Both choices are awful ,but McCane is worse. The future looks bleak, amen to that.

Sure… And the Neoconservative Right’s torture dungeons, eavesdropping, warmongering, empire-building, Constitution-shredding corruption is soooo much better. Even if he’s Pol Pot in Charvet drag, how much damage can Obama do that hasn’t already been done? After seven years of this ugly crap, I say give him a chance. We need to turn this bus around. At least David F*cking Brooks and Charles Krauthammer won’t get place settings in the State Dining Room for the duration.

Worse has not become better in Europe. Perhaps Prof. Gottfried hopes for a particular sort of “American exceptionalism.”

Mr. Van Osbree is right about what could happen if we veer to the left
(as we undoubtedly would under a black racist, also catering to gays, feminists, and
open-borders types). We could become as hopelessly infected with self-hate and
multicultural lunacy as are the Europeans. But then it is also possible that we would
weather the crisis and overthrow our present masters.I still have more faith in this
country than I do in the sickies who have taken over Germany, Spain, Belgium and other
terminally ill European societies. We may become more like the Italians than like
the reeducated Germans, once we have tasted true lunacy in government.

Paul,
I understand what you are saying and deeply sympathize with you. Americans do “deserve” the horrors
of an Obama presidency, I agree. The problem is this: what will be left of the nation after an eight
year Obama presidency? Will there even be a “traditional Right” that has not been impresioned
for"thought crimes” capable or mounting a counter-offensive? You, above most, know full well what
has been transpiring in Europe. Our own Henry Hotspur just authored a piece on Takimag about the
horrors going on...and the institutional incapacity of folks like us to do very much about it.
I guess that is what worries me about an eight year Obama “interlude.”

Let me quickly add, I am NOT a McCain supporter, and I do not intend to vote for him, either.
Persons like us really have no place to go, unless it be Constitution Party (not on the ballot in
state). We have a choice, to quote someone I dislike much, Woody Allen, “between utter defeat
and utter destruction. I pray we choose wisely.”

In the 1830s and ‘40s, after the Revolution of 1830 and the ascent of Louis Philippe as the
“roi citoyen,” the French Legitimists retired to their country estates and took no part in the
new “liberal monarchy,” awaiting the “catastrophe” that would indeed come in 1870 (and the almost
restoration of 1873). Looks to me that we must: (1) refuse both Obama and McCain, (2) work
politically and practically, on local, maybe regional levels where possible, with very
specific candidates (e.g., a Walter Jones), (3) continue full force the intellectual batles\
and the battles, more importantly, culturally and religiously, with the Hope that the situation
will be altered or that opportunities for recovery will avail themselves. We still do havee
the Virtue of Hope....

“I also think that our country needs to go through something like his presidency to be cured of its multicultural fascination with black leftists”

Agree with most of your article, but the recent history of most European societies suggests that the above is pure wishful thinking. Trying to second-guess who is the “better” of two appalling candidates is a waste of time. Vote for someone else or don’t vote.

McAmnesty and Obama. How has it come to this? I’ll vote for Chuck Baldwin and pray for God’s mercy.

I find it hard to imagine that the USA could become like (eg) socialist Spain or the Netherlands.

If the USA did become fully Europeanised, Europe itself will not be able to survive in its present form, because since WW2 Europe has depended on the US military umbrella in order to build a pan-European socialist welfare state.  No USA, no Europe.

One pleasure from an Obama presidency might be to watch 1st Lady Michelle resentfully lecture white European leaders on the injustices inflicted on her person by guilt-tripped white leftists.  In the upcoming Oprah-America, Michelle may demand that Europe’s leaders feel her pain and provide reparations for all wealthy black bourgeois elitists who suffer so.  Let the teeth-gnashing begin.

Amen Red!!

Mr. Gottfried, if an Obama presidency is capable of causing the Great Conservative Awakening, why then do you rule out the possibility that McCain’s election will have the same effect? There is a large portion of conservative Americans that already despise McCain or at least hold great distrust for him. I think it is safe to assume that this resentment and distrust will grow if he is elected president. We may not have FOX News behind us, but most of the conservative radio pundits share our hostility for McCain, and though they may push for his election, they will not fail to criticize his liberal policies once he has achieved office. Perhaps I give Limbaugh and Hannity too much credit, but we should not discount the ability of the American people to recognize the threat of liberalism when it is smack-daddy in their face. Consider what happened when Bush attempted to push through his comprehensive immigration reform. Americans furiously rose up and made their voices heard. This was the strongest display of grass root conservatism we have seen in decades and it occurred when a necon was in office, not a democrat. Is it not likely that a similar reaction will occur if McCain attempts to institute Global Warming policies or tries once again to institute amnesty? Mr. Gottfried, these two issues are not gradual accommodations to the left. They are, in fact, a full embracement of the left and they have the potential to cause the Great Conservative Awakening that we so desperately need.
I know some on here will argue that a McCain presidency will push the American public away from conservatism because they will be deceived into believing that neoconservatism is conservatism. To this point I must disagree. Having the neocons in the limelight is the best way, and perhaps the only way, to expose them for what they truly are. It is when neocons are in power that they are most vulnerable because the application of their liberal ideals is always a political course destined for failure. What is it you believe we can do to attack neoconservatism that we cannot do better when they are visibly failing? The greater the failure of the Neocons, the greater the wedge that will form between them and the rest of the conservative movement. Alternatively, an Obama presidency will allow the neocons to escape direct criticism, grow even more powerful and eventually reap the rewards of American dissatisfaction with the liberal policies of the democrats. If we are to wrestle control of the conservative movement from the hands of neoconservatives, then we need to expose the neocons for what they are, not awaken American to the realities of liberalism through an Obama presidency. The immigration debate proves that Americans know what liberalism is and most of them don’t like it. It also proves that some Americans are starting to see the difference between neoconservatism and conservatism. McCain’s election will be exactly what we need to finally make this difference apparent to all. Perhaps this all boils down to strategy. Do you think it is more important to defeat liberalism or defeat the neocons first? In my humble opinion, we must attack the near enemy before we take on the far.  We must regain control of the conservative movement before we can defeat liberalism.

Not the black nationalist argument again…

Obama’s policies will be about as radical as Hillary Clinton or any other liberal Democrat’s would have been.

If we’re going to attack Obama, why not attack his <i>actual policies</a> instead of railing against fantasies?

I go into more detail here:

href="http://leftconservativeblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/gottfried-on-obamas-looming-reign-of.html

Professor Gottfried is spot on.  Not only does America need a four or eight year experience with a modern leftist, it needs a repudiation of neo-conservatism.  The election of black radical Obama over McCain would be the political rejection of neo-conservatism and its ally, corporate conservatism.  An Obama presidency would likely result in the overthrow of the neo-conservative stranglehold over the Republican Party and conservatism in general.  Best of all, a fresh conservative political outlook can be germinated.  After eight years of Obama, the House and the Senate should be filled with Republicans who not only understand their enemy to their left but also understand that many of their greatest enemies are those who consider themselves on the Right.  A new Republican Party must not only be ready to battle the Gramscian Left but also ready to destroy Bill Kristol and those of his ilk.

Only a landslide victory by Obama will force Republicans to repudiate and purge Neocons from the conservative movement. A McCain victory will be viewed as an endorsement by America of the policies of Calamity George and the crazy neocons.

White men will be pulled out of their cars and set on fire.

Whoa, there, big fella. Take a salt tablet… or… something.

I’m glad to hear Professor Gottfried still has more faith in Americans than in Germans or Spaniards. 

The one dark horse not being mentioned is the role Hispanics will play in this election.  Anti-immigration conservatives may not know just how anti-black the average Mexican or Hispanic really is.  First generation immigrants tend to distinguish themselves by a strong antipathy to native blacks; they don’t like what they see, and especially resent the black sense of entitlement.  Every other little Mexican I speak with in Spanish, whether at a bodega in NY or an auto shop in suburbia, engages in old-fashioned racist talk about blacks worthy of 1940. La Raza no more speaks for the average Hispanic than the KKK for the average white.  Obama’s supporters are blacks, hard leftsist and naive white yuppie-like I-pod people.  It is not clear to me he will win TX, FL or NJ.

This is not endorsement of the current immigration madness, simply an observation that the people who have been let in may not be as down with the lefty hipsters as we think.  The melting pot has broken, true, but there are still plenty of immigrants who want to be as “white” as possible, and they don’t like the Obamas and the insinuation that they are of the same kind.

Sebastian, recent polls seem to suggest that Hispanic voters are already falling in line behind an Obama candidacy. Predictably, Jorge Bush and Juan McCain’s aggressive courting of these voters has done no good.

Question #1: Wouldn’t the failure of a McCain presidency deflower the neocons more than an Obama presidency?

Question #2: How is it possible the massive grassroots revolt against amnesty and immigration last summer translated into two candidates for president this year who favor those programs? Could the answer be the big “C” word?

Question #3: Given the foregoing, why would an honorable man give his moral endorsement of the process by participating in the sham by voting?

The racialism of a President Obama (see his associations, his race speech and his statements on Jena, Imus, and other racial issues)could help spur a white backlash.

San Fernando Curt should read this article if he thinks there is something unusual about blacks killing whites: http://www.amren.com/mtnews/archives/2008/06/hunting_season.php#comments

One potential other evil about an 8 year Obama presidency - within that time, it is guaranteed there will be a number of vacancies on the SCOTUS.  Stevens is of course pushing 90, Ginsburg is rumored to be considering retirement..not to mention Kennedy and Scalia are over 70.  It is scary to imagine 3 or 4 Obama scotus nominations - not that the ‘conservatives’ are all good, but I would say that they are better in a 60/40 way.

The flip side? A McCain nominee I suspect would be a Souter clone. 

All in all Paul Gottfried, it’s a pretty depressing state we’re in.  You mention that perhaps this is what we need - a horribly leftist presidency that will make the Clinton-hate of the 90s look mild.

But you know what? Sadly, I doubt that.  We already had two horribly evil leftist presidencies - FDR and LBJ - and we never recovered.  The New Deal and the Great Society are still with us.  In the aftermath of those, we got moderate Republicans (Eisenhower and Nixon - although Eisenhower at least delivered on a quick end to the Korean mess).

Please, worrying whether or not Michelle Obama will open a Panthers Reading Group in the Rose Garden is about as worthwhile as wondering if George W. Bush will write a research paper on Proust in his retirement. In fact, our media would likely love a little more divisive racial politics to add to our daily geyser of diversionary “news”.

What everyone, black or white should be worrying about is that this government is the best government fiat money can buy. The Democrat party proved their pusillanimous and worthless nature by failing to pursue Impeachment against both the President and Vice President years ago. Instead, they simply get along to go along and the Corporatized Government continues it’s death by gluttony and debt. A properly functioning Republic requires a deliberative government and this is a pipe dream with the both the freebooters at hand and the public they bamboozle.

Republican or Democrat, the Executive of the lapsed-Republic is simply a lightening rod and cheerleader for executing the whims of a Corporate-Government Combine that is shedding the jobs of the nation in a free-for-all. Centralized and powerfully Financialized Federalism concurrent with the reduction of States Rights is an experiment that has run it’s course straight into disaster. Self Determination requires a strong local vertical economy to achieve it’s maximum potential and we have forsaken that in favor of the glories of Big Box shopping and the religion of speed and efficiency. Something along the lines of a Feudalist Reformation is rearing it’s ugly head. The vast Entertainment Forum has insured that an abdication of individual public civics is nearly complete. A Militant State is farming an easily led militant public of numb-skulled Low information serfs and Racial Politics is the old saw that always comes in handy to enforce the divisions that, in turn, cause the public to beseech the Nanny State for “solutions”.

Uncle Remus fails to move this witless public and so the faux-partisan Bolsheviks who run this chop shop on the Potomac have produced an ideal Tent Revival for a public that continues to be led around like an ox on a nose ring, begging to have it’s Militant G Spot rubbed vigorously. After all, if the public actually paid attention to the ongoing rape of the Republic, the 24 hour Souk of D.C. plunder would come to an end.

Save your fears of racial politics, they’re well down the list of reasons to be mortified by the lapsed Republic and it’s many milkers.

Excellent essay. However, I am not optimistic about a “conservtive” rebound following eight years of an Obama presidency, simply because so few Americans understand (or care about)the difference between a social democracy and a republic.