as some recompense, that Professor Trebach should read these publications and give us his thoughts on them.

Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 1.15.13 @ 8:03AM

Unlike Obama, you are responsible for what you write in the world and must take the consequences. Whether you like them or not.

Judy K. Warner| 1.15.13 @ 8:10AM

I'm repeating here the comment I made at Lucianne.com.
Yesterday Rush Limbaugh talked about how Republicans and conservatives don´t defend their own. They let people like Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann swing in the wind. Therefore we lose one good leader after another. The left knows who is threatening to them and that´s who they go after.

The reactions to this man are in a similar vein. Yes, he was a lib in denial, but now that he sees his errors he needs to be welcomed and supported. God knows he´s probably getting huge grief from his colleagues and acquaintances. Do you know who Whittaker Chambers was? He was a Communist spy in the 1930s who did a lot of damage, but when he repented he became a huge asset to the right as he informed the public of what the Communist Party was up to, and dissected the wrongness of that whole ideology. He became a friend of William F. Buckley. Suppose the conservatives at that time had rejected him? What a loss that would have been.

Furthermore, I have noticed that those converts who find a welcoming reception become more conservative over time. Once they lose their knee-jerk horror about various conservative positions they can look anew at what they believe. As they move along in their thinking they see more clearly what harm their previous allegiance to the left has done. Read David Horowitz if you want to see repentance, but I don´t think he was as deeply repentant at first as he is now.

Doctor Right| 1.15.13 @ 9:44AM

I think you've missed the point; NO ONE is unhappy with his recent "conversion."

But that does not absolve him - or anyone - from past mistakes.

Additionally, he (Mr. Trebach) made the decision to write a follow-up and ask for an explanation to the "tear down" he received yesterday from frequent post-ers to this forum.

Well, he's received his answer. Does this upset him, too?

Mr. Trebach now (apparently) understands the sham that is the foundation of modern liberalism; what he apparently still doesn't understand is the justifiable anger and resentment directed towards liberals for the non-stop damage they do to every facet of this nation that they touch. As Mark Levin stated last week, people are FURIOUS at what's happening to their country.

To that end, although we should welcome Mr. Trebach's inclusion, if he's looking for absolution then perhaps he should look elsewhere.

CJW| 1.15.13 @ 8:18AM

Mr Trebach

Are you related to Alex Trebak?

Seriously, you caused the reaction because it is difficult for me to understand how an intelligent man like you could have voted for Obama. It is not a question of voting for a traditional Dem liberal like Hubert Humphrey, Scoop Jackson, even George McGovern, or Governor Bob Casey of Pa.

All were honorable men and there was never a question of the love and respect each had for the USA. None would have spent one minute in a church with the anti semite, anti american Rev Wright, or one second with a cop killing terrorist like Ayers and Dohrn. Those two acts alone are enough to disqualify Obama without any reference to his views on redistribution and infanticide-abortion.

I suspect you, like many white liberals, voted for O because of his skin color, and it made you feel good to vote for a black candidate.

I am glad you finally saw the light, and welcome to the fight. Now what do we do?

Doctor Right| 1.15.13 @ 9:52AM

I don't think it's difficult to understand why an academic would be a liberal.

Academia exists within it's own little world. Most Professors/Instructors/etc, live in a universe defined by their particular academic specialty.

They spend their time trying to get published in order to maintain their tenure, but very little time trying to understand the world that exists outside their ivy-covered walls.

They often confuse the string of Degrees after their names with wisdom, and come up with grandiose ideas about how things oughta' be out there in the world, and get very testy when told that those ideas don't work by the people who are forced to endure them...people, whom I might add, do NOT have a string of Degrees after their names, but possess something the Professors don't have - EXPERIENCE.

These multiple degrees and letters can easily lead one to believe that he/she is the smartest person in the room, as opposed to a very smart person with academic expertise in one particular area.

For example...my brother-in-law is a brilliant engineer, but a knee-jerk liberal who once traveled to a conference but left his luggage at home; he only realized it when he tried to check-in to his hotel! Arguing politics with him is a fruitless endeavor because he assumes that he knows so much, when in fact he actually knows so much that isn't so.

CJW| 1.15.13 @ 11:10AM

I agree, DrR, I have the same experiences daily with doctors, attorneys, and accountants.

Brother John| 1.15.13 @ 8:30AM

More than any other single thing, it was the flagrant idol worship that most alarmed me. Never mind that I knew the man's policies were destructive, never mind that I knew he was raised by anti-Americans, never mind that I knew he was a petulant child when it came to personality. The idol worship frankly scared the hell out of me.

"The One?" The only thing I know that has that title and deserves it besides Jesus Christ himself is an Elton John record. Crease in his pants?

The pageantry and ostentatious displays at that 2008 convention, election night celebration, and inauguration were enough to make Lani Reifenstahl puke.

That was cult-of-personality of the worst kind, and nothing good EVER comes of such things.

Roscoe| 1.15.13 @ 8:30AM

Mr. Trebach,
You wrote above:
"A major part of my despair for the country is the manner in which our president and the Democratic Party openly worked to destroy the reputation of that kind, decent, honest man. That action was truly despicable."
Here's my wish. That you would pen a letter addressed to YOUR president at the White House, and that you would include these very words in your letter to him, addressed to him, and that you would sign your name with J.D, Ph.D., professor emeritus and such, just so that he can know that you're his kind of guy. He ain't listening to me.... maybe he'll hear you.

R Martin| 1.15.13 @ 8:55AM

Just some random thoughts:

First, Professor Trebach, thanks for your response. It was sorely needed after yesterday’s piece which had some holes that needed filling.

Second, I think “tear down” is a bit over the top. There were some strong comments yesterday but I interpreted them to be well-deserved criticism of your (previous) destructive leftist philosophy and apparent weak volition to work for change. Most who comment in this space feel very strongly about the growth of government, its unrelenting power and what it is doing to our Republic. Many of us fought to defend the ideals of our founding and virtually all of us know others who died trying.

Third, I hope we all see your name more frequently now among those who are working for (not just despairing over) a reversal of the leftist juggernaut that has become so destructive.

TLP| 1.15.13 @ 11:00AM

Get a Room.

Le Cracquere| 1.15.13 @ 9:05AM

I wouldn't take it personally, Mr. Trebach. Despite TAS's virtues, and the virtues of many of its commenters, this site is pretty much the Reddit/YouTube of conservative opinion: it's either unmoderated, or so laxly moderated that casual readers can't detect it. As a direct result, many TAS articles' comment sections are dominated by a half-dozen posters who either learned their social graces playing Team Fortress, or are frankly off their meds. Mutatis mutandis, one could probably find the same uncharitability and unfocussed ire at any analogous leftist site.

TLP| 1.15.13 @ 11:30AM

"Many TAS articles' comment sections are dominated by a half-dozen posters who either learned their social graces playing Team Fortress, or are frankly off their meds."

Ladies and Gentlemen. I give you Sir Pompous Ass.

He's better than us. And, how do I know this? Because the Stupid B*st*rd just said he was. He has Manners and Social Graces that makes him the Belle of the Balls at all of the Gay Bars in the Village.

You and me? We're off our Meds.

Speaking of Meds, Le Cracqueer? Shouldn't you be getting a Blood Test, somewhere?

Maybe if you didn't Let all the Boys put things in your Le Craque, you wouldn't need any Tests, or any Meds?

Congratulations, Trebach. You've found yourself a buddy, which is why I said, earlier: We just don't need anymore guys like you, attracting anymore guys like Ass Craque .

Occam's Tool| 1.15.13 @ 5:34PM

Dr. Trebach, you screwed up big time. Put the cup on, adjust the jockstrap, and deal with it, without being a sissy. Guys like you got us into this mess.

Here's your problem: Do you know what Branch Rickey, Jackie Robinson, and MLK Jr. had in common? 1) All believed that the quality of a man's mind and soul was more important than the color of his skin. 2) All believed that "Luck is the Residue of Design." 3) All were incredible hard workers and great men. 4) All were Republicans.

Do any of these Great Men resemble Barack Obama's world view?

You made a mistake that was due to EXTREME laziness of thought, conception, and action, and libelled you fellow Americans in 2008. Get to work making amends and quit whining like a puss-puss. That's what Democrats do.

Warrior| 1.15.13 @ 9:38PM

I bet he votes for Plugs in 2016. By the way, one of your better posts.

Tom Kyba| 1.15.13 @ 11:50AM

Ooh Ooh, he just said mutatis mutandis, what a scholar. Everyone shut up now. Mr. La whatever has spoken. Let's all now become liberals who pretend otherwise like Mr. La whatever, who obviously thinks we will either:
A. Shut up or become more civilized, following his sage advice or:
B. Ignore his smug snobbishness and continue as before, confirming for Mr. La whatever that we are Neanderthals in comparison to his perfect worldliness.
And people like this think they are the concience of a nation. As if. Gag me with the entire cutlery drawer.

Le Cracquere| 1.15.13 @ 12:32PM

Well, gee ... my mistake! Obviously, I couldn't have been more wrong.

TLP| 1.15.13 @ 1:25PM

I'm thinking that you could.

And, I'm sure it won't take very long.

Lullabys Legends and Lies| 1.15.13 @ 9:19AM

I hate to have to teach the good Professor here a lesson, because I'm not trying to kick you when you've just come around to the "right" side of things!! But here it is,... the lesson that is!! The Internet "NEVER" forgets!! The link below is to a You Tube video from 13 November 2008, with Arnold Trebach's comments on the recent Election!! It's kind of fascinating because in it, MR Trebach makes it seem like he's been a "lifelong" Democrat, so his recent conversion is even more breathtaking!! Like I said yesterday, welcome to the fight, but this is still worth a view nonetheless!! You've got to know who your friends really are, warts and all, if you ever want to truly trust them!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....r_embedded

R Martin| 1.15.13 @ 9:45AM

I watched it. You’re right, it’s well worthwhile. Professor Trebach’s gullibility is breathtaking. He is ecstatic about Obama and Rahm Emanuel together in the White House, he voted for Gore and Kerry, he lauded Obama’s Grant Park speech and he thought Obama might prove to be a tad radical. Can that sort of deep seated ideology be completely reversed just by recognizing and admitting how badly one of his confidences was misplaced? We’ll see.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.15.13 @ 9:56AM

The commentary from 50 months ago is an interesting snapshot on Professor Trebach's journey to his current viewpoint. Particularly illuminating is his embrace of Rahm Emmanuel's selection as Chief of Staff, despite his awareness of his divisive nature (so naturally, it is followed by an admonition against divisiveness).

As the counter reflected only 31 views at the time I looked at it 10 minutes ago (and given all that has followed), clearly none of those watching is were decision makers or shot callers in the Obama Administration.

TLP| 1.15.13 @ 1:28PM

What I wanna know is: Was he inside one of the Rape Tents, during Occupy Wall Street?

Or, was he one of the reasons they had the Rape Tents, in the first place?

PolishKnight| 1.15.13 @ 9:41AM

I sympathize with Arnold (truly) because I was in a similar boat although briefly: Back when I was 19 and in college, I flirted with the ideals of liberalism. The Swedish paradise on a hill. Then after just a few months of seeing what liberalism is REALLY like with the minimal examination, I saw it as the monster it is. Imagine if I had waited another 30 years to figure it out. How embarrassing! It's also probably why many liberals remain in denial until they die: Who wants to admit that for most of their life, they've been a fool? But at least a fool who repents is not a fool all of their life. It's not easy to do so and I respect Arnold for making that step.

But before we welcome you into the fold, keep in mind that you've tossed eggs at us for the past several decades of your life. As Appleby says, you've made a real mess and at least need to accept some kind of moral responsibility for it. The civil rights movement transformed into a race hustling/preferences scam long before the 60's were over. Equality was no longer sufficient but rather entitlements. The Democrat party became all about reverse Jim Crow after that.

But I do thank you for seeing the light because if you could then hope exists others might as well. Just as working and middle class whites fled the Democrat party, so now are remaining white guys. As the Democrat party is stripped to its bare essence of a scapegoating mob, it will help transform American politics to move truly forward.

JD| 1.15.13 @ 1:00PM

I was about 13-14, voraciously reading whatever history books I could find at school out of boredom with my classes. The books led me left, and there was no book to lead me right, but I got there on my own well before I was old enough to start voting.

I do not like this condemning of the article's author. We know how much misinformation is out there, and we are not surprised that many believe it. Conversions like his are what we need to encourage, not discourage.

TLP| 1.15.13 @ 1:34PM

We're not discouraging his "Conversion" from Insane, to Not Insane.

We're just reminding him of his utter Stupidity, Naïveté, and Ignorance of the Real World, before we allow him to just Waltz in here, with nothing more than an "I'm Sorry".

PolishKnight| 1.15.13 @ 2:01PM

JD, I have never met a truly misinformed, intellectual liberal. What I have met a number of are well trained, dishonest liberals who have an encyclopedia of NYT approved talking points and red-herrings at their fingertips cleverly crafted to avoid the truth. The more lies they tell, the more emotionally engaged they become to it. The purpose of the lies is that if they can just win elections, then magically they'll get Sweden and the whole world will sing cumbayah.

Perhaps at some point even the most self-delusioned of them wake up, like after a hard night of doing E, and realize that it's not going to work out as they planned and they're sick of being chained to leftist ideology as much as Heaven's gate cult followers designing web sites.

So good for him. I'm glad he woke up. But sadly, I don't think his conversion is due to a welcoming party awaiting him. He woke up because he had no other choice.

JD| 1.15.13 @ 3:17PM

Indeed, it becomes more difficult to buy into lies the more one knows. However, I know a lot of people who simply don't care to know much about politics (justifying themselves with generic complaints about what a mess it is). When these people are tricked into discussing politics (by discussing other issues which lead to political discussions), they reveal a substantial amount of belief in the lies of the mainstream Leftist press. Even if they vote Republican!

PolishKnight| 1.16.13 @ 9:43AM

One of the reasons why big government democratic socialism cannot work is that it quickly becomes too complex for most reasonable citizens to keep up with and worse, the people most motivated to keep up with politics generally term out to be liars and revisionists out to rewrite actual history. McCarthyism about McCarthy chasing after people on the Senate floor? Clinton being impeached because he had sex? Scooter Libby going to jail for "outing" Valerie Plame? All stuff now bought by even many right wingers simply because the left floods the market with disinformation and some sticks.

Even on this forum, I laugh at the notion that before feminism women couldn't work outside the home (yet, textiles were still made!) and men were physically abusive towards women (compare rap music lyrics today to the notion of chivalry back a 100 years ago and that women yearn for.)

Pecos Pete| 1.15.13 @ 9:42AM

Mr. Trebach, welcome aboard if you are willing to bail while the ship is sinking. You, and others like you, punched a huge hole in the grand old ship. Our ship is sinking and the more of your friends that you can bring aboard will be most welcome.

I commend you for writing the article yesterday and for coming back with today's explanation. Coming back today says more about your willingness to help save the ship than your upcoming book and yesterday's article.

As comments above describe, many of us at TAS have been fighting for the USA as members of the nation's armed forces. We have our memories of friends who gave their blood for this nation. Others here who never served in the armed forces are nevertheless patriots who recognize that the Constitution of the United States is all that is between citizens and anarchy. We are not tender souls.

We have been beaten and battered by claims that we are racist when we are not. We have been called bitter clingers to our guns and religion when both are guaranteed by the Constitution. We, and our ancestors, have paid our personal debts and worked our asses off to live free and to pass on to our heirs the benefits of a free republic.

We have learned the hard way to be careful about who we vote for. Welcome to the hard way.

PolishKnight| 1.15.13 @ 9:57AM

Indeed, Pecos, coming over to our ship when the Democrat party is guaranteed to win elections if nothing changes is hardly something less than a principled person would consider doing. He is to be commended for doing so. (Why am I reminded of Rhett Butler in GWTW joining up in the Confederate army after Gettysburg? :-)

We've been accused of being racists when we're not by a party that has grown by being as absolutely racist and sexist as possible. As the remaining whites flee the Democrat party, it will become clear that it will become necessary to not only address this unfair slander, but also reveal that it's been a projection all along. It's the primary way the Dems win votes.

Apart from race/gender entitlements, the Dems have little going for them actually. Their crony capitalist entitlements ironically are something they can't run on.

JD| 1.15.13 @ 1:02PM

Please do not use the term the Leftists invented to tie the corruption inherent to Leftist centralization to the Right. There should be no association between the word "capitalism" and the inevitable cronyism of a government that tries to manage the economy.

PolishKnight| 1.15.13 @ 2:44PM

Since the right's elitists have let us down, it's useful to grant the left a point and concede that the right wing capitalists happily sold us out for H1B cheap labor, undocumented immigrants and crony regulations and tax breaks which favors their monopolistic practices and locks out competition. They did all of this while colluding with the left.

I'm reminded of a line from the cheesy film "Braveheart" where Wallace tells the noblemen that the peasants don't exist for their mansions but rather their mansions are allowed to exist because of the peasants. Well, the noblemen had a point in that they regarded the peasants as slaves to support their lifestyle but when the peasants have little to gain by fighting (rather than just switching from one lord to another) what's the point besides showing up and going through the motions? Sounds a lot like the dispirited conservative electorate, doesn't it?

JD| 1.15.13 @ 3:26PM

People who pursue "crony regulations and tax breaks which favors their monopolistic practices and locks out competition" while "colluding with the left." were never "right-wing" to begin with. Definitionally, one cannot be on the Right if one's behaviors are Leftist, and vice versa.

Being a business owner does not make one "right-wing", nor does opposing only the Left wing proposals which are hostile to one's personal business. The Left wants us to believe that so it can tar the Right with the consequences of Leftism.

"Cronyism" is the natural consequence of the concentration of economic decision-making power in the hands of government authorities. Blame lies with those concentrating the power. The Left's scheme is to blame those lobbying and bribing, but to not lobby or bribe when one's competitors do so is economic suicide. The creation of central economic authorities is the de facto directive to engage in cronyism.

It is also the polar opposite of what the Right believes in.

PolishKnight| 1.16.13 @ 9:55AM

I hate the "real" label because it allows someone to portray a philosophy as better than it actually is. It's like Soviet apologists saying it was all Stalin's fault.

The right has to accept responsibility for many in their ranks colluding with the enemy or living up to (or down to) the low public opinion of capitalism.

When you talk about distrusting centralized authority, keep in mind that the pro-life wing is against that philosophy and it gives cover to "protecting" children via government. Gun prohibition anyone? It's not only conflicting with the basic premise of limited, "libertarian" government but also political suicide. It doesn't bring over that many votes from the other side and alienates many with the idea of forcing rape victims to die in childbirth. That's just one example of course. In the meantime, the right, the "true right", does little to deal with vote killers and economic poison such as affirmative action, the marriage penalty and the VAWA.

Believing in stuff is nice but MAKING IT REAL means setting priorities, getting your hands a little dirty and dealing intelligently with political compromise and even strategic withdrawal (give 'em not only the tax increase on the wealthy they want, but more than they want. How about a tax on violent video games?)

Simply being stupid and principled is little different than just being stupid. And losing. Quite frankly, this is less like a sinking boat and more like the Island of Misfit Toys.

R Martin| 1.15.13 @ 11:51AM

Careful Pecos, Little Timmy will think you're applying for a job in the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department.

TLP| 1.15.13 @ 1:37PM

Don't worry about that.

I'm busy at the moment, trying to track down Pesco's Bromance.

I'll get back to you.

gajaw999| 1.15.13 @ 1:28PM

Thank you for your service, Pecos. You put your life on the line for our country. Bless you.

Stormzeye| 1.15.13 @ 9:53AM

Everything we know now, and more, about who this incompetent, race-baiter and re-distributionist was had been published long before Obama ran for the Presidency. What had also been published was what we didn't know about his background.
In spite of all this, you voted for him. You were as intellectually lazy in failing to learn these truths as Obama was in voting "present" during his entire career.
Though I cannot fault you for finally seeing the light, I will fault you for having lacked the intellectual rigor required of a teacher during that first fateful election.....or were you afraid of peer pressure in 2008?
I also fault you for seeing issues in terms of race. This racialism is unbecoming of an educated man let alone an educator.

Karen K| 1.15.13 @ 9:54AM

I am sorry that you have received the negative feedback from your article. I personally was proud that you were strong enough to go public with your change of heart. I look forward to reading the book you are working on. Thank you for your honesty.

gajaw999| 1.15.13 @ 1:27PM

I agree, Karen. We must always leave the door open for winning the argument, and letting those who now agree with us come in from the cold.

MTB| 1.15.13 @ 9:54AM

A lot of people were caught up in the hype of the Obama in 2008 (I, however, was not one of those people, I recognize democrats for who and what they are and never believe anything a democrat says), especially liberal academics such as yourself. I am of the belief that there is always room under the Conservative tent for anyone who finally realizes the error of their ways and turns away from the dark side that is liberalism (aka the democrat party). Welcome to the "Right" side, Mr. Trebach.

sickofit5| 1.15.13 @ 9:54AM

I wonder what Mr. Trebach called those of us that identified Obama as the POS he is in 2008. Was he one of those that called us racist, clinging to our guns and bibles because we identified him for what, only now, Trebach finally recognizes. Welcome home Mr. Trebach.

C. Vernon Crisler | 1.15.13 @ 10:16AM

To see why many of us angry, see the church controversy over Novationism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novatianism

Job| 1.15.13 @ 2:17PM

good parallel Sir.

Anthony| 1.15.13 @ 10:17AM

Well Mr. Trebach, you demonstrate the qualities of the typical pampered leftist idealist that has bought our culture to its knees, when you get offended when chided for your abysmal thought processes.
Yes, you are to be congratulated for your conversion, while many of your fellow leftist travelers remain clueless, but you fail to appreciate what you and your ilk have done to America, and our total disgust.
As has been pointed out by many posters here, you should have know better, but for whatever reason, you were blinded by your rigid ideology.
America is on the verge of civil war, with an imperial president who threatens America's concept of a Constitutional Republic. Your fellow leftist travelers, for over 60 years, have been aiming for this very day.
Excuse us if we don't give you the appreciation you think you so deserve, as the saying goes, been there, done that.

Denver Todd| 1.15.13 @ 10:20AM

Someday my friend, who feels that healthcare is a special issue that should be socialized if nothing else, will come to experience the consequences of his choices, even though he isn't registered to vote. When someone dies in his family due to a decision of the government, should I point out that this is what he voted for by not voting? I don't know. Overall, I think I will feel that he is a little late coming to the table, and that is how most of us feel about Trebach, he should have known better. Maybe we just don't trust him.

william c wilkins| 1.15.13 @ 10:25AM

you have the blood of millions of black babies on your hands the death of great cities are due to fools like you.the murder of young black men by their own kind rest with you and do gooders like you.you should be very ashamed. truck wilkins

Anthony| 1.15.13 @ 10:33AM

Oh, and one last point Mr. Trebach. You smugly cloak yourself in your self righteous and holier than thou participation in the civil rights movement, as if WE conservatives were not a part of it. Typical leftist elitism.
It was the conservatives who believed in Dr. King's dream of people not being judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
It was your fellow leftists who set this wonderful concept on its head, with their hairbrained, get even, touchy feely concept of affirmative action.
Yes, leftism has, in its mindless desire to acheive fairness, set this culture on the path of destruction.
So you see Mr. Trebach, you still have a ways to go. You need to stand in front of a mirror and jettison your leftist elitism. The truth will finally set you free!!

fmm| 1.15.13 @ 11:13AM

Yes. It is interesting that the professor wrote these articles from a personal point of view, using the word WE as often as the "One" uses I. A sure sign of a deeply embedded leftist self centered attitude. Only time will tell as to whether the professor can stay the course in his new found glorious undertaking.

Simon Templar| 1.15.13 @ 4:07PM

Very astute observation.

rjh| 1.15.13 @ 10:42AM

A little thin skinned, aren't you, Mr. Trebach? It did not take a rocket scientist to see through obama from day one. If you are wondering why the comments here are so strong, it is because of the damage you and your ilk have caused to be done to the country, and to the futures of our children and grandchildren. You have proven that a Ph.D. and a law degree do not equate to critcal thinking, judgement, or common sense.

7-08| 1.15.13 @ 10:42AM

I did not read yesterday’s article and I did not read this one, but anyone who voted for Obama either wanted something his agenda could produce (at the expense of someone else) or is so blindly ignorant to the man’s record that he has no business conveying opinion to anyone.
Professor emeritus? That is Latin for “worthless bastard on the dole” (usually to the tune of six figures).
Civil rights protester? How is that government solution working out for you? You have reduced the black community to 75% illegitimacy, 75% of those you “saved” now carry a STD, 40% of your “flocks” males have been in jail or have a criminal record.
You and your ilk have replaced their work ethic with entitlement and their nuclear family with a cultural mandate impregnate women as a trophy. Education in this group is scorned as something whity does.
Soon you will simply surrender and declare the ultimate governmental and academic failure. Institute a new programs we can pay for, reparations. Gambling has already been used for your previous disasters: Why don’t you legalize drugs and turn that over to the blacks, oh wait, you already have.

fmm| 1.15.13 @ 11:15AM

Nice summary.

gajaw999| 1.15.13 @ 1:24PM

You are so right! The decimation of the black family is the greatest evil that liberalism has produced. Abortions are mostly for blacks, poverty, suffering and hopelessness are the bitter fruit of their putting trust in entitlements. From Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" to now the Obamaphone lady. It has been one long fall downward. Thomas Sowell weeps for his people. When will the black population ever wake up and see Democrat dummies for what they are?

Joe D.| 1.15.13 @ 10:44AM

Mr. Trebach, just remember there are some stupid liberal/socialist that read these columns who make stupid comments. They are not conservatives. I think most of them were not attaching you for your wake up article yesterday. I for one am glad you have join us. I hope for more than just civil rights.

Also, please note that most of us will have a hard time finding something good Obama has done that others would not have done better, during his tenure in office.

I am sorry. But it is true. Socialism/Communism are evil idiologies and take good people and turn them into evil monsters.

Kwan| 1.15.13 @ 11:00AM

Dr. Trebach is no longer the problem he has now joined the ranks of the awakened ones that are no longer mesmerized by the lies of the left. Many so-called avant-garde intellectuals were attracted to leftist/liberal ideology believing that conservativism was static and would not produce needed changes. They failed to comprehend that change could be positive or negative, and that many of the people that gravitated to the left were actually thugs, psychopaths, and sociopaths –Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao, and Che are examples- that would patiently wait for the right time and then seize power with the use of violence. To maintain that power they would implement an authoritarian dictatorship that was designed to keep them in power and subjugate the population. Anyone with an IQ greater than their shoe size realizes that this is not the kind of change that anyone wants. Which is why Obama and his henchmen must be stopped befor they destroy the nation.

Tom Anderson| 1.15.13 @ 11:28AM

I echo the feelings of other writers here.

If Mr. Trebach wonders why people are mad, perhaps this analogy will help.

Lets say we are a small group living on an island. One day, another guy shows up on the island. We recognize him before we all became stranded. He was a murderer.

However, he is charming and speaks well. Those of us that remember him in the newspapers recollect that he murdered people, enjoyed it, and liked to surround himself with murderers.

The group on the island welcomes him warmly because he says nice things, even though many people in the group reject this murderer. When these things are brought up, those that bring them up are called racists, and threatened with not getting their daily share of group-acquired food.

Then this gentleman murders someone, plainly, in front of everyone. He is smug and considers it his duty.

The majority of the island votes to keep him in his group, including you Mr. Trebach. They even through parties in his honor.

When he kills a second person, a third, a forth, you suddenly don't like him anymore. You suddenly remember he was, and always will be, a murderer.

Would you question people being upset that you knowingly embraced a murderer and caused death and destruction? Would your sorrow bring the dead back?

The metaphor is clear. This President is killing our country, and now you are sorry.

Job| 1.15.13 @ 12:08PM

has it occured to you that after slavery and jim crow alot of blacks look at whites with this same suspicion.

gajaw999| 1.15.13 @ 1:15PM

Job, can we please have a discussion just once without race being thrown in? Can we?

Job| 1.15.13 @ 2:09PM

i'm on topic here. please do add something to the discussion.

JD| 1.15.13 @ 3:55PM

He is on topic, but it's a different thing to hold a person responsible for his own past than to blame all people who look a certain way for the long-past actions of other similar-looking people.

The former is logical wariness. The latter is what we call "racism."

Job| 1.15.13 @ 4:25PM

we'll reexamine your definition of long-past and racism when your daughter brings home a black fiance.

Job| 1.15.13 @ 4:29PM

agree with the logical wariness thing though and think it extends into what i said. i mean if i'm a pig who excapes from a slaughter house from then on, based on the killing i saw in the slaughterhouse, i think i'm within my right to be wary of people, racism be damned.

Job| 1.15.13 @ 4:32PM

even though its just a person who is "similar looking" to the ones killing in the slaughterhouse.

JD| 1.15.13 @ 4:46PM

If a pig were sentient, it would have many valid reasons to be wary of people.

But when it comes to people who look the same as people who were oppressed generations ago, there are fewer good reasons to be wary of people who look like the ancient oppressors looked.

I read recently in a Thomas Sowell book that there were more Caucasians enslaved in Africa in the early 1800s than Africans in North America. Should we be wary?

Job| 1.15.13 @ 5:22PM

ixne i'm a pig i'm thinkin somethin is ottenre in enmarkde sentience or not.

Job| 1.15.13 @ 5:41PM

sides if we are gonna over analyze an argument lets start off Toms argument with, "if a small stupid group of people are on an island"...

because if they are sentient people they'd have to be suspicious after the first murder.

JD| 1.15.13 @ 4:30PM

The presumption of racism in others, without evidence, is the most prevalent form of racism in America today.

Job| 1.15.13 @ 4:36PM

that statement is valid sans the absolute.

Kristen| 1.15.13 @ 11:34AM

If anyone should live in reality, it should most likely fall on the academic community who is supposed to prepare our youth for the many difficulties facing them when they finally go out into the world...Professor Trebach; you should have known there would be results in a world populated by the enacted policies of an Obama that wouldn't touch reality in any way....and now we have to live with those realities...you of anyone should have known better...but you don't and you live in an academic Utopia you and all the others you deal with daily that escapes reality in every way...the rest of us will be forced to deal with even more inanity Obama and his minions created in the very near future...think on that for even a moment and understand what you have done...

Nelson H.| 1.15.13 @ 11:39AM

Dr. Trebach, I believe you misapprehend your critics on this website. The relevant points for us are these:

1. Obama won re-election in November, and it was the closest thing a psychic mortal wound any of us has felt in our lifetimes, no matter what our age, as Obama's re-election, it will soon be generally seen, is the worst thing to happen to our nation since the outbreak of the Civil War. We can only hope there aren't similar results this time.

2. You are a professor emeritus. Conservatives have a reflexive distrust of the academy dating back at least as far as WFB's statement that he would rather be ruled by the first 2000 names in the Boston telephone book than the Harvard faculty. When you pair that instinctive apprehension with your admission that you voted for Obama in 2008 the reaction you will get from the conservative camp must inevitably be one of bristling hostility. "How could you--??" is what we think and deeply feel, perhaps adding some emphatic expletives to the question.

Of course we welcome you to the side of truth and light but please, do try to understand our mental landscape a bit better. Note to others: NEVER admit that you voted for Obama. It is much better to conceal that in a conservative crowd.

gajaw999| 1.15.13 @ 1:12PM

Well said, my friend. I think you put your finger on the source of the hostility. I think our writer needs to help brighten the fire since he has come in from the cold.

Who Knows?| 1.15.13 @ 12:07PM

Only an explosion of mea culpas, followed by radical conversion---to the roots!---will suffice to stop America from continuing to fall apart---if it’s not ALREADY too late, that is.

Can anyone who’s made the switch from feel-good liberal to real-world conservative or libertarian really be hopeful?

I doubt it.

The MSM is still in control, or as Steyn always reminds us, culture trumps politics---in spades.

Watch more and more people wake up, and squirm in the crap THEY essentially helped bring on.

Karma.

stmichrick| 1.15.13 @ 12:26PM

There is only one thing that is worse than a white person who voted for Obama the first time; one who did it again. So Mr. Trebach came to his senses and faced reality. I forgive you.

I get the racial pride motivation of blacks and the giddy anticipation of High (Leftist) Information Pinko Voters. Even those folks should be a little shaken with the results of the first Obama term.

Anyone else; I blame you for the coming financial collapse and the working over we get from global antagonists.

atilla| 1.15.13 @ 12:53PM

hey arnie,
you want to achieve some credibility with your comment ors??
Try denouncing everything you ever learned that led you to vote for that menace to freedom obama, just like the rest of patriotic America.

Bob S| 1.15.13 @ 12:54PM

It's like shooting your friend in the face, then pretty please asking for forgiveness.

Have you talked to Dick Cheney, Mr. Trebach?

gajaw999| 1.15.13 @ 1:00PM

Dr. Trebach, I know you got a lot of blowback yesterday when you became the visible embodiment of the frustration conservatives have been feeling with those who just don't get it. Sounds like you are still getting some of that today. But may I offer a word of encouragement? Move forward with your newfound knowledge and perspective and don't worry about the knocks. Apply what you now know to all areas of your philosophy, political and otherwise. Read up on conservative thought so you have a basis for what you believe. Leave the past behind with a vengeance, don't apologize for it anymore, but simply do what you can as strongly as you can to help save this great nation. We need all hands on deck, and I fear it still won't be enough. A financial tsunami is at sea, headed to shore to wipe us out. How will we ever escape it? Culturally, we are rotten. We have abandoned the ideals that made us great. But do what you can. And one final appeal: seek to become spiritually alive (I speak as a Christian). For without a Great Awakening I believe we are doomed. Others may disagree, but it's what I believe, and I am working, giving, and praying to that end. Now, no more regrets. No more groveling. Get out there and get to work. Hope to see more from you in the future!

Job| 1.15.13 @ 2:11PM

you may disregard my comment above sir did not see this one

gajaw999| 1.15.13 @ 6:13PM

Thanks, Job. Pardon my touchiness earlier as well.

SukieTawdry| 1.15.13 @ 1:22PM

Mr. Trebach, I'm a life-long conservative, an educated conservative, who has never even flirted with liberalism perhaps because I've watched the wages of that particular "sin" payed out in real time over the course of my life.

You're proud of your civil rights background. You should be. Were you also proud when the black leaders of the 60's sold out their people for negligible gain and temporary glory? Were you proud when those leaders emerged from Dr. King's movement to become race hustlers more concerned with padding their bank accounts than advancing the rights of colored people? How about when your fellow white liberals inside the Beltway devised for political gain government policy that would dismantle the black family, and therefore the black community, make fatherhood superfluous and foster dependency, resentment and sloth?

In my experience, liberals are either knaves or fools (or both). You seem like a decent man. What the hell took you so long to wise up?

So you're feeling battered and bruised. Well, welcome to our world. Hope you have the fortitude to stick it out. We need all the help we can get.

R Martin| 1.15.13 @ 3:26PM

Sukie, are you aware the mild mannered writer sometimes known as TLP runs an analogy contest on this site from time to time. I think you would be a worthy contestant, and the prizes are swell. Bo on the lookout for it.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.15.13 @ 3:47PM

...Oh the line forms ♪
on the right dear♪♫
now that Timmyyyyyy♪'sssss
back in ♪♫Tooooowwwww♪♫nnn

(Lookout 'cause TLP's back)

R Martin| 1.15.13 @ 3:54PM

I'm surprised you didn't pick-up on this name yesterday.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.15.13 @ 7:08PM

I did, but I was waiting to see if Lotte Lenya also made it (not to mention Lucy Brown).

Drunken Sailor| 1.15.13 @ 3:38PM

Sukie, Sukie.

George S| 1.15.13 @ 1:47PM

Being fooled is not easy for an academic lawyer to admit.

Constance| 1.15.13 @ 1:55PM

Mr. Trebach,
We are tired. Tired of being lectured to by people who are supposedly smarter than us. People who were so smart that they apparently voted for Barack Obama, when the rest of us immediately knew how dangerous he was for our country. We are tired of the excuses doled out to us to explain away something as ridiculous as an educated man voting for someone like Obama. I remember the rest of us were excoriated for hoping that Obama would fail in his first term. How we were told we were racists and haters and un-American because we simply did not see anything in Obama that led us to believe he was anything other than a liar and a fraud. Yet, you fell for it. Now, you wonder why we have no tolerance for your admission of your big mistake. Well, your big mistake, multiplied by the millions of other people voting for their big mistake in 2008 , has brought this country to the precipice of extinction. Forgive me, and forgive all the rest of us, if we simply don't give a fig what you think now or care to hear your apologies. We have a country to save... thanks to the enlightened like you.

Simon Templar| 1.15.13 @ 3:34PM

Constance sums it up well and succinctly.
I would like to add to it.

I hope you really listen and are interested in why many of us reacted to your article the way we did.
First, although many of us do in fact appreciate your epiphany and road to Damascus revelation, perhaps we did not make that clear, many of us also did not understand why you were writing this article to this audience and what exactly were you doing about this great mistake you admit making.
Nothing you wrote we have not said or thought ourselves. We may have enjoyed or appreciated the fact it came from a liberal democrat like yourself but other than the novelty of it, who cares, so what? Well, welcome to the mess and the burning of our Republic!

Now, I do appreciate you taking the time to clarify and respond. The real question here is what now, where do we go from here?
I would really desire that you would sincerely join us in this fight and write again regularly offering suggestions, strategies, and practical solutions to turn this around and defeat this destruction wrought by this imposter and fraud you so accurately described. Having someone like yourself on our team could be invaluable. You may even find out that we do not desire to destroy the working man, throw granny over the cliff, or desire to prop up the "greedy Rich."

Simon Templar| 1.15.13 @ 3:44PM

In fact, you may just find out that we have VERY much in common. If you doubt that then listen to democrat Pat Cadelle's recent speech to Texas conservatives that got a standing ovation.
We have been manipulated, slandered, and oppressed by the Left for 60 years. Understand that and take some responsibility.
You also need to know and understand that we are conservatives, not foremost Republicans, and we are well aware that both parties are corrupt and we are being ruled by a corrupt political class. We are living in a time where ideology has become relatively meaningless and has degenerated into demagoguery and political distortion that has nothing to do with our founders, their vision, their values, and our constitution.

Job| 1.15.13 @ 2:14PM

we have found a witch, may we burn her

Mark30339| 1.15.13 @ 3:20PM

Professor, we conservatives like to say we are the party of ideas, and maybe we will discover a willingness for discourse that respects ideas and paths that differ from our own. Most of us in the blog comments area have far too wounded egos to pass up any opportunity for feeling lifted up by putting others down. If it's any consolation, you'll probably fare even worse in the left blogosphere. I affirm and share your puzzlement with rank and file conservatives, and I am sure to be skewered for saying so.

Drunken Sailor| 1.15.13 @ 3:42PM

Mark,
Try reading the comments again. Most explain why the anger and then expressed gratitude for his change of heart. They also encouraged him to help fix the problem he put in office.

It has nothing to do with wounded egos, just a little tough love. We do appreciate new ideas but forgive us if we approach them cautiously. See, we have been burned many times before and are hesitant to do so again.

The burden of proof lies not with the audience but the one seeking said audience.

Simon Templar| 1.15.13 @ 3:46PM

Well put, DS.....

JD| 1.15.13 @ 3:48PM

I would say that the Left has more ideas than we do. They're just bad ones.

There are a great many who claim allegiance to a side yet do not represent it well.

1ConservativeUSA| 1.15.13 @ 4:55PM

My intent, Mr. Trebach, was not to tear you down or to condemn you. Rather, I sought to point out a a simple truth, a consequence for you bad decision and that of many others.

Bad decisions? Yes, we've all made them.

The fact was, despite having huge differences with him, John McCain was clearly the candidiate in 2008 who believed in America's promise more than Barack Obama.

I have no great admiration for Mr. McCain as a politician. As president, Mr. McCain would have made blunders, for sure. No president pitches a perfect game and Mr. McCain tends to get seduced by the left now and again. However, he would have erred on the side of upholding the US Constitution and the greatness of America.

In 2008, it was very clear to many of us, but sadly not enough of us, that Barack Obama had different things in mind for this counrty. Things that had nothing to do with our Constitution and to appealing to our best ideals and founding principles.

Mr. Obama's warped agenda is now playing out. To this day, I have not heard a convincing argument about how his election or re-election will advance the greatness of this country, unless you define greatness by less liberty, less prosperity and divide amongst Americans.

One day, perhaps the majority will stop voting based on emotion and hopes for utopia, and realize that a vote for statism and those who promote it means less liberty and prosperity for all.

Hardcard| 1.15.13 @ 6:04PM

Alex....I'll take door # 3, is that the secret square?
I remember this guy he was also on queen for a day. I want the dishwasher alex (juanita). Where does E.Bob get these jerks from? I had a pal Dave he would tell everybody he was a PHD, I said Dave you didn't go to college,he replied, so I was, "a paper hanger doctor" Alex I want door # 3 the vacation in Bangladesh in August

TLP| 1.15.13 @ 6:28PM

Contest, Friday.

Warrior| 1.15.13 @ 9:39PM

Thank you. The good Dr. Trebach will take the lead in the new Lancelot Link entry.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.15.13 @ 10:00PM

I'm stocking up on bananas as we speak.

Bill Woffle| 1.15.13 @ 6:15PM

Mr. Trebach, welcome to the fight. Better late than never. We can use all the help we can get. Some of the pushback to your earlier article was simply a reaction that we often have for converted liberals, how someone who claims to be so smart could have made such a foolish mistake. But, that aside, now use your new-found understanding and conviction in a positive way. Use your influence to challenge the beliefs of your liberal friends, such as you may have left. Stand up to their bullying. Write letters to your newspaper, your Congressional representatives, your President. Make your voice heard. Oppose the policies that limit the freedom that the Founders bequeathed us. Continue to vote for our candidates. We may not win every fight, but every fight will be fought from the side of right from now on.

vigilant| 1.15.13 @ 6:16PM

Dr. Trebach, most of what you've seen here is intense, pent-up emotion, not always handled very effectively. (Sort of like what happened with so many caught up in the race issues of the sixties. Funny how the road to hell is paved with good intentions.) Imagine, though, if you found the person you loved the most dying in the street, and someone said, "I helped in the beating, but I'm sorry now." It takes awhile for raw emotions to be brought under control and any ideas of forgiveness to be entertained. Your actions will be closely watched by this once-bitten-twice-shy crowd, but most of them, I'd wager, are capable of that forgiveness you seem to seek. How do I know that? Because so many profess to value spirituality in some form, and they have but to open a Bible, the ultimate instructor in that way of life, to see that Saul, who helped murder Christians, became Paul, the apostle. But he endured considerable suspicion and resistance in the process. Actions have consequences, and even when those actions are forgiven, the consequences often remain to be faced. One of the consequences of the actions of well-intentioned liberals is that this beloved country may indeed be beyond resuscitation. Hard evidence points to all systems failing. What troubles me: You rather glibly suggest we move beyond the bad things Obama did (may not be possible) and remember the good things--you're still okay with drinking a little arsenic, as long as it's masked by orange juice.

TeeJaw | 1.15.13 @ 7:51PM

Good luck on finding a publisher, Mr. Trebach. I will buy your book as soon as it is available. I liked reading your introduction and look forward to reading the book. Electing a Black president was supposed to change the climate of racial politics for the better. Who would have thought it would just become worse, but it did.

Stan Redmond| 1.17.13 @ 2:11PM

He's half white. Obama does not have the official seal of blackness of Jesse Jackson. If I may remind you Jackson even called for the neutering of Caesar Obama [pbuh].

Larry the Logger| 1.15.13 @ 8:36PM

A little reality dust for you doc: In the Navy, when a ship's captain runs aground or collides with another vessel, even if he had nothing to do with it, he gets a No-Band-Change-of-Command. Once that incident occurs, even if he's a REAL good guy, even if he sees the error in his ways, even if he's a PhD and J.D. Even if, like you, acquires a HUGE yeast infection because his compadres were "mean" to him, he still loses all credibility in the area of ship driving. Is all that leadership and training thrown away? Yep. Can he ever drive a ship again? No. Is his life over because people are not impressed with his admitting an error in his ways if he in fact was at the conn when the ship ran aground (and Scooter, you were)? No, it isn't. In my opinion, you did worse than a ship captain running aground. Plus, your original article was a painful firm grasp of the obvious we boneheaded conservatives figured out and warned would happen LONG before November 2008. Grow a set. Get a box of tampons, use them and quit your whining. If you must have your precious feelings pampered, call the Lincoln chalice wine drinkers at the Weekly Standard. I'm sure Bill, Chuck, et al have a few bottles left over just for you with a few, "There, there's". But, unlike them, at least you realized you screwed up.

CHAUSSURES FEMME AIR MAX LTD | 1.16.13 @ 4:03AM

rather than by seeking to find ways of calmly and politely working together to defeat the president and his allies. Each opponent should seek to work in his or her own way toward a change in direction for our precious country.

tabs| 1.17.13 @ 1:36AM

Idealism vs reality? Reality won.

Stan Redmond| 1.17.13 @ 2:07PM

Welcome to the right side...

Everything and everyone is just a tool to Obama to advance radical liberalism. Obama's only convictions are to himself and his inflated sense of importance and the teachings of his mentors (Alinsky, Communist Mother, Communist Grandparents, Communist Frank Marshall Davis, and various other radical leftists in college and church.).
The civil rights crowd and the black citizens are simple tools to be used for Obama. He admits as much in his awful book when he admits he sought out the black groups on campus and Chicago for the political power. He never cared about the blacks. Only himself.

After being elected the black citizen in this country has been hardest hit by his policies. Crime is worse than ever. More broken families. More aborted black babies. More poverty. More welfare. And a community kept quiet and contained with EBT cards and Obamaphones. Why have things gotten worse and worse under Obama for blacks in this country? Because like a chewed piece of bubblegum it is to be spit out after it has served the purpose. 95% of blacks voted for Obama and continue to vote for democrats. Why bother with policies that actually benefit the black communities. Oh sure more Obamaphones and handouts will show up during election time to buy your votes. But Obama won reelection. He has no use for you ever again. Is it a wonder his new mansion. Forget Chicago, OBama has no more use for you. He's off to Hawaii.

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Appleby| 1.15.13 @ 6:42AM

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