Sunday, November 9, 2008

Oh Graciousness! No Sympathy for a Not-So-Good Man

Readers may recall my election night post, "What's Puzzling You is the Nature of My Game..."

There I suggested that folks give President-Elect Obama "some sympathy" and that we "must pay due penitence for the sins" of our fathers, our white fathers.

That didn't go over too well with some folks on the left, who attacked and ridiculed my essay as outside the bounds of propriety.

Naturally, I have no regrets whatsover, and I'm returning to this meme in light of some essays debating how "gracious" conservatives should be in treating "The One."

Patterico, for example, wrote last week what I thought was a strange post at the time, "
Obama: A Flawed But Good Man Who Has Made Bad Decisions And Will Make More."

Sure, while I understand the need for conservatives to accept defeat with honor, there's something about Obama's victory that was fundamentally dishonest, if not sinister, and I don't believe that President-Elect Obama has any reservoir of "truth capital" that entitles him to particularly gracious treatment from those on the right. In contrast, some argue that John McCain's own ennobled graciousness cost him the election, sadly enough.

In any case,
Jeff Goldstein took exception to Patterico's claim that Barack Obama's "a good but flawed man":
In [a] political environment wherein the left has managed to turn the introduction of inconvenient facts into “smears” or “racism,” this willingness, on the part of some conservatives, to believe themselves capable of seizing the moral high ground by essentially giving cover to the demonstrably bad by allowing that it is merely “misguided,” is yet another step toward the very kind of partisan pragmatism that has cost Republicans so dearly, and that, even more troubling, has served to devalue language and further institutionalize a dangerous idea of how interpretation works....

It matters who gets called a “good man.” It matters who we say has this country’s best interests at heart. And yes, it’s possible Obama does, to a certain extent — though what is important to recognize is that, at least so far as his governing principles to this point suggest, he doesn’t hold that view from the perspective of the country as it was founded, and as it was intended to be governed.

Which means that Obama’s best interests for the country are really the best interests for a country he’d like to see this one become — a new text that he’d like us to believe will be but an re-interpretation of the original text.

As someone who believes in the principles upon which this country was founded, I refuse to allow that someone whose ideological predispositions compel him to radically redefine that “imperfect document” that is the Constitution, has this country’s best interests at heart.

And I likewise refuse to allow that a man whose thuggish deeds and unsavory associations have defined him be granted the honor of “good man.” Because to do so is to make a mockery of good men, and to cede yet another bit of our ability to evaluate and describe and conclude in good faith into a bit of “hate speech” that won’t help the GOP regain power.
This I refuse as well, although I've made case with a bit less post-structural analytical methodology.

I've simply said, "Fight with Me ... Fight for what's right for our country!", borrowing, perhaps ironically, even tragically, from our erstwhile yet too gracious GOP nominee, and now applying it to the ideological and moral challenges ahead.

4 comments:

  1. You know, I have not commented on this. I take the he is the president-elect and we ALL need to take a bit of a time out. But, come 01/20/09 at 9:01am (Pacific time), the gloves come off. He, President Obama and the Democrats will be in full control. But, this is where we all have to be careful. We do not want to get to the depraved levels of the left. If you go back and study the way Newt Gingrich and his allies brought down the House, it can very well be applied to the situation we face 01/20/09. I was just talking to a friend and notice that no sane conservative is out protesting the election of The One. Or coming up with some crazy conspericy theory about how some votes were stolen, etc. I will also not take the Patterico position about a good man. That would not be prudent!

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  2. The only way our country will survive 4 years of a NObama presidency is to pick our battles very carefully and seduce as many moderate Democrats as possible to go against some of his more radical plans. We absolutely have to keep him from legalizing 20 million new democratic voters. If we don't, the dems will win elections for a long time. We absolutely cannot let him start up his Civilian Security force. He doesn't need his own militia and I fear that is his true intention. Talk about scary, now THAT'S scary! We have the National Guard, increase the size of that if you want a bigger impact. Those are the two biggest battles we cannot afford to lose. Thwart his socialistic plans to the extent possible, but at least the taxes can be fixed when we defeat him in 2012. I will hate every day that asshole is in the White House, but I will maintain my respect for the office.

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  3. I will hate every day that asshole is in the White House

    Very classy!

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  4. Off topic, American Power turned me on to the Stones "Sympathy for the Devil" on a recent post and has anyone noticed that the day Caroline Kennedy jumped on 44's train (before he was 44) and since long time pre 44 fan Bill Ayers dedicated a book to Sirhan Sirhan - that the prophesy of "Sympathy for the Devil" became fulfilled:

    "I shouted out - who killed the Kennedys - when after all baby it was you and me"

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