Richard Spencer

August 06, 2008

The Weekly Standard has sent Stanley Kurtz to Chicago?s Hyde Park to do some pretty intensive Obama research. Although Kurtz?s piece contains no real shockers (at least for me), it?s a thoroughgoing account of Obama?s ?lost years??his time spent as a state legislator when he was focused on black urban ethno-politics, district gerrymandering, affirmative action set-asides, and spending his free lecturing on racism at the U of C.

I don?t think any has yet properly addressed how Obama?s past might affect his presidency. If he really is a ?typical politician,? then I imagine he?ll mostly be remaining all post-racial himself while he funnels some cash and goodies down to his former cronies and fellow travelers.

I?m still not totally convinced that on domestic issues Obama is actually going to be that much worse than what we?ve had over the past eight years (perhaps David Freddoso will disabuse me.)

Let?s take a look at the bookends of Kurtz?s piece in which draws his major conclusions about Obama in the White House. If you change a word here and there, it reads like a valedictory account of Bush?s eight years. (Words in bold have been altered from the original.)       

At his core, in other words, the politician chronicled here is profoundly race-conscious, exceedingly liberal, free-spending even in the face of looming national budget deficits, and partisan. As president, this man ? shifted the country sharply to the left on all the key issues of the day?culture-war issues included.

The real Bush? ?Fundamentally, he is a big-government redistributionist who wants above all to aid the poor, particularly the African-American poor. Bush is eager to do so both through race-specific programs and through broad-based social-welfare legislation. ?Bush is committed to large-scale government solutions to the problem of poverty. Bush‘s early campaigns are filled with declarations of his sense of mission?

Let see:
? Opposition to ending affirmative action?check!.
? Massive deficit spending?check!!
? Self-righteous socialism?check!!! (Remember, ?When somebody hurts, government has got to move.”)

Domestically speaking, I think we?re ready for an Obama presidency?indeed, we might have already lived it.