He Has Now Won Twice (Alas)

Or, why we despair. 

Anyone who uses the Latin phrase inter alia instead of the more prosaic "among other things" deserves at least a listen.

Written by a Brit, who has been there/done that, it's as clear an explanation for why conservatives believe the re-election of Barack Obama says more about America than it says about Obama. Which is why many of us, like the author, despair.

I've linked the entire article below. Here are a few choice nuggets.

"But, consider this: A president of the United States just ran a reelection campaign based on the promise of government largess, exploitation of class division, the demonization of success, the glorification of identity politics, and the presumption that women are a helpless interest group; and he did so while steadfastly refusing to acknowledge the looming — potentially fatal — crisis that the country faces. And it worked." 

"Our president, a Narcissus masquerading as a Demosthenes, makes big speeches packed full of little ideas, and he is applauded wildly for it." 

"I have watched how these sorry ideas play out in the real world, and it is not pretty: They make people’s lives worse, and yet simultaneously convince them that any reform will kill them — a fatal combination. Americans should avoid this path sedulously, for that way lies decline." 

"The president has an ample library of ideas from which to choose, and yet he raids the Old World." 

"This year, certainly, was not the perfect storm of 2008. Then, novelty and redemption played a role; this time, an insipid bore ran on an openly statist platform and won the day in a country that is supposed to be 'center right.' Maybe it no longer is."  

"The central problem, then, is not that Obama will be president for the next few years, but that the American people — knowing him — chose to reelect him." 

"Obamacare will now go into effect, and Americans will soon feel entitled to its fruits. Those who doubt that this will have a deleterious effect on American republicanism have clearly never been bribed with their own health care." 

"Alas, there is nothing written in the stars that says that America will always be America." 

"Why I Despair," by Charles C. W. Cooke (National Review Online)