This guy is a Chicago Machine Pol with no achievements and or accomplishments of note before actually winning the White House. What makes you think that such an empty suit is going to be either clean himself or surrounded by clean people?
There was always a chance that he would turn out to be more than he seems, everyone remembers this quote from Eddie McCormack from the 1962 senate campaign in Massachusetts:
“if your name was Edward Moore instead of Edward Moore Kennedy, your candidacy would be a farce.”
McCormack was the AG and the nephew of the speaker of the House of Representatives John McCormack but nobody remembers his second quote part of which applies very well here:
I ask my opponent, What are you qualifications?…You are not running on qualifications. You are running on a slogan…”
(You can find the full quote in the excellent book Man of the House by Tip O’Neil). Now given 20-40 years and onlyone body Teddy has become an effective senator who never met a dollar that he wasn’t willing to spend domestically and never met a foe of America that he wouldn’t support.
Remember it was this same Ted Kennedy who floor managed the 1965 immigration bill andassured us:
“The bill will not flood our cities with immigrants. It will not upset the ethnic mix of our society. It will not relax the standards of admission. It will not cause American workers to lose their jobs.”
Yup this is the same guy who wantstonationalize healthcarebefore he dies. And remember this guy is the example of the EXCEPTION who might turn out all right.
“Yes we can” is just a slogan. We found out here in Massachusetts that slogans like “Together we can” are no better a basis for successful government than some farcical aquatic ceremony.
As Americans we always get the government we deserve, we are getting what we deserve right now and if this trend continues beyond 2010 and 2012 we will deserve that too.
Jay Nordlinger hit on something today that is so true that it is painful to read:
Hey, speaking of genocide, what about Sudan? Wanting to come to grips with Darfur, I wrote an article called “About Sudan: What has been done? What can be done?” That was published in National Review four years ago: in the May 23, 2005, issue. I have checked in on Sudan from time to time since. And I really see no need to revise that piece, or to write another one. Hardly anything has changed. Last week I read, “The human rights situation in Sudan is ‘critical,’ an independent U.N. expert said Tuesday, accusing the nation’s government of cracking down on its critics and shielding those responsible for gross violations such as rape, torture and murder.” (For the article, go here.)
Yeah, well when is the “human rights situation” not critical? It has been so for a very, very long time. We all know the drill: After a genocide — Rwanda, say — we say “Never again,” and then after the next one “Never again,” and then after the next one . . .
It would be more seemly, I have often thought, simply to stop declaring “Never again.”
There always seems a reason not to worry about stuff like this, we will provoke them, we want to make constructive change, Oh the Olympics will open up China, oh we need to deal with Cuba to open them up. And of course we can’t say a thing because of Gitmo or because of Abu Graib or because of a revolt in 1955 or because of the evils western civilization etc etc etc…
The average American gets it, the reason why there are holocaust museums today isn’t because of what was done, governments KNEW what was being done and didn’t give a damn. This is why:
It’s because an army of average American SAW it and were outraged. It could not be ignored or explained away. Excuses wouldn’t wash. That is when we chose to pretend that this is why we fought, it had nothing to do with it. It SHOULD have, but it didn’t.
It wasn’t till that moment that we transformed the Nazi’s into the most evil people in the world. The reality is there are plenty of candidates for that title, Stalin & Mao slaughtered millions more yet they are acceptable as leaders in Civilization IV and Hitler isn’t. What is the difference? The difference is it hasn’t been seen firsthand by tens of thousands of Americans. This allows intellectuals and political types to explain things away, to be “realistic”, to not interfere.
The American soldiers who fought in Iraq and found the mass graves there (that are still being found) get it, but for our political class other considerations will always rule.
It is also why the left will always hate president Bush. 9/11 may have been the impetus but in the end in at least one place in the world the mass graves were stopped and he was responsible and still doesn’t apologize for it.
We are going say little and do less while these people are slaughtered. It’s what we are doing with Sudan and it is what we will do the next time and the time after that. This might seem odd but it’s not about saving slaughtered people; it’s about being able to say you care and convince others you care while doing nothing.
Ah the joys of self esteem.
Update: You know on reflection I’m being unfair. There is a lot of solid outrage against the Mullahs on the left blogs. I think my attack on the administration is correct and those who compare the mullahs to the last administration are frankly loons however that doesn’t describe the majority of the blogs on the left who have supported the people of Iran yearning to be free. I’ve given a wrong impression of the majority opinion on the left on this issue.
So I apologize, my bad.
Update 2: The Iranians have gotten worse:
From the live blogger’s eyewitness account:
>More than 10.000 Bassij Milittias get position in Central Tehran, including Baharestan Sq.
>Army Helicopters flying over Baharestan and Vali Asr Sq.
>The streets, squares and around BAHARESTAN (Approx. South-eastern of Tehran) is swarming with military forces, civilian forces, the security motorists
>The crowd have moved to the south of baharestan, the situation is bad, the shooting has started
>In Baharestan Sq. in the Police shooting, A girl is shot and the police is not allowing to let them help
>In Baharestan we saw militia with axe chopping people like meat – blood everywhere – like butcher
This is the Iranian regime, wading into its own unarmed people and axing them to death, bludgeoning women (seen as the greatest threat to the regime) and throwing them to their deaths from pedestrian bridges. The same Iranian regime whose embassy officials are invited to American embassies around the world to celebrate on July 4th, of all things, a successful revolution.
Yesterday’s left-wing conventional wisdom: We can’t jeopardize diplomacy by taking a meaningless moral stand! Today’s left-wing conventional wisdom: Obama has taken a bold moral stand against regime abuses!
VDH explains as a list of points on Obama and his timid response to the Iranian revolution one section really hits it out of the park:
5) Obama’s realpolitik is flawed: 1) if the mullahs win, they will have greater contempt for our timidity; 2) if the dissidents win, they will not forget our realistic fence-sitting; 3) you can never believe (ever) anything the mullahs say or do. Negotiating with them is like signing a pact with Hitler.
It never ceases to amaze me how supposedly smart people are willing to believe the mullahs while there were unwilling to believe president Bush. I think as mentioned on Morning Joe today there are just too many people who don’t want to seem on the “Bush” side. They may not like the Mullahs but they hated republicans more. If you want a great example of the delusional state of these people Big Hollywood gave a history lesson this weekend on the Annette Bening Iran trip fiasco.
These word on Morning Joe today are one of the reasons why I have a hard time taking Zbigniew Brzezinski seriously.
The idea that if we even speak in support of the people in Iran that it will prevent us from talking them out of nukes or make them repressive.
Listen, these guys are going to blame all of this on us anyways. These guys aren’t going to become repressive, they already are. We aren’t going to drive them toward a bomb, they are already going there.
Forgetting the morality of it (which clearly says to speak up) and speaking practically, this is our best chance of accomplishing the downfall of the chief sponsor (as Yoda once said there is one other but that’s a post for another day) of terror in the world. It is a chance to do it without a military strike. These guys are very worried, particularly since we have 2 armies right next door.
We need to support these guys, both with public pronouncements and in small ways like the twitter update delay.
President Obama scoffed when his rhetoric was called “just words”, now he is unwilling to even deploy them.
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