A good friend of mine, Ron,\u00a0who currently lives in Hungary, sent this along:<\/p>\n
\u201cObama is diminished because America is diminished. One thing he has destroyed, perhaps for a very long period of time, is its real prestige. Prestige is based on a kind of fear or awe and not on supposed \u201caffection\u201d which counts for nothing in the hard calculus of the world.<\/em>
<\/em>
That awe was compounded not just of America\u2019s strength, but to something Ralph Peters once called \u201cThe Old Magic\u201d; the idea that somehow America had a kind of greatness, a sort of mojo that raised it above the low places of the world. Obama is proof, or seeming proof, that it does not.<\/em>
<\/em>
\u201cHow could we have elected this man\u201d translates to \u201chow could the US have elected this man?\u201d when viewed from the outside. Americans are palpably foolish after all, must the conclusion. This is in a smaller measure, what Malayans discovered about the British Empire when their armies were being marched from Singapore to build railroads for the Japanese for a handful of rice and knock on the head. Britain was supposed to produce Wellingtons and Nelsons. What Singapore showed was Perceval\u2019s greatness was only the sham greatness of the Raffles Hotel social set. How hollow it was.<\/em>
<\/em>
When people discover the Old Magic is gone; that the Presidents and the Secretaries of State are human after all they begin to think, \u201cthey\u2019ve lost the mandate of heaven\u201d. Gee, these guys are foolish.<\/em>
<\/em>
Ironically every time conservatives throw a brickbat at the President that sticks it diminishes the prestige further. The truth is, American would prefer an President who was great; who bestrode the world stage. Who embodied the Old Magic. Not Hope and Change from a box of crackerjacks. On the day that the world regards him as a clown is the day America itself shares in his shame. After all, like or not, he was elected to the Oval office.<\/em>
<\/em>
Paradoxically even Obama\u2019s enemies have an interest in not seeing him make a fool of himself. But it is unclear whether anything can be changed now, if he\u2019s determined to play the jester to the end. It just has to play out, to run to its sad, whimpering end, like a Greek tragedy, in the desperate hope there\u2019ll be enough pieces left to pick up when the party\u2019s over.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\nIt\u2019s from a website called Pajamasmedia<\/em>.\u00a0 I know nothing of that site, and don\u2019t condemn or condone its contents.\u00a0 The above piece has some interesting insights, but like so many things, there is more to be said.\u00a0 What strikes me about this, as well as the linked story from which it was lifted<\/a>, is how many are searching for ways to spin President Obama\u2019s trip.\u00a0 No one is making the point that it was a rousing success.\u00a0 Everyone\u00a0admits\u00a0things are not looking good.\u00a0 That\u2019s what I notice.\u00a0 When the debate is no longer \u2018is America a great nation or a dying nation\u2019, but merely \u2018why is it dying and who\u2019s fault is it?\u2019, then you know we are in deep.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A good friend of mine, Ron,\u00a0who currently lives in Hungary, sent this along: \u201cObama is diminished because America is diminished. One thing he has destroyed, perhaps for a very long period of time, is its real prestige. Prestige is based on a kind of fear or awe and not on supposed \u201caffection\u201d which counts for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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