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Inside the mind of Australian leftist Brendon O'Connor.

In “The future of anti-Americanism,” Brendon O’Connor repeats the Left’s tiresome mantra that “American global prestige and popularity is at an all-time low” and that a “McCain/Palin victory could create an increased surge in anti-Americanism and make alliance management even more difficult.”

He admits, however, in his piece for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Unleashed website that the “foreign media” tends “to overplay good polls and news about Obama” but fails to acknowledge the many ways in which campaigning editors ritually censor conservative views. “Palin’s lack of knowledge about the world affairs” too, he pontificates “is undoubtedly seen by many foreigners as a slap in the face.”

The Associate Professor in the US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, to be sure, loves writing about anti-Americanism – and is the editor of seven books on the subject. Yet, he is no Revel. In fact, he sounds very Americophobic, but that’s just my impression.

Anti-Americanism is old, very old. But let’s examine the Vietnam War, in context, for an entree. In Anti-Americanism, by Revel, the late French philosopher, we learn that: “Anti-Americanism increased tenfold by 1969 as a result of the war in Vietnam. But Europeans, and above all the French, with remarkable unfairness forgot or pretended to forget that the war was a direct offshoot of European colonial expansion, in general, and of the French Indochina War in particular.” Likewise, stupidity and/or willful ignorance, today, are guiding anti-Americanism, as O’Connor’s left-wing talking points testify.

In fact, many useless Australian scribblers will build an entire business out of shallow arguments, on the idea that the Clinton administration’s history was all about centrist love, peace, and gentlemanly discourse. But, then that “mean” Bush II “stole” Gore’s birthright!

They “forget” that the 9/11 terrorist plans were hatched in the 1990s, and that “Clinton helped spread Islamic radicalism into Europe in his anti-Serb campaigns in the Balkans,” as Thomas E. Woods demonstrates. They forget, as the professor points out in the Politically Incorrect Guide to American History, that “Clinton dispatched the military overseas forty-four times during his eight years” and that the “U.S. military had been deployed outside of America only eight times in the previous forty-five years.” They forget that no “president in America has ever waged a war in the face of direct congressional opposition.” They even forget Rwanda, Clinton’s biggest mistake. Or at least they pretend to forget.

In addition to snake dancing around Clinton’s past, O’Connor also attacks Governor Sarah Palin – or the “former beauty queen” as he describes her – in “A woman from Mars?” (Unleashed, 2 October, 2008). The Australian’s convict snobbery is amusing. “Outside of America, Palin’s paltry number of passport stamps and lack of knowledge about the rest of the world” makes the rest of the world “groan,” he sniffs. So, we – “the rest of the world” – speak as one, and Osama and Mugabe are more complex characters as O’Connor’s scientific “number of passport stamps” theory proves?

Needless to say, the intriguing academic groans about the Governor’s use of the devil-terms “good guys” and “bad guys” as opposed to more diplomatic cherries like “f—ing Jew bastard” and “Jew boy” (Hillary Clinton*), “flat earthers” and Nazi-like “deniers” (Al Gore), and my favorites “rest of the world” and “number of passports” (O’Connor). Of Red Russia’s left-wing fascistic killing machine, FDR said, “In order to make a friend, one must be friend.” (Hmm . . . so how dare Palin disregard their Ivy League smarts?)

Of course, there’s nothing particularly wrong with constructive criticism, and I have no problem with talking about America’s dark side, and her light side. I just dislike “scholarly scholars” massaging self-hating Americans, and anti-Americans. I also have a few issues with rewriting Clinton’s past, and demonizing Bush’s record. I am Fox News.

O’Connor forgets, in stark contrast to my position, that mayors have real responsibilities, as opposed to yuppie community organizers. O’Connor forgets that Palin’s twelve years of executive experience outweigh Obama’s zero years of executive experience. He forgets that Joe Biden, a law school cheat, is only one heartbeat away from the presidency. He forgets that Joe Biden forgets that there were no televisions when FDR allegedly addressed the nation on television, during the Hoover years. He forgets that Barack “57 states” Obama is probably more a product of the Left’s patronizing affirmative action outreach culture, than a modern-day Churchill. Indeed, the Australian Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center probably even forgets that Wilson was a fan of the Klan, but that’s another story. Though, to be just, Bill Clinton’s knowledge of adulterous affairs is, inarguably, superior.

My concern? In Sydney’s soyaccino land, one can “forget” the facts, and play politics with the lives of the little people and sniff at their virgin passports. Forget fairness.

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* See “These Charges Are False – Reel No. 857,” by Ann Coulter (July 18, 2000): “And just by the way, there are three witnesses to this charming utterance of Hillary’s: Paul Fray, the campaign manager of Clinton’s failed 1974 bid and target of the slur; Fray’s wife, Mary Lee, who was in the room at the time; and a third campaign worker, Neil Mc Donald, who was standing outside the room. Fray’s wife said Hillary shouted so loud ‘it rattled the walls.’ Other witnesses, from Dick Morris to the Arkansas state troopers, corroborate similar statements from the Dragon Lady.”