Replying to a non-partisan story about how Scott Brown’s improbable victory in Massachusetts should serve as a “blessing in disguise” for Democrats to wake up, readjust and reclaim their party from the radicals, a friend emailed me Wednesday afternoon. He ignored the article and instead focused on my addendum whereupon I noted that “As an American, I am cheering for the president to do the right thing.” He wrote back, “You do not cheer for Obama and NOBODY that knows you believes that comment. If Obama got hit by lightening (sic), then you’d cheer and cheer and cheer. That’s the funniest comment and biggest lie you’ve ever come out with.”

So after a long day of work on 20 January, I came home and spent four solid hours typing 4500 words to explain:

Each morning when I wake up I thank G-d that I live in America, and that I live in 2010 and not 1910 or any of the world’s 6000 years prior. I need not elaborate why. Despite working a full-time job and three part-time writing jobs, I probably earn less money than 90% of salaried Americans and about half what I’d be making if still teaching. Additionally, even though I live far from my family, am in the midst of a miserably cold winter, and much more, I could not ask for a better, more blessed life: living in the Heartland, newly-married, employed, personally healthy, etc. Therefore, I support people and policies that benefit America.  My overarching thesis is that you miss the point, sirrah. Now allow me to explain.

Every president in my lifetime, to varying degrees, regardless of party, has done what he believes is best for America. (I was an infant during the ignominious Carter presidency.) Though I obviously had to choose at the election booth, I supported all of them once in office. As an American, I also support President Obama and have praised three of his recent speeches: Ft Hood Memorial, Nobel Peace Prize and a few weeks ago after the near terror attack on Christmas when he said “The buck stops with me.” I shared those videos with friends, and watched them numerous times because those were the first and only speeches where the current president sounded like he supported America, rejected political correctness, understood good and evil, and the priorities of this nation. Though it inexplicably took nearly a year, I was pleased.

But that was it. Those were the only speeches out of hundreds that made sense for America. And there has been little action behind the words heretofore. Akin to during the campaign, when, in order to attract decisive votes from moderates, Mr. Obama incessantly lied about governing from the center and being pragmatic, then veered far left because that is his mindset (as proven over 48 years of his writing, speaking and life choices), lofty rhetoric means little when you’re in the big boy’s chair. And his naive decisions over the past 365 days have been more than prevarications: they’ve been backwards-thinking, polarizing, dangerous and arrogant, especially in terms of our War on Terror. The ONLY area where Mr. Obama kept his campaign pledge was to support the “necessary” Afghanistan portion of America’s G.W.O.T. And even this was done begrudgingly, after eight months of dawdling, avoiding meetings, and only chosen since “Bush’s War” (the successful one that Obama and his defeatist party opposed and wrongly claimed was “lost"), in his view, is Iraq, not Afghanistan.

And in the end, the president’s plans barely adumbrated the situation. It’s effrontery to the highest degree for a man in his 40s with no military background to not defer to his National Security Adviser, Secretary of Defense (both, for now, thankfully Republicans) and Generals on every strategic issue during wartime. George W. Bush may speak with a Texas twang and occasionally mispronounce a word, but he also listened and related to Americans, especially our military men and women. He’ll be remembered well for that and much else. Watching Obama speak to (and bore) the unwavering Camp Lejeune Marines or the incomparable West Point Cadets is infuriating and painful. They know he is not one of them, and since he has no military experience, appreciation, nor fundamental knowledge on the subject matter, is their “Commander in Chief” in name only.

{Notice in the new Afghan strategy that the Democrats are 100% against Obama’s plan, our military, and the oppressed people of these nations, while the GOP stands with him and our military on the side of freedom. Telling.}

Mr. Obama and his cheerleaders in the media and academia often muse, in stentorian fashion, that former President Bush “angered our allies.” That is, pardon the term, bullsh-t. Study history, and you’ll soon realize most nations like or dislike America to a certain point, at certain times, no matter the president – but they always run for their daddy’s protection eventually. Polls show this. History, again and again, shows this: More than half the French had negative views of America by 1947, two years after we saved their nation from Hitler.

And really, outside of urban centers in Western Europe where the media brainwashes the dwindling Anglo and growing Islamic citizenry, the world loves us, and billions would be here tomorrow if they could. Obama, however, has offended some of our greatest allies and fans of Bush’s America---namely two very important places to me and my wife: the State of Israel and Republic of Colombia. Add Honduras, Poland, the Czech Republic, Georgia, South Korea, and of all places, Africa (where the Bush Admin. did yeoman’s work on AIDS, saving millions of lives) to that growing list too.  So, in a nutshell, here in late January 2010, the world “hates us” more than they did from 2000-2008.  Just as they were correct in the 80s with Reagan and the Cold War, the conservatives were right on these foreign policy matters the whole time. John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden and the hard Left lost those battles and endangered America all the way. Schools will assure that few remember. That’s what they do best. “Educators” lose the real battles, so they “win” the battle over the textbooks.

Now, social and environmental policies are clearly second tier issues, especially when the latter is concocted and other nations won’t help, so I’d like to re-focus on why I support America (and the president), but explain also why criticism and occasional harsh words do not mean I don’t support him.  Didn’t liberals invent the term “patriotic dissent”? Or is that only to be used when convenient?

I want to live a long life and thrive. I don’t want Iran or any other rogue nations getting nuclear weapons and killing us all. I believe that Islamic religious totalitarianism and terrorism are the greatest expressions of contemporary evil. This is not hyperbole or alarmist, but simple facts. On 9/11/01, at age 23, my world changed. Others wept and pondered for a day or two, then went on about their lives.

For one full year now, this president, unlike his erstwhile promises, has coddled our enemies and, following Jimmy Carter’s warped lead, allowed the possibility of catastrophe to occur—in the ignorant name of “diplomacy.” Real history shows diplomacy and negotiating from a position of weakness fails as much as mindless theories like “peace” and “justice.” Weakness invites aggression; strength stops it. Real peace is achieved through strength, military build-up, and victory. A nation’s people surrender peace, temporarily, for the prospects of freedom. They do not do the opposite. This is how America’s power, wealth and the safety we’ve enjoyed were obtained. Every president, sans Jimmy Carter, knew that. Peace and freedom are not achieved through surrender, candlelight vigils, yoga, or serial apologies. 

Meanwhile, having never been taught these rudimentary lessons at Harvard, Columbia or the Chicago “Community Organizers” Academies, our president refused the simple “peaceful” action of supporting the democracy movement in, of all places, Iran this past summer. Yes, Iran: the most dangerous country in the world right now, a brutal theocracy led by a Holocaust-denying zealot who wishes to wipe Israel and the West off the map. As I recall, President Obama was spending American dollars and fuel trying to lure the 2016 Olympics to our nation’s most corrupt city during those tense times.

Then there are his gaffes, inaction, or insane logic in Honduras, Venezuela, North Korea, the Caucasus, and the list goes on ad infinitum. He had a bumpy start, rough summer and rougher first year. Inexperience can do that. But no, I don’t inherently think Obama wants America, Israel, or our primary allies against terror to be wiped out, but he also does not listen (not even to his own party); nor, sadly, does he understand world affairs.

How can that be?

Barack Hussein Obama’s entire life (parents, friends, mentors and colleagues, all the way to his current Cabinet) has been spent in the company of ignorant and misguided people who, like he, were schooled in the “race and diversity studies” industry of post 1960s America. They were taught nothing of America’s greatness, particularly in times of war. (cf. our Harvard Law Review Editor/president wrongly claiming his American grandfather helped liberate Auschwitz). These baby boomers were indoctrinated in the most radically left ways, where America, a country that’s freed billions from tyranny—that in one Baghdad or Kabul afternoon does more for “peace” than the UN has in 64 years—is always to blame. This naturally rubs off on his world view, and even an intrepid left-wing black Ivy League professor (his ideal base) wrote about this “vacuous opportunist” in May 2008.

A friend recently emailed me a few lines which also capture the ethos succinctly:

“Obama has never really been challenged in his life because of his skin color and the political environment in which he was raised, and that’s made him intellectually soft. Thus, he relies on the advice of those smarter and more politically savvy than he, which gets him into more and more trouble.”

I would add that his absence of a father – and irresponsible mother – contributed to his lack of development and inability to choose proper associates.

With two exceptions (Sec. Gates, Gen. Jones), his cabinet—the most important entity in policy-making—is as far removed from reality as he. It is, I am sad to report, riddled with anti-Israel people, socialists, communists, environmental lunatics, and terror-appeasers that live in the proverbial liberal bubble. And this does not include his past mentors like the actual terrorist-turned-professor Bill Ayers, “historian” Rashid Khalidi and the unapologetic racist, anti-Semite/America-hater Rev. Wright, the man whom he and Michelle sought out as a mentor and adored for two decades. These policy makers and advisers are the protégés of Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky, Ramsey Clark and Edward Said. The past propinquity of these wicked men and women affect his every decision today. And, most sadly, with respect to his present Cabinet, he’s not willing to remove them from power.

Obama’s Attorney General is particularly deplorable and thereby deserves special mention. He (Eric Holder) is openly supporting the mastermind of 9-11 by ignoring the desperate pleas from relatives of those killed, and trying this monster as an ordinary American civilian in southern Manhattan, steps from Ground Zero where 3200 innocent Americans died eight short years ago. But to the Obama Left, 9/11 is something different, and always has been. This will also cost U.S. taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. Who on earth, in their worst hour, would encourage/allow this? And does the nation’s chief lawyer care that he’s spitting on graves of those massacred souls? No. He has the audacity to call us and these grieving relatives “cowards” for not wanting this trial. This abhorrent waste of time may go down as the most reprehensible and irresponsible action by a president since the Iranian Revolution broke out, the Shah was overthrown, and the Carter Administration did not intervene, nor grant the deposed leader/US ally entry to the United States. {These illogical actions paved the way for the Mullahs and modern Radical Islam to wreak havoc on the world the past three decades.}

Holder and Obama also want to abolish our main programs and facilities used to track and defeat terrorists (Patriot Act, so-called “wiretapping,” Gitmo Prison), but have not yet succeeded, since deep inside they know these very legal programs are necessary to save lives. (Again, think back to the “Big Boy’s Chair” from earlier in this treatise.) These goals, though not yet fully realized, are scary. Obama stands with Holder, ignoring America’s overwhelming pleas and wishes. These decisions are as bilious as it gets. George Orwell just turned in his grave.

Fiscally, Obama, like his allies, strongly believes in socialism. Like him and his oft-hypocritical wife, they, like their friends, are extremely wealthy people, so this punitive form of governing has little effect upon them.

As with national security, the 44th president has proven over and over that we should never listen to what he says, but rather focus on the actions. Obama’s actions show he admires socialism. No name calling here, just the truth. And believe me, he does not care what we think because he feels he and the Ivy League ignoramuses in his inner circle know what’s best for you and me. This is as close to elite oligarchical rule in America since Alexander Hamilton’s attempts more than two centuries ago. Ironically, these deleterious policies are pursued even though due to their professions, places of residence, friends and education, these sheltered 21st century plutocrats understand America far less than the guy driving a truck across Interstate 10, the farmer picking up garbage along the road in the southern Plains, you, me, or a sentient plumber from Ohio.

Pres. Obama also suffers from an incredible paucity of people in his quasi-technocrat cabal with any real-world experience in small businesses or the private sector, for example. In fact it’s a record low of ten percent. And even those are minor Cabinet positions like Energy Secretary and Secretary of the Interior. Most presidents have 50 percent or more.  The preponderance of Obama’s brain trust, as you might imagine, are lawyers, public sector types and, worst of all, academics. During an economic crisis he regularly calls “the largest since the Great Depression,” this appalling dearth is pure idiocy – about as idiotic as haphazard stimulus plans that deter recovery, or having your initial Cabinet selections be filled with millionaires who don’t pay their taxes.

And again, aside from when Obama was forced in the weeks after his inauguration, he will not fire a single one of these incompetents, as any real executive would do after such a horrific year. They may be educated, but they are not wise. There is a major difference, for while principles and sagacity may presumably flow from education, that’s not necessarily classroom education. After all, these charlatans cannot even deliver policies with filibuster-proof majorities. That’s how unpopular their views really are.

From their insular world, they ignore the people’s will, historic election results, precipitous drops in approval, our nation’s proud history, and the disastrous history of other parts of the world. Instead, they choose not to adjust policies accordingly, but rather to emulate “the rest of the world”? (This wrong-headed option is chosen even though Obama only speaks English, lacks elementary-school geographical knowledge, and refers to non-existent European dialects.) Dismissing American Exceptionalism as jingoistic balderdash, or, more kindly, with classic liberal moral relativity, is not something the “Leader of the Free World” does.

Instead of “leading” and listening, the Mr. Obama himself calls Tea Party patriots derogatory sexual terms or tolerates racial slurs directed at them, castigates hard-working Americans, while his Administration attacks cable news channels, talk radio hosts, religious Christians, polls, blogs, and anyone disagreeing with their social engineering plans. If not partaking in such, any and all of the country’s current problems are blamed on former President Bush—even when polls and elections say the opposite. Trashing a predecessor, especially for an entire year, as your personal polling numbers plummet at record pace and your antecessor’s legacy suddenly looks brighter, is an unprecedented low in US politics that only someone like this president would apply. Name calling is endemic in Statists and petulant media members, but from the president and his staff, to ordinary Americans? Wow.

My friend, even though I make a small salary and might benefit from some “redistribution of wealth,” I don’t want socialism. I’m not selfish, and I am thinking long-term for America and myself. I want to work hard, be ambitious and have economic freedom the rest of my life, so as to hopefully prosper, unlike in most other nations where it’s impossible. Why would any fair-minded individual really seek a babysitter to tell him or her how to live, in lieu of him or her own self? That is pretty self-deprecating. Then again, leftist leaders like Obama and his cult do not believe in individualism, and they surely do not believe every American yearns to be a productive member of society, so they belittle them with “social programs” which perpetuate the cycles of failure.

The caveat is that socialism’s economic simplicity attracts Democrat votes from the mindless. Yes, it is that disingenuous. Even the left does not really believe in it, else they’d practice said redistribution in their own lives, which they unequivocally (and hypocritically) reject. Therefore, next time you hear a Democrat muttering clichés about a “vanishing middle class,” “working families,” or the “rich getting richer,” just laugh. Socialism eradicates the middle class, leaving a large lower class, and a very diminutive and very wealthy upper class. See the USSR, 1922-1991, or the fertility rates of European nations, 1970-present. Today’s Democrat leaders are mostly of that very upper class—a modern Grand Tour or Social Register, if you will—while their “supporters” are left (no pun intended) at the bottom. The middle class is the Republican Party’s base in the early 21st Century. This is not 1955 anymore, and we’re not in Kansas. (Kansas has not voted for a Democrat in a presidential election since 1964, anyway)

Bottom line: Contrary to what we’re told, socialism does not work. It never has; it destroys nations and empires crumble because of it; it weakens families; it prolongs economic downturns; it supports Unions who ruin our schoolchildren and who strike against the public good; it makes people worse humans; it makes them bitter, recalcitrant and angry. I know this from my two professions – both working for the State, which as America goes, is as socialistic as it (hopefully) gets. And Obama wants to replicate the worst bureaucratic portions of our nation into such delicate and serious areas as health care? As someone whose own wife has chronic health issues, and has recently read about nightmares in other countries over “universal” care, this is as hideous and life/death dangerous as appeasing terrorists.

A point: Every time Obama speaks, I pray for him to say the right things. I fear for my nation and especially our prime ally against terror: Israel. I just received in postal mail a seven-page letter from non-partisan Defense of Israel Fund explaining how Obama is “at war with Israel.” Not pleasant sir, but mostly true. Of all nations on earth, he’s chosen to ignore and criticize Israel, revising Jewish history, siding with evil, and apologizing to our enemies with every major speech, press conference and executive order.

As a Zionist and conservative Jew (liberal Jews couldn’t care less, and, unlike the preponderance of conservatives who admire Israel, many actively support Israel’s enemies or ignore global hatred and bigotry toward Jews) knowing that our “special relationship” of the past 60 years with this liberal democracy/beacon of freedom for all, distributor of benevolence and intellectual progress (c.f. Israeli medics in Haiti performing miracles , while the Arab countries give and do almost nothing) in a sea of 12th century Islamo-fascist caliphates is no longer existent, is pretty sad, to put mildly. I fear for my religion, and more importantly, the safety of my current and future family. And I am glad I care. I am proud that I don’t watch much television and instead read and write a lot, so that I know I am firm (and correct) in my views before I make them known.  (The last year is proof of that, if nothing else.)

I am also darn proud that from the moment he took the stage in Boston in 2004, muttering genetic platitudes, I knew Barry Soetoro was a phony person with little common sense. I’d now deduce the “best” part of Obama’s election is that, aside from avoiding the violent race riots that would’ve sadly occurred otherwise, tens of millions of dunderheads who were duped into voting for this Empty Suit now realize how simplistic they were.  It has also brought back the Republican Party that the media irresponsibly declared “dead” just a year ago. The Right, yet again, was right.

Next I must comment on your offensive claim that I’d “only cheer when Obama’s hit by lightning.” While the left did often wish death and failure to Bush, this is why I get along with conservatives. Yes, I know many decent “liberals” and many not-so-decent conservatives; but by virtue of being a conservative, you tend to be more spiritual, charitable, family-oriented and moralistic, refraining from the pandering and juvenile outbursts for which leftists of all stripes are notorious. Nearly all conservatives I know do in fact pray and cheer for the president. They do not wish him failure or death. Being pious, they admit that’s for G-d to decide.

The left, mostly secular or atheistic/agnostic, generally stopped maturing in their teenage years in terms of serious thought. They hate “deep” matters, so instead, like their role models, choose to focus on lesser “evils” like global warming—while they smoke weed, listen to dreadful music, engage in casual sex, obsess over celebrity gossip, watch condescending TV sitcoms, “satirical” films about killing President Bush, and rally against the heroic American soldiers from small-town America keeping them safe and free to prosper and act foolishly. Also, they do cheer when Republicans die or are seriously ill, as has happened many times the past few years. They definitely do not allow free speech, especially on college campuses, where it’s often the most important. (See Olbermann, Keith; Moore, Michael; Maher, Bill; Dean, Howard; university professors, or Kos, Daily.)

And if forced to “debate,” like their heroes at PBS, CNN, Comedy Central, the BBC, MSNBC, NPR, the big three news networks and most American newspapers, leftists call names--just like little children. The only reaction to a majority of my so-called “anti-Obama” emails, or anyone’s, the past few years is to call me a “racist.” OK, occasionally I am also called a bigot, Islamo-phobe, fearmonger or even anti-Semite. That’s the entire ammunition for Fascists. Hitler also did this.  Like his left-wing totalitarian allies, Der Fuehrer got a kick out of poking fun at the stances or the speaking ability of his opponents while refusing to engage in discourse.

Ironically, all these claims of bigotry are hurled at me and my conservative friends despite the fact that nearly all Obama supporters I know solely voted for him because he’s black. Never mind that they mostly live in lily-white, racially segregated communities in America’s least diverse locales…and never mind their party’s detestable history of race relations. And never mind, that Obama is only half black, raised and educated by white people in the whitest and wealthiest parts of America until he was nearly 30. So who is really racist?

The “first African-American president” is about as inauthentically black as Bryant Gumbel, though perhaps not quite as infamous for racially divisive comments --- at least not yet. Bottom line: You & I are probably care more about Black America than he does! Never mind also that militant racism can be found all over Mrs. Obama’s college thesis, Mr. Obama’s radical essays and actions at Columbia, and, of course, in their Chicago church, where white people, Americans, and Jews are treated with far more disdain than Stalin, Mao or Arafat. (And by the way, if Obama died by lightning or other means, think I want Biden, Pelosi or the rest of the Democrat leaders or Obama’s Cabinet moonbats running America?)

Concluding, and perhaps most important, there are thousands of World War Two vets dying every day, hundreds of thousands each year. Nearly all will be gone in a decade. They kept America safe and saved most of the world from Nazism/Fascism. In short, we’re alive and certainly free from reprisals because of their bravery. Due to the nature of my profession, I talk to these incredible men daily. To a man, 90% despise Obama. I believe they are ones to trust, and like many, I believe national security is the most important issue of our time.

These great men cannot believe, in their final years, they are witnessing what’s happening to America, solely because the country had a tragic case of White Guilt. One man and his cohorts can tear this nation down, and that is what they intend to do—because that’s what they think is best, apparently.

In the end I suppose I’ll subscribe to an Andrew Jackson theory: in paraphrasing, it notes that when you find politicians who only seek power and popularity above all (“bending to popular breeze,” our seventh president said), shun them, but instead of becoming irascible, treat them with “hospitality and politeness.” As I don’t know Mr. Obama personally, I can only attempt this via conversation and electronic communication – though that does not mean researched dissent (like this essay) is “hatred” or “bigotry.” Far from it. I reiterate, as a grateful American, I strongly prefer President Obama succeeds. I’m just scared and, like so many others, finding it harder to have “hope.”

I wanted this email to be from the heart, and it is, but I think this short excerpt from RNC Chairman Michael Steele’s editorial in January 21st’s Washington Times encapsulates my thesis nicely. This is, apparently, only the beginning:

“On Tuesday night, a lifelong Democrat resident of Massachusetts, who voted for President Obama in 2008, explained on television in very clear terms why he voted for Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts’ special election to the United States Senate: “I wanted to send a message ... I think they’ve been trying to shove this health care bill right down our throats.”

This voter, like many Americans, feels betrayed by President Obama. Why? One year ago, the American people gave the president an enormous amount of trust to enact “change we can believe in."”

But with a weak economy and rising unemployment, this administration decided to take a “big bang” approach to policy, taking advantage of the economic crisis to push their ultra-liberal agenda, including a government takeover of health care that will increase taxes and raise premiums.

So what were the results of Obama’s “big bang” this past year? Republicans took back the governorships of Virginia and New Jersey, both states that Mr. Obama won in 2008. Five House Democrats have announced their retirements, along with two Senate Democrats who were once perceived as “unbeatable” in their states. One House Democrat got so fed up with Mr. Obama’s liberal agenda he decided to become a Republican. Polls show fewer Americans identifying themselves as Democrats and more identifying themselves as Republicans. Republicans are winning against Democrats in generic congressional ballots. And independent voters, who were key to Democrats’ victories in 2006 and 2008, are running away from the Democratic Party faster than you can say “Yes we can."”

Thank you for reading…

Ari Kaufman