"PANEM ET CIRCENSES:" OR, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO REAL STATESMEN?

                                              

The beginning of my disillusionment with President Barack Obama began quite early in 2009, when I heard him speaking on Afghanistan and Iran. Apparently very confused or very poorly informed, he declared that the vernacular language of both those countries was Arabic.  As someone who had spent a great deal of time in the Middle East and had also visited Central Asia, I was appalled.  Unfortunately, although the president can be quite fluent in his use of the English language, many of his subsequent speeches were marred by similar  instances of inaccurate information.

Eventually, as time went by, I simply threw up my hands and exclaimed, "What have we done?"  To think that someone coming out of the thuggish politics of Chicago who had his most productive employment as a "community organizer" and had passed a mere 2 years in the Senate would be an effective chief executive was beyond the scope of reason.

That we have twice elected Barack Obama to the highest office in this land speaks volumes about America in the 21st century.  Perhaps there were may who wished to think that they were "good people" and wanted to see a minority president as proof of the exceptional quality of the country and its citizens.  However, I fear that the basis for the election of our 44th president goes far deeper and is, on reflection, somewhat disturbing, although capable of remediation.

As a one who has never been far from the study of history during his lifetime, I often find myself engaged in attempting to find parallels to what I observe today, although that, admittedly, can be a dangerous preoccupation.  Unfortunately, one hears lately more and more talk of decline and deterioration.  The Spenglerian liberals, now in positions of power, seem convinced of the inevitability of American failure, following the example of Europe to rack and ruin; and it is clear they see themselves as the modern day equivalent of British Laborites who ushered the British Empire to the dustbin of history. But, to me, that is nothing short of begging the question.

Dear readers, decline is nothing more than a mindset.  If we were of a mind to destroy ourselves, then an interpretation of our plight based on a pessimistic view to the future would likely be valid.  To be sure, there are infinite numbers of interpretations to explain the decrepitude of civilizations.  Certainly, in our case, we could speak to civic failure and even refer to being inundated by legions of newcomers having nothing to contribute to the established order, nor any frame of reference to even relate to it.  But the remedy to our present wretched and desolate course is at hand.
By now, owing to serial crises and scandals ranging from Benghazi and the IRS to attacks on the 1st Amendment and a free press, the minds of right-thinking people are beginning to gauge the seriousness of the shortcomings of the Obama administration, which has used its superficial "rock star" image to conceal and deceive. And despite the all- too-apparent sham and fraud of the group of charlatans surrounding Obama, our rock-star-in-chief  persists in drawing to himself  more acolytes at his altar of  self-adulation.  On what basis, for example, could a chief executive of a great country nominate a shallow-minded pseudo-intellectual who has compared the policies of the United States to those of Nazi Germany to represent us in any sort of international body?  And to cap it off, how could it be acceptable to move a prevaricating, failed U.N. ambassador to the White House to advise the president on national security affairs?
Yes, dear readers, many of us were taken in by the mask of duplicity and deceit.  But now the mask is off, and we have looked political extremism, opportunism and power- seeking in the eye, seeing it all for what it is.  Now, the antidote is in our hands, and our 1st opportunity to remedy the situation will arise in November 2014.  We must be ready to repudiate the disaster of Barack Obama!  We must join together in returning sanity, American principles and competence to the United States of America!  Deo vindice!