One of the favourite maxims of the Bill Clinton war-room was: “Speed kills.” If so, has there ever been a more politically lethal response to an incoming President than the book that just landed on my desk? Welcome to Obamaland: I have Seen Your Future and It doesn’t Work (Regnery) is by our very own James Delingpole, who unveiled some of the book’s arguments in last week’s magazine cover piece. At the time of posting, that article has already attracted 116 comments, which is some measure of the nerve James has struck in his argument that Obama is (among other things) Blair Redux, a white liberal rather than a black statesman. Behind the saccharine consensus lurks all sorts of division, doubt and anxiety.
Now you might argue that this is all a bit premature, a bit previous as they used to say. Give the guy a chance, and all that. Dull would he be of soul etc. But, wading through the paddy fields of gush in today’s papers, and watching the round-the-clock Obamamania, was there not a part of you – perhaps a large part – that felt uneasy at the unanimity of it all, the rush of the herd towards a messianic figure of whom we know next to nothing? I mean, this is not Live Aid is it? The man whose oratory proved majestic yet again yesterday is now the leader of the free world, and it would be nice to think that he will be scrutinised and his performance audited with proper rigour henceforth. At any rate, it takes guts in the face of a global swoon to raise a fist and say “You’re all wrong.” So hats off to the mighty JD for speed, grace and courage. At last, Obama has found a worthy opponent.
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