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After Six Years In Office, Has Obama Seen "The Great Light"?

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Authored by Ben Tanosborn,

On his way from Jerusalem to Damascus, Saul of Tarsus (Christianity’s Saint Paul), the Jew-Roman persecutor of Jesus’ early disciples, saw a “great light” which blinded him and threw him off his horse.  A light which transfigured his life, and made him perhaps the most important personage in the Apostolic Age (First Century); a fundamental figure in Old Christianity.

And just as the resurrected Christ had appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus, could a resurrected Paul have appeared to Barack Obama, unfolding his eyes to some obvious reality that he’s been prevented from seeing while prisoner of the American Ruling Elite presiding over the White House?

To the eternal optimist some happenings this past week might indicate that the great hoped-for miracle is finally happening; that the humanoid mini-messiah much of the world had hoped for when Obama was first elected to occupy the White House back in 2008 is finally here with a message that can unite people of goodwill throughout the world; a message without political shades, or subterfuge, or deceit; a message with clarity that we can all understand and rally around.

However, that was not the message scripted as the three-day White House conference on violent extremism came to an end on Thursday! Not by a long shot!  Although the conference might have been purposeful and well-intentioned, it did not provide its convener, Mr. Obama, with the right forum; or an appropriate participative audience; or the genuinely required universal support needed to combat and eventually eradicate “violent extremism.”

For starters, the venue was wrong, as most major decisions which have brought about, or seeded, this violent extremism have originated, or co-originated, in Washington DC in the past seven decades, from geopolitical-territorial redrawing of the Middle East to the imposed regime changes and obscene wars of choice such Bush43’s inane intromissions in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Washington and London are definitely two most inappropriate capitals to reach solutions conducive to suffocate the violent extremism the imperialist dynamic US-UK duo has helped create in the Middle East after World War II.

As for the participative audience at Obama’s conference, one would have a difficult time credentialing representatives from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Uganda and several other nations, for adherence to human rights’ principles. It was a “Coalition of the willing” redux which took me back to 2003 and the invasion of Iraq… led by the non-musical Three Tenors: Bush43, Blair and Aznar, as they put on a show in the Azores.

And in terms of support… well, a common and imminent danger can bring together strange bedfellows.  [Although in 2003-Iraq, it was the deceitful creation of a common and imminent danger by Bush-Cheney and the neocon leadership.]

Once again, during and at the aftermath of this conference, Obama has demonstrated his ineptitude and incapability in global matters… and an inaccurate reading of what this violent terrorism is all about.  The problem confronting the West, and more specifically the Anglo-American community (incidents in Belgium, Denmark and France having other causal issues), has deep roots… roots that extend way beyond poverty, education and religious-correctness.  Unfortunately, perhaps influenced by his prior work in Chicago as a community activist, the president is incorrectly extending a domestic problem with racial and economic components to the international sphere.

Sorry, Mr. President.  ISIS/ISIL, by whatever name, is a very real and, yes, very Islamic response – perhaps with an eighth-century dogma and purposeful shocking approach – to what they feel has been a grossly offensive meddling by the West in general, and the United States and United Kingdom in particular… in their religion, traditions and geo-politics.  Declining the use of the word Islamic is a very latter-day American “correct” thing to do, but replacing it with “violent” only hides the true problem, maybe making it more politically palatable, more in line with our pharisaic culture that accentuates our good deeds and hides or erases our immoral acts.

As brutal, horrifying and sanguine behavior as ISIS is showing… is it really any worse or different from that created by sanctions which resulted in holocaustic infanticide by the West in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq?  And, if the coalition denies ISIS/ISIL in battle the formation of its caliphate… are we so naïve as to think that American problems, in the Middle East or elsewhere, will be gone while still running a 7-seas empire?

No; Mr. Obama has not seen “the great light,” remaining as blind in Middle East affairs as he has been in his belligerent, anti-Russia approach in Eastern Europe.  He, like Don Quixote, is still riding his Rocinante as he charges the windmills.  Saint Paul did see the great light and is now known as Apostle of the Gentiles.  As for Obama, given his present lackluster status, it’s unlikely he will be politically canonized, much less be known someday as Political Apostle of either Americans or Non-Americans.

 

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Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:07 | 5829457 Newsboy
Newsboy's picture

Follow the Light, Mr Obama, Follow the light!

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:25 | 5829552 0b1knob
0b1knob's picture

The "great light" might end up being an Iranian or North Korean nuke smuggled into DC.    Go toward the light Choomboy.

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:31 | 5829574 johngaltfla
johngaltfla's picture

Nope. Not even close. He is doubling down and gonig to build a Stasi enforced police state. Starting tomorrow it goes into high gear.

In Protest of Net Neutrality, we should have a Black Friday protest on February 27, 2015
Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:39 | 5829608 A Lunatic
A Lunatic's picture

I am amazed at the gall this government has in granting itself such broad and overreaching powers in all facets of our lives, yet if I were to go next door and tell my neighbor all of his shit belongs to me now and proceed to take it by force he would be justified in killing me.

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 22:03 | 5829621 nmewn
nmewn's picture

Here's the thing about this naked "regulatory" power grab.

Can someone (anyone) cite for me what exactly is wrong with the internet that calls for it to be regulated by unelected, unaccountable (accept to the King) bureaucrats?

I find nothing wrong with it, its operating just fine, can everyone not see my words? Perhaps its the content (the freedom) they don't like.

Thats called censorship, kiddies.

////

To my junker, you worthless POS, show yourself.

You really sittin around thinking the internet needs regulating? That Comcast does not relish the prospect of fixed pricing pools or pay per minute or whatever else its lobbyists can collude with the bureaucracy to design?

Enjoying your Farrreee! health care are you? ;-)

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 22:36 | 5829748 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

One of the things the US Constitution was written to prevent was something common in England in that era.  A concept called 'dispensation'.  It allowed the King to exempt certain people from laws that normally applied to everyone.  And it was entirely at his discrection.

Sounding familiar yet?

It is a way of picking the winners and losers, no matter what law was passed.  It became so common that it turned into S.O.P. to regularly pass draconian regulations and taxes that almost nobody could survive under them- the bureaucracy saw to that.  Those who were given 'dispensation' had obvious and natural advantages over those who did not.

This is how you circumvent ANY Constitutional principles and is the core of Obama's strategy, as it was the core of the power & control strategy of the King of England at the time.

Obamacare.... 'as the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall determine...."

Net Neutrality will probably end in a similar regime since it is expected to unleash draconian "Title 2" public utility rules on ISPs (nobody knows for sure because the rules are not available for public comment and won't be unveiled until after they are passed tomorrow).  Those ISPs who receive a waiver will have a natural advantage over their competition.  And how does one curry enough favor to get such an exemption?  You can already guess.

REGULATORY LAW MAKING IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL FROM ITS INCEPTION.  But try to find any politician who is willing to fight against it from either party.  They ALL WANT IT.  They're just squabbling over who gets to wield that power, not whether that power is legitimate under our Constitution.  The Judicial branch is entirely absent from this discussion, by the way- they won't even touch this core legal principle because they want this to happen, too.

Have you seen an article about it on ZH?  Nope.  I guess we can surmise where they stand on the issue from that, absent anything to the contrary.

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 23:22 | 5829988 TheFourthStooge-ing
TheFourthStooge-ing's picture

.

I find nothing wrong with it, its operating just fine,

...perhaps a little too fine.

Perhaps its the content (the freedom) they don't like.

It can sometimes be highly corrosive to ornate, elaborate, carefully crafted facades.

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 23:38 | 5830052 cynicalskeptic
cynicalskeptic's picture

The "great light" might end up being an Iranian or North Korean nuke smuggled into DC.  

 

Why on earth would anyone nuke DC????   If your goal is to destroy the US why would you eliminate those that are already doing such a good job at it?   Seems like the fastest way to destroy the US is to let the current political leaders continue with business as usual.

Thu, 02/26/2015 - 11:23 | 5831261 prefan4200
prefan4200's picture

Right on, cynical skeptic, right on.  That's precisely what's happening.  When your enemy is hanging themselves, save your bullets and wait til the body is swinging, lifeless.

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:32 | 5829578 TeamDepends
TeamDepends's picture

The best Barry can hope for now is to be remembered as Nigger Jim. Because the "change" he pushed for so violently was always backwards in scope. The communist utopia which never exists in the here and now nevertheless stands tall in the hearts of US progressives. Well done comrade, we are all slaves now!

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 22:40 | 5829833 gtb
gtb's picture

Just drop the "Jim" part...

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:44 | 5829632 doctor10
doctor10's picture

as the world goes tits up all around-those responsible, and for whom Obama works, will be busy making sure all fingers are pointing away from them and at him-or his predecessor (its all Bush's fault!!) , or whomever the unlucky sot or wench following him may be!

Thu, 02/26/2015 - 05:48 | 5830549 Mac Avelli
Mac Avelli's picture

Who exactly were the featured world leaders at this conference with Mr. Soetero? How important was this meeting, when there wasn't a single head of state, world religious leader, or philosopher?

 

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:08 | 5829460 Sutton
Sutton's picture

Obama is Nero.

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:08 | 5829465 cowdiddly
cowdiddly's picture

Commodus

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:15 | 5829501 CH1
CH1's picture

Seen the great light? LOL... Obama IS the great light.

Just ask him!

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 22:14 | 5829742 Urban Roman
Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:30 | 5829568 RiverRoad
RiverRoad's picture

Obama is the Antichrist.

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:08 | 5829461 nmewn
nmewn's picture

King Obama, please regulate our internet! They're saying nasty things about you!!!

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:11 | 5829483 kaiserhoff
kaiserhoff's picture

Pssst.  Barry is a closeted queer.

  Spread the word.

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:50 | 5829656 ISEEIT
ISEEIT's picture

Fuck you 'Gov' troll.

I get it that you 'think' you're such a fucking genius.

You ain't shit punk and in the real world we use dumbshit's like U for kindling.

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:59 | 5829691 kaiserhoff
kaiserhoff's picture

Macho Nancy Boy.

How cute.  Will no doubt be a blow up doll soon.

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 22:09 | 5829723 TeamDepends
TeamDepends's picture

What's strange is he's been here for almost five years! Have you ever seen him before?

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 22:12 | 5829735 kaiserhoff
kaiserhoff's picture

No, but there is much strangeness here in the year of the sheep.

 

Thu, 02/26/2015 - 00:58 | 5830257 g'kar
g'kar's picture

Reggie, is that you?

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:08 | 5829464 A Lunatic
A Lunatic's picture

A bunch of gibberish with seemingly random bold type......

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:12 | 5829488 kaiserhoff
kaiserhoff's picture

As in WTF?

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:16 | 5829502 indaknow
indaknow's picture

I saw the bold type and stopped reading. If that much of an article is that important then most likely none of it is.

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:09 | 5829471 XqWretch
XqWretch's picture

Is this article serious? This looks like something that would play on MSM and those people would find it interesting.

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:09 | 5829473 rsnoble
rsnoble's picture

The only 'great light' that sonofabitch is going to see are from the flaming fires of hell.

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:10 | 5829476 davidalan1
davidalan1's picture

How the HELL could you bring Saul of Taursas and B. Hussien into the same article...very distrurbing to say the least?

 

And where the Fuck did all these middle eastern factions come from..Taliban, Al queda, Isis, Isil...wtf?

 

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:19 | 5829520 McCormick No. 9
McCormick No. 9's picture

My 10th grade English Comp teacher would have given this article a C-. At best.

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:10 | 5829479 SuperVinci
SuperVinci's picture

All I know Is I will never again vote for a Bush or Clinton.
My whole close family of voting age is on the same page. Sick of these effing ruling dynasties.

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:21 | 5829526 disabledvet
disabledvet's picture

Rumor is Donald Trump is serious.

 

New York, the media, The Donald...need I say more?

 

"You're Fired" is a pretty straightforward campaign platform.

 

Too many "smart people" on the President's Team in my view.  They're all war mongers and none ever got off the boat and actually fought the war (and its aftermath.)

 

I've turned the page on the "folks who learned the lessons on Vietnam.". Not the folks who fought the war...but certainly those who said we learned something from it.

 

What a mess.

Thu, 02/26/2015 - 05:51 | 5830550 Mac Avelli
Mac Avelli's picture

I'm with you SuperV, except that means there will be no one to vote for in 2016.

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:10 | 5829480 SillySalesmanQu...
SillySalesmanQuestion's picture

We should only be so lucky if he crossed over into the light...

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:12 | 5829487 Cautiously Pess...
Cautiously Pessimistic's picture

If by 'great light' they perhaps mean Reggie Love's private parts, then YES, he has seen the light.

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:13 | 5829490 stant
stant's picture

It was Reggie lighting a fart

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:18 | 5829497 JustObserving
JustObserving's picture

He, like Don Quixote, is still riding his Rocinante as he charges the windmills

Don Quixote at least had noble motives and his heart was in the right place. The Nobel Prize Winner continues to blithely drone women and children and wedding parties while bombing seven Muslim countries and destroying Ukraine - not to mention his recent failed coup in Venezuela

It is a grievous insult to noble Don Quixote to compare him to the Nobel Prize Winner

Obama failed his coup in Venezuela

 by Thierry Meyssan


http://www.voltairenet.org/article186879.html
Thu, 02/26/2015 - 00:09 | 5830150 Augustus
Augustus's picture

Failed governments such as the communists of Venezuela frequently are removed by a coup.  It does not require an outside source of instigation or conspiracy theories.  Most failed totalitarian governmennts are quick to promote that the failure and dissatisfaction results from outside influences.  Lack of toilet paper, cooking oil, or even chicken are never seen as problems.  I believe it was Maduro who proudly told the population that they should be proud to suffer to deserve to live in the Bolivarian Utopia.

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:18 | 5829514 SilverCoinLover
SilverCoinLover's picture

Obama never saw "The Light". But he sure embraced The Dark when he picked Timothy Geithner as his first Treasury Secretary. Prisoner of the American Ruling Elite? Hell no, he's a part of it and he knows it.

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:27 | 5829561 McCormick No. 9
McCormick No. 9's picture

Crimes committed by this article:

1. Pretending ISIS is real, and not a western intelligence construct.

2: Conflating St. Paul, Don Quixote and Obama. How can anyone even do that? (Maybe I should be impressed?)

3. Using BOLD type. No, I can't hear that voice in your head that's yeling at you.

4. ...and the takeaway is... Obama is not destined for greatness? That is the insight? Really?

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:42 | 5829583 SmedleyButlersGhost
SmedleyButlersGhost's picture

I'm not a great thinker but really have to go with you on this one.

 

I'm going to figure  any down votes as a vote that I am a great thinker  geez I'm clever

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:37 | 5829599 dsty
dsty's picture

Islamic terror is real.

1400 years of it.

Don't ignore a historical fact.

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 22:02 | 5829701 czarangelus
czarangelus's picture

Funny how tens of millions of Christians iced each other in World War I and World War II. If you'd finished the job....

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 23:33 | 5830031 arby63
arby63's picture

Absolutely correct. You will get down-votes though. Too many anti-everything here anymore. 

Thu, 02/26/2015 - 09:15 | 5830756 gcjohns1971
gcjohns1971's picture

I don't believe that ISIS is a Western construct.

I believe, that like all the other islamicist 'movements' of the last 70 years it is a product of Gulf nations finding something strategic for idle hands to do.

The West didn't create Al-Queda.   The Saudi's did.  The West then used them strategically in Afghanistan, just as the Russians have from time to time..."Enemy of my Enemy" and all that.

The point is that when we try to reduce the world to two camps we lose the capability to understand events.

The world is not in two camps.  There are innumerable camps. 

The West is one of them, as is the East.  And both can influence the other camps...and vice versa.

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:30 | 5829567 czarangelus
czarangelus's picture

Paul was a wanker. I'm not saying he didn't have a genuine theophony on the road to Damascus. But his words are not identical with the words of God; he was very much a man of his time and place, brilliant but flawed in hindsight. And then Christianity slammed the book on religion once and for all, cutting off the potential for new prophets and new intellectual developments.

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:34 | 5829586 Bumbu Sauce
Bumbu Sauce's picture

Let me guess.  Atheistic sodomite?  You people's insainity is the most craven commited to ones and zeros.

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:40 | 5829601 czarangelus
czarangelus's picture

No, I'm actually a Buddhist. A non-retarded religion for people who aren't stupid. I believe in plenty of spirits, ghosts, gods, nature spirits, demons, and pretty much everything else, instead of a denuded materialistic universe that preaches a fundamental separation between this world and the next. Christianity is to religion what Keynsian economics is to market forces.

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:33 | 5829579 will ling
will ling's picture

what's the point?

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:43 | 5829584 JuliaS
JuliaS's picture

Came across this forgotten gem yesterday. Puts Obama's accomplishments into perspective.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq8Uc5BFogE

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:34 | 5829587 A Lunatic
A Lunatic's picture

You cannot have a War on Terror if terror is defined, otherwise its a War on Conservatism, or a War on Islam, etc which tends to isolate large blocks of people. The government must be able to publically support freedom of speech and freedom of religion but continue to cull what they have defined as threats to the status quo, which is done under the umbrella of TERRORISM. You don't want terrorism do you? Of course not.......

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 21:40 | 5829613 dsty
dsty's picture

I recall a time when an ER physician had to take a look up a patients rectum because they had complained of pain.

He saw another light looking back at him.

The fellow had got carried away with a flashlite.

just say'n

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 22:04 | 5829707 Solarman
Solarman's picture

Stupid article.  Islam grew out of a city in Saudi Arabia and has been pushing, controlling, and extorting since its beginning.  Why the hell do you think Columbus was trying to get to India the other way.  They were trying to break the OPEC of the day, control of the Spice trade.

 

The Crusades were a reaction to Chrisitan Cities and holy places assaulted upon by the Marauding tribes of Muslums from the South.

 

Understand all sides before you spout your polemics.

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 22:05 | 5829708 Joebloinvestor
Joebloinvestor's picture

The only light I want him to see is the one he walks into........

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 22:24 | 5829768 williambanzai7
williambanzai7's picture

Marlboro lites?

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 23:19 | 5829981 Bemused Observer
Bemused Observer's picture

I appreciate your zeal for someone who "sees the light on the road to Damascus", but I think we need to get away from the types of leadership that convinces itself of divine approval.
I'd settle for someone of wavering faith and imperfection, a humble man/woman with common sense and a good heart.

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 23:25 | 5830003 gmak
gmak's picture

Is this the worst most difficult to read article every on ZH?

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 23:43 | 5830067 roadlust
roadlust's picture

Obama's actions towards Russia would be irrelevant to the world if Putin and Russia's actions weren't insane. 

Russia has managed to turn itself back into a militaristic fascist dictatorship, that not only ignores the human rights of it's own people, but thinks actually murdering civilians is ok, if it hinders their fantasies of a "Greater Russia." 

Obama and this country have a lot to be ashamed of, but nothing can match Russia's history over the last century for depravity and lowering the standards of living for the entire planet by pushing the threat of nuclear war around the world. 

Wed, 02/25/2015 - 23:52 | 5830101 Augustus
Augustus's picture

As brutal, horrifying and sanguine behavior as ISIS is showing… is it really any worse or different from that created by sanctions which resulted in holocaustic infanticide by the West in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq? 

 

 

That statement, along with much of the article. is propaganda BS of high order.  The lack of medical supplies resulted directly from Saddam Hussein's determination NOT to purchase them.  More than ample funds were available in the UN sequestered oil revenues.  Saddam Hussein simply did not purchase many of the supplies for political purposes to punish his subjects.

Thu, 02/26/2015 - 00:04 | 5830139 sbenard
sbenard's picture

Don Quixote de la Obama! It's one of my favorite sobriquets of affection (using the term loosely) for the Radical in Chief!

Thu, 02/26/2015 - 00:50 | 5830238 TalkToLind
TalkToLind's picture

Shit, I always thought it was Jake Blues who saw the light.

Thu, 02/26/2015 - 05:47 | 5830452 chubakka
chubakka's picture

help us Obamakenobi, you're our only hope.  

Thu, 02/26/2015 - 07:16 | 5830596 exomike
exomike's picture

The U.S. does not have the worst internet service in the world..., yet. But don't worry; you'll get what you deserve.

Thu, 02/26/2015 - 07:36 | 5830614 Bumbu Sauce
Bumbu Sauce's picture

6 years on and people are calling Obama incompetent, all while Obama's agenda continues apace.  Obama may be an incompetent, but he faces zero opposition with the exception of a scared and cowed populace.

As bad as Obama is, whoever is next will be much, much worse.

Thu, 02/26/2015 - 09:07 | 5830735 gcjohns1971
gcjohns1971's picture

It is true.

President Obama has entered into The Great Game for influence in Europe.

Of course this game, like all others, requires more than one player to play.

His real sin, is playing incompetently, and not in keeping with his constituents' values.

Thu, 02/26/2015 - 09:51 | 5830877 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

"a fundamental figure in Old Paulianity..." 

Get your white phosphorous ready Tanosborn.

Thu, 02/26/2015 - 09:56 | 5830900 Secret Weapon
Secret Weapon's picture

The proposed changes to the net are designed to supress political dissent.  They have no other purpose.

Thu, 02/26/2015 - 13:30 | 5831868 esum
esum's picture

El Douche

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!