President Obama and America's Core Values

by Herbert I. London
November 23, 2010 at 4:00 am

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/1680/obama-america-core-values

Whatever one thinks about the increasingly partisan politics in the United States, there are, or should be, limits to indecency. President Barack Obama, however, seems to have abandoned any semblance of decency in his desperate bid to help Democrats maintain their control of Congress.

Recently, in an attempt to appeal to Latinos about immigration, the president mentioned Senator John McCain as someone stressing border security and strict enforcement of the law. President Obama noted, "Those aren't the kinds of folks who represent our core American values."

While a difference of opinion on immigration policy is understandable, and while one may appropriately cite McCain's about face on this issue, the president's comment smacks of the worst kind of pandering and the most extreme form of indecency: To say a genuine American war hero, someone who spent years in Hanoi Hilton facing torture each day, doesn't have "core American values" is beneath contempt.

At the time John McCain was captured, Barack Obama was a community organizer with a political agenda that included working for ACORN. To imply he understood or represented core American values, while McCain did not is an exercise in political perversion.

As I see it, remarkable arrogance is on display. Even this president should know that putting one's life on the line to preserve American's core principles is the highest sacrifice one can make for his country. The fact that President Obama can make such a statement suggests he does not understand or appreciate American values.

Alas, this president may act outside the boundaries of American history -- a precinct of resentment and contentiousness. After all, the radicals house their views in a nation they want to see unfold, not one in whose history you can take pride. Wasn't it Michele Obama who said "I did not have pride in my country until now" - when Obama was nominated for the presidency?

Who is this president? What does he really believe?

Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton calls President Obama a "post American" president. Whether that applies is difficult to say, but I do believe this president's progressiveness is transnational: Obama considers the larger global equation before considering American interests. That may explain the many apologies for U.S. actions abroad and the reliance on U.N. support. It might also explain the cavalier use of "core American values" which he seems not to appreciate.

As a transnational, Obama is as much a citizen of the world -- an oxymoron -- as an American national. His transnationalism may even explain why there are many Americans who believe he is a Muslim, despite his denials. There is little doubt that he is the first transnational president, even though some historians pin that tag on Woodrow Wilson.

He is also probably the first president sufficiently arrogant to assume he possesses insight into the American character others do not possess. Perhaps this explains why he has called Republican opponents, "enemies"-- a characterization unprecedented from a president of the United States.

His statements and characterizations in these circumstances would seem beneath contempt, but they are obviously not beneath this president.

Related Topics:  Herbert I. London receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free gatestone institute mailing list