"Peter" has some thoughts on Obama's legacy.
That "blockbuster, explosive" book by Edward Klein was reviewed and lambasted in the most deliciously and pointedly sarcastic terms in the Weekly Standard article Self-Made Man | The Weekly Standard. Actually, it is a great review of a number of books, none of which you have to buy after reading this review.
As to the rating of Obama's place in history as given by professional historians (in the e-mail below), well, it still amazes me how people are still so willfully blind to the obvious. Obama is not a failure because he is an arrogant and ignorant amateur, he is a failure in our eyes because we expect him to be a loyal patriotic American, intent on restoring this country and returning it to its former path of greatness. Well, of course, measured in those terms he is a spectacular failure. But the mistake is ours, not his. He is hell-bent on the fundamental transformation which he has professed time and again to be his intention, which means turning us from the free market to socialism, but which we seem to be unwilling to accept or comprehend. Measured in those terms, he is thankfully not a success, not quite yet, but everything he has accomplished so far -- TARP, stimulus, bail outs, take-overs of entire industries and stifling new regulations on the others, crony capitalism, obamacare, refusal to submit or enact a budget, rampant deficit spending and unprecedented rates of increasing the national debt, the rabid excesses of the EPA, the non-amnesty amnesty for young illegal immigrants, the preposterous security leaks, the wars on religion, women, oil, coal, etc. -- are all huge strides in that direction. They are designed to necessarily destroy the old order before the new order can be imposed.
Russia, China, eastern Europe, Cuba, Viet Nam, etc., were taken over by brute force. In other strategic points on the geopolitical map, such as Greece, Malaysia, Central America, north Africa, etc., "popular wars of liberation," all planned and run from the Kremlin, were beaten back at the cost of long brutal wars. But in America the tactics necessarily must be different, more gradual, more devious, more deceptive, because here we have a rather heavily armed citizenry. Here they have to make it look like it is our idea to embrace the slavery of socialism, by dressing it up in presumably appealing terms such as progressivism, equality, social justice and economic justice - while the DHS, FEMA and various security and intelligence agencies are not quite completely surreptitiously refining their preparations for large scale domestic unrest.
What a shame that PROFESSIONAL "historians" can't see something as simple and elementary as this.
Begin forwarded message:
1. Klein: Historians Rank Obama Legacy With Jimmy Carter’s
Edward Klein, author of a blockbuster new exposé about President Obama, offers a behind-the-scenes look at a White House dinner when Obama hosted nine presidential historians — and offered a “sneak preview” of his failed presidency.
Klein’s explosive book “The Amateur: Barack Obama in the White House” skyrocketed to the No. 1 spot on The New York Times list of hardcover nonfiction works in its first week in publication, and has remained there for four weeks in a row.
In an article appearing on FoxNews.com, Klein relates: “On the evening of Tuesday, June 30, 2009 — just five months into his administration — Barack Obama invited a small group of presidential historians to dine with him in the family quarters of the White House.
“The meeting was to remain private and off the record. As a result, the media missed the chance to report on an important event, for the evening with the historians provided a remarkable sneak preview of why the Obama presidency would shortly go off the rails.”
The historians on hand — Doris Kearns Goodwin, Michael Beschloss, Robert Caro, Robert Dallek, Douglas Brinkley, H.W. “Billam” Brands, David Kennedy, Kenneth Mack, and Garry Wills — had for the most part supported the Obama campaign.
When one of the historians brought up the problems that President Lyndon Johnson faced trying to wage a foreign military venture while implementing an ambitious domestic agenda, “Mr. Obama grew testy,” Klein writes.
“He implied that he was different, because he could prevail by the force of his personality. He could solve the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, put millions of people back to work, redistribute wealth, withdraw from Iraq, and reconcile the United States to a less dominant role in the world.
“It was, by any measure, a breathtaking display of grandiosity by a man whose entire political curriculum vitae consisted of seven undistinguished years in the Illinois senate and two mostly absent years in the United States Senate.
“That evening Mr. Obama revealed the characteristics — arrogance, conceit, egotism, vanity, hubris and, above all, rank amateurism — that would mark his presidency and doom it to frustration and failure.”
Obama hosted a second dinner with the historians after the 2010 midterm elections, when Republicans gained control of the House, and a third in July 2011, after the federal government lost its triple-A credit rating, Klein discloses.
Several months later, Klein spoke with one of the historians who had attended all three dinners.
“There’s no doubt that Obama has turned out to be a major enigma and disappointment,” Klein quotes the historian as saying.
“For a long time, I found it hard to understand why he couldn’t translate his political savvy into effective governance. But I think I know the answer now. Since the beginning of his administration, Obama hasn’t been able to capture the public’s imagination and inspire people to follow him.
“People don’t feel that he’s on their side. Obama doesn’t connect. He doesn’t have the answers. He’s turned out to be a failure as a communicator . . .
“I wouldn’t bet the ranch on his getting re-elected.”
Klein concludes: “Obama might not have the place in history he so eagerly covets. Instead of ranking with FDR and Reagan and other giants, it seems more likely that he will be a case study in presidential failure like Jimmy Carter.”
Many people fail to understand that Obama is succeeding...at implementing his socialistic agenda. All anyone would have to do is look at the people Obama has surrounded himself with throughout his life, going all the way back to Frank Wallace Davis when young Hussein was only 10 years old. A devout communist and bisexual, he (and Hussein's grandfather) made a lasting anti-Amrican impression on him. Can you say Cloward, Piven, Alinsky, Van Jones, Rev Wright, Trumpka, and others as bad and far too numerous to mention? If anyone is looking for him to "right the ship" and put the USA back on the road to prominence in the world, Barack Hussein Obama is not your man.
Posted by: Ernie | June 19, 2012 at 05:24 PM
At this point in his political career. the only legacy President Obama will leave behind is that he was our first minority President. Even that the must share any accolades with those who elected him.
Barring a miracle that would out the miracle of 5 loaves and 2 fish. President Obama's other legacy will be whether he, or President Carter ,will go down in history as the worst U.S. President to date.
Posted by: Veritas | June 19, 2012 at 10:41 PM