David Deming: Why Obama Will Lose

Normally I'm not inclined to link to pure editorials. I'm more interested in topics such as media bias, inaccurate polls, and the like. But today Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit linked to an editorial that caught my attention. The author is David Deming and the title of the piece is "Why Obama will lose". Here's the part that thought was noteworthy.

What a contrast there is between [Benjamin] Franklin and Barack Obama. Obama is a Harvard lawyer who is a mile wide and an inch deep. He is only the latest in a long line of shallow elites that consider it stylish and intellectual to despise their own culture and heritage.

Nothing exemplifies Obama’s antipathy for American culture better than his statement that Americans “cling to” religion and guns out of frustration or bitterness. We only can suppose that Obama regards religion or firearms as aberrations that need to be eradicated.

Of course, both guns and religion are essential aspects of American culture. The United States was founded by people seeking religious freedom. Does the word “Pilgrim” ring a bell with anyone? Our freedom and the right to self-government were won by farmers with guns.

Now I'm not as confident as Deming is--I don't know if Obama will lose; this race has been too unpredictable to me to make such statements with confidence. I can say, however, that if Obama does lose I think one of the fundamental reasons is described in the quoted text, above.

I've had many discussions with friends (and others) that are honestly and passionately liberal people. Just like me they have thought about various issues and come to have a worldview. I don't agree with it in many cases, but I do respect that they haven't come to their viewpoints by happenstance.

There is one trend, though, in their thinking that I find troubling--the really don't think much of the United State of America. The see the stars and stripes as a symbol of tyranny and interference around the world. I don't. They see your average American as dumb and uncultured. I don't. They look to Europe and see a shining example of how American should be. I can't see it. And, most of all, they look down at people in the center of the country--from those infamous states in the middle--as uneducated rednecks worthy only of scorn and being the butt of jokes. That attitude disgusts me.

I certainly don't think that America is perfect. There are lots of things that I would change if I had the opportunity. But I do think America has done pretty well, in terms of history. I love the system of government that was set down by the founding fathers and have great faith in its adaptability and that it will serve us for many years to come. I've had many friends that the media would immediately classify as "red necks". They are good people leading good lives.

When I look at Obama and hear his quote about "clinging to guns" and hear his wife talk about how, only for the first time, she's proud of her country and I can't help but be reminded of this attitude. Yes, he genuinely wants to change America and he wants to make it better--not worse as the partisan shrill on the right would have you believe. But I believe he wants to change it because he thinks that at the moment it is quite horrible. He wants to make it better because, in his honest opinion, where it is now is contemptible.

I don't know how much that attitude will affect the election, but I couldn't disagree with him more. I want to change America too; I want to see it grow and become a stronger and better nation. I just think the country and its people are pretty admirable as it stands. I can't say that the reasons Deming gives are enough to say that Obama will lose (read the whole thing). I can say with conviction that they should be.