Obamamessianism

Submitted by Homefront (Australia), May 5, 2008 at 22:45

Dr Pipes,

I agree that the discrepancy between the bare boned facts and Barack Obama's public representations is troubling. If I can hypothesise as to his possible motives he might be seeking to avoid the label "murtad" (was it?) in any future dealings with the expanding Mahgreb. Possible Apostacy could further inflame or be used to inflame relations with fundamentalist powers like Iran. Barack Obama seems to want to shore up his own diplomatic credentials since much of his foreign policy will be based on diplomacy. Could this possible deception be a simply an example of the double talk that goes hand in hand with modern diplomacy (esp. where the Islamic world is concerned)?

I asked a question during a media conference a few years back of Kevin Rudd who was shadow foreign minister at this stage (later he was elected PM in a landslide). Kevin seemed adamant that John Howard (the then PM of Australia) was not handling things in a diplomatic manner with his unkind statements about Indonesia. They would be immediately translated and be front page on some of the leading newspapers in Jakarta. My rejoinder was that the state owned media in Indonesia was in the business of spinning lies about Australia and that our actual conduct would have very little impact on what was published in Indonesian papers - so we might as well exercise free speech. Rudd later privately confirmed that whether what I'd said was true or not it was impolitic to express such opinions openly in front fo the media. Similar political pragmatism might be driving Obama's refusal to declare his Islamic Apostacy.

This does little other than take some of the sheen off the Obamamessiah machine and lower him almost to the level of other politicians. His book "The Audacity of Hope" as trite as it is in confirming only that he may well be a "nice guy" without expanding on any substantial policy objectives does give him an edge over Hillary who seems increasingly nasty as time passes.

Following on from the above point from an Australian perspective the most troubling aspect of Obama's candidacy is that it could signal prospectively closer relations with Indonesia (the worlds most populous Islamic country) and the US at the expense of Australia altering the geopolitical balance of the south pacific. Indonesia's attitude towards Australia has always been unequivocally irredentist the latter fought at least two conflicts in which the Indonesians attempted to invade Papua New Guinea and later Malaysia. Indonesian students are taught as a matter of course in Primary and secondary school that Australian and PNG are east and south Irian respectively and therefore rightfully part of the cresent of Isles that belongs rightfully to Indonesia.

The justification for Indonesian irredentism has two bases one is the assertion that Indonesians having traded with the Aborigines before Europeans colonised the continent had some form of prior claim even though they never really lived here. Secondly if that claim feels shaky there is always the Islamic claim of all territory under the sun the precepts of Mohammedanism being that all things have been made by Allah and are therefore rightfully the property of the followers of the one true faith. A catch all justification of piracy, slavery, dhimmitude and jihadism.

As an aside I would be interested in hearing whatever thoughts Dr Pipes and anyone here has on the possible implications of a Barack Obama presidency for the Australia/US alliance. Especially whether he would be more favorable in foreign policy terms to Indonesia and the implications theretofore.

Then of course there is Obama's dubious patriotic credentials. The outbursts of Jeremiah Wright his erstwhile pastor damning America and obliterating the notion that Obama is in any way shape or form a post racial president. He is at one with the Democrats in their neosegregationalism on the basis of historical victimhood. His wife has also put her foot squarely in her mouth on several occasions supporting the views of Rev Wright.

To sum while I personally believe that Obama's christianity is not disingenuous or the operation of an extremely disciplined Taqiyya a very large question mark still hangs over his character. A question mark that has been effectively swept away by the liberal press in their hurry to shore up a vote for the candidate that will be "historic" and "post racial". I doubt that America will be portrayed as any less racist in the liberal controlled media and halls of higher education if Obama is elected. Too much of an industry surrounds the micromanagement of vocabulary and behaviour inherent to identity politics. It is the political equivalent of the fossil fuel industry. Think of all the ministry of Multicultural affairs and African studies professors that would be effectively dropped from the gravy train if America were to suddenly be "post racial".

Obama represents with his open door diplomacy the naive post modern multiculturalist view that we are all intrinsically the same - wanting the same things, all disputes can be mediated and resolved by dialogue and in the end a synthesis is possible. The pugilistic contest between Islam and the rest of the world would dispatch this notion if anyone in the higher echelons of the Democratic party were paying attention.

And finally he represents the notion that fortress America might succumb to the Social Democratic disease that has killed Europe. The land of opportunity becoming a high tax welfare state attracting undesirable migrants all of course whom vote for the Democratic Party to roll forward the expense associated with overgenerous benefits onto the next generation.

Where hawkish confidence and resolve to win ground against the implacable and fecund foe of Islamic Salafism are needed Obama demonstrates naivety and timidity as well as a healthy smattering of denial. His supporters seem to see in him a black JFK even if his candidacy has an ersatz quality when comparing it to Kennedy's camelot. I see him more as a black Jimmy Carter. I wonder if after his presidency he will be seen whoring himself out to the US enemies as flagrantly as good old Jim?

Homefront.

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