THE HISTORIC DAY - EXCEPT FOR ONE GUY - AT 8:03 A.M. ET:  Germany today celebrates the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.  Many world leaders will be there.  The president of the United States is too busy.  It is a disgrace, but it reflects his real views.  The New York Post has a hard-hitting and accurate editorial on the subject this morning:

World leaders past and present will be in Berlin today for the 20th anniversary of the fall of communist repression's most visible symbol: the 112-mile concrete wall that split the city for more than a quarter-century.

Conspicuously absent: the president of the United States, Barack Obama.

Obama's folks say he's too busy to accept German President Angela Merkel's invitation to attend today's festivities

It's pathetic that Obama won't be there -- and telling, as well.

Very telling.  But the sad fact is that there's a large chunk of the American elite that has no problem with Obama's not going to Berlin.  In fact, this crowd is gleeful.  They had contempt for Kennedy, for Reagan, for so-called "cold warriors." 

Reagan understood that the United States was locked in an ideological battle with the Soviet Union, and that the defining issue was human freedom.

It was also, he understood, the triumph of American exceptionalism, leadership and strength.

All of which runs counter to Obama's view of America's global role -- and how to deal with adversaries.

For Obama, America is but one nation among many, no different -- or more exceptional -- than any other. Its record is one that, increasingly, he has felt compelled not to extol but to apologize for.

And, for this president, ideologies bent on America's destruction must be met not with resistance but with rhetoric, outreach and "understanding."

Well said.  But the sad fact is that, again, elements of our elites have no problem with that.

Gone, it seems, are the days when America championed freedom, led by presidents whose oratory was matched by commitment and determined action.

It's not only shameful -- but dangerous.

COMMENT:  And I fear that we're going to see more incidents like this.  The worst part would come if Obama is elected to a second term, and doesn't have anything to lose politically.  He could easily veer the foreign policy of the United States sharply left, making common cause with some of the worst dictators in the world, with the full support of the liberals in his party.  We never thought that could happen, but Carter came close.  Obama is finishing the job.

November 9,  2009