Obama Warns Against ‘A Crude Sort of Nationalism’ Taking Root in the U.S.

November 15, 2016

A note from Pastor Kevin Lea follows this article.

Obama warns against ‘a crude sort of nationalism’ in U.S.

Speaking in Greece at a joint news conference with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, President Obama warned against the sense of “tribalism” taking root in the populist movements around the world. (The Washington Post)

ATHENS — President Obama warned Tuesday that Americans and people around the world “are going to have to guard against a rise in a crude sort of nationalism, or ethnic identity, or tribalism” taking root amid the populist movements that are gaining currency around the world.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras by his side, Obama refrained from criticizing President-elect Donald Trump directly as he discussed the impact of his electoral victory last week. But the president made it clear that he sees a dark side to the kind of populist movements Trump’s campaign embodied — ideals that other conservative leaders are advocating in Europe and elsewhere.

“We are going to have to guard against a rise in a crude sort of nationalism, or ethnic identity or tribalism that is built around an us and a them, and I will never apologize for saying that the future of humanity and the future of the world is going to be defined by what we have in common, as opposed to those things that separate us and ultimately lead us into conflict,” Obama said.

“Take Europe,” he continued. “We know what happens when Europeans start dividing themselves up and emphasizing their differences and seeing a competition between various countries in a zero-sum way. The 20th century was a bloodbath.”

Obama, who made it clear during the course of the hour-long news conference that he did not view the recent U.S. election results as a referendum on his own tenure or world vision, suggested that targeting specific racial, religious ethnic groups could backfire.

“In the United States we know what happens when we start dividing ourselves along the lines of race or religion or ethnicity. It is dangerous. It is dangerous, not just for the minority groups that are subjected to that kind of discrimination, or in some cases in the past, violence, but because we then don’t realize our potential as a country when we are preventing blacks or Latinos or Asians or gays or women from fully participating in the project of building American life,” he said.

“So my vision is right on that issue, and it may not always win the day in the short term in any particularly political circumstance, but I am confident it will win the day in the long term,” Obama added. “Because societies which are able to unify ourselves around values and ideals and character, and how we treat each other, and cooperation and innovation, ultimately are going to be more successful than societies that don’t.”

The president suggested that a number of factors contributed to Trump’s win.

“Presidential elections, they turn on personalities, they turn on how campaigns are run, they turn on natural desires for change if you’ve had an incumbent who’s been there for eight years; there’s a temptation to think, ‘Well, let’s maybe make a change,’ ” he said. “I think there are a whole range of factors involved.”

The president said there was “a mismatch” between his own job approval rating, which stood at 56 percent just before Election Day, and Democrats’ loss of the White House. “People seem to think I did a pretty good job,” he said.

But Obama acknowledged that there was a common theme in the recent U.S. presidential election, Britain’s vote in June to leave the European Union, and other populist movements elsewhere.

“Globalization, combined with technology, combined with social media and constant information, have disrupted people’s lives, sometimes in very concrete ways,” he said. “But also psychologically, people are less certain of their national identities or their place in the world. It starts looking different and disorienting.”

“And there is no doubt that has produced populist movements, both from the left and the right, in many countries in Europe. When you see a Donald Trump and a Bernie Sanders, very unconventional candidates, have considerable success, obviously there’s something there that’s being tapped into,” he said. “I think at times of significant stress, people are going to be looking for something, and they don’t always know exactly what it is that they’re looking for, and they might opt for change, even if they’re not entirely confident what that change will bring.”

Obama had hoped that his visit to Europe would

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Note from Pastor Kevin Lea:

For centuries, those who dreamed of an eventual global government have been plotting behind the scenes to bring their ideas into reality. They foresaw global government as the only cure to the incessant rise and fall of nations, always accompanied with war, and the deaths of those who fought them.

In their view, if they and their fellow elites could infiltrate politics, finance, education, the press, and the military, and in doing so change immigration laws and the xenophobic thinking of the people, then the archaic notion of nationalism (and all its ills) could be replaced by “globalism” (live locally – think globally).

A globally united world, they say, will do away with war, poverty and strife. If nationalistic notions are erased, then no nation will be driven into conflict with another nation, and the threat and expense of war could be eliminated. The nuclear doomsday clock could be moved back from 11:59 pm to one minute after midnight, and stay there.

These utopian ideas and how to achieve them have (for the most part) been hidden from the masses for many decades, but are now being openly discussed. The elites feel they are so close to realizing their dream that nothing can stop them now. Secrecy is no longer needed.

Obama and his globalist ilk are saying that despite Trump’s promises to restore American nationalistic ideals, there is no way the US and the world can turn back from the eventual goal of achieving global interdependence, at the expense of nationalistic patriotism and protection.

Some say that Trump will show them wrong about this as he has done in many other ways over the past two years. But I am putting my money on the elites because the Bible predicts (Daniel 2, 7 and Rev 13-19) that the world will indeed unite under a global leader in the days just before Jesus returns to establish His kingdom.

As is typical of man’s promises compared to reality, the elite’s dream of a global utopia will (according to Matthew 24 and Revelation) fail to bring peace and properity and will instead bring a time of misery and death like the world has never seen.

So it is easy to predict that Trump will only delay the inevitable; or worse, he will be removed from being an obstacle to the power elite’s plans before he can do any damage by lighting a fire that they cannot put out.

If we are living in the days the prophets foretold would come immediately before Jesus returns, then it is imperative that the reader is “ready to meet your maker”. Humble yourself, repent from your rebellion against God and His laws and admit to God that you are a sinner in need of a savior. Put your faith and trust in Jesus as the only way to be forgiven and saved from the curse of sin and death. Read the Bible with a realization that it is the very words of God Himself penned through His servants the prophets and apostles. Seek His power to change your life to live in holiness and obedience to what He says. Find a bible teaching church where Jesus is preached and glorified, and look up, for your redemption is drawing near (Luke 21:28).