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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Thomas Sowell on Obama

Posted: 11/1/2009 2:19:29 AM EDT

I like this guy.
I don't think he much cares for Obama either...
Last Updated: November 01. 2009 1:00AM

Thomas Sowell

Obama's critics are right to question policies despite supporters' outcry

Many years ago, at a certain academic institution, there was an
experimental program that the faculty had to vote on as to whether or
not it should be made permanent.

I rose at the faculty meeting
to say that I knew practically nothing about whether the program was
good or bad, and that the information that had been supplied to us was
too vague for us to have any basis for voting, one way or the other. My
suggestion was that we get more concrete information before having a
vote.

The director of that program rose immediately and
responded indignantly and sarcastically to what I had just said –– and
the faculty gave him a standing ovation.

After the faculty
meeting was over, I told a colleague that I was stunned and baffled by
the faculty's fierce response to my simply saying that we needed more
information before voting.

"Tom, you don't understand," he said.
"Those people need to believe in that man. They have invested so much
hope and trust in him that they cannot let you stir up any doubts."

Years
later, and hundreds of miles away, I learned that my worst misgivings
about that program did not begin to approach the reality, which
included organized criminal activity.

The memory of that
long-ago episode has come back more than once while observing both the
actions of the Obama administration and the fierce reactions of its
supporters to any questioning or criticism.

Almost never do
these reactions include factual or logical arguments against the
administration's critics. Instead, there is indignation, accusations of
bad faith and even charges of racism.

Here too, it seems as if
so many people have invested so much hope and trust in Barack Obama
that it is intolerable that anyone should come along and stir up any
doubts that could threaten their house of cards.

Among the most
pathetic letters and e-mails I receive are those from people who ask
why I don't write more "positively" about Obama or "give him the
benefit of the doubt."

No one –– not even the president of the
United States –– has an entitlement to a "positive" response to his
actions. The entitlement mentality has eroded the once common belief
that you earned things, including respect, instead of being given them.

As for the benefit of the doubt, no one –– especially not the
president of the United States –– is entitled to that, when his actions
can jeopardize the rights of 300 million Americans domestically and the
security of the nation in an international jungle, where nuclear
weapons may soon be in the hands of people with suicidal fanaticism.
Will it take a mushroom cloud over an American city to make that clear?
Was 9/11 not enough?

When a president of the United States has
begun the process of dismantling America from within, and exposing us
to dangerous enemies outside, the time is long past for being concerned
about his public image. He has his own press agents for that.

Internationally,
Barack Obama has made every mistake that was made by the Western
democracies in the 1930s, mistakes that put Hitler in a position to
start World War II –– and come dangerously close to winning it.

At
the heart of those mistakes was trying to mollify your enemies by
throwing your friends to the wolves. The Obama administration has
already done that by reneging on this country's commitment to put a
missile defense shield in Eastern Europe and by its lackadaisical
foot-dragging on doing anything serious to stop Iran from getting
nuclear weapons. That means, for all practical purposes, throwing
Israel to the wolves as well.

Countries around the world that
have to look out for their own national survival, above all, are not
going to ignore how much Obama has downgraded the reliability of
America's commitments.

Iraq, for example, knows that Iran is
going to be next door forever while Americans may be gone in a few
years. South Korea likewise knows that North Korea is permanently next
door but who knows when the Obama administration will get a bright idea
to pull out? Countries in South America know that Hugo Chavez is
allying Venezuela with Iran. Dare they ally themselves with an
unreliable USA? Or should they join our enemies to work against us?

This issue is too serious for squeamish silence.

Thomas
Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford
University, Stanford, CA 94305. His column is distributed by Creators
Syndicate, 5777 W. Century, Suite 700, Los Angeles, CA 90045. His
column is published Sunday online at detnews.com.

http://www.detnews.com/article/20091101/OPINION03/911010307/1008/Obama-s-critics-are-right-to-question-policies-despite-supporters––outcry

Posted: 11/1/2009 2:28:27 AM EDT

[#1]

Thomas Sowell is one of the great minds of this country. We should be thankful for men like him.

Posted: 11/1/2009 2:30:12 AM EDT

[#2]

I wish Mr. Sowell was our President. The problem is he is too damn smart to want the job.

Posted: 11/1/2009 2:33:35 AM EDT

[#3]

See above.

Posted: 11/1/2009 2:42:11 AM EDT

[#4]

Quoted:

I wish Mr. Sowell was our President. The problem is he is too damn smart to want the job.

Indeed.

Posted: 11/1/2009 2:42:25 AM EDT

[#5]

And Thomas hits another one out of the park.

Posted: 11/1/2009 2:59:06 AM EDT

[#6]

I'm unarguably on record here as being a big, big fan of Mr. Sowell, but I don't think that he's a particularly deep thinker. His genius is being able to recognize a simple, obvious truth and write about it in a way that even the most abysmally obtuse can grasp. This is no mean feat in twenty-first century America.

Jane

Posted: 11/1/2009 3:08:04 AM EDT

[#7]

Quoted:
And Thomas hits another one out of the park.

He's the Barry Bonds of logic

Posted: 11/1/2009 3:40:21 AM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
I'm unarguably on record here as being a big, big fan of Mr. Sowell, but I don't think that he's a particularly deep thinker. His genius is being able to recognize a simple, obvious truth and write about it in a way that even the most abysmally obtuse can grasp. This is no mean feat in twenty-first century America.

Jane

In today's America, it is a major feat of deep thinking to be able to recognize a simple obvious truth at all.

That is why the only things that will save America are Thomas Sowell and Arfcom's General Discussion forum.

Posted: 11/1/2009 4:21:47 AM EDT

[#9]

Sowell is great.

Posted: 11/1/2009 4:26:41 AM EDT

[#10]

yep, too few great men.

we are doomed.

Posted: 11/1/2009 4:41:07 AM EDT

[#11]

I enjoy reading Sowell. It's a plus in these situations that he can't have the race card thrown at him.

Posted: 11/1/2009 4:41:11 AM EDT

[#12]

I wish Dr. Sowell would run for president.

Posted: 11/1/2009 4:56:08 AM EDT

[#13]

I too love Mr. Sowell's writing, he makes it so easy to comprehend his point.

Posted: 11/1/2009 5:00:05 AM EDT

[#14]

Quoted:

I'm unarguably on record here as being a big, big fan of Mr. Sowell, but I don't think that he's a particularly deep thinker. His genius is being able to recognize a simple, obvious truth and write about it in a way that even the most abysmally obtuse can grasp. This is no mean feat in twenty-first century America.

Jane

You are right about that. It's more important to be able to communicate the reality of the situation to the people in a way that most of them can understand it, than it is to

try to communicate every complex detail to them that only fellow intellectuals can fully comprehend.

Don't talk over the people's heads....or below them.

Sowell does it right.

CJ

Posted: 11/1/2009 5:03:52 AM EDT

[#15]

Yeah, I'd feel pretty good with Thomas Sowell in the White House right now.

Posted: 11/1/2009 5:22:56 AM EDT

[#16]

I agree. A man who graduated Harvard, magna cum laude, has authored dozens of non-fiction books and won numerous awards in the field of economics, not to mention so many other many achievements could not possible be a deep thinker. A man who is also part of the one percent who will write the truth about the most evil man in America. Right.

Posted: 11/1/2009 5:29:09 AM EDT

[#17]

He and Walter Williams are two of the greatest economic minds in the country.

A lot of what I know I learned from them.

Posted: 11/1/2009 5:33:23 AM EDT

[#18]

Quoted:
I'm unarguably on record here as being a big, big fan of Mr. Sowell, but I don't think that he's a particularly deep thinker. His genius is being able to recognize a simple, obvious truth and write about it in a way that even the most abysmally obtuse can grasp. This is no mean feat in twenty-first century America.

Jane

Thomas' writings are always informed, thoughtful, and above all logical. Unfortunately, too many on the left reject facts that don't conform to their liberal doctrine. Worst of all, they entirely reject the rules of logic. To them two plus two equals whatever number is currently advantageous to their cause. I don't see how such people can ever be reasoned with.

Posted: 11/1/2009 5:56:11 AM EDT

[#19]

Good read!!.................most if not all Liberals will pass it off as him being an Uncle Tom......................He hit a lot of nails with that one!!

Posted: 11/1/2009 6:18:44 AM EDT

[#20]

www.townhall.com has Sowell's columns before they're published in the paper on Sunday, to include columns he randomly publishes throughout the week. I check each morning for a new Sowell column; he's one of my favorites.

He's also a Marine.

Posted: 11/1/2009 6:30:33 AM EDT

[#21]

Quoted:
I'm unarguably on record here as being a big, big fan of Mr. Sowell, but I don't think that he's a particularly deep thinker. His genius is being able to recognize a simple, obvious truth and write about it in a way that even the most abysmally obtuse can grasp. This is no mean feat in twenty-first century America.

Jane

Damn we really think alike. One of his gifts is taking a relatively complex subject and explaining it in a way that even 8th graders can understand.

Why don't the libs (and some here) understand? They don't want to.

Posted: 11/1/2009 5:28:51 PM EDT

[#22]

Quoted:

Quoted:
I'm unarguably on record here as being a big, big fan of Mr. Sowell, but I don't think that he's a particularly deep thinker. His genius is being able to recognize a simple, obvious truth and write about it in a way that even the most abysmally obtuse can grasp. This is no mean feat in twenty-first century America.

Jane

Damn we really think alike. One of his gifts is taking a relatively complex subject and explaining it in a way that even 8th graders can understand.

Why don't the libs (and some here) understand? They don't want to.

Surely to God you are not saying taking the complex and making it simple to understand is indicative of a shallow thinker??

Posted: 11/1/2009 5:37:01 PM EDT

[#23]

Quoted:

Quoted:
I'm unarguably on record here as being a big, big fan of Mr. Sowell, but I don't think that he's a particularly deep thinker. His genius is being able to recognize a simple, obvious truth and write about it in a way that even the most abysmally obtuse can grasp. This is no mean feat in twenty-first century America.

Jane

Damn we really think alike. One of his gifts is taking a relatively complex subject and explaining it in a way that even 8th graders can understand.

Why don't the libs (and some here) understand? They don't want to.

Surely to God you are not saying taking the complex and making it simple to understand is indicative of a shallow thinker??

No, and I didn't mean it that way. Instead of working on the complex issues of .gov, he teaches the relatively complex economic issues to people in a simple way that is understandable.

He could be an unknown economist deep in some corporation doing huge calculations. He chose a different path.

Posted: 11/1/2009 5:41:56 PM EDT

[#24]

Quoted:
Thomas Sowell is one of the great minds of this country. We should be thankful for men like him.

This.

Posted: 11/1/2009 5:54:09 PM EDT

[#25]

Quoted:

Quoted:
I'm unarguably on record here as being a big, big fan of Mr. Sowell, but I don't think that he's a particularly deep thinker. His genius is being able to recognize a simple, obvious truth and write about it in a way that even the most abysmally obtuse can grasp. This is no mean feat in twenty-first century America.

Jane

Damn we really think alike. One of his gifts is taking a relatively complex subject and explaining it in a way that even 8th graders can understand.

Why don't the libs (and some here) understand? They don't want to.

Surely to God you are not saying taking the complex and making it simple to understand is indicative of a shallow thinker??

Like I said, I'm a big Sowell fan. I haven't read anything by him other than his column for year or so now, but it doesn't seem to me that his gift is for creative thinking like Stephan Hawking, for example, but rather he is an incisive thinker; he can cut through the bullshit to grasp the one, usually simple, truth. I don't say this to denigrate the man - I think he's a national treasure - but to me he seems to have a very disciplined mind rather than a spectacularly brilliant one. Either way, he's a hell of a lot more intelligent than I am.

Jane

Posted: 11/1/2009 8:27:50 PM EDT

[#26]

Quoted:

Quoted:
I'm unarguably on record here as being a big, big fan of Mr. Sowell, but I don't think that he's a particularly deep thinker. His genius is being able to recognize a simple, obvious truth and write about it in a way that even the most abysmally obtuse can grasp. This is no mean feat in twenty-first century America.

Jane

Thomas' writings are always informed, thoughtful, and above all logical. Unfortunately, too many on the left reject facts that don't conform to their liberal doctrine. Worst of all, they entirely reject the rules of logic. To them two plus two equals whatever number is currently advantageous to their cause. I don't see how such people can ever be reasoned with.

Exactly....they cannot be reasoned with. And it's a waste of time trying to. While we waste time attempting to appease, accomodate and humor the insanity
of the liberal left they just keep nodding their heads at us pretending to listen while they busily scurry about dismantling this country like termites. Rational sane
people would stop wasting time trying to reason with those incapable of reason and deal with them in a more direct and appropriate fashion. Being fair and civilized
and allowing the liberal right to have and implement their own point of view is suicidal for conservatives in America. If we don't wake up to that fact and act.....soon.....
it will be too late. And that "too late" line is closer than many wish to admit.

Posted: 11/1/2009 9:48:43 PM EDT

[#27]

Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams are very intelligent men who can understand complex and difficult things and who can explain those things in a way that makes the complex seem simple.

Liberals, democrats, Progressives, Socialists, Fascists or whatever you want to call them are people who will never be able to understand complex and difficult things, they simply lack the intellectual ability to understand reality. To feel smart they build false nonsense structure around their simple things, to make the simple seem complex and difficult. Because they know on some level that their core "beliefs" are at best nonsense and bullshit that somebody just made up.....they attack like fire ants when anyone questions their ideas. They throw temper tantrums like badly behaved little children, which is intellectually what they are.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Thomas Sowell on Obama

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Thomas Sowell

Obama's critics are right to question policies despite supporters' outcry

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