November 25, 2010
Thankful for the Window
Roger Simon's Thanksgiving musings struck me as particularly poignant:
My real beef with Barack Obama is that he does not want to acknowledge that [America represents human aspiration to the world] or he doesn't believe it. I don't know which. But in any case he rejects it. I saw that most clearly on what was for me the worst moment of his sad presidency — when he failed to respond publicly in support of the democracy demonstrators in Iran. He wouldn't be a window for their dreams and aspirations. Ironically, given his own bloviations, he offered them no hope. He wasn't a wimp — to come back to Smith's dichotomy in his first paragraph. He was something worse — a cold narcissistic fish, interested in only his now-absurd negotiation with Ahmadinejad and, of course, in himself. He left the Iranian students with no window — no American dream for their world.On this Thanksgiving Day, I sincerely hope that Barack Obama and what he stands for is just a bump on an ever-bumpy road and that we are on our way out of the slough of despond that our country finds itself in. I think we can all agree, however, that this slough is pretty deep. Getting out of it will not be as easy as a few tea party victories. The work has only just begun. But it's worth the effort, most certainly.
Wow-what a brilliant piece.
I don't think Roger Simon is even thought of as a conservative and he got the best handle I've seen on Obama's character.Obama doesn't screw the interns,just the United States and freedom loving people.
Reminds me very much of the kurdish uprising that we helped to start and then walked away from.
Posted by: triple richard at November 25, 2010 6:19 PMTriple R-are you sure you don't mean the Shi'ite uprising?
The Kurds were at this a long time before we got into the Gulf War in '91.
Or sitting on our hands when the Hungarians were being slsughtered by the Russians-I remember that pretty well.
Joe- this is what triple richard is referring to--"The 1991 uprisings in Iraq were a series of anti-governmental rebellions in southern and northern Iraq during the aftermath of the Gulf War. The revolt was fueled by the perception that the power of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was vulnerable at the time; as well as by heavily fueled anger at government repression and the devastation wrought by two wars in a decade, the Iran-Iraq War and the Gulf War. United States also played a role in encouraging the uprisings, which were then controversially not aided by the U.S. forces present on Iraqi soil." Wikipedia
The Kurds thought from statements from Pres. Bush that the US would back them after they started their rebellion. Justin is now faulting Obama for NOT making the same mistake.
Posted by: David S at November 29, 2010 8:12 PM