The consummate demagogue

Demagogues tend to get their way by inflaming others’ prejudices and hatred. Hitler had the Jews, whom he used as scapegoats for all of Germany’s ills. Lenin fired up the masses by railing against capitalists. Mao Zedong blamed China’s woes on imperialists and their “running dog compradors”. In all cases the demagogue uses popular desires and prejudices, rather than reason to achieve his ends.

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America now has a president who is an accomplished demagogue, telling different groups of people what they want to hear in order to gain their trust and support. During the election campaign, Barack Obama met with a group of elite west coast supporters and decried the sentiments of small-town America by stating its citizens "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them" in order to rationalize the loss of their jobs. Then he told those same gun-clingers that if elected he would strike down the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which was sending their jobs to foreigners, while his minions quietly informed concerned Canadian government officials that the candidate was merely posturing. Of late, Mr. Obama has found a new group of scapegoats to demagogue: bankers and Wall Street executives. Here’s a target that’s safe to attack, given the state of the current economy and he’s pulled out all stops in vilifying his target. “This [AIG] is a corporation that finds itself in financial distress due to recklessness and greed.” Mr. Obama exclaimed during a meeting with small business leaders. “Under these circumstances it’s hard to understand how derivative traders at AIG warranted any bonuses, much less $165 million in extra pay. How do they justify this outrage to taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat?” All this makes for great sound bites from an administration desperately attempting to divert attention from its own shortcomings. It seems that there isn’t a crisis that can’t be blamed on anyone else. At a recent retreat for Democrat lawmakers held at the tony Virginia Kingsmill Resort and Spa, Obama told the assembled lawmakers, “[We] are not going to get relief by turning back to the same policies that for the last eight years doubled the national debt and threw our economy into a tailspin. … If you’re headed for a cliff, you’ve got to change direction.” Only problem is that instead of doubling the national debt, Mr. Obama’s plan is going to triple or quadruple the national debt, as the quantities of cash he has thrown at it in his first two months in office, makes George W. Bush look positively miserly. What is most interesting about all of this is that the nation’s media have largely refused to cover any of the president’s demagogic contradictions. But, given that most members of the media have acted as an extension of the Democratic National Committee, it’s no surprise. It appears the Democrats want to punish those they hold responsible for the country’s current economic woes and in Barack Obama they have found someone who never tires of rooting out new people to take the blame. Looking at this crisis logically, there wouldn’t be a credit crunch if the world’s banks had stayed away from financial derivatives. There wouldn’t be risky financial derivatives such as credit-default swaps, if it weren’t for sub-prime mortgages. There wouldn’t be any sub-prime mortgages if it weren’t for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac fanning the flames and actively seeking out such loans. Fannie and Freddy wouldn’t have needed to be saved from themselves if it weren’t for Chris Dodd, Barney Frank and the Community Reinvestment Act, all of which are Democrat brand names that encouraged, no, urged people who couldn’t afford to own a home into buying one. No wonder the president and his party are desperately seeking new scapegoats to publicly pillory, lest the truth emerges and the real perpetrators of this travesty are identified. While Mr. Obama was elected on the promise of change, the type of change he has so far brought about has surprised many of his supporters and made not a few of them uneasy. While George W. Bush admittedly squandered money in the billions of dollars, Barack Obama is doing so in the trillions. The change he is bringing is more of the same, except on a larger scale. When it comes to stewarding the nation’s affairs, Mr. Obama’s performance has been disappointing, to say the least. On the other hand, his innate natural rhetorical talents and his keen sense of being able to play on people’s prejudices are keeping his approval numbers up. The question is, for how long?