"deeply, fiercely hostile to American proposition"

That would be Spengler’s assessment of our president, which I invite you to read in its entirety.

Barack Obama is a clever fellow who imbibed hatred of America with his mother’s milk, but worked his way up the elite ladder of education and career. He shares the resentment of Muslims against the encroachment of American culture, although not their religion. He has the empathetic skill set of an anthropologist who lives with his subjects, learns their language, and elicits their hopes and fears while remaining at emotional distance. That is, he is the political equivalent of a sociopath. The difference is that he is practicing not on a primitive tribe but on the population of the United States.

There is nothing mysterious about Obama’s methods. “A demagogue tries to sound as stupid as his audience so that they will think they are as clever as he is,” wrote Karl Krauss. Americans are the world’s biggest suckers, and laugh at this weakness in their popular culture.

I do not have a first-class mind, but David P. Goldman does, so you may find it very thought provoking.

Also, and this is not to unduly push First Things pieces, but it’s another provocative read, Joseph Bottum’s Bad Medicine:

I’m taking most of the weekend off. My MIL broke her wrist and I have promised to learn how to bake her famous Easter cookies, which she tells me are a lot of work; this weekend is the only chance I’ll have to practice on them.

To be honest, I am grateful for the distraction. I really want to turn away from politics as we enter the holiest week of the year, and I am going to spend what time I can this weekend with scripture and before my oratory in prayer.

But check back from time to time. If I glean anything halfway-interesting from my silence (what’s more contemplative than housework and baking?) I’ll post it.

Breathe.

And do not be afraid. Never, never be afraid.