Obama's Election

Submitted by gravenimage (United States), Nov 6, 2008 at 16:30

Yesterday an Oakland politician proclaimed that the election of Barack Obama marked an end to "terror and fear". This is significant.

A lot of us have wondered how the US could possibly have elected a man with terrorist ties and a Muslim background at a time when we are threatened by, well, Muslim terrorists--but I think this is the point.

It is as though, following the disturbing rise of Nazi Fascism during the 1930s, America had decided to elect a nice man with a German surname and a trace of an accent.

Not a wild-eyed Nazi, mind you, but a sophisticated, soft-spoken Tuetonic fellow--who could put us all at ease. Oh, if you looked closely, you might find that he had some troubling ties to the German-American Bund, and had made a few odd comments about the Great War--but, really, who wants to look closely? And besides, unlike Roosevelt and Churchill, he had said he would talk to Hitler--without preconditions.

Of course, this sounds absurd--but we weren't quite that craven back in the 1940s. I think many agree with that Oakland politician--that Obama will take away the terror and fear. They don't want to think that there is a real threat--that's too scary to contemplate. It is much less disturbing to hold those who acknowledge the existence of a real, external threat as the *source* of the threat, instead.

So here's to an end to terror and fear--now, if only Obama can use his vaunted charm to convince the Jihadists of this. I wouldn't hold my breath.

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