A New Kind of American Hero

There is a most interesting post on Big Hollywood Blog that analyzes President Obama’s inauguration speech, and the whole lefty point of view, in terms of Miguel Cervantes’ Don Quixote.  It’s a long piece but I found it well worth the time.  Picture Don Quixote not as an idealistic standard-bearer of chivalry but an aristocrat railing against an emerging social order that frees people from the old feudal system, and you will be on the way to Cracking the Obama Code: Don Quixote vs. the Windmill Owners

Four hundred years ago, Miguel Cervantes described an archetypal delirious fruitcake who wanted to change the world by turning the clock back to the idealized Utopian times that never really existed. Imagine what Cervantes would write today about the futility of his satirical effort, if he were to learn that four centuries later, a whole movement would arise that emulated his loony character and elected one of their kind as the leader of the free world.

The author likens the philosophical premises, stated and implied in the speech and Obama’s record, to the windmills Don Quixote attacked, and proceeds to take a few whacks at them himself, from the point of view of a man of freedom.  Some of them:

Windmill #1: Greed is bad for the economy.
Greed is a known “progressive” code word for the freedom to keep what you earn – the sort of freedom that made the United States the economic wonder of the world. To be fair, during the presidential debates McCain also attacked greed in rather quixotic terms, although next to Obama he sounded more like the simple-minded Sancho Panza.

Windmill #3: Partisan discord must give way to “unity of purpose.”
A debate between political parties is healthy for a democracy. The trouble is, the debate itself became toxic when Obama’s own party was hijacked by leftist radicals whose idea of unity is the suppression of dissent. If we unite with them for that purpose, it will be the end of American democracy. Observe examples of political unity in Cuba, North Korea, and Hollywood. One-party rule was stipulated in the Article 6 of the Soviet Constitution that singled out the Communist Party as the leading and inspiring force of the Soviet people. We know how that ended.

Speaking of his responses to these lefty talking points, he goes on to say,

These are the facts that Americans, of all people, should be able to recognize as obvious. How did it happen that the usually realistically-minded Americans not only elected a man who is withdrawn from reality, but overwhelmingly wish him to succeed in carrying out his fallacies?

The answer is probably in the changing nature of our age and its heroes. How it is changing and why is being increasingly determined by those who set the tone in the American popular culture.

Obama’s popularity indicates that a new archetypal American hero has emerged – a sentimental, selfless idealist, preoccupied with perceived crises and injustices – real or imaginary – and is determined to fight the cynics for the people’s right to have good intentions – consequences be damned.

And he and his gang won’t ride off into the sunset, either.  Where’s the Man With No Name when you need him?

There’s a lot more worth reading at the link.

The Progressive RNC

Michael Steele wants to be head of the Republican National Committee, and he’s got a plan for the web:

First off, Steele would hire a Chief Information Officer on a six month contract “just as private entities do,” as he wrote in the plan. He’d also create an e-campaign devoted to developing a stronger online presence for state parties and bring on more staff for blogger outreach. He’d bring together a Working Group to identify best practices to give to state and local party organizations as well.

But Andrew Breitbart cautions that there’s No magic Internet button for GOP

Facebook won’t do it. Twitter won’t do it. Countering Soros and MoveOn .org won’t do it. And mimicking Kos and Arianna won’t do it.

Why not, Andrew?

The Democratic Party resonates on the Internet because it resonates in pop culture. The Democratic Party resonates in pop culture because it has been committed to dominating it for over a generation.

What the Republican Party needs to do now is figure out how to make up for 40 years of ignoring the net effect of film, television and music, and the youth culture that goes along with it. When will the people who make the big decisions and write the big checks realize the AM radio band is not enough?

As I’ve written and stated many times, college Republicans and other young conservative activists need to go Hollywood – in mind, spirit and even in location.

Retiring military personnel hot off of war duty need to head west to secure the Los Angeles front.

Producing screenplays – not legislation – is the answer. Performing songs – not whining – is the plan.

Good advice.  Articulating the value of individual freedom, fiscal responsibility and smaller government would help, too.

More on the Creepshow

A few days ago I posted “Jeepers Creepers” detailing several unsettling events I had read about that day suggesting the development of a cult-of -Obama  mentality among different sectors of our society, including an effort by some celebrities to get the country to pull together in the new President’s name by making video pledges.

Andrew Breitbart discusses this effort and gives a spanking to Hollywood’s sunshine patriots in his piece I Pledge to Ridicule Celebrities Who Refuse to Recognize We Are At War With People Who Want to Kill Them, Too

Many of the celebrities that were central to demonizing and making life impossible for President Bush for eight loathsome years NOW want to help with the heavy lifting of bringing America back together under President Barack Obama.

Witness Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher’s cavalcade of shiny, happy situational patriots appearing in a derivative public servitude announcement: A “Presidential Pledge” to President Barack Obama.

What are these luminaries pledging to do?

President Bush was not holding back Moore from “free[ing] one million people from slavery in the next five years.” Nor was he holding back the Obama-biquitous Will.I.Am from “chang[ing] how [he] live[s].” Ditto: Aaron Ekhart (”To be a better person,”) Marisa Tomei (”To integrate into my heart what I already know in my head which is that we are all in this together,”) Kutcher (”To the abolition to 21st century slavery,”) Anthony Kiedis (”To be of service to Barack Obama,”) P. Diddy (” pledge to turn the lights off, cause I used to leave the lights on but we want to conserve energy so I’ma turn the lights off, you turn the lights off,) and all-in-unison (”Because together we can, together we are, and together we will be the change that we seek.”)

Well.  I’m impressed with the world-changing potential I see here.  Not.    And neither is Mr. Breitbart.

This video illustrates that the current celebrity class are not citizens but serfs. They need a leader to put their minds in the right place to do the right thing. They are not heroic individualists seeking to extend America’s promise but conformists who chose to sit out and complain during the tough years in order to ensure their guy got in the next go-around.

And it wasn’t courageous to make a movie about McCarthyism a few years ago, either.    Just so you know.

He concludes:

Remember this video: It is a instructive relic of the era of celebrity decadence and boutique anti-Republican activism under President Bush. It is a sickening display that they want fast and easy absolution for having comported themselves like ill-behaved children for eight difficult and war-torn years.

Good luck, President Obama. The rest of you can go to hell.

Amen.

H/T  Hot Air

Giving Hollywood a Facelift

Andrew Breitbart debuted  Big Hollywood Blog on January 6.   His objective is  “to change the entertainment industry. To make Hollywood something we can believe in – again. In order to give millions of Americans hope.”

But, you say, Hope and Change?  Where have we heard that before? Read a few posts and see what you think.  My verdict after reading a few days’ worth of posts is, I think he’s got it!

The blog shows  a face of Hollywood that few have seen (except for a few like Jon Voight and Chuck Norris). This intervention comes not a moment too soon, because the old witch has gotten uglier by the year.

And boring, too.  The same hobbyhorses get dragged out and ridden to death, time after time, in true catechismic form.  Who’s the bad guy?  The greedy businessman.  The religious nut.  The shallow, spoiled, selfish wealthy person.  The entire human race.  We’re all flawed. Oops! Doesn’t that sound a lot like being cursed with Original Sin? Hey, Hollywood, isn’t that just so, what’s the word, Christian?

And Hollywood celebrities:  We know what you think.  We’ve been treated to your expert opinions about everything for years.  I tuned you out long ago. Either put your money where your mouth is, or shut up and act.

Hollywood was once a symbol of glamor, excitement, and possibility. Dorian-Gray- like, the real picture of Hollywood turned out to be dripping with cubic zirconia, dreary predictability, and dead ends, filled with people whose lives differ from those of the dysfunctional characters they portray  only in the amount of wealth they possess.  A sad epitaph for a once dream-inducing vision.

The Big Hollywood blog has the potential to change that.  You’ll find that not everybody there thinks like Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn and Barbra Streisand.

Thank you, Mr. Breitbart.  You’ve made me say “Hooray for Hollywood!” again.
H/T Ace of Spades