Posted by
ClearCommentary.com on Tuesday, May 20, 2008 3:34:08 PM
Senator Obama's speech yesterday concerning America's energy consumption, which would be better described as a lecture, reprised the theme we'll see more of as November approaches, which is the left's love of international consensus. He argued that driving our SUVs and keeping our homes at 72 degrees is simply no longer going to be accepted by the rest of the civilized world; that's always followed by the comparative statistic that although we're a small percent of the world's population, we use a disproportionate percentage of its energy.
Well, before we open our collective veins in a warm bath we should also note that the United States produces 36 percent of the world's wealth, something you'll never hear from a liberal. Moreover, you'll never hear them state that the world should first express its thanks for America's role in two world wars and for expunging Soviet communism. We could add to that mix the fact that Americans are among the most generous people per capita, donating $245 billion to charity in 2006.
But none of that advances the left's goal of flattening America's profile on the world stage, or of using such canards as global warming to achieve goals it can't otherwise politically achieve. They are also determined to inhibit what they see as America's imperialist instincts, nationalist hubris, and hegemonic designs.
None of this has any more substance than other liberal fictions that are meticulously crafted for a dark political purpose, but they are a prelude to their goal of imposing international 'law' on America. Indeed, the Obamas of the world see America as ripe for right-sizing, for emasculating its Wilsonian beliefs that democratic principles are at once self-evident and universal, which are embarrassments for them, and, which is why wearing a flag lapel pin is a form of civic torture.
The global warming debate may be cooling but you would never know it by the way in which Obama--and McCain with his love of 'cap and trade'--seems determined to hobble the U.S. Curiously, the Oregon Institute of Science & Medicine just announced that it has the signatures of 31,000 scientists attesting to the statement that humans aren't, in fact, responsible for climate change. That's 15 times the number of scientists as the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which the left routinely lionizes as the gold standard.
Mr. Obama's argument for America to fall passively into line with the so-called international community can be linked to his previous comments about rural white folks who turn to guns and religion out of frustration--it's those folks, the common man, the freedom loving, culturally unalloyed individual, who are in his cross-hairs. Those are the 'conspicuous consumers' who still think of money when you mention 'green,' who are baffled by the phrase 'carbon neutral,' and who think that 'gun control' takes two hands.
It's curious that upon closer scrutiny it's Obama and his liberal brethren who want hegemony over America with their own form of laws and regulations, those derived from the forced consensus of the 'global community.' Ideological permissiveness, or to use their pet phrase, 'diversity,' is reserved for those whose beliefs neatly comport with the left's vision of a world under the rule of International Law, where individualism is obsolete, where freedoms are doled out in pre-set measures, and where ownership of money and land is overseen by an unelected committee.
They won't say that, of course, but astute observers can make credible inferences from Obama's speeches that bring you to those same conclusions. And, despite his admonition to leave his wife alone, Michelle has inserted herself into this campaign and so her newly found pride in America is fair game for critics, as are her research papers from college, which have a decidedly Marxist tinge to them.
In the past year, the picture of Obama as clearly outside of the mainstream of traditional American thought, has become ever more apparent and stands in stark contrast to McCain, who appeals to Independents and conservative Democrats just as well as he does Republicans. Obama may one day understand that you can't win that broad middle swath of American voters by scolding them about their energy consumption--indeed, it's kind of un-American.