Obama’s liberal fantasy? Or could it be …
Barack Obama’s foreign policy is based entirely on liberal fantasy, according to Michael Goodwin in the New York Daily News.
If he’s right, then other liberals include Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon and the entire Iraq Study Group. Obama’s crime is calling for diplomacy with countries such as Iran. Did the conservative press label Reagan a liberal for negotiating with the Iranians who took Americans hostage?
There’s something even more sinister in many of the attacks on Obama, and Goodwin’s piece is a prime example. Obama’s comments about negotiating with our “enemies” included folks like Hugo Chavez, yet Goodwin consistently portrays Obama has being soft on Muslims. Last time I looked, Chavez wasn’t Muslim. Neither are the leaders of South Korea or many other countries we’re not friendly with.
Last time I looked, most Muslims weren’t enemies of the United States. By all accounts, some of our best friends are Muslim, even those who despise George Bush’s policies.
So why twist this into religion? Is it to continue the insinuation that Obama is Muslim? Is it to cast Muslims in a bad light to illustrate why it would be such a bad thing if he were Muslim? Venezuela is overwhelmingly Catholics, but I haven’t heard the President or anyone else suggest that negotiating with Chavez would be wrong because it would be appeasing Christians (to these unreconstructed Cold Warriors, that’s bad because it appeases communists).
Goodwin also dismisses the economic problems that are fueling anger among some Muslims. The conservatives have to dismiss these concerns so people will go on believing that their belief in Islam is the only reason some Muslims want change.
So get ready for the storyline this summer and fall: Obama is Muslim. Oh wait, no he isn’t; he’s a radical Christian who listens to his minister. Oh wait, he disavowed that minister, so maybe he’s a Muslim sympathizer after all.
Since the press obviously isn’t going to drop this story, I hope we continue to read it for the next eight years as the establishment press attacks President Barack Obama.
That’s my liberal fantasy.
