Richard Spencer

March 09, 2008

I?m glad that Justin has cleared up my misunderstanding about his position toward the foreign policy of Samantha Power. He knows her for what she is?the princess of the global do-gooders.

But at the heart of my posts yesterday was not merely Samantha Power?whose interventionist fantasies are dismissed easily enough?but the problem of traditional conservatives? supporting Obama as a ?not so bad? option.

Generally speaking, I think Justin is backing Obama for the right reasons. Despite his claims of being a cultist, having a ?man-crush,? and suffering from Obamania, he actually doesn?t go in for any of the gooey, transcendental crap that attracts the vast majority of Obamaniacs (and the Obamacons).  At the very least, I think Justin is the first to quote Garet Garrett in an endorsement of the Illinois senator (!). 

All of this is fine, but Obama’s connection with Samantha Power should stand as warning to all traditionalists, paleos, and libertarians who dare see Obama as a lesser-of-two-evils choice in November.

Obama?s actual statements about foreign policy have been rather vague. All we know is that he?s ?willing to talk? and wants to ?end the war in Iraq.? It?s plausible that these sentiments would materialize as a sane foreign policy?perhaps even that ?humble foreign policy? Governor Bush promised us years ago. 

But then it?s equally plausible that Obama would go on a Samantha Power trip and pursue a whole new set of ?liberventions? in Darfur, Kenya, the Congo, Burma… With a crushing defeat of McCain in the general and the popular will behind him, Obama would certainly have the political capital to attempt such wild schemes. And his supporters?both the Obamaniacs and Obamacons?would not do much to hold him back. Obama voters of all sorts seem to believe that the senator from Illinois is a messiah sent down to us from some secular leftist god. Obama himself seems to concur, clearly infatuated with the image he and his supporters have fashioned. None of this leads me to believe that the election of Barrack Obama would herald a return to realism.