Instapundit, Tipping Points, And The American Street...

Instapundit is again concerned with the American people's reaction to the whole Dubai Ports affair, and he links approvingly to this article from Jim Geraghty...I quote:

...More polls showing strong, strong opposition to the DPW ports deal – 66 percent opposed in the USA Today poll (45 percent strongly opposed!) and 69 percent in the Fox poll

...In the USA Today poll, when asked, “Which comes closer to your view about Arab and Muslim countries that are allies of the United States?” 45 percent of respondents said, “trust the same as any other ally”; 51 percent said they trust these countries “less than other allies.”
That’s a remarkably honest poll result. Let’s face it, Americans have been told since kindergarten not to judge ethnic and religious groups differently from one another; now slightly more than half are willing to come out and say, “you know, I just don’t trust those guys as much as I trust others.”

...There is tremendous political upside to doing the wrong thing, boldly declaring, “I don’t care what the Muslim world thinks, I’m not allowing any Arab country running ports here in America! I don’t care how much President Bush claims these guys are our allies, I don’t trust them, and I’m not going to hand them the keys to the vital entries to our country!”

I caution Mr. Glenn Renyolds and Mr. Geraghty to slow down before concluding that the American reaction to allowing Dubai to control vital entry points into our nation during wartime is "wrong", "bad", or even factually incorrect. The issue is beyond politics, that is why it has slipped completely out of George Bush's control.

The point is that for the first time in a long time, the American Street has erupted. The great cry of "No!" to the Dubai ports is a shout against the years of multiculturalism and relativism jammed down our throats, a cry against all those who told us, against our guts, that talking was always perferable to fighting, and that all bad things that happened in the world were somehow our fault. The cry against the port deal may be a turning point more than a tipping point; the American public has given a primal scream of rage against a backdoor deal that they perceive may threaten our safety, and they liked the way it felt.

That is not to say (as the article above does if you click the link) that the port deal is already dead. Note the American street, even when reacting emotionally, does not riot, burn and kill; we discuss, review, and move forward. It may yet be possible to sell the port deal to the public; as I have noted before, Bush has gotten the people to back a lot of his initiatives, military and otherwise.

Not that Bush does not deserve his fair share of blame - again, from Geraghty:

The Bush Administration’s reaction to the cartoon riots was comparably milquetoast. The violence and threats committed over the cartoons shocked, frightened and really, really angered Americans...
When the Bush administration’s reaction was mostly equivocating statements and a failure to confront the Muslim world over its insistence of the worldwide applicability of its blasphemy laws, I suspect a lot of folks whose top issue is the war on terror concluded that Bush was going wobbly.
We’ve already seen endless negotiations with Iran, when most Americans who follow the issue are ready to declare Ahmedinijad as a millennial fruitcake aiming to bring about the apocalypse. Most who follow the Iraq war closely suspect Tehran is stirring things up there.

The American people are smarter than the world, and the media that incessantly talks down to them, are led to believe. They Know their freedom of speech is threatened, and that Iran is a grave danger to world peace, and that the Iraq war is winnable if fought properly.
Mr. Bush has an opportunity address the wartime psyche of the American people, to gently point out where we may be a bit off, and to harness some of our mythical fighting spirit at a crucial point in a war that may define the conditions the world will live in for the next century. As a President, and a leader, he is obligated to do so - in my mind, the fate of his presidency may rest upon how he handles the new challenges that have now befallen him.

And if you cannot already tell, I am very proud of my fellow Americans. Not for necessarily opposing the port deal, but for being able to stand up and shout "This far and No Further!", while European populations watch dumbly as their civilization is taken/given away from them.
The fact the we can throw off the shackles of the liberal media, and the multicultural lies, and open our eyes to reality bodes well for American prospects in the war on terror.

Europeans should take note of the power of the American Street. And so should our Muslim friends...