Barack Obama = Jimmy Carter = Mr. Magoo?

David C. Stolinsky, MD
Feb. 2, 2009

Since President Obama was inaugurated, have you heard him, or any of his appointees, refer − even once − to our war on terror? No? Neither have I.

The new Chairman of the Intelligence Council, Charles Freeman, is a pro-Arab lobbyist. In her remarks to a Congressional committee, the new Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, did not use the words “terrorist,” “terrorism” or “9/11.” It is difficult to fight what one cannot name. Of course, if the military budget is cut deeply enough, fighting anything will no longer be an option.

Obama’s first interview was for Al Arabiya, the Saudi-financed network. His “stimulus” includes $900 million to “rebuild” Gaza. Rebuild what − rocket launchers and arms-smuggling tunnels? Gaza is controlled by Hamas, which hates America almost as much as it hates Israel.

Barack Obama is beginning to remind me of Jimmy Carter. Both men believe that we can buy the friendship of fanatics who hate us. Carter told us to get over our “inordinate fear of communism.” Obama is telling us to get over our inordinate fear of terrorism. Carter’s presidency was a failure. I pray − literally − that Obama is young and intelligent enough to realize his mistakes in time.

Jimmy Carter’s moral myopia is so severe that he is to politics what Mr. Magoo is to cartoons − a ridiculous fellow who keeps blundering into danger because of his poor vision. But Mr. Magoo endangers only himself as he teeters, blissfully unaware, on the brink of cliffs. Mr. Carter endangers others as he teeters, blissfully unaware, on the brink of moral chasms.

Moral myopia is a regrettably common condition that is characterized by:

Infantile narcissism, which assumes that everyone is like us.

Stubborn refusal to see evil, much less to confront and combat it.

Incredible conceit, which tells us we are so brilliant that if we just meet with enemies, we can charm them into becoming friends.

Smug self-righteousness, which confuses good intentions with good actions.

Complacent egotism, which allows us to blunder into danger with a false sense of security, as though we were going around with haloes that others can see.

Snobbish elitism, which induces us to feel superior to our fellow citizens, and even to identify with the enemies of our country.

Obstinate closed-mindedness, which prevents us from learning from experience, our own or others’.

Dangerous naiveté, which permits us to ignore the possible harm we may do, and then to forgive ourselves after we have done it.

But everyone is not like us. We want to resolve differences by peaceful means and get on with our lives. Some people enjoy violence. They don’t envy our free elections, free speech, women’s rights, or cultural and religious diversity − they despise them. They don’t want to take what we have − they spit on it. They want us dead. Not just soldiers or political leaders. Women and children. All of us. Ask the Israelis at Sbarro’s Pizzeria. Ask the workers in the World Trade Center.

And what was Carter’s contribution after 9/11? He condemned President Bush’s “axis of evil” address. It is difficult to discuss an axis of evil with one who is incapable of recognizing evil in the first place.

Good intentions are good only insofar as they lead to good actions. But if they substitute for good actions, they become harmful. They allow us to feel good about ourselves without doing good for others. They allow us to “visualize world peace” without doing a thing to bring it closer. They allow us to substitute bumper-sticker slogans for action.

Dangerous people remain dangerous, no matter how complacent we are. If we blunder into danger, we and those with us may get seriously hurt, no matter how good we feel about ourselves. Our peaceful demeanor only attracts predators. If we “build a bridge” to those who hate us, they will use it to get at us. If we offer friendship, they will see it as weakness.

When we feel superior to “average” Americans, it is easy to identify with their enemies. Why else is pro-communist and pro-extremist Muslim sentiment so strong in academia? Do you suppose self-anointed “intellectuals” really care one iota about Cubans or Palestinians? No, they give verbal support only because communist tyrants and bombers of pizzerias hate America even more than they do.

Where is the support for the hundreds of thousands (perhaps millions) of black Africans, many of them Christians, who have been murdered, starved or enslaved by the Islamic Sudanese regime? Blacks are being persecuted by non-blacks. Where are the protests?

There are no protests, because Sudanese atrocities have no relevance to American politics. There would be no political “mileage” in demonstrating for Sudanese blacks. But there are demonstrations for Palestinians, because Israel is our ally. There are demonstrations for Castro, because Castro is our enemy.

The motivation of the pro-Castro or pro-Palestinian activists often has little to do with Castro or Palestinians, and everything to do with anti-Americanism. Revealingly, sympathy is expressed not for all suffering groups, but only for those groups who are hostile to us and to our allies.

Castro is not the only tyrant Jimmy Carter befriended. Carter opposed the Gulf War against Saddam Hussein, and said nice things about the Romanian Ceausescu, the Syrian Assad, the Ethiopian Mengistu, the North Korean Kim, the Nicaraguan Ortega, and the Palestinian Arafat − quite an assortment of anti-American dictators, murderers and megalomaniacs.

When the Shah of Iran was in trouble, President Carter pulled the rug out from under our longtime ally. Carter’s emissary met Ayatollah Khomeini in Paris, where he lived in exile, and pronounced him a “saint.” Carter then told the shah’s generals to stand aside and let the revolution proceed. The generals did as they were told, and many of them were killed when Khomeini seized power. Some “saint.”

And what was Carter’s reward? Did Iranian fanatics see him as a friend? No, they saw him as a weak fool. They seized our embassy and mistreated our diplomats for 444 days, releasing them the day Reagan took office. The crisis caused Carter’s defeat in the 1980 election. But Carter learned nothing from his own experience, just as he had learned nothing from the appeasers’ failure to stop Hitler. His mind remained closed.

The shah’s regime was no model of democracy, but the extremist Islamic regime is much worse − ask Iranian Americans. Worst of all, extremist Islam elsewhere was encouraged by the example of Iran, where the rights of non-Muslims were virtually eliminated, as were women’s rights, while “unbelievers” were slaughtered.

Being anti-American and anti-human rights proved to be the way to power in Iran − and served as a model throughout the Middle East. Some model.

But if we are self-righteous, we forgive ourselves for the misery caused by the fall of the shah and the rise of the fanatics. We tell ourselves, “We had good intentions,” as if that absolves us of responsibility for the harmful effects of our actions.

What happened in Iran showed that it is more dangerous to be our friend than our enemy. That lesson was learned by both potential friends and potential enemies.

How we treat Israel now will be watched keenly throughout the world. If we abandon Israel, what will restrain communist China from invading Taiwan, or North Korea from invading the South? What will restrain other would-be aggressors from crushing their neighbors? What reason will remain to be our friend?

Or we can remain steadfast. No, Israel isn’t a perfect ally. The shah was less perfect, and Stalin was still less. Yet we stuck by him in our war against Hitler, and we emerged from the war stronger than ever, physically and morally.

The real world requires difficult moral choices. Try as we might, we cannot avoid making them. We should choose to side with those who support our values, however imperfectly, and against those who violently oppose our values.

The real world is a dangerous place filled with dangerous people. Severe myopia can be fatal. Mr. Magoo makes an amusing cartoon character, but a lousy role model. Jimmy Carter bears a striking resemblance to Mr. Magoo. That is why I am deeply troubled when Barack Obama begins to resemble Jimmy Carter.

Dr. Stolinsky writes on political and social issues. He can be contacted at dstol@prodigy.net.

www.stolinsky.com