In my previous post, I quoted Barak Obama’s speech in Germany. Among Obama’s confessions to the Europeans was this little nugget:
“I know my country has not perfected itself.”
What does he man by this? Matt Lewis of Townhall.com said that the statement bothered him, but he wasn’t quite able to put a finger on why. I’m quite certain I know why it bothers me.
It bothers me on many levels. First, however, I want to point out what Obama’s assumptions are in this statement. What he assumes will tell us much about his thought processes. Then, armed with that knowledge, we can better understand why his statement is so bothersome.
Obama makes two assumptions with his statement. The first assumption is the idea of national perfection. He believes that it is possible, with the right institutions, laws, regulations, etc. to perfect our nation. He believes that America can be a Utopian society, if we just give it a chance, by making the right adjustments.
There is a little bit of wisdom I love: The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good. Perfection, as the world sees it, is destructive to the Good. Good is not enough for people with radical social agendas like Barak Obama. Society must be perfect, and anything less justifies the destruction of the current society and its institutions. This Rousseauian contempt for tradition and history is common to the Social Progressives.
His second assumption is that our national perfection can’t be achieved without the right leader to take us there. Of course, Barak Obama is that leader. He is the one who will perfect America. He is the one who has the vision and the passion to fully realize America’s potential. Implied in this is the idea that he is the example after which we should model our own perfection, individual and national.
If you go back and review, you will note that he uses the term “we” to describe America, but in a collective sense. Obama’s vision does not see America as a nation of individuals united with a common goal, but as a powerful State that will dictate perfection to the masses. You and I are not part of that perfection, because if you and I don’t measure up to Obama’s example, we can be removed.
This really puts Obama in a precarious position. National perfection first requires the perfection of every individual in it. Once the people realize that Obama can’t deliver on the promised perfection, those who believed in him will tear him from his high position, and he will be rejected by the very people who helped put him there. He will find out what it means to be humbled. God does not long suffer those who set themselves up as a light to the people to remain in their self-exalted state. Those who attempt to usurp the position of the One true Example to the world will find only disappointment and humiliation in the end.
At another level, Obama’s statement bothers me because it implies that perfection can be obtained by our own efforts–nothing else is required. Perfection comes not by the Grace of God, but through the efforts of imperfect people. But this begs the question, how do we know what perfection is? Without a standard of perfection, such as demonstrated by God, anything at all could be called perfection and we would still be light years away from real perfection.
Obama’s statement encapsulates in just a couple of sentences his profound arrogance. He is not fit for the office of President. I think we still hold to that BIble passage which requires that he that would be the greatest among us, should be the servant of all of us. But that may just be my bitterness speaking.
