Barack Obama addresses the Economic Club of Chicago. Photo by Lisa Zucker
Crains Chicago Business: Invoking the specter of Nazi Germany, Obama warns against complacency
American democracy is fragile, and unless care is taken it could follow the path of Nazi Germany in the 1930s.
Mixed in with many softer comments, that was the somewhat jaw-dropping bottom line of Barack Obama last night as, in a Q&A session before the Economic Club of Chicago, the Chicagoan who used to be president dropped a bit of red meat to a hometown crowd that likely is a lot closer to him than the man whose name never was mentioned: President Donald Trump.
Read more ....
Update #1: Obama invokes Hitler's rise in stark warning to America (The Independent)
Update #2: Obama warns of complacency, notes rise of Hitler (The Hill)
WNU Editor: I grew up in a family that knows to well what Hitler and the ideology of Nazism did. On my fathers side, he and my uncles fought for the Soviet Army from Stalingrad to Berlin and they saw it all .... especially my father .... the enormous destruction, mass graves, two Nazi death camps, and the deaths and maiming of many of his friends and colleagues. And in the family itself .... a number of relatives and family members murdered, disappeared, or crippled. On my mother's side .... it is even worse. She came from the city of Vyazma, a city 75km from Moscow. And when the Nazis were finished, a prewar population of about 50,000 was down to only a few hundred. There is a mass grave not from the city, many of my relatives are buried there. Yup .... growing up I received a first hand education on what Nazism is, where it started, why it started, why it succeeded, what it did, and why this evil had to destroyed. And the sad fact is that the physical scars of Hitler and Nazism are still present in Russia, and they will probably be there for the next few hundred years. In my case .... I will not say that I am an expert on Hitler and the Nazis .... but I know a lot about the man and his movement .... certainly far more than most people in the West. That is why when I first started to live in the West (Canada) .... I was always bemused that this term was bandied around so freely .... that this political person is a Nazi, neo-Nazi, or Hitler. No more now. In fact .... today .... when I hear this type of language used I get angry. These comparisons are not only wrong, but by associating it in the manner that it is being done today (presently this label is being used against President Trump and the current political climate in the U.S.), they are actually diminishing the pure evil of what Hitler was, and what the Nazis actually did. As for President Obama invoking the specter of Nazi Germany in describing the climate of the U.S. today .... even though there is no relation to the Germany of the Weimer Republic and the rise of Hitler in the 1930s .... I am disappointed. This is not only intellectually wrong, but for someone like me with my background .... morally reprehensible.
13 comments:
Why are conservatives addicted to calling liberals Socialists and Communists?
I have never heard a former President call a current standing President a Communist and/or Socialist.
President Obama said these remarks because he is pissed off that President Trump is completely unraveling his legacy. Nothing more, nothing less.
As for liberals being called socialists and/or communists .... I am also allergic to those remarks because I know that the last thing that liberals want is a Stalinist regime .... but I rarely hear conservative political leaders in today's political environment calling and/or alluding that their opponents as a Communist.
Well Fred, its because liberals today exhibit the same morals and behavior of socialists and communists. Some even call themselves socialists outright... ie: Bernie Sanders and Lawrence O'Donnel. You could even throw in fascism in the Left's behavior as well; shutting down conservative speakers at virtually any university and then rioting. Converging in gangs onto airports and city centers to damage property and assault people.
The Left has dumbed down the term "Nazi" and devioded it of its meaning. Likely as a result of simply being uneducated as to what Hitler actually did. The same can be said for the term "Racist". Anyone who disagrees with a Leftist is either "Hitler" or a "Racist". The terms have been reduced to simple-minded insults, Fred. A convenient fit for the rage that they still feel over their loss of the '16 election - regardless of how ignorant they sound.
/they may as well shout "Mammal!"
Because they push huge government programs.
Many conservatives call individual Republicans socialists also.
I guess what I really meant was that conservative writers, commenters, rather than elected officials call such names for those left of center...
I read the Obama speech. He did not mention nor name Trump but focused instead on the need for a free press and staying alert...
"The danger is "grow(ing) complacent," Obama said. "We have to tend to this garden of democracy or else things could fall apart quickly."
That's what happened in Germany in the 1930s, which despite the democracy of the Weimar Republic and centuries of high-level cultural and scientific achievements, Adolph Hitler rose to dominate, Obama noted. "Sixty million people died. . . .So, you've got to pay attention. And vote."
Someone should tell Obama the story of the boy who cried "Wolf!"
Oh yeah he's a wolf-repellent salesman.
Fred,
We know who he is talking about.
Obama worries about the Free Press....You have got to be joking.
Just ask James Rosen who was wiretapped.
Yes....Obama loves the Free Press
Calling republicans Nazis goes back to the 50s/60s. Check the confrontation between Gore vidal and William Buckley. That's what started it all and the modern party lines
"These comparisons are not only wrong, but by associating it in the manner that it is being done today (presently this label is being used against President Trump and the current political climate in the U.S.), they are actually diminishing the pure evil of what Hitler was, and what the Nazis actually did." Never mind how disrespectful this is to the victims of Nazism, particularly the millions of Russians and other Slavs who died at the hands of the Nazis.
Why Are American Progressives Addicted To Calling Their Political Opponents Hitler Or Nazis? that is the title. Not: Obama does xxx
when the gop, or a good many of them, welcome the alt right and the nazi salute, should we call them then drying finger nails.
The govt taps all things, and that under liberals and/or conservatives...
this entire post/comment thing childish
when a president, no matter which party, can move the nation into war without congressional approval, what do you call that?
Bernie is not a real socialist, if you know political science, and, ps., he owns now three homes, a real sign of populism
Free press for me, but not for thee...
"Why are conservatives addicted to calling liberals Socialists and Communists?"
Because it is true.
You see many Democrats slide off and become out and out socialists/
e.g. Bernie Sanders.
You see many Democrats have Freudian slips.
e.g Maxine Waters
When you look at the 'Democrat' Big tent it is not hard to find communists when you look or in terms of percentages.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0BdKkEKTrs
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