Winners and Losers

Winners, in order to be winners, must win.  They must defeat their opponents.  If they do, they gain a reputation for being winners.  This then gets translated into respect and deference.  On the other hand, if they lose, they are disrespected and forced to be submissive.

Mind you, winners do not have to win all of the time.   Simply winning more than their fair share is sufficient.  Nor do winners have to win in every area where they compete.  Winning important tests is satisfactory.  Nor do they have to destroy the losers.  Merely getting them to back down will do.

This may sound obvious.  It is what the New York Yankees have done.  It is what the Atlanta Braves aspire to do.  Until recently, it is what the United States of America specialized in doing.

We Americans helped win World War I.  We played an even bigger part in achieving victory in World War II.  Then we won the Cold War.  True, we only tied in Korea and Viet Nam, but this helped seal the defeat of international communism.  We even won the Gulf War and the initial phase of the Iraq War.

So why does Barack Obama not understand this?  He knows about winning when it comes to himself.  As a politician, he focuses like a laser on overwhelming his adversaries.  He gives them no quarter and spares no expense to come out on top.

With respect to elections, he will tell any lie, vilify any rival, and break any law in order to gain an advantage.  With respect to day-to-day politics, he will distort any truth, sacrifice any constituency, and violate any tradition in order to make sure Republicans do not get what they want.

So what happens when Obama climbs onto the international stage?  Why has he been content to lead from behind?   No, that is too charitable.  Why has he been content to withdraw from the game and allow others to work their will?

The only thing that makes sense is that he does not want to win.  Or more precisely, he does not want to see the United States of America win.  Barack believes we have been too arrogant.  He fears that in assuming we are special, we will trample on the rights of others.

In short, Obama wants us to lose.  The alternative to winning, it must be understood, is losing.  Those who decline to win because they do not want to hurt the feelings of their adversaries are choosing the only other alternative.  They are embracing defeat.

The Arabs understand this.  Once Obama signaled that he was not even trying to win by going on an apology tour, they realized the way was open to become aggressive.  Islamists could run riot in Libya, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan without fear of serious consequences.

Putin understands this.  He saw Barack abandon his red line in Syria and knew the president would not challenge him if he embarked on adventurism.  Hence he did in the Crimea and Eastern Ukraine.  Moreover, just as expected the U.S. did nothing, save for a few empty gestures.

The Latin Americans understand this.  The Mexicans can, with impunity, jail an American Marine for taking a wrong turn into their country.  The Central Americans can send their children across our southern border without fretting about retaliation.

So why does Obama do this?  The answer is not reassuring.  Nor is it polite.  Barack Obama is not a patriot!  When pressed, he says he is, but his actions say otherwise.  Like most committed Liberals, (as verified in a recent poll) he is not proud of our country.  He doesn’t want us to be winners because he believes we don’t deserve it.

For years, Democrats have railed at Republicans for questioning their patriotism.  As a result, conservatives held back.  But they shouldn’t.  They do not need to allow those who want us to be losers to get off so easily.

Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.

Professor of Sociology

Kennesaw State University