The Emperor's new clothes: Mr Change's recent European trip
What is going on here? I believe we are witnessing the full development of traditional US small-town settler paranoia that sees enemies and conspiracies everywhere. Back in the early days of the republic, the settlers saw British enemies behind every bush and under every bed. It forced about one third of the US population to seek refuge in Canada, where they found a more congenial political climate.
On the eve of the Great War of 1914, there was widespread fear in the US of the “Black Hand”, the secret Serb organization striving for the creation of a Yugoslav state. Immediately after the war, the US was in the grips of the “Red Scare”, a massive witch hunt of communists and socialists suspected of wanting to unleash a revolution. During World War II, the communists had been transformed magically into dear allies, but now the Nazis were seen as the embodiment of evil. After the defeat of Nazi Germany and the massive enrollment in US service of tens of thousands of Nazi scientists, scholars, soldiers and spies, it was the communists again who were seen as public enemy number one. Then in the 1960s the Mafia and Cosa Nostra were put on the list of dangerous, secretive organizations, like the Communist party, and the Nazi party from 1941 to 1945. Hidden. Invisible. Secret. Evil. These are the catch words associated with the favorite enemies of the US. Individual enemies of the US state invariably and traditionally have had dark skins (Sitting Bull, Augusto Sandino, Malcolm X, Manuel Noriega), facial hair (Ho Chi Minh, Karl Marx, Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein, Adolf Hitler, Stalin) or both. Bin-laden perfectly fits the mold. The only foreigners with facial hair who are not considered enemies of the US are Jesus Christ and Santa Claus.
It must be confusing to the people of the US that now, they have a president who somehow fits the description of the typical enemy, but who also has some characteristics of a US president. He is clean-shaven, well-groomed and wears suits and ties, but he is dark skinned and his father was a foreigner. He may even be a foreigner himself, but any possible evidence is being suppressed.
But to Europeans, Mr. Change looks familiar. Not like the kind of person they fear but rather like someone they tend to look down on: like some politician from a poor, corrupt African republic hooked on handouts and aid from Europe. Most African politicians come to Europe to ask for money and favors and usually they receive some. Obama also came to Europe asking for money and favors, but he was asking more than any look-alike from Africa. That was the moment the Europeans realized the emperor had no clothes and that was when they said “no”. Perhaps the very way Mr. Change looks has made it easier for Europeans to stand up to him. Most European politicians being closet racists, it must be difficult for them to deal with Obama in a way that is different from how they are dealing with African politicians. Mr. Change has been duly repeating the same old silly fairy tales about foreign conspiracies as all his predecessors. But it took a dark-skinned president to make the Europeans realize the emperor was not dressed properly. Bush II, Clinton, Bush I, Reagan, Carter, e tutti quanti, did not wear clothes either, but they were not tanned.
Therefore, I would suggest Mr. Change needs a new change of clothes, but I am afraid it is already too late for that.
