“It’s Not You”

Potential is a French word that means you aren’t worth a darn yet—Jeff Van Note

When I wrote about “teachable moments” this week following the awarding of the 2016 Olympics to Rio and the snub of Chicago, I made two aaumptions: one, that some sort of turning point had been reached in how the public at large related to the President; and two, that both sides of the political spectrum might change their tactics and point to this moment as the impetus.

That moment came and went faster than the President’s pretensions to “centrism” in his inaugural address . Unfortunately, I addressed the possibility of said “teachable moments” to both sides of the political spectrum in this county only. I forgot how much internationalist influence can really be brought to bear on this Administration, or, conversely, how bending to said internationalism is a, if not the, linchpin of how this Administration conducts its business.

The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama is, when you think about it, not that much of a head-scratcher. A real skeptic would wonder what took the Nobel committee so long; why didn’t they just hand it to him after he won the election? [Better yet, why not split it up among all those who voted for him?]

As it stands, the Europeans—the ones who consider appeasement and abject prostration before all perceived and self-proclaimed victims of “Orientalism” [and others who have a stake in the promulgation of said political philosophy as the quasi-religion it has become]—wanted to make sure that Barack and the Dems stay the course.

The fear that Obama may take the Chicago “snub” personally was more trenchant than anyone could have realized, so this was someone’s way of making up for it.

The message?

“We still don’t like your country…but it isn’t your fault. We love YOU and what you’re trying to do. We can’t, and won’t, give your country any succor if we can help it…but take this instead, and you can consider yourself one of us.”

I can only hope that Obama is as smart as he’s been made out to be and sees through the ruse. But that would mean that I’m assuming that he’s been able to sift our country’s interests from everyone else’s [or his], and that may be giving him too much credit.