Our openly anti-white president who praises our country’s enemies

President Obama, in a typical exercise in the liberal cult of self-esteem, has written a short picture book for children in which he pays tribute to 13 “Americans” (you’ll see the reason for the scare quotes in a moment) whose traits he claims to see in his daughters. Somehow Malia, 12, and Sasha, 9, already exhibit the gifts and character traits of famous historical personages.

The 31-page book is in the form of a letter to his daughters, and is filled with questions for them, such as “Have I told you lately how wonderful you are?” and “Have I told you that you are creative?”

Among the 13 “Americans” to whom Obama pays tribute is the Sioux warrior chief Sitting Bull, who led the Indians in the massacre of the U.S. Army regiment led by George Custer at the calamitous battle of Little Big Horn. Obama describes Sitting Bull as “a Sioux medicine man who healed broken hearts and broken promises.”

Apart from the outrage of praising an enemy of the United States, for which the whole country should disown him, note also that liberals cannot have it both ways. They cannot call people “Americans” who were not part of the American nation but belonged to different nations that were fighting against the American nation.

Here is Wikipedia on Little Big Horn:

The Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as Custer’s Last Stand and, by the Native Americans involved, the Battle of the Greasy Grass, was an armed engagement between combined forces of Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho people against the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army. It occurred on June 25 and June 26, 1876, near the Little Bighorn River in eastern Montana Territory, near what is now Crow Agency, Montana.

The battle was the most famous action of the Great Sioux War of 1876–77 (also known as the Black Hills War). It was an overwhelming victory for the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho, led by several major war leaders, including Crazy Horse and Gall, inspired by the visions of Sitting Bull. The U.S. Seventh Cavalry, including the Custer Battalion, a force of 700 men led by George Armstrong Custer, suffered a severe defeat. Five of the Seventh’s companies were annihilated; Custer was killed, as were two of his brothers, a nephew, and a brother-in-law. Total U.S. deaths were 268, including scouts, and 55 were wounded.

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Philip M. writes from England:

When Obama says that Chief Sitting Bull “healed broken promises,” is he referring to the massacre itself, saying that the killing of the American soldiers was “healing” the “broken promises” made to the Indians? What an amazing thing to say.

Like you say, Obama’s view of what constitutes an American is confusing. The only logic seems to be that it is those who were born within the modern-day territorial boundaries of the USA, including those who would not want to be included, like the Indians. This is an obvious attempt to get away from racial or ethnic definitions, and making it about geography. But this doesn’t work either—the boundaries of the USA are not purely geographical, these borders were carved out by people who regarded themselves as belonging to a particlular nation and heritage. How can he respect the legitimacy of the borders but not the people who created them? If he wanted a purely geographical definition, he would have to talk about great North Americans, and include Mexicans and Canadians.

How can you love America yet hate the people who created it? And what exactly have whites done to deserve such hatred from him personally? They allowed his father to travel there, were broad-minded enough to let him impregnate one of their women, he had a trouble-free childhood that was only marred by his black father’s absence, before going to a top university and becoming president. And for this he hates whites to the extent that he is still celebrating their deaths from battles over a hundred years ago?

His animosity is therefore not personal, but entirely racial. He has accepted the “racial enemies” of his people as his own enemies, and the enemies of his enemies (like the Indians) as his friends. Post racial indeed!

Clark Coleman writes:

I am not sure what Obama was trying to say about Sitting Bull, but I also don’t see your point about Custer’s Last Stand. The Indian tribes were encamped on an open plain and Custer attacked them. Custer’s forces were outnumbered about 20 to 1 or more, but he insanely thought that the element of surprise would overcome that. The Indians had to come stumbling out of their tepees and begin the fight at a disadvantage. Pretty quickly, however, their overwhelming numbers were decisive.

If the Indians had swooped down on unsuspecting Custer and his men as they slept in their tents, and massacred them, I might feel a little more sympathy for Custer. As it is, I feel sympathy for the common soldiers who had to obey the orders of a megalomaniacal madman and therefore died.

LA replies:

Thanks for the clarification about the battle and about Custer’s wildly reckless generalship, which I had forgotten.

My point was simply that it is objectionable in the highest degree for a U.S. president to praise the enemy general who wiped out a U.S. regiment.

November 16

Clark Coleman replies:

True. Maybe he can praise the Mexicans for wiping out the defenders of the Alamo. I am surprise Jorge W. Busheron did not beat him to it!

November 16

Spencer Warren writes:

Since the Sixties General Custer has been a figure of derision by the radical left. As depicted in the counter-culture film “classic” Little Big Man (1970), for them he embodies the moral corruption of our country’s history. They are positively gleeful over the 1876 disaster at the Little Big Horn, seeing it as America getting its “just reward” for exploiting the Indians. [LA replies: I rememberr seeing that movie when it came out. It was utterly depressing. How could any normal person enjoy such a film?]

President Obama’s favorable comment about Sitting Bull shows him, as if we did not know already, to be a spiritual heir of the counter-culture haters who cheered Sitting Bull on in Little Big Man.

In their ignorance—not that they would care—Obama and the radicals do not know Custer actually was one of the many courageous soldiers who saved our country in the Civil War. His bold aggressiveness as a cavalry commander attacking, though outnumbered, rebel cavalry at Gettysburg contributed to the crucial Union victory. At the end of the war, serving under General Sheridan, Custer was among the commanders who cut off Lee’s retreat following his evacuation of Richmond, leading to the surrender at Appommatox and the defeat of the rebellion.

But this is American history, not the history of one of our many “oppressed” minorities. So who cares?

Posted by Lawrence Auster at November 15, 2010 02:03 PM | Send