Afghanistan: Barack Obama's war and Michael Steele's truth
By Richard Cohen
WashPost
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
"Facts are the enemy of truth," Don Quixote tweeted so very long ago -- and as if to prove his point, the Democratic Party in all its tawdry glory unloosed a barrage of facts in the direction of the slyly brilliant Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee who is almost certain to someday take his place in the conservative cable TV firmament. For saying that the war in Afghanistan is "a war of Obama's choosing," he was, for a brief and shining moment, stating the absolute truth.
That moment has passed. Steele has softened his critique. These uncharacteristic second thoughts followed mortifying questions about his inner Republicanness by, among others, Sen. John McCain, Sarah Palin's irritable Geppetto, who created her out of discarded principles and furious opportunism. Steele has his own principles, however, and declared that he is not going to quit. "I ain't going anywhere," he said. And he hasn't.
Of course, Steele was right from the start. His truth was the larger one, which is that enough time has elapsed so that the war in Afghanistan can be seen as Barack Obama's. It began, as we all know, under the illustrious George W. Bush, who then got distracted by all those weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and veered off toward Baghdad. But these are mere details, pesky facts with which we need not concern ourselves. The truth is that Obama found this war on his doorstep, took it in, nursed and even escalated it, and swaddled it in his own clothes: more troops, and still more on the way.
One can appreciate how Steele got his "facts" wrong. It is how possession of the Vietnam War moved from Lyndon Johnson to Richard Nixon even though they both lacked absolute belief in the cause -- whatever exactly that once was. Nixon, in fact, even had a secret plan to end the conflict and was furiously de-escalating, rapidly Vietnamizationing and frantically trying to disentangle himself and the nation from the war. Still, when demonstrators gathered outside the White House, it was not to praise his peace efforts but to denounce him as a warmonger. The rule in all these cases seems pretty apparent: Either end the war or own it.
(More here.)
WashPost
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
"Facts are the enemy of truth," Don Quixote tweeted so very long ago -- and as if to prove his point, the Democratic Party in all its tawdry glory unloosed a barrage of facts in the direction of the slyly brilliant Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee who is almost certain to someday take his place in the conservative cable TV firmament. For saying that the war in Afghanistan is "a war of Obama's choosing," he was, for a brief and shining moment, stating the absolute truth.
That moment has passed. Steele has softened his critique. These uncharacteristic second thoughts followed mortifying questions about his inner Republicanness by, among others, Sen. John McCain, Sarah Palin's irritable Geppetto, who created her out of discarded principles and furious opportunism. Steele has his own principles, however, and declared that he is not going to quit. "I ain't going anywhere," he said. And he hasn't.
Of course, Steele was right from the start. His truth was the larger one, which is that enough time has elapsed so that the war in Afghanistan can be seen as Barack Obama's. It began, as we all know, under the illustrious George W. Bush, who then got distracted by all those weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and veered off toward Baghdad. But these are mere details, pesky facts with which we need not concern ourselves. The truth is that Obama found this war on his doorstep, took it in, nursed and even escalated it, and swaddled it in his own clothes: more troops, and still more on the way.
One can appreciate how Steele got his "facts" wrong. It is how possession of the Vietnam War moved from Lyndon Johnson to Richard Nixon even though they both lacked absolute belief in the cause -- whatever exactly that once was. Nixon, in fact, even had a secret plan to end the conflict and was furiously de-escalating, rapidly Vietnamizationing and frantically trying to disentangle himself and the nation from the war. Still, when demonstrators gathered outside the White House, it was not to praise his peace efforts but to denounce him as a warmonger. The rule in all these cases seems pretty apparent: Either end the war or own it.
(More here.)
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