I do have to admit, reading David Brooks is a guilty pleasure. His strange obsession with Obama is bordering on scary. He is willing to apologize for any crazy scheme or action the man attempts. Brooks will betray his belief system, the Constitution, his country, and his morals in order to defend the guy. He will drag reality into a fun house of mirrors just to make his Dear Leader appear reasonable. Here’s what I mean.
Brooks’ column from the New Obama Times is entitled, “The partisans are misjudging the president - He’s a moderate progressive, an alien concept in today’s political environment.” Now, if that isn’t a hilarious title and claim, I don’t know what is. From his burning passion for this president, Brooks is willing to slide his political ideology far, far to the left in order to make Obama seem centrist. This he does for a man who campaigned on radically changing the very fiber and being of the United States from a self-sufficient, freedom-loving, capitalistic model to that of a European socialist state. But, it gets more hilarious.
“If you ask a conservative Republican, Barack Obama is a skilled politician who campaigned as a centrist but is governing as a big-government liberal. He is arrogant toward foes, condescending toward allies.” Too rich. If Brooks is characterizing a ’skilled politician’ as a flagrant liar, then perhaps he’s right. Obama only used the words of a moderate, but his intent was always governmental takeover of the private sector. He merely filled the expectations of the viewer; he did not pretend to be conservative. His hopey, changey message was a radical restructuring of the American Experiment into a centrally controlled socialistic state that subsidized his party exclusively. He never pretended to be a centrist, instead he created a new center of gravity in the minds of the voters. Once they began realizing his far left nature, they became repulsed. That is why he is so despised by such a large percentage so early in his tenure. A growing number of the public loathes his socialist attitudes and programs. It gets more entertaining.
“If you ask a liberal Democrat, Obama is an inspiring but overly intellectual leader who has trouble making up his mind and fighting for his positions. He has allowed the Republicans to dominate debate. He it too quick to compromise.” First, there is absolutely nothing intellectual about socialism. It is a tired, over-used ideology that has never, ever worked. It clamps down on liberty to empower centralized government. It destroys economic growth and innovation. It bankrupts everything it touches.
Second, Republicans were very late to this party. It was angered independents and disaffected moderates who first rallied at the Tea Parties and Town Halls. The Republican Party may have voted against his agenda, but they were the followers and not the leaders.
Finally, Obama has compromised nothing. Simply dressing up his health care takeover in a Trojan Horse suit and bullying it along is not ‘compromise.’ It is also not pragmatic. Pragmatism is the idea you favor those things that work. Obama’s entire agenda is contrived and artificial. There is nothing ‘pragmatic’ about a idealist vision of centralized power held by one party. That is the dream of the ideologue not the pragmatist.
That doesn’t stop Brooks’ twisting of the facts. He writes, “Obama is as he’s always been: a center-left pragmatic reformer.” What world is this guy living in? Was he asleep when Obama took over two car companies and made them union/government entities? Was he out of town when he ordered the EPA to begin writing regulations controlling the gas we exhale? Perhaps Brooks’ Blackberry was on the fritz when Obama said in a televised ABC infomercial that a woman over 100 shouldn’t get health care because it wasn’t economically practical? The guy is a far left socialist control freak. There is nothing centrist about him.
And then, Brooks really spins out of control. “But he is still the most reasonable major player in Washington.” The guy proposed and passed a budget that quadruples the deficit for decades to come. He has wasted billions of dollars on absurd make-work-for-Democrats projects. He has broken every substantive election promise he made that was for the good. He’s signed bills with earmarks. He’s been a backroom dealer with no transparency. He’s appointed some of the most radical and far left advisors any president has ever done. He’s been blatantly partisan in attacks against the party out of power. He’s ignored the American people and catered to his left wing interest groups.
What is it about him that is in any way reasonable or even rationale?
His agenda is radical and wrong for the country. But, his boyfriend, David Brooks, thinks we are all just misjudging him. “In a sensible country, people would see Obama as a president trying to define a modern brand of moderate progressivism.” No Dave, Obama is trying to create a centralized command and control economy that transfers as much wealth out of the private sector and into the public sector as possible. He is taking over the means of production in the financial sector and health sectors. He is a well-spoken Hugo Chavez-type who is married to his TelePrompTer. Bankrupting our country and destroying the value of our currency is not ’sensible’ by any real meaning of the word. That isn’t modern anything or moderate at all. That is just plain socialism.
David Brooks, stop pretending you are a conservative. Stop demonstrating that lie every time you put your fingers on a keyboard. Just admit you are a dyed-in-the-wool collectivist that only seeks a place at the table for centralized takeover of our lives. Stop pretending you believe in liberty and freedom, ’cause if you apologize for this president, it is apparent you do not.
Jim Kelly
Moe Lane
Erick Erickson
