Justin Raimondo

May 07, 2008

The Great Transcender—I like it! Richard has coined what I think is the definitive iconic signifier, in part because it makes the Reagan analogy. Obama is a comparable figure. And I would argue that his appeal doesn’t just transcend race—it also rearranges the left-right blue-red paradigm that libertarians and paleos have found so uncongenial. While his foreign policy views are what attract antiwar paleos and libertarians, Obama is good on the vital issue of education, as well: he’s open to vouchers, charter schools, and is openly bucking the public school monopolists of the NEA, a powerful Democratic party pressure group.

Richard correctly terms me an “Obamacon,” and there’s no doubt about it. I would note, however, that my support is highly critical, and has to be understood in context. Being a paleo, and of a libertarian sort, it’s not so much who I’m for as who I’m against. The slogan of “Paleos for Obama” is, or ought to be, “Obama!—Consider the Alternative.”