by Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n
PJ Media<\/em><\/p>\n Attention, Little Knowledge<\/strong><\/p>\n Obama himself at various times in his memoirs \u2014 never have presidential autobiographies sold so many copies, and yet have been so little read by the press \u2014 talked about people seeing in him what they wished. And now on the eve of the election, I confess I have no idea about who he is or what he stands for. If he is elected, I can only hope for the best, and pray a few sober old Clintonites like Paul Volcker or Robert Rubin will step forward.<\/p>\n What is a \u201cHuge Sum\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n Does Obama really, as Joe Biden promised, wish to shut down coal-generated electricity plants?<\/p>\n He denied it, of course. But then on the eve of the election we see a recording just released of what he recently boasted about on the topic: \u201cIf somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it\u2019s just that it will bankrupt them because they\u2019re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that\u2019s being emitted.\u201d<\/p>\n Note again the boastful Obama\u2019s usage of \u201cbankrupt\u201d them \u2014 as if the destruction of an entire industry that currently warms the water, cooks the food, and keeps the lights on for 150 million Americans can simply fold, without consequences to the industry\u2019s workers and to us, the consumers of their electricity. Are we to use our stoves for five or six hours a day as the wind and sun allow, in order to prove that we are \u2018green\u201d and no longer \u2018selfish\u2019?<\/p>\n So, are the selfish rich making $300,000, $250,000, $200,000, $150,000 or $120,000?<\/p>\n Who knows, we\u2019ve heard all of these figures as benchmarks for the next gargantuan tax bite. Is \u2018socialism\u2019 an unfair indictment of Obama\u2019s policies (perhaps mandated \u2018equality of result\u2019 is more polite)? I think not, since he regrets the inability to use the Supreme Court to redistribute capital, or what he later dubbed \u2018spread the wealth around\u2019. Is the term \u2018socialist\u2019 antithetical to, or suggestive of, his agenda that would raise income-based taxation in many states (state, federal, FICA, Medicare) to 65% of the incomes of those who now pay over 60% of the nation\u2019s aggregate taxes, while upping the number of those exempt from federal income tax obligation to nearly half of the nation\u2019s wage earners?<\/p>\n What does one call that? Fairness \u2014 when one proceeds to give cash credits to many of those who are not paying any federal income taxes at all? That will be a pretty large political constituency \u2014 half the nation\u2019s wage-earners \u2014 who will be appreciative that someone exempted them from all concern about where and how much of their government\u2019s revenues derive.<\/p>\n More Therapeutic Studies?<\/strong><\/p>\n I worry about education, since at various times Obama has called for reparations (in deed, not word), more oppression studies, and praised ethnic magnet schools. Clearly to address the underclass we need instead a more traditional curriculum and back to basics emphasis on reading, literatures, math, and science, and less on the therapeutic \u201cthey\u201d who did this to us. I wrote an article in the current issue of\u00a0City Journal<\/em>\u00a0on this, and worry that much of our most critical problems derive from a substandard school system, that needs radical reform and competition, not more money.<\/p>\n Yes, No \u2014 or Present?<\/strong><\/p>\n I don\u2019t know what Obama feels about drilling, nuclear power, FISA, NAFTA, capital punishment, abortion, guns, Iran, the surge, Jerusalem, campaign financing, etc. But I do get the impression that he is more or less cognizant that most of his views around 2006 were at odds with the American people\u2019s, and so he had to change or drop them (and most of his social circle) to get elected, or at least mention them only at small private gatherings in San Francisco.<\/p>\n The mystery? Will he revert back to the constant Obama of the last 30 years who waged dirty 1996 and 2004 campaigns, and shared apparently ideologies with Ayers, Khalidi, Pfleger, and Wright and others in his Chicago extremist cadre? Or will he govern as a center-leftist, corralling a Frank, Pelosi, and Reed and the most fringe beyond them?<\/p>\n Truman or Carter?<\/p>\n Will Obama really, at a time of near recession, create a trillion dollars of new spending programs, when many of the existing ones don\u2019t work and contribute to a half-trillion dollar current deficit? Note in almost every speech, Obama lists a new federal bromide to address our malaise, rarely if ever advice to curb our own extravagant spending and borrowing, honor our debts, live lives that lessen our reliance on a burdened federal government, or seek personal responsibility to curtail illegitimacy, drug use, high school drop-out rates, and illegality that do so much to impoverish the nation. Surely some of the things that got us into the current mess were self-induced and not entirely the fault of the greedy \u201cthey\u201d on Wall Street and in Washington?<\/p>\n A Minor Morality Tale<\/strong><\/p>\n His aunt Zeitunie is a minor road bump and familiar to everyone who has an embarrassing relative. But Auntie Z. is also emblematic nevertheless of many of the concerns one has about the blank Obama slate. Let me state first that no one is completely responsible for one\u2019s immediate family, but we need at least a statement on that from Obama that his aunt\u2019s illegality is a worry to him, and he will take as much care to see her comply with American law as he did to write of her in the past. Some minor concerns:<\/p>\n 1) Charity Begins at Home? She appeared in cameo fashion in his memoirs as proof of his strong family ties (and attended, I think, his swearing in as a US Senator); but then was subsequently languishing as an illegal alien, in violation of a deportation order, in a public housing project a mere hour\u2019s flight from Chicago. I am skeptical of someone like Obama who dubs others \u201cselfish\u201d for worrying that upping federal tax by 20% on those who currently pay the most in taxes (5% income tax hike, 15.3 FICA self-employment tax exposure), all for dubious expenditures, and cannot even take care of someone he cited in his memoir as \u201cfamily.\u201d<\/p>\n 2) An Objective Press? The press story is somehow now about who \u2018leaked\u2019 information that his aunt had defied a deportation order and was in the country illegally. This is yet another sign that U.S. immigration law is made laughable, and its enforcement a joke to the rather limited extent the law is even applied. One not only can overstay a visa, ignore a court order, ignore campaign laws, ignore public housing requirements, but do so in such a context that revelation of such serial lawbreaking, not the serial lawbreaking itself, is proof of wrong.<\/p>\n 3) Mr. Axlerod of recent Chicago Fame. More of the double standard. David Axlerod, the Chicago master of leaking information to destroy adversaries, is suddenly worried about supposed leaks of government documents? Aside from Joe the Plumber, he should ask why and how the sealed divorce records of both Obama\u2019s Democratic primary rival and his general election Republican opponent were leaked, imploding both campaigns and ensuring the election of Obama in 2004 to the Senate. If the aunt story was improperly leaked by a right-wing immigration official, can\u2019t Axlerod at least say \u201cDamnit, I was Axleroded!\u201d<\/p>\n 4) If You Can\u2019t Trust Your Aunt, Who Can You Trust? Obama said that his historical rejection of campaign finance (after a promise to abide by the statutes), and his subsequent creation of $600 million war-chest, should not cause worry because so many of the donors were \u201csmall\u201d.<\/p>\n Thus any questions about fake names, addresses, lack of compliance with identifying donors by name, foreign contributors, and prepaid credit cards were essentially McCarthyite \u2014 given the historical lift Obama had given the American electoral process.<\/p>\n But if the Obama campaign cannot even guarantee that his own aunt followed the law (it is illegal for foreigners to contribute to U.S. presidential campaigns), what does that say about the millions of others we are supposed to believe, on the assurance of Obama himself, were supposedly legitimate and lawful donors? How ethical is it for someone who is in violation of the law, and receiving some sort of public subsidy to then donate money, illegally again, to a campaign?<\/p>\n 5) Do as I Say, not as I Do! The media, rather than enlightening us about Obama\u2019s background, consistency in thought, past behavior, and character, instead turns on anyone and anything that stands in the way of his ascension. So Auntie Zeitunie is a distraction, yes. But also no: perhaps the next President of the United States, who promises to tax to increase the social safety net, and demonizes those as selfish who disagree, can at least help a little in taking care of his own aunt, and ensure that she changes her mind about her defiance of deportation orders, her violation of Boston public housing guidelines, and her rather brazen disregard of campaign financing laws.<\/p>\n 6) It\u2019s the Law, Stupid! That is the issue here. The law really does matter. I can\u2019t think of any aunt of any President who violated so many statutes to so little consternation \u2014 or someone who so authoritatively lectured the nation on the responsibilities of social welfare and their moral obligations to give to the state purse, who in turn proved so unaware of the impoverished and illegal conditions of his own family.<\/p>\n A minor point, but indicative that Obama remains a blank slate on the eve of the election. We had two years of hope and change, and not a day of hope for what? and change this or that?<\/p>\n \u00a92008 Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Victor Davis Hanson PJ Media Attention, Little Knowledge Obama himself at various times in his memoirs \u2014 never have presidential autobiographies sold so many copies, and yet have been so little read by the press \u2014 talked about people seeing in him what they wished.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","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":[737],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-Qg","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1567,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/katrinization\/","url_meta":{"origin":3240,"position":0},"title":"Katrinization","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 10, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson NRO's\u00a0The Corner There has been a lot of noise about the oil plume and the proper responsibility of government, but the real lesson is that, during Bush\u2019s two terms, the media began to hold presidents culpable for many things that used to be attributed to tragedy,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "June 2010"","block_context":{"text":"June 2010","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2010\/june-2010\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3256,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-obama-enigma\/","url_meta":{"origin":3240,"position":1},"title":"The Obama Enigma","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 28, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services Lame-duck Republican President Bush's dismal poll ratings have descended to those of Harry Truman's when he left office. The Democratic majority in Congress will probably widen after the election. Republican nominee John McCain has not run a dynamic campaign. Gen. Colin Powell, George\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "October 2008"","block_context":{"text":"October 2008","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2008\/october-2008\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":398,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-obama-breaking-point\/","url_meta":{"origin":3240,"position":2},"title":"The Obama Breaking Point","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson PJ Media Was it the blame-gaming \u2014 \u201cBush did it!,\u201d ATMs are at fault, tsunamis are the culprit, no other administration has had such challenges, the euro meltdown is to blame, earthquakes shook our confidence \u2014 that finally turned the country off of Obama? For the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election 2012"","block_context":{"text":"Election 2012","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/obama-administration\/election-2012\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":479,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/liberal-chickens\/","url_meta":{"origin":3240,"position":3},"title":"Liberal Chickens","author":"victorhanson","date":"September 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online It could not last \u2014 the attendee of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright\u2019s church sermonizing on tolerance; the practitioner of Chicago politics lecturing on civility; the most partisan voting record in the Senate as proof of a new promised bipartisanship; earlier books and speeches\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Left"","block_context":{"text":"The Left","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/politics\/liberalism\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8895,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/bitter-clingers-2-0\/","url_meta":{"origin":3240,"position":4},"title":"Bitter Clingers 2.0","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 28, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"By Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ PJMedia Clingers 1.0: \u201cYou go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/pic_relatedBW_033115_SM_Barack-Obama-G-e1451326467987.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3246,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-end-of-journalism\/","url_meta":{"origin":3240,"position":5},"title":"The End of Journalism","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 1, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"In 2008, journalism died and advocacy media took its place. by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online There have always been media biases and prejudices. 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