by Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n
PJ Media<\/em><\/p>\n Straws and the Camel\u2019s Back<\/p>\n At some point in late 2010 once optimistic independent voters, moderate Republicans, and centrist Democrats stopped listening. They abruptly concluded that their 2008 Barack Obama proved not to be the great uniter, the great communicator, and the greater humanist who was to bring the country together around \u201ccentrist\u201d values.<\/p>\n At about the same time, a once ecstatic liberal base began to worry that President Obama was not the brilliant postracial social organizer, the brilliant progressive explicator, and the brilliant big government architect who would take a center-right country with him hard to the left.<\/p>\n Stop it, Toto!<\/p>\n The result has been a sort of political implosion, the proverbial \u201cpay no attention to that man behind the curtain\u201d moment when the omnipotent wizard\u2019s face projected on the screen becomes exposed as a rather frightened Frank Morgan, busy with levers and gears \u2014 or, in our morality play, a deer-in-the-headlights Barack Obama relieved to sub out his White House press room to a designated president Bill Clinton at last back on his home turf.<\/p>\n In a number of ways, we can see how the Obama administration has been reduced to a sort of virtual administration. The messianic spell of 2008 ended with the largest midterm rebuke since 1938. Whereas in 2009 it was considered racist for a conservative to question the president\u2019s wisdom at a Tea Party rally, by 2010 Democratic congressional representatives were vying with each other to find creative ways of using the F-word to belittle the president. Since his inauguration, the president has lost a point in the polls about every three weeks of his presidency, without much deviation.<\/p>\n There is little presidential stature left. When Barack Obama addresses the Sen. minority leader as \u201cMike\u201d McConnell or claims the US motto is\u00a0e pluribus unum<\/em>\u00a0rather than \u201cIn God We Trust,\u201d this is by now a non-news story \u2014 not after \u201c57 states\u201d or \u201ccorpse-men\u201d or Austrian-speaking Austrians. Proclaiming that at some point individuals have made enough money raises no eyebrows either \u2014 not after \u201cspread the wealth,\u201d \u201credistributive change,\u201d and claiming that the purpose of capital gains tax hikes was not to increase federal revenue but to ensure \u201cfairness.\u201d If the president were to go on another riff about \u201cfat cat bankers,\u201d limb-lopping surgeons, or Vegas junkets, eyes would roll \u2014 in the manner that today\u2019s students start text messaging when their aging 60s hold-over professors keep ranting about Halliburton. Martha\u2019s Vineyard and Costa del Sol helped see to that.<\/p>\n Been There, Done That<\/p>\n An Obama speech echoing boilerplate themes such as \u201cthere are no red states, there are no blue states\u201d today simply could not be given \u2014 the laughing in the audience would be far too much. After Eric Holder\u2019s \u201ccowards\u201d outburst, the beer summit, Van Jones, the slurs against Arizona, and the video appeals targeted at particular racial groups, the public takes for granted that a Rev. Wright, the clingers speech, \u201ctypical white person,\u201d and Michelle\u2019s angst (e.g., \u201cdownright mean country,\u201d \u201cnever been proud,\u201d \u201craise the bar,\u201d etc.) were disturbing premonitions rather than rightwing racialist paranoias.<\/p>\n For a while, \u201cworking across the aisle\u201d delivered in mellifluous tones assured millions that their soon-to-be president had not compiled the most partisan voting record in the US Senate (to the left of the nation\u2019s only self-avowed socialist senator). Now? We yawn when Obama goes off on Republicans as \u201cenemies\u201d who cannot sit in the front seat of the car. Chicago-style target the enemy has gone from shocking to\u00a0de rigueur<\/em>\u00a0to banal for this president.<\/p>\n Them\/us \u2014 So What?<\/p>\n Until 2008-9, the rubric $250,000 was just an arbitrary number. Now it is a sharp ethical divide in a strange new class war in which those above are veritable parasites who \u201cdo not pay their fair share,\u201d while the 50% of the population who pay no income tax\u00a0ipso facto<\/em>\u00a0are suddenly moral and patriotic. In sum, no president in 78 years has done more to incite class resentment, envy, and polarization \u2014 and that fact is as shocking as the sun rising in the morning. \u201cOh, more of Obama\u2019s class warfare? So what else is new?\u201d<\/p>\n Abroad, there is now not a reset foreign policy but a reset, reset foreign policy. The president could not give another straight-faced speech about the Islamic roots of the Western Enlightenment, why Guantanamo has to be closed this year, how KSM will be tried in a civilian court, or why Harold Koh is stopping renditions, tribunals, and predators in worry over their constitutionality. Either no one would believe him, or they would snore half way through at the boilerplate, or they would point out that Obama 1.0 and Obama 2.0 do not even share the same operating system. If an American diplomat were to give another \u201cwe are not Bush\u201d reset speech, the audience would respond with a Jon Stewart type ironic look. A bow to another Saudi prince would be as shocking as Obama on the golf course. We live in an age in which Iraq is Obama\u2019s \u201cgreatest achievement\u201d.<\/p>\n When a Paul O\u2019Neil, Scott McClellan, or Colin Powell left the Bush administration, critics saw a crisis and looked for whistle-blowing juicy tell-alls about Bush incompetency. Now we sleep when Obama officials plan to flee halfway in a first term, the fixer Rahm Emanuel, the architects of the $3 trillion borrowing that was supposed to ensure that unemployment did not go above 8% \u2014 Peter Orszag, Christina Romer, and Larry Summers \u2014 the wartime team of a General McKiernan, General McChrystal, and soon to be gone National Security Advisor Gen. Jones, and Defense Secretary Gates.<\/p>\n I do not think President Obama is our \u201cworst\u201d president, as the Left said often of George W. Bush (who of us is all that familiar with the administration of a Millard Fillmore or James Buchanan? And are not we all tired of such empty superlatives?). Much less do I think Obama has ruined the United States, or has done such damage that it cannot be undone. But I do feel that after only 23 months, the presidency is becoming a caricature of a presidency \u2014 and, scarier still, is being recognized as such abroad. Whereas Bill Clinton triangulated to save his administration from descending into Carteresque liberal irrelevancy, the choices of Obama seem much starker \u2014 perhaps understandable given the vast lacunae in his resume.<\/p>\n In sum, Obama will either insidiously ignore everything he once preached about (e.g., the seas endlessly rising unless we have cap and trade, the evil rich who make $250,001, the Constitutional-shredding Bush-Cheney nexus), or he will simply give the same empty platitudinous sermons that now come off as convincing as an Al Gore thundering about carbon offsets, John Edwards pontificating on \u201ctwo Americas\u201d or John Kerry lecturing about the need for higher taxes \u2014 or he will at times do both.<\/p>\n The crowd fainting at the sound of our \u201chope and change\u201d Oz is over. We are already at the end of the movie when Toto pulled away the curtain \u2014 witnessing the nuts and bolts of how it once was all projected onto the screen.<\/p>\n And it isn\u2019t pretty.<\/p>\n \u00a92010 Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Victor Davis Hanson PJ Media Straws and the Camel\u2019s Back At some point in late 2010 once optimistic independent voters, moderate Republicans, and centrist Democrats stopped listening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[470],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-gA","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9797,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/when-normalcy-is-revolution\/","url_meta":{"origin":1028,"position":0},"title":"When Normalcy Is Revolution","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson\/\/ National Review Trump\u2019s often unorthodox style shouldn\u2019t be confused with his otherwise practical and mostly centrist agenda. By 2008, America was politically split nearly 50\/50 as it had been in 2000 and 2004. The Democrats took a gamble and nominated Barack Obama, who became the first\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Trump"","block_context":{"text":"Trump","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/trump\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1121,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/voting-present-beats-losing\/","url_meta":{"origin":1028,"position":1},"title":"Voting Present Beats Losing","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 19, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online Obamism was repudiated in the midterm election. Not since 1938 has the Democratic party lost so many House seats. The losses of state legislatures and governorships were as bleak for liberals. Obama\u2019s frantic campaigning in the last two weeks before the election did\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "November 2010"","block_context":{"text":"November 2010","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2010\/november-2010\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3203,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/bush-through-the-obama-prism\/","url_meta":{"origin":1028,"position":2},"title":"Bush Through the Obama Prism","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson NRO's\u00a0The Corner I\u00a0think Obama may do more for George Bush's reputation than anyone thinks. I've collated the dozens of articles from liberal thinkers that explain why so far Obama \u2014 the candidate of hope and change, and cleaning out the entrenched status quo that so warps\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "November 2008"","block_context":{"text":"November 2008","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2008\/november-2008\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":144,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/angry-reader-5\/","url_meta":{"origin":1028,"position":3},"title":"Angry Reader #5","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 9, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Private Papers Angry Reader #5 wrote: Don't mean to troll here, but for the nth time, what is it about Obama or his agenda that wasn't conservative mainstream thought even a few years ago?? He's lowered taxes, been tough on defense, adopted a healthcare plan proposed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Angry Reader"","block_context":{"text":"Angry Reader","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/angry-reader\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1866,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/as-predictable-as-clockwork-the-obama-three-step\/","url_meta":{"origin":1028,"position":4},"title":"As Predictable as Clockwork–the Obama Three-step","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 31, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson PJ Media I\u00a0think we could see what was coming. This presidency has about as much subtlety in plot as a grade-B western, soap opera, or teenage tantrum. Stage One A lackluster McCain candidacy, the September 2008 meltdown, weariness with eight years of Bush incumbency, conservative anger\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "January 2010"","block_context":{"text":"January 2010","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2010\/january-2010\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1871,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/obama-versus-obama\/","url_meta":{"origin":1028,"position":5},"title":"Obama versus Obama","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 27, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Will the real Barack Obama please stand up? by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online There is little need any more to offer consistent opposition to Barack Obama, since he himself is already running hard against the many previous incarnations of Barack Obama.\u00a0 The first one we met was Barack\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "January 2010"","block_context":{"text":"January 2010","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2010\/january-2010\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1028"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1029,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028\/revisions\/1029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}