While examining America’s half-blood prince — that’s his “cute” name for Obama — Steve Sailer observes that “most people generally assume that the only reason other folks disagree with them is because they are too dumb to understand,” and that “when a busy, important man tells us he understands our particular line of thinking, we are impressed, flattered, and often become infatuated“:
The classic example of a politician exploiting this human universal occurred when Charles de Gaulle paid his first visit to embattled French Algeria after taking power in 1958. In a land torn by murderous hostilities, the great man stepped up to the microphone in front of a vast throng of Europeans and Arabs, stared out at them for a long time, then simply announced, “I have understood you.” The crowd exulted. Christians and Muslims alike broke into grateful tears. De Gaulle understands us! What more do we need? A few years later, de Gaulle gave Algeria to the enemies of the people who had cheered him that day, consigning a million European pied noirs to perpetual exile and tens of thousands of their Muslim allies to murder at the hands of the victorious nationalists. De Gaulle had understood them — he just had other priorities.