Obama makes Bush his blame czar
- From: jose el fontanero <josefsoplar@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 2 Nov 2009 07:18:18 -0800 (PST)
Obama makes Bush his blame czar
By Mark Steyn
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Valerie Jarrett announced the other
day that "we're going to speak truth to power."
Who's Valerie Jarrett? She's "Senior Adviser" to the president of the
United States — i.e., the leader of the most powerful nation on the
face of the Earth. You would think the most powerful man in the most
powerful nation would find a hard job finding anyone on the planet to
"speak truth to power" to. But I suppose if you're as eager to do so
as his Senior Adviser, there's always somebody out there: The Supreme
Leader of Iran. The Prime Minister of Belgium. The Deputy Tourism
Minister of the Solomon Islands. But no. The Senior Adviser has
selected targets closer to home: "I think that what the administration
has said very clearly is that we're going to speak truth to power.
When we saw all of the distortions in the course of the summer, when
people were coming down to town hall meetings and putting up signs
that were scaring seniors to death."
Ah, right. People "putting up signs." Can't have that, can we? The
most powerful woman in the inner circle of the most powerful man on
Earth has decided to speak truth to powerful people standing in the
street with handwritten placards saying "THIS GRAN'MA ISN'T SHOVEL
READY." Was it only a week ago that I wrote about this
administration's peculiar need for domestic enemies?
The Senior Adviser seems to have forgotten that sheis the power.
Admittedly, this is a recurring lapse on the part of the
administration. There was Barack Obama only the other day, blaming
everything on the president — no, no, silly, not him, the other
fellow, the Designated Fall Guy who stepped down as head of state in
January to accept the new constitutional position of Blame Czar.
Musing on problems in Afghanistan, Obama blamed the "long years of
drift" under his predecessor. The new president — OK, newish president
— has been Drifter-in-Chief for almost a year but he's too busy
speaking truth to the former power to get on top of the situation. It
could be a while yet. In his more self-regarding moments, such as his
speech to the United Nations, he gives the strong impression that the
"long years of drift" began in 1776.
Rocco Landesman, head honcho at the National Endowment for the Arts,
seems closer to the reality of the situation. In his keynote address
to the 2009 "Grantmakers in the Arts" conference, Landesman hailed
Obama as "the most powerful writer since Julius Caesar". He didn't
mean a "powerful writer" as in a compelling voice, gripping narrative,
vivid characterization, command of language, etc. He meant a "powerful
writer" as in Caesar was king of the world, and now Obama is. He came,
he saw, he stimulated: "If you accept the premise, and I do, that the
United States is the most powerful country in the world, then Barack
Obama is the most powerful writer since Julius Caesar. That has to be
good for American artists."
I suppose so. He could invade somewhere and force the natives to
accept degrading roles in NEA-funded performance art. He could take
out the Iranian nuclear program by carpet-bombing it with unreadable
literary novels. That is, if you "accept the premise" that the United
States is the most powerful country in the world. Rocco Landesman may,
but it's not clear, from his actions (or inactions) in Eastern Europe,
Iran, Afghanistan and elsewhere, that the president does. But, even
so, it seems an odd pitch to "American artists." Rocco Landesman,
Speaking Goof to Power, isn't the first Obama groupie to enjoy the
kinky frisson of groveling obsequiousness, but he's set an impressive
new standard in public revelation thereof. Rocco's aunt, Fran
Landesman, is the great lyricist of "Spring Can Really Hang You Up The
Most" as well as "The Ballad Of The Sad Young Men." But surely there
are few sadder middle-age men than her nephew, prostrating himself
before his master as the most literate global colossus in two
millennia.
Meanwhile, Larry David is now doing televised NEA exhibits on his HBO
show "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Christians are said to be "angry" at him
because of an episode in which, after he accidentally sprays his urine
on a picture of Jesus, his assistant mistakes the droplets for tears
and calls in her mother to witness the miracle of Christ weeping. Ha-
ha! Oh, those brave transgressive artists! Of course, Christians
aren't "angry" in the sense that two U.S. residents arrested last week
are. The pair — one an American citizen, the other Canadian — were so
"angry" about the Muhammad cartoons published in the Danish newspaper
Jyllands-Posten that they hatched a plot to kill the artist and his
editor. As many commentators pointed out, Mr. David's splashy stunt is
a dreary provocation: It's easy to be provocative with people who
can't be provoked. If he were to start urinating in a more Mecca-ly
direction, he'd find an entirely more motivated crowd waiting for him
at the stage door.
But I liked the point made by the Anchoress, a writer at the magazine
First Things: Putting Muhammad, et al aside, if Larry David had a yen
to urinate hither and yon, wouldn't it have been "braver" to have done
it to the religious icon du jour? That's to say, Barack Obama. And
then maybe Ashton Kutcher could have marveled at how even Obama's
image was empathizing tearily with all 687 million Americans without
health insurance. Or, alternatively, dribbling warm champagne from his
Norwegian Nobel banquet toast. C'mon, Larry. Sure, you might not have
a career afterward, but, unlike any Islamo-provocations, you're not
gonna get killed. Just fired, and probably damned as a racist. But at
least you wouldn't be a simpering suck-up to power like Rocco
Landesman and the other creeps.
At some point the Caesar cult has to manifest itself in an achievement
— I mean a real achievement, not merely some dud prize handed out by
Norwegian Lefties. Afghanistan is his now: Notwithstanding "years of
drift," whether it winds up as victory or defeat is his call. It's
Obama's war. It's Obama's economy. The stimulus bill is his stimulus,
and for $787 billion it created 30,000 new jobs (according to the
government) or (according to the Associated Press) 25,000. Either way,
you do the math. It's Obama's unemployment rate, Obama's dollar,
Obama's debt. Pace Valerie Jarrett, the truth is you are the power.
And those on the receiving end of it are going to be speaking a lot
louder in the months ahead.
.
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