America more like Europe?

CBS News - Cheered by an enormous international crowd, Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama on Thursday summoned Europeans and Americans together to "defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it" as surely as they conquered communism a generation ago. Obama said he was speaking as a citizen, not as a president, but the evening was awash in politics as the first-term U.S. senator sought to burnish his international credentials for the fall campaign at home. His remarks before a crowd estimated at more than 200,000 inevitably invited comparison to historic speeches in the same city by Presidents Kennedy and Reagan. [snip] "People of Berlin, people of the world, this is our moment. This is our time," he declared. "The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand," Obama said, speaking not far from where the Berlin Wall once divided the city.

"The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes, natives and immigrants, Christians and Muslims and Jews cannot stand," he said. [snip] Knots of bystanders waited along Obama's motorcade route for him to pass. One man yelled out in English, "Yes, we can," the senator's campaign refrain, when he emerged from his car to enter his hotel. For his speech, Obama drew loud applause as he strode confidently across a large podium erected at the base of the Victory Column in Tiergarten Park in the heart of Berlin. The crowd spilled away from the Column for blocks. [snip] He drew loud applause when he talked of a world without nuclear weapons and again when he called for steps to counter climate change. [snip] "Where the last war had ended, another World War could have easily begun," the presidential candidate said.

These massive crowds obviously yearn to make America more like Europe and they see Obama as the easiest way to do this. Perhaps it's beyond their capacity but you have to ask yourself if that's a good thing, America becoming like Europe? I don't think so because for one, what can Europe do? I mean they've got the EU and the Euro and supposedly it's all great and wonderful, but what can they do for the globe? America brought freedom from tyranny to Iraq and Afghanistan and scared the tripe out of Egypt and Libya. Can Europe do the same, if so why don't they do it? There are numerous countries around the world that are in the grip of tyrants, Burma, Zimbabwe, Sudan, North Korea, Tibet etc. It's all well and good to be holding hands, cheering, waving flags and chanting "Yes we can", but any fool can do that.

I read on another blog today that Libya had stopped its state-run oil tanker company from shipping oil to Switzerland because of the arrest of Muammar Qaddafi's son for assaulting two hotel staff. Remember when the Iranians captured British sailors and paraded them on national TV and Iranian savages were pelting the British embassy in Tehran with eggs, stones and everything else on a regular basis. Remember that British teacher who was jailed in Sudan for insulting Islam, remember the burning of the Danish embassies over the cartoon fiasco. These incidents are indications of Europe's weakness and impotence. In summary, if some third-world craphole decides to give Europe the diplomatic equivalent of 'screw you westerners, you can kiss my ass', what is Europe going to do.

On the evening news I saw a supporter in Germany who was ecstatic because Obama was like a global citizen. You got the strong impression that there is hope in Europe because of Obama, a hope that things would be better for the world if Obama got elected. We know the American left and the global left want America to become more like Europe, inferring that Europe is better. Let's assume for a moment that this is correct and that it's a good thing, let's also assume that Obama is a genuine fellow and can actually make the world a better place. But here is a contradiction, if Europe is better and Obama is better, why is it that only America could produce a Barack Obama? Why is it that post-modern, progressive, secular, socialist-leaning Europe cannot produce a Barack Obama to save the world, to unite us, to bring down the walls?

From my perspective, the rest of the globe should logically be rooting for a McCain or some other Republican, if nothing else for the sake of our own self interest. It makes sense to back someone who you know is more than prepared to use force and come to the defense of others in their time of need. If you think about it, who can stand up to a China or Russia if they decide to strong-arm an Australia or Netherlands. What about a nuclear Iran that develops long range missiles that can strike any European city. Obama can prattle on about one world, no walls and all that crap, but what makes you think he will take on a nuclear China or Iran when he doesn't have the balls to take on an insurgency using RPGs, IEDs and Suicide bombs in backwater Fallujah.

Obama's already said that he's going to scale the US military back, so even if he musters the will to stand up for you, his options thanks to his socialist leanings [which will bring America more in line with the rest of us like most are yearning for] are going to be limited. I remember a long time ago hearing some commentator saying that most of us would have to drastically increase our defense spending if we were to take on the responsibility of defending ourselves without America. So we'll either have to jack up taxes or let go of some of our taxpayer-funded schemes if we go down that route. Perhaps too many of us have been gulping too much koolaid and are now ignorant of this and need the real cost of security to burst our little utopian bubbles before we wake up.