A Republican abroad: “Obama’s presidency will not be a happy one”

6 November 2008

Flandersnews quizzed Michael Kulbickas of the Republican Party in Belgium in the wake of the Republican party’s disastrous night.

1. Barack Obama has won the election. You must be disappointed. Why do you believe Mr McCain lost?

If Barack Obama has won, it is for several reasons, none of which have to do with his being a better president than John McCain in the eyes of the American People.

Even many who vote for Obama out of reasons such as ideology or party loyalty LIKE John McCain, and recognize that he is qualified to be president:

The global economic crisis and its timing strongly favour the Democrats independently of the candidates: the people tend to blame the party in power, which John McCain is identified with.

Obama has succeeded in posing as a moderate, and a "healer" of division, when he is actually nothing of the kind: his entire formative career was steeped in far-left ideology, and until he was elected to the Senate he was closely allied with a panoply of radicals and extremists; his voting record is nearly the most extreme left of anyone in the Senate.

The media was clearly in the tank for Obama; even Terry McAuluffe (Former chair of the Democratic National Committee) of the Hilary Clinton campaign complained that 90% of the media wants Obama to be president and that the other candidates couldn’t get a fair shake.

The race card has been played shamelessly and repeatedly by the Obama campaign and their supporters and surrogates in the media, shutting down most of the legitimate criticism of Obama as "racist" when there were continuing and serious questions as to his readiness, character and record.

2. Are there any good things we can now look forward to under an Obama presidency? What difference will an Obama presidency make for ordinary Americans?

Obama’s presidency will not by a happy one. He is indeed a transformational candidate, but not in a good way. America is at a historic tipping point.

He and his democratic allies will likely use the current economic turmoil as an excuse to transform the US from a dynamic, high-growth, low unemployment country into a statist, low growth, high unemployment, sclerotic, protectionist society.

If you review his statements (which are part of the public record) carefully, this is exactly what his intentions and priorities are and what their implementation would produce. Europeans might get a meagre bit of satisfaction in seeing the US turn to their economic model (but their export-driven economies will likely have a different feeling about this).

And oh yes, he will likely gut the US military, making our long-term security guarantees to our NATO and other allies, over time, into something far less valuable or to their liking.

3. What changes do you now expect in US foreign policy?
What kind of relationship can Europe look forward to under an Obama presidency?

Europe can expect an Obama presidency to behave in a similar way to Jimmy Carter; as NY Democrat Senator Daniel Patrick Moynahan put it: he was a man who couldn’t distinguish between America’s friends and its enemies, and essentially adopted the world view of her enemies.

President Obama wholeheartedly will embrace our most troublesome allies in Europe, like the socialist president Zapatero in Spain who abandoned America in Iraq, and snub our most reliable and friendly allies in Eastern Europe such as Poland.

His accommodationist approach will likely not spell good news for new NATO members (and "wannabees") on Russia’s periphery. He will be popular with the people as the Black JFK, but I expect that buyers’ remorse will set in for their leaders as Obama’s legions of advisors insist that he pressure some "old Europe" allies to do more in Afghanistan, etc.

This will happen surprisingly quickly, as those who recall the "fondly-remembered" (but not loved at the time) Clinton presidency will attest.

4. The Bush administration has been criticised for failing to act sufficiently over climate change. Is Mr Obama going to steer a different course?

Obama would probably embrace Kyoto, or anything like it, probably unreservedly, and be an enthusiastic party to the establishment of sovereignty-sapping international bureaucracies to "save the planet", impose steep international taxes on western democracies, stifle economic growth, while accomplishing little of any substance that is promised.

He and his followers in this movement have a near-religious view of the "environment", "Global Warming", etc., for which it is increasingly apparent, questions of truth, effectiveness, efficiency or perspective are largely irrelevant.

5. Where does Mr McCain go from here?

John McCain will return to his AZ seat in the Senate, and continue to fight for the principles he has always believed in, putting country first.

To read the interview with Faustina Mercado-Sondoval, click here.

(flandersnews.be/Expatica)