THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume X, Issue # 182, July 24, 2008
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
THE POLITICS OF SHOWMANSHIP
By Alan Caruba
BARACK OBAMA & THE U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN OF 2008: OBAMA'S POLITICAL THEATER IN
EUROPE -- MAKING SPEECHES & STAGING OTHER EVENTS INTENDED TO CONVINCE THE ENTIRE WORLD THAT A NEW
AMERICAN LEADER HAS APPEARED ON THE SCENE TO WORK MIRACLES AT HOME & ABROAD -- OBAMA'S IDEOLOGICAL
ORIENTATION -- HIS ADHERENCE TO POLITICAL ENVIRONMENTALISM, LEFTWING LIBERALISM, STATE SOCIALISM, &
RADICAL INTERNATIONALISM -- HIS CALL FOR A REDUCTION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS -- OBAMA'S TALK ABOUT "WORLD
CITIZENSHIP," REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH, & OPENING U.S. BORDERS TO MORE IMMIGRANTS -- EXPRESSING IDEAS &
BELIEFS THAT SHOULD REMIND US OF THE COLLECTIVIST & TOTALITARIAN IDEOLOGIES WHICH HAVE CAUSED SO MUCH
CONFLICT & MISERY IN THE RECENT PAST -- THE FEARFUL PRICE WE WILL PAY, IF WE FALL PREY TO OBAMA'S THEATRICS
FULL STORY:
For political theatre, there is no denying that the speech U.S. Senator Barack Obama delivered in Berlin drew a huge, adoring
crowd and was filled with the kind of talk intended to impress, not just Berliners, not just Europe, not just America, but the
entire world that a new leader has appeared on the scene to work miracles.
Chuck Todd, the NBC News Political Director summed it up best when he pointed out that the same speech could
have been delivered by U.S. Senator John McCain because its content was ideologically quite similar in many ways to that
of McCain's speeches. The critical difference between the two presidential candidates is that McCain is imbued with the
values of a family that, for generations, has fought to protect American values, has fought to defend American freedoms.
As regards ideological orientation, both McCain and Obama believe that industrialization and modern society is contributing
to a climate apocalypse of melting Arctic ice and rising sea levels. Both believe the Free World must defeat Islamofascist
terrorism. The ideology of political environmentalism and global warming alarmism constitutes a corruption of science. The
global terror war being waged by Islamists against the U.S.A. and the West is the single most important issue of our times. At
one point, Obama sounded a call for Iran to relinquish its nuclear weapons ambitions.
“People of the world, this is our moment, this is our time,” said Obama, followed by an echo of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s
Four Freedoms, citing freedom from fear and freedom from want. The other freedoms Roosevelt cited on January 6, 1941, were
freedom of speech and expression, and freedom to worship as one chooses. Islam opposes both.
The date of the Roosevelt speech is worth noting because eleven months later, on December 7, 1941, the United States
suffered a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan, plunging America into World War Two. Congress declared
war against Germany, as well as against Japan. Not since those days has a craven Congress formally declared war on any
nation, despite the constitutional requirement to do so.
Roosevelt had called for “a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation
will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor -- anywhere in the world.”
In Berlin, Obama made a similar call for a reduction of nuclear weapons, but this ignores the fact that, once invented, no
technology can be un-invented and a new technology can be used for good or evil. It took a nuclear weapon to end Japan’s
aggression.
The notion that nuclear weapons will be reduced or the threat of their use be eliminated is no more plausible today than FDR’s
wish for a reduction of armaments in 1941. Those in leadership positions seem to feel they have to say such things, but they
know better.
Obama and McCain should know better when they talk about global warming and say stupid things about either of the poles
melting or rising sea levels. Talk of reducing carbon emissions is baseless, given the fact that carbon dioxide plays virtually no
role in climate change. The Earth has been through any number of ice ages, has seen mass extinctions of life, and, after 4.5
billion years, continues as the only place in our galaxy with life forms as complex as ours.
An estimated 100,000 gathered to hear Obama and one cannot help but be reminded that Germans gathered in the 1930s to hear
another spellbinding speaker. That one plunged Europe into war. The urge to be part of a huge movement is a powerful
component of the human psyche, but that doesn’t mean that any good will come of it. As often as not, it has led to bloodshed
and misery.
So listening to Obama toss off phrases about “global citizenship” and the need to “share the benefits (of wealth) more
equitably” because such wealth should not “favor the few” tended to get my attention amidst the bursts of applause. That is
the promise of Communism, not capitalism.
When I hear Obama talk of welcoming immigrants, I think of the twelve million or more here in America living illegally and
parasitically off native-born and naturalized Americans. There are good reasons that nations have borders.
When I hear him say that “this is our moment, this is our time” I think that this is always everyone’s moment, everyone’s time,
and that is an individual thing, not something to be melded into a vast collectivist and totalitarian ideology that will ultimately
destroy individual rights, human rights.
What we are witnessing is the showmanship of politics. What we are hearing are ideas and beliefs that obscure the same
dangerous ideologies that have caused so much conflict and misery. If we fall prey to the theatrics of Barack Obama, we will
surely pay a fearful price.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
American Politics & Political Competition:
Elections, PACs, & Political Parties
American Government & the U.S. Presidency:
Presidential Politics & National Leadership
The American Political System:
Politics & Government in the U.S.A.
The American Political & Cultural Left:
Liberals, Statists, Socialists, & Other Leftists
Political Environmentalism Versus Human Progress & Prosperity:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
Political Economy -- Philosophies, Systems, & Public Policies:
Government, the Economy, & Economic Prosperity
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
International Politics & World Disorder:
War & Peace in the Real World
Page Two
Page One
Alan Caruba is a veteran business and science writer, a Public Relations Counselor, and Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a
clearinghouse for information about media-driven scare campaigns. Caruba writes a weekly commentary, "Warning Signs," posted
on the Internet website of the National Anxiety Center, which is located at
www.anxietycenter.com.
Caruba has a daily blog at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com.
Caruba’s new book, Right Answers: Separating Fact from Fantasy, has been published by Merril Press.
© Alan Caruba 2008
Published with Permission of Alan Caruba
ACaruba@AOL.Com
Return to Top of Page
Go to the WEBSITE INDEX
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Public Issues & Political Controversies
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
Most Recent Articles
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Volume X, 2007
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Subject Matter Highlights
Return to POLITICAL EDUCATION Homepage
CONTACT & ACCESS INFORMATION
This is not a commercial website. The sole purpose of the website is to share with interested persons information regarding civics,
civic and social education, political science, government, politics, law, constitutional law and history, public policy, and political
philosophy and history, as well as current and recent political developments, public issues, and political controversies.
POLITICAL EDUCATION, CONSERVATIVE ANALYSIS
POLITICS, SOCIETY, & THE SOVEREIGN STATE
Website of Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr.
Government, Politics, Public Policy, Legal Issues, Constitutional Law, Government & the Economy, Cultural Values, Foreign Affairs,
International Relations, Military Defense & National Security, Geopolitics, Terrorism & Homeland Security, American National Interests,
Political Systems & Processes, Political Institutions, Political Ideologies, & Political Philosophy
INDEX FOR THE ENTIRE WEBSITE
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic,
Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues
Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity