May 17, 2004
RED AMERICA'S WAR:
It's America's War: But too many Democrats think it's Bush's war. (David Gelernter, 05/24/2004, Weekly Standard)
THESE ARE TIMES when President Bush and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld could probably use some encouragement. They should ponder a short note by Anthony Eden to Winston Churchill. It was May 1941 and World War II was going badly. Churchill was Britain's Bush and Rumsfeld, prime minister and minister of defense. Eden was his foreign secretary and friend. There had been disasters in Greece and Crete, a discouraging naval battle with the warship Bismarck, and hard fighting in Iraq, where the British were battling Nazi-backed Rashid Ali and Luftwaffe bombers that were helping him out. "My dear Winston," Eden wrote, "This is a bad day; but tomorrow Baghdad will be entered, Bismarck sunk. On some day the war will be won, and you will have done more than any other man in history to win it."By "tomorrow" he meant "soon"; his predictions all came true. But for now, it is indeed a bad day.
Too many Democrats and some Republicans are acting as if Abu Ghraib means that the Bush administration is in trouble. They are wrong. It means that America is in trouble. And when America is in trouble, every public official is required to help.
Mr. Gelernter makes an honorable but perhaps mistaken assumption here when he assumes that most Democrats are Americans first. There is little in the party's recent history--starting with Vietnam, continuing through the final years of the Cold War (especially as it was fought in Latin America), and now resuming in the war on terror, after a brief post-9/11 interlude--to suggest that they particularly root for us to win our foreign wars. Given that the wars against communism and Islamicism have been largely religious in nature--seeking to vindicate the Judeo-Christian vision of the Declaration, that "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights..."--it should hardly come as a surprise that a party which no longer believes in a Creator would oppose such a mission in the world. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 17, 2004 4:29 PM
"when he assumes that most Democrats are Americans first"
You mean they might be recent "immigrants"??
Only joking.
Posted by: h-man at May 17, 2004 5:00 PMGelernter's panicking without warrant. Losing Iraq will not be good, but it's not going to be the end of us. Indeed, if we learn a few lessons about them and ourselves, it may even turn into a net bonus, as sort of happened with Vietnam and the Cold War.
Winning battles is important, but you don't want to put so much energy into winning one battle that you wind up losing the larger war.
Posted by: Derek Copold at May 17, 2004 5:38 PMYou know that you have hit bottom when analogies about Viet-Nam can not fully capture the despair in which we (the chattering classes) see ourselves after the agony of thirty days in April in which (I believe) American casualties did not even hit the century mark and a few dirtbags decided to play Quentin Tarantino.
It is now Britain, circa 1941. (Actually, I also think that early-1864 has also been cited.)
Posted by: MG at May 17, 2004 6:12 PMIt's official - Derek has lost his mind.
Posted by: BJW at May 17, 2004 6:35 PMIt is hard to get through a Derek comment and I'm always so disappointed when I open comments that appear as 25 or so on the main blog, only to find incredibly intelligent people engaging someone who has dedicated his current existence to being completely ill informed.
Posted by: NKR at May 17, 2004 7:17 PMSomebody has got to use the real JFK's inaugural address in a pro-Bush commercial. Somebody. We will go any where we will pay any price.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at May 18, 2004 1:19 AMDerek's posts may not be completely rational, but isn't it more fun to have an opponent to joust with, rather than a chorus of "Ditto"'s ?
Posted by: Michael Herdegen at May 18, 2004 1:20 AMVietnam a net bonus ? Oh yes, of course, it brought the best president in US history, Jimmy Carter. The best if you were the secretary general of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, that is.
Posted by: Peter at May 18, 2004 3:05 AM>he assumes that most Democrats are Americans
>first
Remember the term "Fifth Column"?
During the Cold War, the USSR cultivated them (including Academia, the Media, and other Celebrities) as a Fifth Column of sympathizers within the enemy country (us).
Since the Second Russian Revolution, they no longer have a master to betray the country to, so like good little lapdogs they wander until they find a new master to carry out their original programming.
Posted by: Ken at May 18, 2004 4:18 PM