First Principles

First, The Good.

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I remember seeing a ridiculous op-ed piece before the ’04 election that predicted Bush would use the war on terror to justify suspending the elections.  Bush was already by then the subject of absurd hatred and conspiracy theories, but this was still a kooky outlier, even by the degenerating  standards of the leftist chatterers.  Almost no one actually believed Bush would not respect the Constitutional scheme.  It’s something we take for granted.

Today power was passed between two men of as differing ideologies as can be.  But it was done with a hug and well wishing, peacefully and with cooperation from the outgoing administration, the same way it’s been done for two centuries.

Seen in the scope of human history – and even modern world geo-politics – this is a miracle.

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I’m trying to imagine seeing McCain sworn in today.

It’s not that I wouldn’t have preferred it.  But I certainly wouldn’t be dancing in the streets like the Obamaphiles.

His cabinet, which apparently wouldn’t look all that different than Obama’s, would have been forming, and the left would have been howling.  The earth (or at least the Senate confirmation hearing rooms) would already be being scorched in heated, take-no-prisoner political combat.

We would be assured daily how racist this country still is.

The deranged haters on the left would sink further into insanity.

The press would try swaying the next election, and would get even less honest.

McCain, who proved himself so susceptible to the siren song of socialism, would be implementing socialist policies.  They would then fail, and we would be assured the consequences were the result of the failure of unregulated free-market capitalism – with more socialism as the only salvation.

If I’m going to be socialized, I’d rather it not be by a guy I voted for.

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As I’ve written before, it’s going to be a relief to be in the opposition.  It’ll be fun to see the guy complaining about how things are run – who’s never actually had to run anything before – stuck with the responsibility.

That’s easier said than done.  As a Conservative, it’s difficult to not feel responsible for my lot in life, or want to exert some control over it.  I don’t want to be a spectator.  But I’ll do my best to enjoy it while it lasts.

And I’m really looking forward to watching the hope’n’change hangover.  Oh, yeah.  I’m not above a little snicker at that.

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And then from a Jim Geraghty reader, there’s this:

One reason to be optimistic today — the clock is now officially winding down on the Obama Presidency.

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But oh, there is The Bad.

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I really didn’t want to be cynical today.  I really didn’t.  I wanted to enjoy the peaceful transfer of power, see a lot of happy Americans, and spend the day more bemused than irritated.  But I think that celeb video (my last post) put me over the edge.

I couldn’t even watch the news this morning.  The same trite cliches over and over again, and interviews with people who sounded more like they were at a club at about 2:00 AM than at a Presidential inauguration.

People celebrating as if they were Berliners in 1989 to me spoke of not having any idea about the greatness of the nation they’ve lived in their whole lives.  I find that ignorance contemptible.

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I can’t help but to feel like the entire country has collectively decided to move in to their parents’  basements, stick their heads in the sand, and just take a break from adulthood for awhile.

It is one thing to feel optimistic at the dawn of what is undoubtedly a new era.  It is quite another to shed tears of adulation, to worship blindly, or to pledge servitude to a mere politician with less executive and foreign policy experience than I have.  It’s bizarre, really.

But then, that’s the fundamental starting point of the left – that government can solve all of life’s problems, if only the right people are in charge.  In the frenzied celebration, there is an undercurrent of desperation – the love a drowning man feels for a life preserver.

It’s going to be a bad day for them when they realize it’s not buoyant enough to hold their weight for the next four years.

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Plus, let’s be honest.  I’ve been called evil, a racist, a Fascist, a redneck, an idiot, a Constitution-shredder, a war criminal, etc., all because I supported President Bush and many of his policies.

I had plenty of Bush critiques of my own.  But even when I believed what he was doing or proposing was fundamentally bad for the country, I always knew he was operating in good faith, and doing what he thought was right.  And for his failures, he enjoyed many successes – no post-9/11 attacks and the robust economy we all enjoyed until the Dems took power in ’06, to name the primary ones.  He was never given credit for any of it – only blame.  Where successes could not be ignored, they were attributed to some other person, to chance, or were minimized.

He didn’t leave office after selling pardons or trashing the White House.

He was always gracious to his opponents in government.  (Too gracious, some of the time.)  He would be personally attacked, accused of war crimes, racism, and God-knows-what-else, but always turned the other cheek.  A slight rebuke would provoke wild howls of “Divisive!”  and “Hyper-Partisan!”  It was surreal.

And then, as a last little bit of class, Obama’s supporters heckled the man as he accompanied Obama to the stage to peacefully pass the baton.  They couldn’t hold back for just five frickin’ minutes.  (These, by the way, are the ones who are preaching to us about unity and divisiveness.)

It’s a little hard to be gracious after eight years of that.  It’s very, very easy to want to hate these people back, to give as good as we got, and to heap upon Obama the same angry bitter contempt, along with the blame for all things from stubbed toes to future 9/11s.

I resent the hard work in front of me to resist those urges, and to think the best about these people.

But I’m going to do it anyway.  Maybe not always perfectly.  But then, that’s why I have a comments section on this blog.

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The primary reason I spent so much time volunteering for McCain is the issue of national security.  I have zero confidence that Obama can keep us safe.  He doesn’t understand the military, and it will show to the troops.  I fear the same kind of retention problems that existed under Clinton.

A friend of mine on Facebook who attended the inauguration posted his disgust with the security coordination at the event.  Those same folks are now going to in charge of two wars and a 3 million person Defense Department.

To Obama’s credit, though, his retention of Secretary Gates at DoD helps ease this fear somewhat.  But I think he will be fooled into thinking the UN is on the side of America, and that they are capable of keeping us safe.  If he can’t recognize his own pastor is a racist hate-monger or that his Governor was corrupt to the bone, he’s going to have a hard time recognizing people around the world far worse – and with far more power to do Americans great harm.

It is in this arena that I hope and pray most fervently for Obama’s success – and am the least optimistic that he can achieve it.

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The Speech

There were some passages in his address worth commenting on:

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath.

Actually, it’s only 43.  Grover Cleveland took it twice.  D’oh!  (h/t Mark Levin.)

At least he recognized when the Chief Justice flubbed the oath of office a bit.  That wasn’t comfortable.  It’s a good thing Roberts writes better than he speaks.

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Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred.

Why can’t he name this enemy?  You’re the CinC now, Mr. President.  Empty paeans to tolerance and diversity impress on a college campus.  They won’t help the young men and women you send into battle to defeat this enemy.

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Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age.

Here are a lot of words that mean absolutely nothing.  Failure to make hard choices?  Failure to “prepare” the nation for a “new age”?  What choices?  What preparation?  A “hard choice” would have been not allowing federal subsidies for sub-prime mortgages, which would have meant fewer black families would have been able to buy houses – but it would have meant plenty of other families didn’t now risk losing their homes.

Are you willing to make those kinds of choices, Mr. President?

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[O]ur schools fail too many…

And what party owns the teachers unions?  What party has been in charge of failing urban schools almost exclusively for the past 40 years?  Who authored NCLB (hint:  not Bush)?  Who again did you pick to be Education Secretary?  Oh, yeah – a guy who ran a school district you wouldn’t trust your own children to.

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These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land…

Sweet!  Those heady days of the Carter Administration are back!  A crisis of confidence is our problem!  Malaise forever!

The threat is nearly invisible in ordinary ways. It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation.

It’s like nothing has changed in 30 years.  It didn’t work for Jimmah, Mr. President.  It won’t work for you.  And even Carter didn’t start with that.

Well, if in four years we have another Reagan to show for it, it’ll be worth it.

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On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.  On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

Well, maybe not the hecklers.  Or the “Ding Dong thew Witch is Dead!” bloggers.  And it takes a lot of chutzpah to talk about an end to false promises, coming as they do from Obama.

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We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.

Like the idea we should all live our life free of the consequences of our own actions?  The idea that government exists to take care of us?  People didn’t vote for you to set childish things aside – they voted for you because they wanted to be children with you as their Parent!

Also, is that the same part of Scripture where God damns America, or is that somewhere else in the Bible?

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The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

Yes – but they are not entitled to force me to fund that chance, which is the subtext I always hear when I see this kind of thing coming from a liberal.  Besides, as Obama himself has shown, every American already has that chance.  Can we please end this “Americans have been victims” meme?

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Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

Gah!!!  There are things we can improve.  But the basic structure of what America is culturally and Constitutionally is sound.  I really, really, really don’t want my great nation “remade.”  I rather like it as it is, thank you very much.

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What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them – that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works – whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.

What Obama fails to understand is that the fundamental debate has been and will always be not just what works, but what should work.  It is not the job of government to help me or my family negotiate a salary or even land a gig in the first place.  That’s my job.  It’s also my job to plan for my own retirement.

It’s not that the current policies just haven’t been “done right”, it’s that the entire concept of the government welfare state that mothers us through our lives is nothing more than a ponzi scheme that is never, ever sustainable.  Ever.

Just ask the Britons.

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And those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account – to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day – because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

And what single event in your public life would lead me to believe you’ll lift a single finger to accomplish this?  Was it when you took on the corruption in your native Chicago?  Or was it the $300 million in earmarks you asked for in your first 200 days as a Senator?  Or maybe it was the leadership you’ve already exhibited in making sure the TARP funds were well spent.

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[The free market] power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control – and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart – not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

“Spin out of control”?  No!  The market is not meant to be in the government’s control in the first place!  Otherwise it’s not “free”.

At least he admits wealth re-distribution isn’t “charity.”

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[T]hat the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve…

But what about diversity?

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Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions.

When we “faced down” Fascism, it was with a suspension of our civil liberties that make the Patriot Act look like the Magna Carta.  When we fought to end slavery, habeas was suspended – for American citizens.  When “we” fought communism, every Cold Warrior was accused of being a McCarthyite.  And who can forget how the left allowed communism to kill 4 million people in SE Asia?  So much for sturdy alliances.

Oh, yeah.  And we used LOTS of missiles and tanks.  And our allies were allies because they were directly threatened by mutual enemies, not because we were polite or well loved.

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As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment – a moment that will define a generation – it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

Mr. President, they are called soldiers.  And Marines.  And sailors.  And airmen.  Name them.  Don’t allude to them.  You will not earn the respect of the military under your command if you try to de-militarize the military!  And if you are to be successful in keeping our nation safe, they must respect you.

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But those values upon which our success depends – hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism – these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history.

These “values” are true, but they are all relative.  A model North Korean citizen works hard, is honest, is brave in the face of the enemies of the State, and fairly stands in the breadline with everyone else.  He is tolerant of socialists of all colors, loyal to his Dear Leader, and loves marching in May Day parades.

The unique value of America is our fealty to the idea of natural rights and individual liberty.  That is what we work hard to preserve.  That is the idea we are loyal to.  That’s what makes us special and successful.

And Obama didn’t mention it at all.

He started his speech with an embarrassing historical misstatement.  He ended it in the same way.

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If this day and this speech is indeed an accurate prelude to things to come, I’m very, very worried.  But I could be wrong.  And if I’m not, this too shall pass.

Onward into this new era, hoping for the best, and planning for the worst!  It’s the American way.