The Audacity of Vanity
(By Charles Krauthammer/Washington Post) - Barack Obama wants to speak at the Brandenburg Gate. He figures it would be a nice backdrop. The supporting cast -- a cheering audience and a few fainting frauleins -- would be a picturesque way to bolster his foreign policy credentials.
What Obama does not seem to understand is that the Brandenburg Gate is something you earn. President Ronald Reagan earned the right to speak there because his relentless pressure had brought the Soviet empire to its knees and he was demanding its final "tear down this wall" liquidation. When President John F. Kennedy visited the Brandenburg Gate on the day of his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech, he was representing a country that was prepared to go to the brink of nuclear war to defend West Berlin.
Who is Obama representing? And what exactly has he done in his lifetime to merit appropriating the Brandenburg Gate as a campaign prop? What was his role in the fight against communism, the liberation of Eastern Europe, the creation of what George Bush the elder -- who presided over the fall of the Berlin Wall but modestly declined to go there for a victory lap -- called "a Europe whole and free"?
What Obama does not seem to understand is that the Brandenburg Gate is something you earn. President Ronald Reagan earned the right to speak there because his relentless pressure had brought the Soviet empire to its knees and he was demanding its final "tear down this wall" liquidation. When President John F. Kennedy visited the Brandenburg Gate on the day of his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech, he was representing a country that was prepared to go to the brink of nuclear war to defend West Berlin.
Who is Obama representing? And what exactly has he done in his lifetime to merit appropriating the Brandenburg Gate as a campaign prop? What was his role in the fight against communism, the liberation of Eastern Europe, the creation of what George Bush the elder -- who presided over the fall of the Berlin Wall but modestly declined to go there for a victory lap -- called "a Europe whole and free"?
posted by BP News Bureau | 11:54 AM
2 Comments:
Well just the fact that he has no experience is enough for me. I know they are all idiots who think they are Gods. He has done nothing and hasn't been around long enough to have the experience needed to lead.
The only reason so many people like him is because he's a great speaker who looks new and shiny on stage. They are all overlooking the facts, and this is sad. Americans nowadays are more impressed with stage presence than reality. I heard a guy on the radio saying do we really want to have to hear McCain's lips whistle for the next 4 years. I mean hello...is that what you're basing your vote on because he isn't the best speaker or fancy talkin' enough for you? Now that's scary.
Good article, Ang.
As I survey history, I can not find a presidential candidate from either party that I like less than Obama. Period. I simply loathe the man (or better yet what he pretends to be and stands for).
RWM
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