Obama: A Man Apart
by Herbert London
10/28/2009
Albert Camus was expert at describing a man apart, an existential man
The Stranger, who didn’t belong in the society in which he found
himself. He didn’t have emotional roots; in fact, this character was
haunted by shadows — the real and the metaphorical. He is the
quintessential rebel challenging normative standards.
At the risk of drawing literary comparisons, I am persuaded based on
his performance that President Obama is a man apart. He seems to
equate power with arrogance; pride with willfulness and exceptionalism
with dominance. As a consequence, he has changed foreign policy
perceptions. The America he leads is a nation like any other — no
more, no less. In fact, as a Nobel laureate, he is considered by the
Europeans as a man of the world, not merely a citizen of the United
States.
When asked if the United States is exceptional, President Obama said
America is exceptional and England is exceptional and Greece is
exceptional. That the United States is sui generis didn’t cross his
mind. How could it? He is pledged to a scenario in which America opts
out of its traditional role as peace keeper, the balance wheel in
maintaining international equilibrium. The war against terrorists is
over along with the nation’s hegemonic role.
Unfortunately the war fatigue President Obama embodies is not embraced
by our global enemies who see this shift in his policy attitude as a
sign of weakness and retreat. I believe President Obama actually
thinks that unilateral concessions to our real and putative enemies
will result in reciprocal responses. But as his bizarre overtures to
the Olympic Committee demonstrated, gestures directed at
multilateralism and celebrity status do not result in favorable
results. Real power as opposed to soft power still has meaning on the
world stage.
A man with roots would know that wild policy swings of the kind that
we’ve experienced with healthcare, cap and trade and education
proposals cannot possibly fly, with the American people, even with
those who voted for President Obama in the last election. Despite
cultural shifts in the nation, the United States still fashions itself
as a conservative nation. Only a man apart cannot sense that
condition.
My contention is not that the president is devoid of conviction. In
fact, his political tilt is decidedly to the left, the hardcore left.
My assertion is different. I believe this president doesn’t understand
the rhythms, the pulse of the American people. He is not merely
outside the main stream. He doesn’t even recognize it. He is a
basketball player who has been asked to bat.
At first I thought his initial popularity would carry him through to a
second term. But as each day passes and the false, almost
inappropriate, gestures register Americans are beginning to recognize
this man apart. He is our stranger in a land he doesn’t understand.
Americans are not war-like, nor does imperial ambition fill their
soul. They have done almost nothing for which daily apologies are
necessary. Their blood soaks the beaches of Normandy, their graves
litter European towns. And their fortune saved millions from the
plight of destitution. Americans do not appreciate a man so removed
from their history, so out of tune with the American experience, that
he reflexively expresses regret for the very conditions that should
engender pride.
Perhaps this president will learn. But I am not confident that can
happen. His life experience without a father in his home and a mother
seeking adventure abroad is unstable. His closest associates vilified
the nation he now leads. Is it any wonder his wife said she could take
no pride in America till now? The past is to be rejected. Milestones
in history are erased from memory as storage cast aside as
unnecessary.
This is a unique moment in our history. It is certainly the only time
in my life when our national instincts are being reconditioned. From a
nation that was a model to the world, we are now told that superiority
is unbecoming, a hindrance for the emergence of global egalitarianism.
President Obama, as a man apart, may attempt this recasting of
America, but, as I see it, America is not yet ready for his
experimentation and, most likely, never will be.
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Dr. London is president of the Hudson Institute, John M. Olin
Professor of Humanities at New York University, publisher of American
Outlook, and author of the recently published Decade of Denial.