One of the least charming aspects of the Bush Residency is its stubborn resistance to the entire basic high school curriculum. Math, science, econ, Spanish, civics, English, history: Bush manages to mangle them all on a regular basis. And he did so again Thursday, incorrectly confusing talking to enemies with appeasing those enemies, citing the history of pre-World War II Europe as a grim warning. Obama and the entire Democratic establishment have been mercilessly counterpunching ever since.
Santayana once said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." This has been the hallmark of Bush's mal-Administration, as Bush cannot remember things like Viet Nam, for example. Maybe because the only Santayana quote he thinks he knows is "Oye como va."
Yesterday is a prime example of Bush repeating history, even though this history is less than a year old.
Flash back to a Democratic debate last July 23rd. The CNN- YouTube debate in Charleston, South Carolina. Anderson Cooper hosting. A stage full of contenders, all trying to dislodge Hillary Clinton from her inevitability. Mike Gravel complaining about not enough air time. The question to Obama comes from a YouTuber named Stephen: would you meet "with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea, in order to bridge the gap that divides our countries?"
Obama gives the answer we are all familiar with. But wait, Stephen is in the audience. Anderson asks if he got the answer to his question. Stephen says "Well, I'd be interested in knowing what Hillary has to say to that question."
Hillary, of course, goes the other way, and Edwards agrees with her, moments later.
The next day, this exploded into a full-blown war of words between the Clinton and Obama camps, when Hillary called Obama's stance "irresponsible and frankly naive" in an interview with an Iowa paper. Obama counter-punched elegantly the day after that, "I don't want a continuation of Bush-Cheney. I don't want Bush-Cheney lite."
SNAP!
Back then I was not yet blogging, but just a regular commenter on HuffPost. In response to a story on this, I commented:
Hillary is making a big mistake to be engaging Obama directly right now. A front-runner is supposed to duck these types of confrontations because it's a no-win situation for her. All she does is shower Obama with credibility as a candidate.Not to mention, she's allowing him to frame the debate on this issue as: Bold Approach vs More of the Same.
Flash forward to May, 2008.
Bush, with a follow-up by McCain, has just made the identical mistake. On the identical issue. And in doing so, he has indicated that Barack Obama is the presumptive Democratic nominee for President, and his own heir-apparent.
In his thinly-veiled swipe at Obama from the well of the Knesset, the President of the United States directly engaged the Senator from Illinois, raising him up as an equal to the Commander in Chief in the foreign policy debate. A sitting President is supposed to eschew these types of actions, especially overseas. He showers Obama with gravitas on an international stage.
Not to mention, he's centering the debate on Obama's strongest issue: Bold Approach versus more of McSame.
Once again, George W. Bush has misunderestimated history.
The Karl Rove playbook dictates that you attack by appealing to reflexive fear, not reflective reason. Bush's use of "appeasement" would only get a rise out of the World War Two generation. In what other context has that word ever held such cultural power?
Very few Americans under 35 know who Neville Chamberlain was. Fewer still can tell you any substantial facts which led up to the Nazi invasion of Poland and the eventual subjugation of Europe. With Bush's dyslexia and general ignorance, the man could not even define "appeasement" unless he was reading it off his teleprompter.
It's one thing to attack your opponent. Doing it artfully is another story altogether.
In many ways you can see how the old guard (ie Karl Rove, Cheney, the Clintons) have not adjusted to the simple reality that media consumption is no longer controlled by a handful of conglomerates. Thanks to YouTube, Google, HuffPost, Reddit, Digg, Facebook and so on, voters can seek out the truth and share their own. This is massive shift that only Obama has grasped because he truly represents this change.
The Republicans just lost 3 congressional seats and Hillary is about to lose. It's time for America to jump on the Obama bandwagon because isn't just coming, it's here.
OBAMA 2008!
Thanks for sharing this perspective.