Yes, Maybe Liberalism is Dead

We realize this is an extreme headline but it does seem liberalism is in the process of being defeated. Consider that the American public is beginning to understand the idea of spending money you don't have, borrowed from countries you don't consider allies to fund programs which undermine the economy by killing the incentive for citizens to work while scaring employers to death so they are forced to downsize or at best fire American workers and hire others overseas at a more rapid clip is only good for the citizens of China and India.

We discussed how the second American revolution would strike a dagger in the heart of liberalism on November 3rd, 2010 and we still believe this is the case.

We were extremely enthused to see James Piereson of the Weekly Standard echoed our sentiments today with a piece titled No Camelot 2.0, The Decline of Liberal Idealism.

The piece contrasts JFK and Obama and explains how liberalism has morphed over the years and how Kennedy was a president who was an eloquent speaker who lifted the country up while Obama seems to be telling us to manage our expectations.

Here is an excerpt:

Obama might have learned a thing or two from the real JFK as opposed to the idealized image of the man that took shape after his death. The posthumous references to Kennedy’s idealism have obscured the fact that he was a politician of exceptional skill for whom persuasion and compromise were keys to success. He never wanted to get too far ahead of public opinion, nor did he try to ram through controversial legislation on partisan votes.

In truth, the Camelot ideal never fit Obama, who brought to the presidency a sense of ambivalence about the American future and America’s role in the world. It is hard to play the role of inspiring leader while counseling one’s citizens to scale back their expectations. While President Obama is capable of eloquence, his attempts often fall short because they are accompanied by an undertow of caution and pessimism. It is hard to imagine Obama saying, as Kennedy did, that “we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” Such bold calls to arms were perfectly consistent with the liberalism of Kennedy’s time, but for many reasons are at odds with the liberalism of today. For better or worse, Obama’s ambitions do not approach the high ideals of Camelot—and he and his admirers might be better off if they acknowledged that.

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