[BRIGADE] PJB: A Neo-Reaganite Inaugural
Published: Fri, 01/23/09
By Patrick J. Buchanan
January 23, 2009
With a host of near 2 million gathered on the Mall to see him sworn
in, Barack Obama delivered an inaugural that was the antithesis of
a rallying cry for the "it's-our-turn!" faithful assembled below.
Rather, it was an admonition, a warning to the American people of
the gravity of our condition, and an invitation of inclusion to
that part of the nation that remains wary of Barack Obama.
Yes, there were reminders that he is our first African-American
president. But this speech was not about the novelty of his race.
It was about placing this 44th president in the tradition of all
who have gone before -- Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, FDR, JFK
and -- Ronald Reagan.
A first sign this was not to be another windy progressive spiel
came with his statement that our crisis is due not just to the
"greed and irresponsibility" of some, but to our own "collective
failure to make hard choices."
All of us are at fault, Obama was saying, in what became a stern
and severe sermon to the nation.
"On this day we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and
false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far
too long have strangled our politics. ... In the words of
Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things."
Citing St. Paul in First Corinthians, Obama cast himself in the
role of one who speaks with authority, to demand of those he leads
that they cease to act as children.
"In reaffirming our greatness as a nation," we must remember who
and what made us great. It was not those who "prefer leisure over
work"; rather, it was "the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of
things."
Pardon me, but this is neo-Reaganite.
For our liberty, said Obama, men like these "fought and died in
places like Concord and Gettysburg, Normandy and Khe Sanh."
This was startling. Mythologizing Khe Sanh, where the Marines held
out against thousands of North Vietnamese in the bloodiest days of
Vietnam, Obama was associating himself with the part of America
that holds with Reagan that Vietnam was a "noble cause," not the
"dirty immoral war" of the left's propaganda.
Obama seemed to be severing himself from Sen. McGovern, who
diabolized the war, from John Kerry, who came home from Vietnam to
say Americans were acting like war criminals, and from Jimmy
Carter, who in 1976 called Vietnam a "racist war."
Was President Obama saying the right was right? Perhaps not. But he
was saying that the Marines at Khe Sanh and all of those who fought
and died in Vietnam are to be honored alongside the men who stormed
the bluffs at Pointe du Hoc.
"(O)ur power alone," said Obama, "cannot protect us, nor does it
entitle us to do as we please." Rather, "our power grows through
its prudent use." While a repudiation of neoconservatism, these
ideas are fully consistent with the traditional conservatism of the
Founding Fathers.
Proceeding on to the wars in which we are now engaged, the new
president declared, "We'll begin responsibly to leave Iraq to its
people and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan."
That "hard-earned peace in Afghanistan" echoes Ike on Korea, 1953.
And, "leave Iraq to its people" sounds like Nixon seeking "peace
with honor" as he brought the 525,000 American soldiers home.
To implacable enemies like al-Qaida, Obama declared, "You cannot
outlast us, and we will defeat you." But to authoritarian and
dictatorial regimes with which we are not at war, he offered, "We
will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."
This is not Winston Churchill's "victory at all costs!" nor JFK's
"we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship,
support any friend, oppose any foe ... ." Nor is it George W.
Bush's Second Inaugural "ending tyranny in our world." It is rather
the sober statement of a president who understands that his
country, great as she is, is overextended and there needs to be a
retreat from empire.
"As much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the
faith and determination of the American people upon which the
nation relies," said Obama, as he began to recite the values on
which America depends, "honesty and hard work, courage and fair
play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these
things are old. These thing are true. ... What is demanded ... is a
return to these truths." Again, Reagan comes to mind.
"What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility, a
recognition on the part of every American that we have duties ... ."
None of this is to suggest the new president is some born-again
conservative; and there is much in his speech to argue he is not.
But this inaugural was the work of a mature and serious man who
knows his county is in deep water, who seems to understand what got
us there and who appreciates that, on some things, the right has
indeed been right from the beginning.
SOURCE:
http://buchanan.org/blog/2009/01/pjb-a-neo-reaganite-inaugural/