Nov 16 2009
Conor Friedersdorf lays the smackdown
On the right’s reaction to comments made (or not) in Japan:
How dismaying that a loud subset of the right so consistently demands that President Obama privilege their childish desire for self-righteous rhetoric above the actual demands of statesmanship. What good would it possibly do to tell the Japanese, “Yes, I think it was right to incinerate your cities”? It wouldn’t do any good. On the other side of the ledger, it would antagonize an allied nation, put its leadership in a difficult spot that might impede its ability to help the United States. President Obama is also endeavoring to slow nuclear proliferation, so it would hardly due to have headlines in Iranian newspapers pointing out that even as he demands that other nations give up nuclear weapons, he is saying that their only actual use in history was justified.
They are bankrupt and Friedersdorf is right that they have become all about rhetoric. This was brewing even before Obama won the presidency (remember the flag pin scandal?). Then there’s Cuba: our policies are not only not working but hurting Cubans? Oh well, fuck it. We can’t be seen as soft on communism.
