The Perfect Politician

We are but warriors for the working day.
-King Henry V
by William Shakespeare


If the national military establishment is a corporation, then we citizens are its shareholders. It is undeniable that American imperialism has its roots in democracy. As Franklin Delano Roosevelt set the foundation of our modern empire, he enjoyed overwhelming support that has never been equaled. Once the bricks and mortar were laid, the only thing left were arguments about where to place the sunroom and which furnishings should adorn the halls.

Conventional leftist or progressive wisdom purports that elites use rhetorical sleight of hand and overt coercion to manipulate the masses. While not untrue, most Americans have consented to being seduced.

Barack Obama will certainly become the next President of the United States. The popular narrative not withstanding, it will take much more than a cohort of racists to deny him the presidency.

The fundamental currents moving the ship of state are nationalism and internationalism. National security is the star which guides the vessel. Whereas nationalism brought the United States to the cusp of power, internationalism is the legacy of the atomic age ushered by World War II. The youthful vigor of nationalism gave way to the deliberate and considered movements of internationalism.

In this election cycle, the internationalists are surging to victory. The very fact that only senators remain in contention for leadership of the First World testifies to this. Not governors or businessmen promising to impose their will on Washington but consummate insiders who function as equals among the legislative elite.

Barack's team is entrenched firmly in the internationalist camp which advocates for multilateralism. The same Northeastern liberal establishment that produced John F. Kennedy and FDR has conceived Obama. Though he now wears a flag pin, even the Illinois senator's mantras of "Change" and "Yes We Can" are global in their embrace.

The greatest political figures, including Senator Obama, embody the conflicts and opposing isms that comprise America. Politics literally doesn't get more retail than Obama - an Ivy Leaguer whose background is in local community organizing, a state representative of a district enmeshed in Black Power politics who assiduously avoids discussing racial barriers encountered by his supporters, a United States senator offering an olive branch to Cuba and Iran while advocating a more aggressive posture in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Contrary to naysayers, the executive matters for s/he decides which current to follow. We, however, have a small but definite input. And tapping into our aspirations is the source of Barack's exceptional magnificence.