Old-World Embrace

National Review: Ancient lessons For Obama

(National Review Online)  This column was written by Thomas F. Madden.

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Barack Obama is about to receive a great, big hug from the people of Europe. He is their candidate and they love him to death. Not only are his approval ratings sky high there, but in Germany, France, and Italy he is favored over John McCain by more than a 50-percent margin. Europe’s newspapers and airwaves are filled with giddy anticipation for the event. As the London Observer summed it up “The world is waiting to love America again.”

There is no doubt that the throngs of adoring fans who will pour out to see the freshman senator from Illinois will make for good TV. But how will it play in Peoria? Four years ago I was living in Italy when Teresa Heinz Kerry gave her convention speech studded with European languages. The Italians (whose language was among the included) were beside themselves with admiration. At last, they thought, the Americans would reject their cowboy president and choose someone who cared about them. John Kerry’s proficiency in French only made it that much better. European public-opinion polls showed Kerry defeating Bush by double-digit margins.

But Europeans can’t vote - and the love affair between Europe and John Kerry did not go over well with many Americans. It was not just further evidence of Kerry’s elitism, but it suggested that as president he would be more concerned with European applause than American security. The Manchester Guardian’s “Operation Clark County,” which tried to swing the vote in Ohio to Kerry’s side, didn’t help matters. In many Americans’ minds Kerry had become the candidate of Europe, leaving America to George W. Bush.

Undoubtedly, Obama’s campaign managers are discerning the historical lessons of the Kerry defeat. But they might want to look a bit further back as well. During the days of the Republic, the ancient Romans had a relationship with the Greeks very like that of Americans and Europeans today. Romans revered the Greeks for their high culture and magnificent history. Unlike Rome, Greece was filled with marble adorned cities in which art and architecture was brought to unparalleled heights. Unlike the Romans, the Greeks could boast a rich body of literature, drama, and philosophical tracts. But the Romans were strong, while the Greeks were weak. Indeed, after 196 B.C. it was the Roman military that guaranteed Greek independence, defending the Greeks against outside invaders. By the mid-second century B.C. the Romans had begun to see the Greeks as decadent elites with little common sense. They were antiquity’s postmoderns. As Cato the Elder complained, the Greek spirit questioned everything and settled nothing. For their part, the Greeks considered Romans to be intolerably arrogant and dreadfully boorish. Anti-Romanism in Greece increased throughout the century.

Like Americans, average Romans valued simple virtues and a sturdy character. Since almost all Roman politicians in the second century B.C. came from Rome’s wealthiest and most venerable families, it is not surprising that they were reasonably cultured. They could speak and read Greek and were familiar with Greek culture - many of them avaricious consumers of it. But they were also politicians, and they knew that coming off as a Hellenophile would not play with the voters. Scipio Africanus’ political opponents made a point of claiming “that he walked about the gymnasium in a Greek mantle and Greek slippers and spent his time amongst rhetoricians and athletes and that the whole of his staff were enjoying the attractions of [Greek] Syracuse and living a life of similar self-indulgence and effeminacy.”

Marius, who was a “new man” (i.e. not from a patrician family), made a virtue of his low birth and his unfamiliarity with Greek ways. In speeches he relished the fact that Rome’s elites “call me vulgar and unpolished, because I do not know how to put on an elegant dinner and do not have actors at my table or keep a cook who has cost me more than my farm overseer. All this, my fellow citizens, I am proud to admit.” And as for his Greek-loving political opponents, Marius was proud to say that he did not share their passions. “Nor have I studied Greek literature; I had no interest in a branch of learning which did nothing to improve the characters of its professors.”

By the first century B.C. when Cicero (another new man) was on the stump it was political suicide to be seen as a Greek effete or dandy. Although Cicero spoke Greek fluently, he was happy to relate his grandfather’s maxim that “the better one learns Greek the worse a scoundrel one becomes.” Cicero was well-versed in Greek culture, yet he pretended not to remember the names of Greek artists and dished out contempt for Roman elites who slavishly aped Greek manners and tastes. Cicero knew well the political dangers of being too chummy with the Old World elite.

Does Barack Obama?

Certainly those around him do, and he is also getting plenty of advice from Europeans themselves. The Guardian for example, reminded the senator that “To be seen as Europe's pet is the last thing a presidential candidate needs - especially one who wants to shed his elitist image with white working-class American voters.” According to the Los Angeles Times Europeans are “aware that anything that looks or smells like elitist Old Europe could hurt the Democratic contender with voters back home.”

No doubt Obama will follow Le Figaro’s recent advice and avoid criticizing the U.S. while on foreign shores. He may even resist the temptation to sprinkle a few foreign words into his speeches. (He should certainly avoid any sentence that begins, “Ich bin…”.) If he’s smart he will recount the successes of the NATO alliance and express a clear resolve to strengthen it.

But even if he sidesteps the potholes that crippled the Kerry campaign, will he avoid its fate? It’s a difficult question. Because no matter what Obama says in Europe, and no matter how many times he says it, there will still be the crowds. And they will be vast, ecstatic, and thoroughly European. With their cheering enthusiasm they will make abundantly clear to Americans just who they want elected in November.

And in that great, big, adoring embrace, the Europeans really could love their candidate to death.

[ubrew12]

NRO: "And in that great, big, adoring embrace, the Europeans really could love their candidate to death."

Too bad he''s not their candidate, although NRO gets a B+ for trying to paint him as such.

If Obama is Europe''s candidate, is McSame big-oil''s candidate? Is McSame China''s candidate?

[Razzl]

First of all, nobody, not even most of us educated types, even knew that Kerry''s wife went to Europe or made any speeches there (such is the level of detail in which the MSM covers the news these days), so it could not possibly have affected anybody''s opinion of Kerry. It had none, zip, zero affect on public opinion in the US, though NRO writers cling to their cherished belief that somewhere out there millions of Fox News viewers are hanging on every news tidbit about Democratic candidates looking for a chance to feign revulsion at manufactured perceptions of "elitism".

And second, all this tedious irrelevant blah blah about the Romans ignores the true historical fact about Europe in relation to American politics: that Europe''s former fascist states learned their lesson from their American conquerors at the end of WWII and managed to set up a social and economic order that incorporates all of the personal and economic freedoms found in America while preserving their humane social welfare practices based upon Christian and socialist principles. European-style Social Democracy is the model of society that America must now seek to emulate if we hope to achieve the fruits of our political philosophy and Obama and the Democrats will try to bring us closer to that example. Perhaps that genuine historical analogy is too painfully near for Madden and the NRO crew to even hint at it in writing...

[wogerwabbit]

It''s amazing how rich old white guy Republicans are trying to paint a black guy with a middle class upbringing as an elitist. I don''t get their logic.

[d33pthroat1]

Wasn''t it McCain himself criticizing Obama for not having been to the Middle East in recent months?

Frikking neocons.. Damned if you do, damned if you dont.

This article is using the examples from ancient Rome (!) and Greece(!) to prove that this foreign trip could hurt Obama! If that isn''t scraping the bottom of the barrel, then I dont know what is.

And..Kerry''s knowledge of French and his wife giving a speech peppered with foreign language is in no way a harbinger of what could happen to Obama.

Why?

Because Kerry and Obama are different in more fundamental terms.

Kerry was a rich, old, white man who just didn''t sit well with majority of the common folk. He was lethargic, boring, monotonous and dripped elitism.

The only thing going for him was his opposition to the war and even that was lost once he got tagged as a "flip-flopper".

Kerry''s foreign language skills or his wife''s speeches were negligible factors - if they were a factor at all.

Now in 2008, Obama is a rockstar both abroad AND at home. He is young and dynamic and most people end up nodding in agreement everytime he opens his mouth. He is likeable and that is why he will win.

For a much better and more balanced article from the NRO, go here--
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/23/opinion/main4285596.shtml

[ioweign]

Dont go to Iraq and get slammed
Go to Iraq and get slammed
Ignore the Europeans and get slammed
Meet with the Europeans and get slammed

cons have always been the kings of hypocrisy but now it is a desperate hypocrisy. I''''m surprised the republican party hasnt impeached Bush.

Posted by ainttaken at 06:41 PM : Jul 24, 2008

Republicans have no problem eating their young - Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld aren''t young...

[ausus-2009]

"(Europe) managed to set up a social and economic order that incorporates all of the personal and economic freedoms found in America while preserving their humane social welfare practices based upon Christian and socialist principles."

What a dream world razzi lives in. Europeans are over-regulated and overtaxed. As well as their maze of regulations on everything including duck eggs, many places have income taxes exceeding 90%, gasoline is as high as $10 a gallon, many countries have law based on the person being guilty until proved innocent and there are media laws that would seem totalitarian to most Americans. A couple of quick examples, in England there is a camera spying on the public for every 14 people; in Switzerland it is a crime to flush your toilet after 10.30 at night.

I hope Obama doesn''t bring back any of those concepts.

[standlee5]

"Europe%u2019s newspapers and airwaves are filled with giddy anticipation for the event. As the London Observer summed it up %u201CThe world is waiting to love America again.%u201D


Good. Maybe we can pimp him out for big $. Europe can send money if they love us so much.

[samthetvcat]

A reporter at Der Spiegel pointed out that Barack didn''t even allow Foreign press to interview him in Germany so he thought the speech must have been for home consumption.

But aren''t we all looking at the speech and thinking that it couldn''t have possibly been for home consumption because that kind of stuff doesn''t really go over very well with voters.

So what gives? I think he''s addicted to adulation and obsessed with his legacy. Apparently the German reporter got that impression too because his piece was titled "People of the World - Look at Me."

What''s with that? :o

[pavlov02]

John McCain was in Columbus, Ohio yesterday ,not to campaign, but for a cancer funding event, held in German Village ( an area of Cols.) with a thousand other cancer survivors. NOT TO EAT IN A GERMAN RESTAURANT!!! You really should get your facts straight. The Fowns, Columbus Ohio

[mycomment-2009]

''As Cato the Elder complained, the Greek spirit questioned everything and settled nothing''

Wow, this quote taken from the above article certainly describes Obama to a tee. Funny!

[sanfelz]

A typical NRO article: slam Obama for contrived and imagined personal shortcomings with no discussion of policy. NRO columnists are afraid of Europeans, Muslims, ***, non-whites, etc.,etc.
Calling Obama an elitist when he is from a poor family while McCain, the adulterer, is a kept man is the usual nonsense.
According to the logic of NRO, McCain, like Bush, is qualified to be president because he is not as intelligent as his opponent.

[rayuk-2009]

Another NRO display of stupidity. Keep it up and some might favor you over the Weekly Standard. I think pathetic fits both groups exactly.

[oneamerican_]

Someone very wise once said: "Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it."

Obama, the know-it-all elitist and pontificating King of Europe, is already entrenched in his path to political doom.

[grigjd3]

Did this guy really just suggest we''re like Rome right before the Empire?

[cbsnowfox]

"But Europeans can%u2019t vote - and the love affair between Europe and John Kerry did not go over well with many Americans."

You of course do mean those unamerican''s who bought into the lies, filth, and falsehoods behind the SWIFTBOAT ads...Well let''s face it, with the dumbing down of so much of the American electorate, many of whom''s idea of intelligent entertainment is a reality show, you''d expect Kerry to have lost that election. Of course, it didn''t hurt none that Ken Blackwell, Republican Sect''y of State for Ohio carried the water for the liars, scoundrels, and thieves also known as the amBUSHed administration.

[cbsnowfox]

OneAmerican says: "Someone very wise once said: "Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it."

Obama, the know-it-all elitist and pontificating King of Europe, is already entrenched in his path to political doom."

Now you''re showing your complete ignorance. Does the name Nazi Germany ring a bell to you? Dictator''s (American foreign policy under the Bush Administration) in my humble experience have a short shelf life. So, if your statement "Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.", is so very obvious then how is it that Republican NEO-CONartists have and are OCCUPYING a country under the false heading of "war"? This is an OCCUPATION, not a war. There have been two large countries that attempted to occupy countries in the past 70 years...first Nazi Germany and now the good ole USofA...thanks to the NeoCONartists...who''ve obviously learned nothing of actual history and have doomed themselves to create their own demise...wait ''til NOVEMBER!

[dashortround]

We could really use a President that the world admires, rather than hates (like GW Bush).

You can obviously get a LOT more done when you''re loved and admired than when you''re hated and despised.

To regain our place of respect in the world, after 8 years of the GOP squandering and destroying it, we need to elect a President that the world respects and admires as much as we Americans do.

Only Senator Barack Obama fits that description.

[bluestardad]

YOU CAN SEE THE RIGHT WING KOOL AID DRINKING NEOCONS DISLIKE OBAMA!

EVERYONE OF THE AIPAC MEMBERS AND THE SEND OTHER PEOPLES CHILDREN TO DEFEND ISRAEL AN THE OIL COMPANIES FOR THE NEXT HUNDRED YEAR CROWD ARE USING EVERYTHING IN THEIR ARSENAL TO DISCREDIT OBAMA.

THEY CANT BUY HIM!

THEY CANT BLACKMAIL HIM!

THEY WANTED TO TAKE HIM OUT ON THIS TRIP!

THEY KNOW HE IS GETTING AMERICA OUT OF THE MIDDLE EAST WHERE AMERICA HAS BEEN BOGGED DOWN FOR THE PAST 65 YEARS!

IF THAT ANGERS THE RIGHT WING CHRISTIAN NUT JOBS AND THEIR BRAIN WASHED NEOCONS OR THE DUEL PASSPORT HOLDING AMERICAN ISRAELIS LIKE JOE LIEBERMAN THEN SO BE IT!

IT IS TIME AMERICA DID WHAT WAS IN ITS OWN BEST INTEREST!

THERE IS NOTHING IN THE MIDDLE EAST THAT AMERICA NEEDS!

THERE IS NOTHING IN THE MIDDLE EAST THAT IS A THREAT TO AMERICA!

THE ONLY REASON MIDDLE EAST ARTICLES ARE KEPT IN THE AMERICAN MEDIA IS BECAUSE AIPAC MEMBERS RUN THE AMERICAN MEDIA AND FILM INDUSTRY!

AMERICA STAND UP OR SHUT UP!

TAKE BACK YOUR COUNTRY!

[bluestardad]

YOU CAN SEE THE RIGHT WING KOOL AID DRINKING NEOCONS DISLIKE OBAMA!

EVERYONE OF THE AIPAC MEMBERS AND THE SEND OTHER PEOPLES CHILDREN TO DEFEND ISRAEL AN THE OIL COMPANIES FOR THE NEXT HUNDRED YEAR CROWD ARE USING EVERYTHING IN THEIR ARSENAL TO DISCREDIT OBAMA.

THEY CANT BUY HIM!

THEY CANT BLACKMAIL HIM!

THEY WANTED TO TAKE HIM OUT ON THIS TRIP!

THEY KNOW HE IS GETTING AMERICA OUT OF THE MIDDLE EAST WHERE AMERICA HAS BEEN BOGGED DOWN FOR THE PAST 65 YEARS!

IF THAT ANGERS THE RIGHT WING CHRISTIAN NUT JOBS AND THEIR BRAIN WASHED NEOCONS OR THE DUEL PASSPORT HOLDING AMERICAN ISRAELIS LIKE JOE LIEBERMAN THEN SO BE IT!

IT IS TIME AMERICA DID WHAT WAS IN ITS OWN BEST INTEREST!

THERE IS NOTHING IN THE MIDDLE EAST THAT AMERICA NEEDS!

THERE IS NOTHING IN THE MIDDLE EAST THAT IS A THREAT TO AMERICA!

THE ONLY REASON MIDDLE EAST ARTICLES ARE KEPT IN THE AMERICAN MEDIA IS BECAUSE AIPAC MEMBERS RUN THE AMERICAN MEDIA AND FILM INDUSTRY!

AMERICA STAND UP OR SHUT UP!

TAKE BACK YOUR COUNTRY!