Democracy good; Obama bad
January 30, 2011
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In the midst of the Egyptian uprising and as a backdrop, Egypt is a country that wants Democracy. They are smart able people. When I was in Arabia, the Egyptians were the labor backbone. And they were no different than any blue or white collar worker in America. They were not zealots but decent people.
The silence of Obama and the idiotic comment by Joe Biden that Mubarak is not a Dictator shows not only stupidity but weakness. In spite of Obama's roots as an on again off again Muslim, his notion of self determination is flawed. The citizens under Fidel and Chavez have self-determination established by their strongman dictatorships. Obama is good with this kind of self-determination.
When Iran was exploding with dissidents in the street over those egregious "fair elections", Obama took the side of the dictatorship.
Most striking about the claim by the US Gov. second in command that Mubarak is not a Dictator is the rapidity with which the internet was shut down. Even now the Obama administration is trying to work on a "kill switch" to shut down the internet in the USA in the event of some catastrophic condition. Liberal politicians continue to push for a fairness doctrine so that each word about democracy can be met with a kind word about totalitarianism.
At least Hillary Clinton, once you get through the maze of double talk let it slip today that she favors Democracy but wants a slow orderly transition... presumably with Mubarak leading the way... just as he has led the way by jailing political opponents.
While I do not like the use of American force in protracted wars, it is becoming more obvious every day that the Democratization of Iraq, though imperfect, has given the mature Muslim and Persian nations a glimmer of hope for their own chance at self determination. While 40% of all American voters stay home during elections, more Iraqi voters go to the polls and they know that they risk their lives with some human suicide bomber but they still vote rather than stay home.
I know Egypt and I know Arabia well. The internet is popular in Egypt. Self-determination the Democratic variety not the Obama Chavez variety is a strong motivating force. Egypt has no oil but they are a center of commerce and they are the workforce for most of Arabia and Persia.
It doesn't surprise me that Egypt will go democratic nor that Jordan will go democratic. The idea that these nations will fall into democracy is absurd. People want self-determination and capitalism. They want a share of the good life.
Democracy is a stabilizing event. I am a Conservative and I am not fond of either of the Bushs, Bush I or II. Nevertheless, Iraq is a foothold in Democracy which is spreading across the Middle East. These oppressed people are feeling the moment. The last time something like this happened, Ronald Reagan gave powerful verbal support to the world when he gave his famous Berlin Wall speech, "Tear down this Wall!" That was all it took for the Eastern Europeans and they brought that wall down. Nobody would dispute today that Eastern Europe has not benefited from Democracy and Capitalism. Obama has instead kept his cagey silence and preferred to have intermediaries send out his spineless message of support to the Dictators.
Great men rise to great moments and this is one of those moments. Lincoln did it at Gettysburg, Reagan at the Berlin Wall.
The White House is now occupied by a true lightweight, a guy that thinks Fidel and Chavez and Ahmadinejad are the definitions of self-determination. In each instance these dictators shut down TV stations, shut down the internet, shut down newspapers in favor of their state propaganda. When Ahmadinejad first appeared on the scene, the liberal press in America fawned over him. Mike Wallace called this dictator "an impressive" guy. Barbara Walters wanted to sleep with him, now that would have been impressive.
While hedge funds try to make the most out of the unrest and raid the equities with short selling, Democracy is not destabilizing; it is the opposite. From one small burning ember started by French Democracy that spread to Colonial America, the flame of self-determination lives and Egypt, a grand country... deserves Democracy. And the United States deserves a vastly better man in the White House than this friend to all dictatorships who is trying to place his own hand on the Democratic kill switch.
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