A couple of articles have appeared on the conservative Townhall site critically analysing Obama's appearance on Al Arabiya, and his "two faces" on the Middle East. They provide more colour and background to yesterday's post on Obama as a case study of the Liberal Mind.
The first, Two Obamas and Two Middle Easts, points out the contradiction between Obama's environmentalist face, and his Middle East peace making face.
First is Obama the Environmentalist:
Obama the Environmentalist hit the campaign trail last summer, giving speeches on energy policy. Obama the Man of Peace appeared this week on Al Arabiya TV.
Obama the Environmentalist spoke to a domestic audience whom he understood to be angry about the price of gas. Obama the Man of Peace spoke to a foreign audience whom he understood to be angry about U.S. anti-terrorism policies.
"One of the most dangerous weapons in the world today is the price of oil," Obama the Environmentalist said in a July campaign speech. "We ship nearly $700 million a day to unstable or hostile nations for their oil. It pays for terrorist bombs going off from Baghdad to Beirut. It funds petro-diplomacy in Caracas and radical madrassas from Karachi to Khartoum. It takes leverage away from America and shifts it to dictators."
In another July speech, Obama the Environmentalist envisioned a Middle East that would be populated by tyrants for at least another 20 years. That, together with the threat of climatic apocalypse, he argued, makes it necessary for the United States to mount a massive effort to curtail petroleum use.
"If we stay on our current course, the rapid growth of nations like China and India will rise about one-third by 2030," he said. "In that same year, Middle Eastern regimes will be sitting on 83 percent of our global oil reserves. Imagine that -- the very source of energy that fuels nearly all of our transportation, controlled almost entirely by some of the world's most unstable and undemocratic governments."
"We are not a country that places our fate in the hands of dictators and tyrants -- we are a nation that controls our own destiny," he said. "And it's why we must end the tyranny of oil in our time."
Then there is Obama, the Middle East Peacemaker:
This Environmentalist did not appear on Al Arabiya this week. The Man of Peace did.
This Obama, speaking to the Arab world, lauded the peace plan put forward by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia -- the Middle East's premier autocratic oil peddler -- as an act that "took great courage."
This Obama did not see a region that more than 20 years from now will still bristle with "dictators and tyrants." He saw a region brimming with nations ready to work with him and Secretary of State Clinton as respected partners.
"I do think that it is impossible for us to think only in terms of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and not think in terms of what's happening with Syria or Iran or Lebanon or Afghanistan and Pakistan," he said. "And what I've said, and I think Hillary Clinton has expressed this in her confirmation, is that if we are looking at the region as a whole and communicating a message to the Arab world and the Muslim world, that we are ready to initiate a new partnership based on mutual respect and mutual interest, then I think that we can make significant progress."
The second article focuses more upon the Al Arabiya interview. We quote:
Most sickeningly, Obama openly jettisoned his constitutional role as the caretaker for America’s national interest. Instead, Obama posed himself as an honest broker between America and the Muslim world. “(T)he United States has a stake in the well-being of the Muslim world, that the language we use has to be a language of respect,” he said. “I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim countries.” Obama didn’t stop there. He stated that his job is to speak for the Muslim world, defending them from Americans’ negative perceptions: “And my job is to communicate to the American people that the Muslim world is filled with extraordinary people who simply want to live their lives and see their children live better lives.”
No, Mr. President. Your job is not to communicate to the American people that the Muslim world harbors us no ill will. That is their job. The Muslim world must demonstrate with its words and actions that they do not wish America replaced with an Islamic state. They must demonstrate that they do not support terrorism against America and our allies.
Your job is to protect and defend the United States of America. That is your sworn duty.
Then, in conclusion:
On Nov. 4, 2008, Americans elected their first international president. They elected a man who does not seek to preserve American values. Leftists perceived George W. Bush as an imperialist for American interests; by the same token, Obama is an imperialist for “global interests.” In a war to save America from implacable foes, Obama’s Global Interest Imperialism dooms American exceptionalism to the ash heap of history. With it may go the last, best hope of Earth.
So, both George Bush and Barack Obama are imperialistic. Both alike believe in American manifest destiny. For Bush, it was making the world safe for democracy and defeating the forces of terror. For Obama, it is treating the world decently so world-wide peace will break out.
Oh, and one final demurral: American manifest destiny should make every Christian want to vomit--whether the variant is the Bush or neocon one, or the Obama liberal academic complex version. Let us be clear: American never was, nor ever will be the "last, best hope of Earth." That honour, that title, and that prerogative belongs to One and One only--the Risen Ruling Lord Jesus Christ. He alone is Lord: Caesar has been reduced to shards in the dustbin of history long, long ago. This, too, will be the fate of the United States unless she humbles herself before the King.
Hat Tip: No Minister.
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