Facebook Transplant Part 8 - Originally Posted 27/3/09 - St Obama Loses his Halo

I have been thinking about writing this little rant/blog for a few weeks now. I must admit that the cautious optimism that I felt regarding the election of St. Obama has faded almost completely and I now look at him as potentially the worst president in decades.

I read today a very interesting piece in the New York Post. http://www.nypost.com/seven/03252009/postopinion/opedcolumnists/os_foreign_failures_161154.htm?&page=0. Unfortunately, the UK press, not to mention our government, is so enamoured with St. Obama that any criticism is largely left unuttered, or explained away with vapid clichés and sound bytes. The cult of celebrity of St. Obama seems unassailable – even the snubbing of our personality-deficient Prime Minister is swept under the covers with astonishing speed.

I have been stewing over the “snub” of Gordon Brown for a while now. I personally can’t stand the man, but this is very worrying for the “special relationship” between the USA and UK. For those of you who don’t know, during his recent visit to the US, Brown presented a very thoughtful and pertinent present to St. Obama, and in return was given a crappy boxed set of DVDs. (More info here http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1159627/To-special-friend-Gordon-25-DVDs-Obama-gives-Brown-set-classic-movies-Lets-hope-likes-Wizard-Oz.html).In addition, the entire time they were together felt forced and insincere. St. Obama’s staff even cancelled a joint press conference (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5837571.ece).

It’s actually quite pathetic how all of our political big wigs in all major parties pander to the ill informed public approval for St. Obama. Not a single opportunity to attach themselves to his ascendance goes unused – even in Prime Minister’s Question time Labour backbenchers take every chance to try and tie their own faltering government’s feeble attempts to keep the country on track to a “wider plan” being launched by St. Obama.

Why is St. Obama squandering all of the international good will that his election brought? Naiveté? Indifference? Closet isolationism? I have no idea, but he is showing a shameful indifference to international alliances in favour of trying to curry influence with major powers such as China, Russia and even the EU as opposed to supporting the smaller scale but historically far more loyal, reliable, and even moral allies. Instead of rebuilding America's place in the world, I think that he is doing just as much damage as Bush ever did, but this time to steadfast and loyal allies and partners.

His antagonism for the British might be understandable if the rumours of his Grandfather being mistreated in colonial Kenya are actually true. If they are, and there doesn’t seem to be any proof, they demonstrate a worrying inability to let bygones be bygones – hardly something that you want to see in the first black president in US history, and possibly a harbinger of his being unduly influenced by racially motivated groups and ideals during his administration.

His domestic and economic policy is also somewhat worrying. I don’t pretend to have the faintest idea of how to reverse the recession, but something fundamental inside me recoils from the idea that massive deficit spending is the solution. I am not alone either, as can be seen from the comments of the latest EU president (http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/26/obamas-budget-policies-under-attack-overseas/ - I love the Czechs).

So, in the two months or so since he has taken over as the most powerful man in the world, the shine has definitely come off St. Obama for me, and I think for a lot of other people, especially the left and liberals, although the latter would not dare to voice their disillusion.