Beyond that, Dr. Ledeen is a student of history, particularly modern European history, and understands the nature of evil men and regimes and their terrible toll on mankind in the previous century. Unfortunately for us, Ledeen isn't so sure that our new president acknowledges much less understands the evil designs of our enemies, and doubts he intends to do much to stop them. Even more troubling is President Obama's penchant for reserving his harshest rhetoric for those who disagree with him politically and oppose his agenda.
Ledeen's thesis is that since the media has failed to show the slightest curiosity about Obama's curriculum vitae before the November election, the American people have little information about his beliefs, political philosophy or character. Accordngly we are left to anlayze the president's words and deeds on the world stage for clues to his convictions and intentions, indeed his worldview. And what Dr Ledeen has deduced and inferred from Obama thus far troubles him.
In a recent speech at the Capitol commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day, Obama's utterances at first seemed elegant and appropriate. According to Ledeen: "First he [drew] hope from the survivors of the Holocaust. Those who came to America had a higher birthrate than the Jews who were already living here, and those members of 'a chosen people' who created Israel. These, he [said], chose life and asserted it despite the horrors they had endured." But then Obama continues with his own version of "Never Again:"
We find cause for hope as well in Protestant and Catholic children attending school together in Northern Ireland; in Hutus and Tutsis living side-by-side, forgiving neighbors who have done the unforgivable; in a movement to save Darfur that has...people of every age and faith and background and race united in common cause with suffering brothers and sisters halfway around the world...Those numbers can be our future, our fellow citizens of the world showing us how to make the journey from oppression to survival, from witness to resistance and ultimately to reconciliation. That is what we mean when we say “never again.”
And there is the rub, according to Ledeen. "Never again" is not and has never been a cry for reconciliation and forgiveness. It was a plea to the world to "destroy the next would-be Fuhrer." It is also a self-promise by Jews never to allow themselves to be sent like sheep to the slaughter without resistance. Finally it is a hope--sadly against the evidence--that the civilized nations of the world will rise as one to destroy any despot or regime that would dare to harass, intimidate or threaten destroy the Jewish people or the people of any other nation. But "never again" is decidely not, as Obama suggests, a pretext for turning the other cheek.
Obama's oratory betrays a lame attempt to portray the world not as it really is, but rather as he imagines it to be--a world where all disputes can be negotiated and past wrongs can be addresses through truth and reconciliation commissions. This is a dangerous misunderstanding of the way the real world works.
Perhaps Obama is merely naive. Maybe Obama feels a spirit of equanimity towards all men, believing them all to be of good will and honest intentions. Yet Obama does have harsh words for his opponents, at least those that reside within our own borders. As Ledeen notes:
Significantly, Barack Obama is a lot tougher on his domestic American opponents than on tyrants who threaten our values and America itself. He tells the Republicans that they’d better stop listening to Rush Limbaugh, but he doesn’t criticize Palestinians who raise their children to hate the Jews. He bows to the Saudi monarch, but humiliates the prime minister of Great Britain. He expresses astonishment that anyone can worry about a national security threat from Hugo Chavez’ Venezuela, even as Chavez solidifies an alliance with Iran that brings plane loads of terror masters, weapons and explosives into our hemisphere from Tehran via Damascus, fuels terrorists and narcotics traffic, and offers military facilities to Russian warships and aircraft. He is seemingly unconcerned by radical Islam and a resurgent Communism in Latin America, even as his Department of Homeland Security fires a warning shot at veterans–the best of America–returning from the Middle East. He seeks warm relations with Iran and Syria–who are up to their necks in American blood–while warning Israel of dire consequences if she should attempt to preempt a threatened Iranian nuclear attack.
According to Ledeen, Obama's words are designed to "internalize conflicts that are raging in the real world." Our enemies are left to wonder what to make of a man who seems intent on accommodating them while reserving his unkindest words for those in his own country who oppose measures that would weaken America. No doubt they will feel emboldened to try harder to bring us to ruin.
The bottom line for Ledeen is this: "if the president of the United States will not act, who can stop them?"
No comments:
Post a Comment