Posted on 05/26/2009 7:15:53 PM PDT by neverdem
I have a great deal of empathy for President Obama on matters like North Korea and Iran — both lunatic players that I think represent firsts in his own experience. You see, there are no good choices, and he can't simply vote "present" this time. Any decision he makes will be evaluated not necessarily on the basis of its superior logic or the eloquence with which it is presented, but solely on whether it works or not. If it does, he will be praised; if it doesn't, he will be damned, unfairly or not. Soon some wannabe Republican presidential candidate will be barnstorming the country, second-guessing Obama's decision-making, giving him no benefit of the doubt, and adopting simplistic answers as a candidate that he could not possibly embrace as Commander-in-Chief — the one constant being that whatever Obama does, the potential rival, without the responsibilities of office, will argue that it was wrong.
Fate, chance, luck, and more will contribute to the outcome of any presidential action — unpredictable, of course, but in the cruel game of assessing presidential decision-making, no grounds for excuse.
Moreover, both these problems not only antedated Obama, but antedated Bush as well, yet they cannot be massaged with "reset" button and a "Bush did it," nor by soaring "hope and change" rhetoric. Neither Ahmadinejad nor Kim Jong-il care a whit about Obama's landmark advance to the presidency, or his sober and judicious efforts to show rational concern for their own predicaments; instead, they calibrate only the degree to which Obama poses an obstacle to their regional ambitions, whether they be rational or not.
In short, Obama will be dealing with two cruel entities, irrational at times, and both capable of great evil — thuggish regimes that laugh at calls for UN solidarity or multilateral fronts. Worse still, the soft-power advocates and internationalists abroad who praised Obama to the skies for his restraint and postmodern campaign rhetoric will be the first to damn him as Carteresque and hesitant should these two rogue nations begin to act a little crazy and start testing the waters.
Obama's legacy...
Et tu, brute?
VDH “empathizing” with Obammie the Commie?
Hey, if Obammie the Commie hadn't gone on a worldwide Denunciation of America tour, maybe these demented dictators wouldn't be rushing to test him.
I don't empathize for Obammie the Commie. He made this bed himself by joining with America's enemies.
And if his decision does more harm to America, what then VDH? Republicans should NOT go barn-storming saying, “See? Elections have consequences! The Presidency is NOT a popularity contest.”
Damn straight we should yell it from the rooftops: “We do NOT support a CIC that DENOUNCES America!”
I'm really disappointed to read this commentary from someone who is an expert in Western civilization supporting someone who loathes Western values, history, and accomplishments.
Is VDH is mocking the great empath? The irony is rich. We’re having these dilemmas with North Korea and Iran because we opposed international communism during the Cold War, meanwhile the two biggest communist countries, the Soviet Union and the Peoples Republic of China, renounced communist economics, and our government wants to adopt features of communism.
IMHO, it's veiled satire.
Really?
I trust your opinion. I’ll read it again in that light. It did strike me as a complete reversal of his general perspective.
Obama is meeting his match. These thuggish world dictators are doing to the world what Obama is doing to us: keeping everyone off balance and fearful. How does it feel, Obama?
It is sarcasm. VDH is using the “empathy” word that Obama used to describe his ideal judicial nominee.
Karma for 0bama.
In the first paragraph if we substitute Obama and Bush, we get:
Soon Obama will be barnstorming the country, second-guessing Bush's decision-making, giving him no benefit of the doubt, and adopting simplistic answers as a candidate that he could not possibly embrace as Commander-in-Chief — the one constant being that whatever Bush does, Obama, without the responsibilities of office, will argue that it was wrong.
“In short, Obama will be dealing with two cruel entities, irrational at times, and both capable of great evil”
Lucky for ObaMugabe W took care of Saddam. One less thing to worry about. Too bad he doesn’t appreciate it.
I am so glad that none of our younger relatives are in the military under 0b0z0.
I pray for our friends with sons/daughters/grandchildren/nieces and nephews in the military under this disaster of a president and the safety of their endangered younger relatives.
I have a great deal of empathy for President Obama on matters like North Korea and Iran -- both lunatic players that I think represent firsts in his own experience. You see, there are no good choices, and he can't simply vote "present" this time. Any decision he makes will be evaluated not necessarily on the basis of its superior logic or the eloquence with which it is presented, but solely on whether it works or not... both these problems not only antedated Obama, but antedated Bush as well, yet they cannot be massaged with "reset" button and a "Bush did it," nor by soaring "hope and change" rhetoric. Neither Ahmadinejad nor Kim Jong-il care a whit about Obama's landmark advance to the presidency, or his sober and judicious efforts to show rational concern for their own predicaments; instead, they calibrate only the degree to which Obama poses an obstacle to their regional ambitions, whether they be rational or not. In short, Obama will be dealing with two cruel entities, irrational at times, and both capable of great evil -- thuggish regimes that laugh at calls for UN solidarity or multilateral fronts. Worse still, the soft-power advocates and internationalists abroad who praised Obama to the skies for his restraint and postmodern campaign rhetoric will be the first to damn him as Carteresque and hesitant should these two rogue nations begin to act a little crazy and start testing the waters.Thanks neverdem.
I'm really disappointed that you can't seem to understand what VDH is saying.
It's not. I "empathize" with Obama's difficulties just as much as VDH does.
We've all been confronted from time to time by what we've said we would do, and discovering that things are not so simple after all -- the real world rarely cooperates with our assumptions; and in cases where we are faced with actual nemeses, "the world" often actively opposes our assumptions.
Obama's love of the Grand Gesture has certainly set him up for tremendous difficulties in that regard, and VDH has correctly pointed that out: NK and Iran are out for themseves, which places them in dangerous opposition to the civilized world; and Obama's words can do nothing to prevent it.
VDH is also quite correct in pointing out a true fact about American politics: political opposition has decayed to a groups of politicians who "adopting simplistic answers as a candidate that [they] could not possibly embrace as Commander-in-Chief..."
Which is to say, we live in a nation governed by political opportunists whose devotion to principles of statesmanship is tenuous at best.
Obama can expect little if any cooperation from the GOP, even if he's got good ideas.
And, as we've already seen, any aggressive move that the GOP might support, brings cries of outrage from Obama's base.
The ghastly state of contemporary political discourse would seem to preclude even honest debate, much less useful discussion.
Obama is in a very, very difficult position. And if he is, we are.
What’s wrong with empathy? You would like to be president right now to have to deal with Iran and North Korea? I wouldn’t, so I guess I have empathy for Obama too. Big deal.
The great empath chose to put himself in this absurd position.
Nothing at all. I was responding to the folks who think that VDH has committed some grand heresy for saying so.
I disagree with this statement because we at FR have been calling him "Carteresque" for years.
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