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Barack Obama and the Politics of Can't

Reader comment on item: Obama's Connection to Sirhan Sirhan

Submitted by Prof. Paul Eidelberg (Israel), Nov 3, 2008 at 02:48

The article below is the most brilliant I have read about Obama. Please disseminate it.

"Barack Obama and the Politics of Can't"*

Terrence O. Moore

Abbreviated by Prof. Paul Eidelberg

Terrence O. Moore is an assistant professor of history at Hillsdale College. This report is an abbreviated version of his brilliant analysis of Barack Obama's politics, which he calls "The Politics of Can't" — not cant, but the contraction of cannot, can't.

The most unsettling aspect of the Obama campaign is not a capitulatory foreign policy; not a plan for massive redistributions of wealth; and not even the apparent success it has had in suppressing revelations about … of the more unsavory aspects of his character and associates. The most dangerous quality of his campaign is his use and abuse of language.

Only through an adeptly sophistic use of language can he manage to sell a one-trillion-dollar transfer of wealth (quite likely only the first such transfer) as "a tax cut for 95% of all Americans." Yet Obama's use of language is not about one policy nor all of his policies combined….

As Machiavelli and Orwell knew, and as every successful demagogue has found in practice, the manipulation of language is the real source of power in a true revolution, that is, in the attempt to change existing social, political, and moral norms. Through language people come to understand themselves. Through language human beings express their hopes and dreams. Through language we pursue the good and the beautiful. And through language we come to correct ourselves when we have made mistakes.

When the skillful demagogue has come to take our language from us, however, when he has actually changed the meaning of words, we find it hard to articulate what bothers us about him and his agenda. We find it nearly impossible to call him to task. Once that level of manipulation has been achieved, the demagogue prevails not only in his own day but for decades to come, and historians even find themselves at his mercy.

Pick almost any word from the Obama lexicon and you will find a betrayal of meaning and language: service, middle-class, community, organization, hope. Even change, his mantra, which he certainly would bring, does not constitute truth in advertising because the change with which he lures the American people is not the same change he has in mind. Americans don't like radicals, and Obama is a radical. Even staunch abortionists find his actual record on abortion (the things he voted for rather than the things he said he voted for) extreme. Obama's effectiveness cannot stem from his radicalism, therefore, but must derive from his ability to worm his way into the very American psyche that he has hated for most of his life and probably (does anyone know the real Obama?) still hates.

To understand Obama's success and his limits with the American people, let's look at a seemingly innocuous word, yet ultimately the word that separates him most from what most Americans actually believe. That word is can.

Can is a sub-theme to Obama's campaign. Change took a back seat to can in the "Yes We Can" speech after Obama's Oprah-aided victory in South Carolina…. Can is the child of the marriage between hope and resolve. Can opens up the world to the energetic and enterprising. Can can do. Can is human, to be sure, but it is also quintessentially American. ….

The thing Obama does not want you to know, the thing he can't let you know lest you reject him outright, is that he is very subtly replacing the Politics of Can with the Politics of Can't. The former sort of politics is the one that inspired our individual ambitions and made our country great.… The latter sort [the politics of can't] would set about weakening individual ambition and tearing down our nation's greatness.

You see, the trick in "Yes We Can!" lies in who the "We" are. At first, "We" sounds like the American people. But the "We" in Obama's formulation cannot possibly be the American people because if he believes that the American people can, it is hard to see why they need so much government help all the time. Obama's "American people" are not the rugged individualists Franklin and Lincoln and Reagan had in mind.

Look more closely at Obama's "We" and you think you see the Democrat party. A sharper view takes you to the liberal wing of the party. Yet in truth, the "We" in "Yes We Can!" are really no more than a select group of politicians, activists, and bureaucrats who do not care very much for this country as it now stands but have big ideas about what it might become once they are in charge.

And for this transformation to take place, Obama's "We" (which is really they [the clique of politicians, activist, and bureaucrats]) need millions of willing accomplices … the source of the "We's" power, millions who agree on but one thing: that they [the masses], without the help of "We" [the clique] can't. They can't fend for themselves. They can't think for themselves. They can't even vote by themselves without the "We" [the Obama clique] driving them there and showing them how. They can't be expected to pay taxes or bills on their own. They can't go to college without the "We's" help, which in monetary terms means your help. The real "We" [the "We" who can] sit atop the Obaman social pyramid, even above the "top 5 percent," and the "American people" are the millions of drones needed to take the We, or really HIM [Obama] that high.

The Politics of Can't preached by Obama is the abdication of personal responsibility, the surrender of the human spirit, and the transfer of all hope from one's own inner resources … to a cadre of cynical and sanctimonious politicians who have figured out how to prosper when people give up hope of doing for themselves. The Politics of Can't is the chemistry of community organizing, and Obama's virtuosity in it … has taken him to the verge of the White House.

And the really frightening part about the whole scheme is that in order to pull it off, in order to answer the hopeless and mindless can't, Obama has to bring in another seemingly innocuous word that he manipulates at will, the imperative must. Along with his favorite adjective redistributive ….

Since the people can't for themselves, the government must. Everything follows from that principle: redistribution of wealth, abortion, opposition to real school choice, government health care; the list goes on. The must is not explained. The must is not to be questioned. But it clearly serves as a call to action. The must must get done by whatever means necessary. If must is achieved via the Supreme Court, great, though that way takes too long. If it is through elections, don't forget, "We" also need the court to secure the victory.

Again, the most horrifying portent of an Obama presidency is not that he might wreck the economy, invite attacks from abroad due to his inexperience and lack of faith in this great country, or even that he would appoint activist judges who will not leave the bench for a long, long time—though he would, most assuredly, do all of these things.

The Founding Fathers built a nation that could, and that has, survived all these disasters. Instead, the most frightening prospect offered by this charismatic leader is that his pie-in-the sky promises and pandering politics will extinguish, in those who need it most, one of the most valuable qualities in man: the truly audacious hope in one's own abilities to attain happiness through hard work in a land of liberty responsibly exercised.

It is not implausible to imagine a young child, after years of an Obama administration, complaining to his mother that he "can't." He can't do, he can't learn, he can't make something of himself. Will this mother respond, as my mother did, that "can't never could," or will she purr as she strokes that child's head, "Don't worry, child. You don't have to. Barack and the government must do it for you."? Ultimately, this is the question the real "we" must answer on [Tuesday] November 4.

____________________
*See URL:http://www.ashbrook.org/publicat/oped/moore/08/cant.html for complete document.

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Title Commenter Date Thread
Sirhan Sirhan [472 words]ZentristNov 18, 2008 21:18143223
One Big Mess [163 words]Charles NickalopoulosNov 19, 2008 17:46143223
Do the Right Thing, Barack [99 words]ZentristNov 19, 2008 20:55143223
Obama and the Former Soviet Union [101 words]Ken BesigNov 7, 2008 07:36142355
Ken, Media says otherwise.-Hides Russian issue. [52 words]YnnatchkahNov 8, 2008 18:36142355
I was mistaken, it was Barack Obama's parents who met in a Russian language class [76 words]Ken BesigNov 10, 2008 15:44142355
The wind of change [101 words]Ahmed SalimNov 27, 2008 17:05142355
about islam's victory. [81 words]G. VishvasDec 2, 2008 13:05142355
Strap Yourself In, Mr. Winds of Change, this a tender little message for you from across the waves, this from your American admirers: [1697 words]der AlleswisserDec 21, 2008 11:07142355
yes we can [42 words]janiyacoburnJan 20, 2009 19:46142355
2His life is in danger because the media don't want to investigate these associations. [77 words]danielNov 7, 2008 05:34142347
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Are We Taking A Chance of Permanently Dismantling Our Country's National Security Here At Home and Abroad? [1849 words]WeroInNMNov 17, 2008 19:06142253
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Obama [10 words]David M. BaltimoreNov 5, 2008 10:13142117
Duty to revolt [370 words]YnnatchkahNov 6, 2008 15:12142117
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timing of warning article [206 words]Jules PostenNov 8, 2008 20:02142117
Good luck! [32 words]RajaNov 5, 2008 05:15142099
Obama's Connection to Sirhan Sirhan [96 words]AnneNov 5, 2008 03:23142089
Good post. [183 words]kmanNov 7, 2008 21:06142089
Obama's connection to Sirhan Sirhan- Response to KMan [227 words]AnneNov 18, 2008 18:52142089
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If Obama Wins [85 words]Charles NickalopoulosNov 4, 2008 19:06142060
Ties with religion [144 words]CarlsoNov 4, 2008 12:22142024
Obama and Sirhan Sirhan [213 words]MauriceNov 4, 2008 09:34142013
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your a good man! [196 words]randy maisogNov 4, 2008 06:55142005
"ur" have bought into colossal lie [49 words]kmanNov 4, 2008 18:56142005
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A Moslem in the White House [1216 words]Guy Leven-TorresNov 4, 2008 02:12141990
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Reaction [55 words]Peter HerzNov 3, 2008 23:22141967
Eyeful of Tears [99 words]Lars JasonNov 3, 2008 19:32141946
OBAMA'S CONNECTI0N TO SIRHAN SIRHAN [51 words]JACQUES HADIDANov 3, 2008 15:13141930
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What a scream!! [74 words]kmanNov 4, 2008 20:13141930
Contrast of associations [166 words]StephanieNov 5, 2008 12:38141930
odinga [49 words]salomeNov 18, 2008 00:27141930
Ayers-Sirhan Sirhan-Kennedy connection. [87 words]M.D'SouzaNov 3, 2008 14:37141924
the irony given Obama's Kennedy-esque brand positioning [454 words]CNov 3, 2008 19:42141924
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and the point is?? [45 words]donvanNov 5, 2008 11:39141901
You want "facts"? [224 words]kmanNov 5, 2008 23:19141901
you are correct... [31 words]donvanNov 6, 2008 19:11141901
Opinion - ?? [351 words]kmanNov 7, 2008 20:53141901
The culmination... [85 words]DONVANNov 3, 2008 11:23141898
Whoo! [164 words]kmanNov 4, 2008 20:00141898
obama ties to radical muslims [157 words]glsmarltonNov 3, 2008 10:48141896
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fear for those who sleep [246 words]w. June PedigoNov 3, 2008 09:48141890
Thanks "June"" [36 words]kmanNov 4, 2008 18:52141890
fear for those who sleep [21 words]w. June PedigoNov 6, 2008 14:10141890
God bless you! [39 words]kmanNov 6, 2008 18:39141890
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1Obama a radical Muslim? [411 words]kmanNov 4, 2008 18:48141878
Where have you been untill now? [11 words]M.D.Nov 3, 2008 06:59141877
Why?? [51 words]kmanNov 4, 2008 12:13141877
Ditto [39 words]yonasonNov 26, 2008 04:34141877
Barack Obama and the Politics of Can't [1384 words]Prof. Paul EidelbergNov 3, 2008 02:48141860

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