I have a dream … and a nightmare

”Watch behind you; remember you’re just a man!” Victor Davis Hanson tried to warn Barack Obama on the eve of his "I Am the Dream" acceptance speech at Mile High Stadium in Denver (above) two years ago on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech.

"But perhaps the greatest consideration is Obama’s Hellenic hubris, which is different than simple arrogance," wrote Victor Davis Hanson in late August of 2008 with rare insight into the character of the man who would become our 44th President. First a few words from the great military historian and then our own reading of the entrails, the dream and the nightmare of our blogtitle. Here's Hanson back then:

Hubris is a sort of fit, a haughtiness steeped in delusions of grandeur and divinity that takes over a weak individual, and soon encourages recklessness and overreaching (atê), all culminating in ruin and divine retribution (nemesis).

Go figure: Obama/Oedipus goes to Berlin. There he speaks in front of a grandiose Victory Column commemorating Prussian arrogance … He reviews American sins … Meanwhile an Ethel in Tulare turns on the TV and sees thousands of Europeans (who habitually make fun of her country) applaud Obama — and makes the logical assumption that they apparently think he is one of them, rather than one of us.

Next, drunk with pride, Obama thinks that such a losing paradigm (again, really a warning from the gods) apparently was not only successful, but will work again in Denver. So he transfers his speech to an outdoor forum, where tens of thousands of raving fans can watch him apotheosize in front of a faux Doric temple and accept nomination.

"Martin Luther King, Jr. chose the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to deliver his audacious message of hope, 'I Have a Dream,' August 28, 1963, exactly 45 years ago tomorrow, when the nation's first major-party black presidential candidate will give his acceptance speech from the podium of a set designer's mini-version of the Great Emancipator's memorial set in a football field," we captioned this image in our post "Obama has a dream" two years back.

So how's Hanson's Obama/Oedipus doing two years later? Sheltered from accountability by an enabling commentariat throughout the presidential campaign and on into the first year and many months of his incumbency, the Leader of the Free World may be puzzled to find himself now with an ominous approval index rating of -14. On Wednesday, during a family vacation on Martha's Vineyard, "a fleet of fishermen gathered 'to protest his destructive eco-policies.'" Don't they realize he knows better than you what's best for you?

Photo caption of our August 29, 2008 post "It's a girl?" the day after Barack Obama's acceptance speech at Mile High Stadium (top photo): "I think [John McCain's] going to evolve into eventually supporting ANWAR," Sarah Palin told Larry Kudlow (above) recently, adding that "Obama is way off on all of that." Watch and listen here, and see what you think. She's Governor of Alaska, a mother of five and only 44 years old — younger than Obama! — and John McCain is rumored to want her for VP. Like Aldo Cella and Elisson, John McCain knows what women like.

Meanwhile, in the wake of two years — and counting! — of unrelenting persecution by that same commentariat, Mama Grizzly Sarah "Don't retreat, instead RELOAD!" Palin has emerged stronger than ever, the President's most persistent and effectual gadfly, first among equals of our Tea Party rabble in arms disintermediating the powers that be and their allies in the legacy media via the internet, Fox News and on-the-ground appearances. Everything she says or does goes viral online and in the gateway media, who can't resist documenting her every move, if only to snark. We don't know President Obama's plans for this 47th anniversary of MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech, but Palin celebrated with Glenn Beck and a multitude of "God's almost chosen people" — as Lincoln called this nation of believers in America's exceptionalism — for Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally at the Lincoln Memorial this morning in a salute to "the good things in America."

"They tell me there are at least 1,000 people here, quipped a joyously weeping Glenn Beck as he mounted the stage at his "Restoring Honor" rally at the Lincoln Memorial this morning. "We are humbled that you are here … Something is happening in this country. America is turning back to God." "This isn't a political rally, its more of an old-time religious camp meeting," twittered political commentator Matt Lewis, who should have known better. As twitterfriend WooHooYoo notes, it's "by design." Beck himself had referred to the event on his Fox News show the other day as the latest iteration of the All-American tradition of "Great Awakenings." There's a bit of Elmer Gantry in Beck's style, and we did have a fleeting "Omigod moment" when he asked the happy crowd to whip out their mobile phones and dial "SOWF944" to text a $10 donation to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. But the difference is that Beck really believes in what he's selling.

Googling old blogposts to gather material for this post, we stumbled upon a fascinating fact that led us to an insight of literally Proverbially Biblical proportions.

The fact: John McCain launched Sarah Palin onto the national stage on August 29, 2008, the very day following Barack Obama's acceptance speech.

The Biblical Proverb (13:24 King James Version): He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

The insight: Like the indulgent parent or the nanny state itself, the effete elites of our political and cultural institutions who enabled Barack Obama's rise by failing to properly vet him are complicit in creating a Mewling Infant President incapable of taking responsibility for his own actions. It's always Bush's fault, or, more recently, the "professional left's" fault.

Extra points for correct answer: By our logic do effete elites who chastened Sarah Palin all these years actually "loveth" her "betimes"?

"We must not fundamentally transform America as some would want. We must fundamentally restore her honor," a luminous Sarah Palin told the tens — possibly hundreds — of thousands of devotees at today's "Restoring Honor" gathering.

Hence our title, "I have a dream … and a nightmare," a play on Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" and Myron Magnet's brilliant analysis of the unintended consequences — infantilization of our fellow citizens — of the welfare state, The Dream and the Nightmare. As we blogged half a decade ago, "It does not take into account the psychology of people."

Update: Melissa Clouthier at Liberty Pundits delights with "Glenn Beck Rally: Restoring Honor, Annoying Lefties." The aerial shot will take your breath away:

Lots of people, hundreds of thousands of them showed up for the Restoring Honor rally at the Lincoln Memorial. The bitter clingers keep showing up.

Update II: Michelle Malkin "Buzzworthy" link!

Update III: Stacy McCain links!

Sissy Willis has some relevant thoughts on Obama’s “Hellenistic hubris” and links Melissa Clouthier:

Update IV: Twitterpal Jimmie of The Sundries Shack links:

As Sissy Willis reminds us, we are not infants and Beck does us the courtesy of not treating us as such.

Update V: Drudge top billing next day: "BECK HAS A DREAM."

Update VI: Dan links with "The Emotionally And Politically Bankrupt Left Was Not Happy Today."

Crossposted at Riehl World View and Liberty Pundits.

Comments

[goomp]

I have a dream that Lincoln's chosen people are going to successfully rise to restore the freedom of the "Shining City on the Hill".

[Granny]

Good article. I do want to point out one thing though. Do you remember before Obama went to Berlin that he had asked to speak at the Brandenburg Gate, a request that Germany refused? This stage set that you show in the first picture is NOT the Lincoln Memorial. It is very clearly the Brandenburg Gate -

Brandenburg Gate at night

Brandenburg Gate by day

JFK made his famous Ich bin eine Berliner speech at the Brandenburg Gate

Reagen spoke of tearing down a wall at the Brandenburg Gate

Before either of them ever visited Germany, others paraded and spoke at the Brandenburg Gate -

I think you'll recognize that international "leader."

[Jake Was Here]

Holy hell, that's creepy. I never noticed the resemblance before.

Seems like Obama said, "Well, if they won't let me use the real one, then God damn it I'll build my own Brandenburg Gate."

[Sissy Willis]

Granny: Good God. It's even worse than I thought. Thanks for your excellent visual analysis.

Jake Was Here: I agree. Totally creepy.

[KingShamus]

Great job, Sissy. Excellent analysis.

'Restoring Honor' was Glenn Beck's moment to transcend the liberal media. The MSM is just too stupid to figure that out just yet.

[sfadfsdf]

I think it's really freaking funny that you quote a pre-election VDH column where he predicted Obama's greek-tragedy style downfall.

Hey buddy! OBAMA WON THE ELECTION! Maybe you should go eat an avocado out on VDH's farm in Cali and get your head around this fact.

[Sissy Willis]

stadfsdf: He won the election but lost the electorate. Have a nice day. :)