Sunday, July 15, 2012

Pondering the Obama Enigma


By Alan Caruba

On January 2, 2010, I posted a commentary to my blog, “Obama’s Make-Believe Life.” Someone picked it up, slapped the phony name of Eddie Sessions on it, and then alleged that it has been published in The Wall Street Journal. That commentary has literally gone around the world several times on the Internet. Hardly a day goes by that I do not receive an email asking to confirm if I wrote it or the Journal published it.

Like everyone else, since the 2008 campaign and the years since Barack Hussein Obama took the oath of office in 2009 I have tried to figure out “the truth” about him. Who is he? What does he stand for? What are his guiding principles and values? Where is he taking the nation?

On June 9th, addressing an audience at the Brookings Institute in Washington, D.C., New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said, “You cannot lead by being a mystery. You cannot lead by being an enigma. You cannot lead by being aloof.”

Many books have been published about Obama and I have read quite a few. With the exception of his two memoirs, those who delved deeply into the known facts of his life did not like what they found.

In the years since he assumed office, many Americans have come to the same conclusion, often as the result of having been victimized by policies that have exacerbated the harm done to the economy after the financial industry incurred a meltdown; itself a victim of federal government’s housing agencies and banking policies.

Instead of stepping back from the precipice, government under the Obama administration engineered the takeover of one sixth of the economy with the passage of Obamacare, acquired a major interest in two leading automobile companies, invested and lost billions in “clean energy” companies, and via the Environmental Protection Agency has asserted virtual control over manufacturing and other sectors by falsely claiming that carbon dioxide is a “pollutant” that must be regulated under the Clean Air Act.

While this was occurring the amount of debt incurred has reached historical heights, now somewhere near $17 trillion dollars, actually exceeding the value of the Gross Domestic Product, the amount of money earned by American industry and other business enterprises.

Barack Hussein Obama remains an enigma. Since my 2010 commentary I have written others that concluded that he is “a moron” and “a Communist.” I know these are harsh judgments, but not being a psychiatrist, I have been reluctant to venture into psychological areas. Instead I have concluded that he is one of those over-educated fools that is devoid of an understanding of history and of common sense and that his biography clearly demonstrates an affinity with Communism in terms of his upbringing and choice of associates.

There are other unsavory aspects to Obama’s life, not the least of which is his two decade association with a racist and anti-Semite, Rev. Jeremiah Wright and others of his ilk. Never forget Rev. Wright’s condemnation of America as the cause, not the victim of 9/11, when he said “God damn America:, absolving Islam of any blame.

At this point, four months out from the election, I was stunned to read that Obama believes his “biggest mistake” was to concentrate too much on policy and not enough “to tell a story to the American people that gives them a sense of unity and purpose and optimism, especially during tough times.”

Few Presidents come to mind who have been as divisive as Obama and there is no evidence beyond his vague, unfilled promise of “hope and change” that he has inspired anyone. He has “told a story” to Americans unceasingly in every venue possible.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was reelected three times precisely because he conveyed “a story” to voters of the era of the Great Depression that kept them believing he knew how to solve its problems. Instead, like Obama, he expanded what was always intended to be a limited federal government into a monolith. Obama has expanded it.

What I found most striking, however, was Obama’s belief that his vaunted talent for delivering a speech had failed him. He confessed to CBS News’s Charlie Rose that not only had he failed to “explain”, but also to “inspire.”

Like everything else about Obama, this struck me as a calculated lie. I don’t think he or his spokespersons have ever told the voters the truth. If his confession is to be taken on face value, he also has not grasped that Americans have been rejecting his “solutions” to all the problems he blamed on George W. Bush because those solutions were an anathema to them.

Between blaming Bush and all previous Presidents, events in other parts of the world, and his concentration on “policy”, Obama appears to be ignorant of the fact that his policies have failed—more than forty months of unemployment—and the rejection of his “signature” piece of legislation that will massively increase taxation. Add to this his failure to understand that there are two other branches of government with whom he was expected to work, indeed to compromise, and to obey!

Perhaps the most astonishing aspect of his confession is the fact this he has been the most visible and vocal President in modern history, forever on the stump, forever seeking the spotlight, and always, always, always talking about “me” and “I”.

© Alan Caruba, 2012

8 comments:

LarryOldtimer said...

Obama is an almost white guy in blackface. Has no knowledge of his own . . . just acting (poorly)and playing to the peanut gallery.

Lime Lite said...

Obama wrongly assumes that he hasn't told his 'message' (fairy tale) to the American people correctly. It's not his story-telling ability that American's aren't warming to, it's the story he's telling and selling! Or as Clinton didn't say: it's the policies stupid!

Ronbo said...

Why am I thinking of Kipling's "The Man Who Would Be King" and it's logical outcome when the people discover that their sacred monarch is mortal and a thief?

Harry Dale Huffman said...

I expect you have read Shelby Steele's 2008 pre-election book about Obama, which I think should have dissipated much of the "enigma" you see in him. Put simply, Obama is all "Mask", he has lost himself in such teachings as Rev. Wright's "liberation theology", which sees the white man and his institutions as the root of all evil. If his "side" can only gain "the power", the sun will come out and all God's chillun will scamper happily and harmoniously together. In reality, of course, like all adolescent fantasists, he has only learned that it doesn't stop with getting just SOME of the "power", even the Presidency of the United States of America, it takes ever more and more--and the happy millennium only recedes before him, mocking his "power" and enticing him to grasp for more, to make real what is not, and will never be, real: Final justification of his life in beating down the (white) Man and His Evil Institutions. That Evil simply does not exist, in such an all-encompassing and monolithic form.

Obama's lying nature was obvious to me in the original Rev. Wright episode, and his readily apparent lies now--about Romney, on the one hand, and about what he still pretends he will do for America if re-elected, on the other--all cause me to reflect the idea of Obama's "enigma" back: The enigma is that nearly half of the American voters have yet to figure out that he is running on self-serving lies, and always has. Not all of those who say they will still vote for him are, essentially, black racists--seeing themselves as continuing victims of white men and white institutions--like Obama himself; why are the reasonable ones so stupid at seeing through Obama? (Even many Conservatives help Obama, by badmouthing Romney, the same badmouthing Obama is now doing, note.)

I don't know how much better a President Romney will be, but I can see his basically good character, just as clearly as I saw and see Obama's basically bad character. The only enigma I see are the clueless voters, divided by hateful dogmas into letting go of their only real hope: Their ability to see the truth, even when it is plain before them. And the answer to that enigma is, of course, that the truth is too harsh for them: Obama is not real, and his "solutions" are ever more harmful instead.

Anonymous said...

I follow Alan Caruba on Twitter and am a big fan of his daily blog. I’ve received at least 3 emails alleging that the Wall Street Journal published his January 2, 2010 article. Although I know that it didn’t appear in the WSJ, I wish that it had.

Alan Caruba said...

Thank you, beriben. I wish it had appeared in the Wall Street Journal, too!

Rich Kozlovich said...

One of the things that should have been obvious from the beginning is that his solutions were right out of the socialist handbooks of feel good sayings that have no real meaning because they are never defined.

I don’t find him to be an enigma; and that is because there is no real Obama. He is accused of being a Muslim. I don’t believe that. He has claimed to be a Christian. I don’t’ believe that either. Obama is a true puppet of the left. He will publically believe anything that will give him power. Has his thinking been effected by his associations with these groups? Of course, but they hold no sway over him unless they represent a force that hates all that is stable.

If you take a look at Stalin’s five year plans that all failed you will see that it wasn’t the fault of ‘the plan’. It was the fault of those who managed ‘the plan’, which of course was perfect because it was Stalin’s plan, so any failure was the fault of others. They were replaced because they were ‘puppets of capitalism’ with those who also failed; but ‘the plan’ was still perfect, except these plans never worked.

His affinity to hatful and socialist thoughts and solutions, along with his much vaunted "IQ that is off the charts", has failed to provide basic understanding on anything he has undertaken, hence....he travels and talks, and talks and travels, and travels and talks, and talks...doing and saying nothign of vaule. And he seems to be saying the same things over and over again with slight variations. Yet he has yet to produce one coherent thought that has had a positive outcome. His solutions are meaningless drivel that can’t be defined! It isn’t like he said something definitive like; “Mr. Gorbachev; tear down this wall!” You knew what that meant.

His belief that he has "a gift" when he speaks makes him believe that his speaking ability is a solutions ability.

He is an empty coat. He has nothing to offer except a performance, one that has been supported by an amazingly gigantic ego. One that was somehow created without actually having accomplished anything….even as President.

Thomas Sowell once noted that some of the smallest intellects house the largest egos. This fits.

Alan Caruba said...

Rich: I have long thought Obama is a classic pathological narcissist. I have a commentary coming on the topic later this week. Such people include Muhammad, Hitler, Stalin, and cult leader Jim Jones.