LIFE IN THE ASYLUM

WITHER OBAMA?

So we ponder: a president who was born into a well-to-do, well-educated family of socialists; who was brewed and steeped his entire life in Marxist/socialist thought and ideas; and who himself was educated in prestigious, extremely “progressive” schools, ultimately entering an honorable profession.

He had long harbored dreams of fundamentally changing the country into socialism, ostensibly using democratic means. Entering politics, and reportedly mastering its arts, he rose to the rank of senator. Seeking greater power to carry out his “dreams”, he pursued and won his party’s nomination for president. His campaign, run “brilliantly” according to his admirers, consisted largely of populist platitudes, and promises such as free healthcare for all and more power and influence for unions. It was his moment, and the election was his.

The suave, professorial new president had inherited a recession, but the recession was on the wane, and in fact officially over within a few months. Nonetheless, he and his economic team used Keynesian pump priming to, among other things, “boost consumer demand.” People, and government at all levels, began buying things they could not afford. Viewing himself as having a mandate to implement his dreams, he began effectively nationalizing banks and other industries using arcane paper transactions, and worked diligently to “redistribute income.” On the inter- national front he began cozying up to Cuba, China, and countries of similar ilk, outraging many old Washington hands.

The Keynesian and socialist methods, as ever, produced extremely negative results. With the economy in shambles well into year three of his first term, and no solution in sight, he still refused to give up his “dreams”. Having over-promised to his union supporters, union violence was on the rise. Losing support in congress, he turned with increasing frequency to issuing executive orders, often justified by statements such as “I am the president!” Members of his own party began openly disparaging him. Then came the portent date of September 11th.

But the year was not 2011, it was 1973; and the president was not Barak Obama of the United States, it was Salvador Allende of Chile. Before the sun had set on September 11, 1973, a military coup had taken place and Allende had committed suicide in the presidential palace.

For nearly three years now, this writer has thought the parallels between Obama and Allende striking. It is more than a cliché that “those who will not learn from history are doomed to repeat it”. Obama has gone to great lengths to keep the people of the United States from finding out what he may or may not have studied, but it appears he has not learned much history. The questions for us to ponder at this moment are how far down the road to perdition will Barak Obama seek to “lead” us, and how far will we permit him to do so?

MO Atty

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Credit for some of the above detail belongs to Salvador Allende: His Political Life… and Afterlife by Peter Winn; while Mr. Winn seems much fonder of Allende than your writer, I did not want to be accused of drawing on anti-Allende sources for this information.