by Ruthie Blum
With all the
justifiable carry-on about Chuck Hagel’s appointment as U. S. Defense
Secretary — and John Brennan’s nomination for CIA chief — one key
question remains. This is not whether the pair is or would be bad for
America and Israel; nor whether either or both will be confirmed by
Congress.
No, the only real
puzzle is why anyone should be the slightest bit surprised by President
Barack Obama’s picks for positions on which America’s national security
depends. Many U.S. Jews who voted for Obama both times around are
experiencing a touch of buyer’s remorse, due to Hagel’s openly
anti-Israel stance, anti-Semitic comments, and dovish attitude toward
Iran. They feel as though they’ve been slapped in the face by the
administration they have been backing.
Others have been saying
that Obama’s choices — among them economic progressive Jack Lew for
secretary of the treasury — indicate that the president is now “showing
his true colors.” Those of us whose tendency is to guffaw right now are
too busy tearing our hair out. After all, Obama has been a staunch
radical throughout his life.
Two of his mentors, the
Reverend Jeremiah Wright and the late Saul Alinsky, are worth
mentioning here. That he was drawn to them in the first place was no
more of an accident than was their grooming of him. Though neither could
have guessed that he would become president one day, each saw his
potential as a representative of “The Cause”: undermining the United
States of America.
During Obama’s 20 years
of attending the Rev. Wright’s church, he was treated to endless venom
about the “White Man” and the Jews. But that was on Sundays.
The person who shaped
the rest of Obama’s proverbial week well before that was actually both a
white man and a Jew. Alinsky, who died in 1972, was the quintessential
“community organizer” — the father of the particular form of radicalism
that was Obama’s lifeblood.
In the last of his
books, “Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals,”
Alinsky spelled out his methodology for “those who want to change the
world from what it is to what they believe it should be.”
“The Prince,” he said,
“was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power. 'Rules
for Radicals' is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away."
The way to do this, he
explained, was for the “organizer” to establish credibility. Since his
purpose is to undo the existing order, Alinsky asserted, this organizer
has to work within the system that he is trying to destroy. Through a
combination of seduction and resentment-fanning, he can create a “mass
army” to carry out the task.
Much suspicion has been
raised about Obama’s past, and not only about whether he was actually
born in the United States — a claim, by the way, that was originally
laid by Hillary Clinton’s people during the 2008 Democratic primary.
Another aspersion has to do with Obama’s alleged less-than-stellar
academic history.
There is no doubt,
however, that the president was a straight-A student of Alinsky’s tenets
and tactics — which he has been carrying out to the letter since he was
a community organizer in Chicago, through his sting in the Senate, and
now into his second term as the leader-from-behind of the Free World for
which he has disdain.
Indeed, Obama has
elevated Alinsky-ism to new heights, by taking it beyond America’s
borders. The “have-nots” on behalf of whom he has been working to grab
power now include radical Islamists the world over.
During his first term,
Obama was still learning the ropes and worrying about holding on to his
seat in the Oval Office. As he indicated to the Russian leadership a few
months ago, once re-elected, he would no longer be hindered by such
constraints. Well, now he is being true to his word.
It is Alinsky’s legacy
that is behind the appointments of Hagel, Brennan, and Lew. And it is
Obama who will continue to undermine the United States from within and
without, even if they are not confirmed. No wonder the regime in Tehran
is pleased.
Ruthie Blum is the author of “To Hell in a Handbasket: Carter, Obama, and the ‘Arab Spring.’”
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=3217
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
No comments:
Post a Comment