Posted on 04/28/2008 9:06:13 PM PDT by jazusamo
Many years ago, a great hitter named Paul Waner was nearing the end of his long career. He entered a ballgame with 2,999 hits -- one hit away from the landmark total of 3,000, which so many hitters want to reach, but which relatively few actually do reach.
Waner hit a ball that the fielder did not handle cleanly but the official scorer called it a hit, making it Waner's 3,000th. Paul Waner then sent word to the official scorer that he did not want that questionable hit to be the one that put him over the top.
The official scorer reversed himself and called it an error. Later Paul Waner got a clean hit for number 3,000.
What reminded me of this is the great fervor that many seem to feel over the prospect of the first black President of the United States.
No doubt it is only a matter of time before there is a black president, just as it was only a matter of time before Paul Waner got his 3,000th hit. The issue is whether we want to reach that landmark so badly that we are willing to overlook how questionably that landmark is reached.
Paul Waner had too much pride to accept a scratch hit. Choosing a President of the United States is a lot more momentous than a baseball record. We the voters need to have far more concern about who we put in that office that holds the destiny of a nation and of generations yet unborn.
There is no reason why someone as arrogant, foolishly clever and ultimately dangerous as Barack Obama should become president -- especially not at a time when the threat of international terrorists with nuclear weapons looms over 300 million Americans.
Many people seem to regard elections as occasions for venting emotions, like cheering for your favorite team or choosing a Homecoming Queen.
The three leading candidates for their party's nomination are being discussed in terms of their demographics -- race, sex and age -- as if that is what the job is about.
One of the painful aspects of studying great catastrophes of the past is discovering how many times people were preoccupied with trivialities when they were teetering on the edge of doom. The demographics of the presidency are far less important than the momentous weight of responsibility that office carries.
Just the power to nominate federal judges to trial courts and appellate courts across the country, including the Supreme Court, can have an enormous impact for decades to come. There is no point feeling outraged by things done by federal judges, if you vote on the basis of emotion for those who appoint them.
Barack Obama has already indicated that he wants judges who make social policy instead of just applying the law. He has already tried to stop young violent criminals from being tried as adults.
Although Senator Obama has presented himself as the candidate of new things -- using the mantra of "change" endlessly -- the cold fact is that virtually everything has says about domestic policy is straight out of the 1960s and virtually everything he says about foreign policy is straight out of the 1930s.
Protecting criminals, attacking business, increasing government spending, promoting a sense of envy and grievance, raising taxes on people who are productive and subsidizing those who are not -- all this is a re-run of the 1960s.
We paid a terrible price for such 1960s notions in the years that followed, in the form of soaring crime rates, double-digit inflation and double-digit unemployment. During the 1960s, ghettoes across the countries were ravaged by riots from which many have not fully recovered to this day.
The violence and destruction were concentrated not where there was the greatest poverty or injustice but where there were the most liberal politicians, promoting grievances and hamstringing the police.
Internationally, the approach that Senator Obama proposes -- including the media magic of meetings between heads of state -- was tried during the 1930s. That approach, in the name of peace, is what led to the most catastrophic war in human history.
Everything seems new to those too young to remember the old and too ignorant of history to have heard about it.
Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute and author of Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy.
It would be instructive for many if Dr Sowell were ever asked to express these thoughts in the mass media. I would think Fox would want to consult him, especially now they are so focused on the topic of Obama. Perhaps he is too intelligent for that forum, perhaps something like the intelligence Bob Tyrrell brings: it is undeniable but also somehow fails to come across in the medium, which seems too shallow to accommodate the experience.
Then again, who would have the temerity to argue with him?
May I say it? Crack! Mr. Sowell hits it out of the park.
If the first black President is someone like Thomas Sowell we would have to count our country truly blessed.
I would believe Dr. Sowell has probably been approached for such Media discussions, but is wary of such “opportunities”. I wouldn’t bother with such circus were I he.
Thanks for the ‘Ping’ Jaz. Once again Dr. Sowell does his best.
That needed repeating!
This is an excellent post. Sowell indeed did hit it out of the park!
I’m fanning this to some of my 30 plus friends for them to think about, I mean really to think about. There are three lefty liberals among them but I haven’t given up hope yet!
Thank you Mr. Sowell!
I couldn’t agree more!
Sorry, I didn’t check to see that the link was still active and it’s not. :-(
Dr. Sowell has been very outspoken in his criticism of Obama in several of his columns. :)
Excellent anecdote to start off this column!
Yes. However, I suspect Dr. Sowell is too smart to want to be President.
More’s the pity.
Masterful.
This remarkable man never fails to get it right, and me right when I read his words.
...And I REALLY am not a sports analogy fan, either. But that really made the point.
By a similar line of reasoning we should not want Shrillary to be the “1st Woman President” either!!!!
Let that great milestone be reached in a manner worthy of honor and acclaim, not disappointment and disgrace!
I told my wife tonight that I ask myself everyday why someone like Obama would even consider running for the Presidency: doesn't he know the President may have to make a decision that could end in the deaths of thousands of people?
His arrogance and foolishness prevent him from making a decision that would kill thousands of innocent people in another country, even if that decision would save the lives of thousands of innocent Americans.
And he doesn't have the ability to protect this nation against a nuclear attack: I strongly feel that he'd sleep better at night knowing that a nuclear bomb went off here in America because he wasn't willing to preemptively go to war against a nation like Iran.
A great, after-the-nomination article. Timing is everything.
WOW! Dr. Sowell doesn't mess around!
Very good one, Jaz, thanks for the ping.
It would be interesting if Thomas Sowell as a black would opine as to what percentage of the black community agrees with Jeremiah Wright.
I believe you are correct in saying Obama doesn’t have the ability to protect our nation.
>> No doubt it is only a matter of time before there is a black president,
Well, Mr. Sowell, what are you waiting for?
Thanks for the ping. Excellent column. Spot on.
Dr. Sowell has a way of making it work though. Few people can do it without sounding cliched. Sowell is one of them.
But I do agree with Dr. Sowell. I always envisioned that the first black president would be a conservative Republican. BTW, I always thought the first woman president would be a conservative Republican. Unfortunately, it is more than likley one of those visions will be proven incorrect this time 'round. What a pity.
I hope we’re both wrong but I tend to agree.
"Everything seems new to those too young to remember the old and too ignorant of history to have heard about it."
Two pearls of wisdom from one of the great clear thinkers of our time.
There are certainly blacks qualified to be President. Barack Hussein Obama is not one of them.
But trhere is one in the field: Dr. Alan Keyes.
Probably the first black president should be a Republican. Race appears to be consuming Hussein.
Yes it does, he’s lost a lot of ground in the last couple weeks and I don’t see him getting it back.
Thomas Sowell hits another home run! Let’s see who can come close to him! Sowell for President!
Yesterday's mention for McCain's VP choice?
Dr. Sowell is frequently and warmly mentioned on the G. Gordon Liddy Program. Surely all these mentions can't be missed by McCain!
If you were familiar with Tom Sowell's career, you wouldn't offer such a suggestion. It's not his style.
Careful! This could be one of the all-time super set-ups.There is something stinky about the way Wright is going so public. Is it because him and Obama have agreed on a big smack-down before Indiana so all the "crackers" will think he's their kind of "black"?
I think Obama is the sock-puppet for his wife and Wright. He has been brought along under uncommon circumstances.
From my obsevations I’d say that Dr. Sowell is a gentleman, knows that he personally wouldn’t raise his voice to shout over others and won’t put himself in a position where others can freely shout over him.
****If the first black President is someone like Thomas Sowell we would have to count our country truly blessed****
If Thomas Sowell were our first black President our country would be blessed for eternity.
That’s better;)
Paul Waner was known as “Big Poison.” He had a brother Lloyd, nicknamed “Little Poison.”
The link worked for me, but it turned out to be a leftist media watchdog site which made sure only to post the part which would outrage liberals and to exclude whatever Dr. Sowell and Sean conversed about. I read what the poster extracted and decided not to take advantage of your kind effort, though I do thank you for making it. It can’t have been fun to go to that site, much less access anything the site provides.
"Although Senator Obama has presented himself as the candidate of new things -- using the mantra of "change" endlessly -- the cold fact is that virtually everything has says about domestic policy is straight out of the 1960s and virtually everything he says about foreign policy is straight out of the 1930s.
Protecting criminals, attacking business, increasing government spending, promoting a sense of envy and grievance, raising taxes on people who are productive and subsidizing those who are not -- all this is a re-run of the 1960s. "
This is exactly right. Bill and Hillary Clinton also tried to take us back into the 1960s in the 1990s.
The problem with Obama and Wright though is the theology. There was a debate a number of years ago in First Things, I think, about Mark Noll's The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind and that should be part of this debate over Rev. Wright because this is not really about race but bad theology and the liberal politics connected with that. There have been some great discussions on Wright, faith and politics on Hardball with Chris Matthews and Rev. Eugene Rivers, on FOX with Megyn Kelly, Michael Steele, the former Lt. Governor of Maryland, and Angela McGlowan. Quite amazing actually, bringing forward black Christian leaders talking about these issues.
It's too bad Bill Buckley is gone. They could have had a great debate on faith and politics on Firing Line with Michael Steele, J.C. Watts, Alan Keyes, Rev. Eugene Rivers, Cornel West, and Thomas Sowell. The discussions and debates should continue. They just need to take the controversy over theology and focus it back on Christianity. Someone should organize this.
It's not just 1960s politics but 1960s theology in this mess of Obama and Wright.
I think it was Mark Hemingway over at National Review picking up on this with Wright's hermeneutics, trying to make scripture mean what he wants it to say.
They need to get this out of racial politics and debate the theology.
Great essay!
Thomas Sowell for President. Undoubtedly, one of the brightest minds (of ANY race) today.
As usual Sowell nails it.
“No doubt it is only a matter of time before there is a black president, just as it was only a matter of time before Paul Waner got his 3,000th hit. The issue is whether we want to reach that landmark so badly that we are willing to overlook how questionably that landmark is reached.”
This line goes beyond this issue. It captures the essence of liberal policy. They wants the ends so bad they’re willing to accept any means. So morons like Gore and others peddle crappy ideas that haven’t a chance of succeeding and the desparate fools lap it up, too impatient to wait for an actual solution, or too close minded to accept solutions from nonliberals.
Oh, man, I have said this so many times. Liberals choose a president based on the flimsiest of ideas! "I just LIKE him/her," (Clintons) "I just feel like he understands/empathizes" (Clinton), "I just think he's a remarkable person," (Obama)...
I always tell them, "That's how you pick a homecoming king, not a president." They give me this stunned look and don't even argue. They just kind of sit there.
Barack Obama has already indicated that he wants judges who make social policy instead of just applying the law. He has already tried to stop young violent criminals from being tried as adults.
Although Senator Obama has presented himself as the candidate of new things — using the mantra of “change” endlessly — the cold fact is that virtually everything has says about domestic policy is straight out of the 1960s and virtually everything he says about foreign policy is straight out of the 1930s.
Excellent as expected.
Wow. I think that surpasses Santayana's version in terms of elegance and impact! Though I think I would have said "contemptuous of history". These people seem to be, not just innocently ignorant of the lessons of history, but hostile to the idea that it has lessons to teach us.
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