By Cynthia Tucker
“I don’t oppose all wars. ... What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war.” — Barack Obama, 2002
For one brief, shining moment, it seemed as though Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, now seeking the Republican nomination for president, might be a strong voice in the GOP for military restraint.
Since his 2010 Senate campaign, he had shown a much-needed realism about the limits of American power in the world.
Alas, that Rand Paul is quickly disappearing. Having formalized his presidential ambitions, he and his surrogates have been running to get in line with the armchair warriors who dominate foreign policy circles in his party.
That leaves all hope for a sense of humility about American intervention with the Democratic Party — or, more to the point, with Hillary Rodham Clinton, the expected nominee. But Clinton has always been more hawkish than the president she served as secretary of state. And she is encumbered with biases about a woman’s ability to defend the nation, so she is unlikely to emerge as a champion of American restraint.
Besides, the political elite, both Republican and Democratic, has arrived at the conclusion that Obama’s foreign policy has been weak and feckless, contributing to the tumult in the Middle East. Though there is good reason to dispute that view, it is repeated endlessly in the echo chambers of the Washington commentariat.
How did we arrive here so soon after the disastrous military moves orchestrated by George W. Bush? How is it possible that the drums of war are beating so loudly?
Read the rest here.
The word "brainwashing" imploded the 1968 campaign of George Romney, and the word was then forcibly disappeared from the American vocabulary. But in reality American males for generations now have volunteered to be brainwashed in basic training, and in repeated tours of duty that by design warp their souls, and ultimately prepare soldiers for the day when the order is given to attack those of us who oppose being immersed in their savage religion of militarism.
ReplyDeleteIt may be a cliché but war is the health of the state.
ReplyDelete"How did we arrive here so soon after the disastrous military moves orchestrated by George W. Bush? How is it possible that the drums of war are beating so loudly?"
ReplyDeleteHas this lady been asleep for the past 7 years? I've never heard of her, but the footnote at the end of the article reads: "Cynthia Tucker is a former winner of the Pulitzer Prize for commentary."
I see. A former winner of a Pulitzer. Does that mean she had to give it back? She writes like an overmedicated bliss bunny. Read the piece and imagine Peggy Noonan speaking the lines this lady is writing. All that's missing is Noonan's seconal induced drawl.