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http://www.townhall.com/columnists/KenBlackwell/2008/02/14/the_real_obama
The Real Obama
By Ken Blackwell
Thursday, February 14, 2008
"[C]ivilizational war is real, even if political leaders and polite punditry
must call it by another name." --Robert D. Kaplan in the December 2001
issue of the Atlantic Monthly
It's an amazing time to be alive in America. We're in a year of firsts in
this presidential election: the first viable woman candidate; the first
viable African-American candidate; and, a candidate who is the first
frontrunning freedom fighter over 70. The next president of America will be
a first.
We won't truly be in an election of firsts, however, until we judge every
candidate by where they stand. We won't arrive where we should be until we
no longer talk about skin color or gender.
Now that Barack Obama steps to the front of the Democratic field, we need to
stop talking about his race, and start talking about his policies and his
politics.
The reality is this: Though the Democrats will not have a nominee until
August, unless Hillary Clinton drops out, Mr. Obama is now the frontrunner,
and its time America takes a closer and deeper look at him.
Some pundits are calling him the next John F. Kennedy. He's not. He's the
next George McGovern. And it's time people learned the facts.
Because the truth is that Mr. Obama is the single most liberal senator in
the entire U.S. Senate. He is more liberal than Ted Kennedy, Bernie Sanders,
or Mrs. Clinton.
Never in my life have I seen a presidential frontrunner whose rhetoric is so
far removed from his record. Walter Mondale promised to raise our taxes, and
he lost. George McGovern promised military weakness, and he lost. Michael
Dukakis promised a liberal domestic agenda, and he lost.
Yet Mr. Obama is promising all those things, and he's not behind in the
polls. Why? Because the press has dealt with him as if he were in a beauty
pageant.
Mr. Obama talks about getting past party, getting past red and blue, to lead
the United States of America. But let's look at the more defined strokes of
who he is underneath this superficial "beauty."
Start with national security, since the president's most important duties
are as commander-in-chief. Over the summer, Mr. Obama talked about invading
Pakistan, a nation armed with nuclear weapons; meeting without preconditions
with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who vows to destroy Israel and create another
Holocaust; and Kim Jong II, who is murdering and starving his people, but
emphasized that the nuclear option was off the table against terrorists -
something no president has ever taken off the table since we created nuclear
weapons in the 1940s. Even Democrats who have worked in national security
condemned all of those remarks. Mr. Obama is a foreign-policy novice who
would put our national security at risk.
Next, consider economic policy. For all its faults, our health care system
is the strongest in the world. And free trade agreements, created by Bill
Clinton as well as President Bush, have made more goods more affordable so
that even people of modest means can live a life that no one imagined a
generation ago. Yet Mr. Obama promises to raise taxes on "the rich." How to
fix Social Security? Raise taxes. How to fix Medicare? Raise taxes.
Prescription drugs? Raise taxes. Free college? Raise taxes. Socialize
medicine? Raise taxes. His solution to everything is to have government take
it over. Big Brother on steroids, funded by your paycheck.
Finally, look at the social issues. Mr. Obama had the audacity to open a
stadium rally by saying, "All praise and glory to God!" but says that
Christian leaders speaking for life and marriage have "hijacked" -
hijacked - Christianity. He is pro-partial birth abortion, and promises to
appoint Supreme Court justices who will rule any restriction on it
unconstitutional. He espouses the abortion views of Margaret Sanger, one of
the early advocates of racial cleansing. His spiritual leaders endorse
homosexual marriage, and he is moving in that direction. In Illinois, he
refused to vote against a statewide ban - ban - on all handguns in the
state. These are radical left, Hollywood, and San Francisco values, not
Middle America values.
The real Mr. Obama is an easy target for the general election. Mrs. Clinton
is a far tougher opponent. But Mr. Obama could win if people don't start
looking behind his veneer and flowery speeches. His vision of "bringing
America together" means saying that those who disagree with his agenda for
America are hijackers or warmongers. Uniting the country means adopting his
liberal agenda and abandoning any conflicting beliefs.
But right now everyone is talking about how eloquent of a speaker he is
and - yes - they're talking about his race. Those should never be the
factors on which we base our choice for president. Mr. Obama's radical
agenda sets him far outside the American mainstream, to the left of Mrs.
Clinton.
It's time to talk about the real Barack Obama. In an election of firsts, let's
first make sure we elect the person who is qualified to be our president in
a nuclear age during a global civilizational war.
Mr. Blackwell is a fellow at the Family Research Council, the Texas Public
Policy Foundation, and the Buckeye Institute in Ohio
The Real Obama
By Ken Blackwell
Thursday, February 14, 2008
"[C]ivilizational war is real, even if political leaders and polite punditry
must call it by another name." --Robert D. Kaplan in the December 2001
issue of the Atlantic Monthly
It's an amazing time to be alive in America. We're in a year of firsts in
this presidential election: the first viable woman candidate; the first
viable African-American candidate; and, a candidate who is the first
frontrunning freedom fighter over 70. The next president of America will be
a first.
We won't truly be in an election of firsts, however, until we judge every
candidate by where they stand. We won't arrive where we should be until we
no longer talk about skin color or gender.
Now that Barack Obama steps to the front of the Democratic field, we need to
stop talking about his race, and start talking about his policies and his
politics.
The reality is this: Though the Democrats will not have a nominee until
August, unless Hillary Clinton drops out, Mr. Obama is now the frontrunner,
and its time America takes a closer and deeper look at him.
Some pundits are calling him the next John F. Kennedy. He's not. He's the
next George McGovern. And it's time people learned the facts.
Because the truth is that Mr. Obama is the single most liberal senator in
the entire U.S. Senate. He is more liberal than Ted Kennedy, Bernie Sanders,
or Mrs. Clinton.
Never in my life have I seen a presidential frontrunner whose rhetoric is so
far removed from his record. Walter Mondale promised to raise our taxes, and
he lost. George McGovern promised military weakness, and he lost. Michael
Dukakis promised a liberal domestic agenda, and he lost.
Yet Mr. Obama is promising all those things, and he's not behind in the
polls. Why? Because the press has dealt with him as if he were in a beauty
pageant.
Mr. Obama talks about getting past party, getting past red and blue, to lead
the United States of America. But let's look at the more defined strokes of
who he is underneath this superficial "beauty."
Start with national security, since the president's most important duties
are as commander-in-chief. Over the summer, Mr. Obama talked about invading
Pakistan, a nation armed with nuclear weapons; meeting without preconditions
with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who vows to destroy Israel and create another
Holocaust; and Kim Jong II, who is murdering and starving his people, but
emphasized that the nuclear option was off the table against terrorists -
something no president has ever taken off the table since we created nuclear
weapons in the 1940s. Even Democrats who have worked in national security
condemned all of those remarks. Mr. Obama is a foreign-policy novice who
would put our national security at risk.
Next, consider economic policy. For all its faults, our health care system
is the strongest in the world. And free trade agreements, created by Bill
Clinton as well as President Bush, have made more goods more affordable so
that even people of modest means can live a life that no one imagined a
generation ago. Yet Mr. Obama promises to raise taxes on "the rich." How to
fix Social Security? Raise taxes. How to fix Medicare? Raise taxes.
Prescription drugs? Raise taxes. Free college? Raise taxes. Socialize
medicine? Raise taxes. His solution to everything is to have government take
it over. Big Brother on steroids, funded by your paycheck.
Finally, look at the social issues. Mr. Obama had the audacity to open a
stadium rally by saying, "All praise and glory to God!" but says that
Christian leaders speaking for life and marriage have "hijacked" -
hijacked - Christianity. He is pro-partial birth abortion, and promises to
appoint Supreme Court justices who will rule any restriction on it
unconstitutional. He espouses the abortion views of Margaret Sanger, one of
the early advocates of racial cleansing. His spiritual leaders endorse
homosexual marriage, and he is moving in that direction. In Illinois, he
refused to vote against a statewide ban - ban - on all handguns in the
state. These are radical left, Hollywood, and San Francisco values, not
Middle America values.
The real Mr. Obama is an easy target for the general election. Mrs. Clinton
is a far tougher opponent. But Mr. Obama could win if people don't start
looking behind his veneer and flowery speeches. His vision of "bringing
America together" means saying that those who disagree with his agenda for
America are hijackers or warmongers. Uniting the country means adopting his
liberal agenda and abandoning any conflicting beliefs.
But right now everyone is talking about how eloquent of a speaker he is
and - yes - they're talking about his race. Those should never be the
factors on which we base our choice for president. Mr. Obama's radical
agenda sets him far outside the American mainstream, to the left of Mrs.
Clinton.
It's time to talk about the real Barack Obama. In an election of firsts, let's
first make sure we elect the person who is qualified to be our president in
a nuclear age during a global civilizational war.
Mr. Blackwell is a fellow at the Family Research Council, the Texas Public
Policy Foundation, and the Buckeye Institute in Ohio