Bill Kristol Links Obama to -- Karl Marx!

Bill Kristol's column in the Monday New York Times is always something to look forward to after a long weekend, as he continues to fill the political humor op-ed slot at the paper once filled so ably by Russell Baker. And, oh, those embarrassing corrections! Today he serves up an unintentionally hysterical classic, using Barack Obama's recent remarks about people clinging to religion in hard times to link the candidate to -- are you ready for this? -- Karl Marx.

After Marx, why not Lennon? The John Lennon who once proclaimed, "I don't believe in religion" and "I don't believe in Jesus." But by the end of the column, I stopped laughing when Kristol, whose writings and advocacy have so damaged "average" Americans, called Obama a fraudulent voice of the people because he is truly "disdainful of small-town America.... He's usually good at disguising this. But in San Francisco the mask slipped. And it's not so easy to get elected by a citizenry you patronize."

He concluded: "And what are the grounds for his supercilious disdain? If he were a war hero, if he had a career of remarkable civic achievement or public service -- then he could perhaps be excused an unattractive but in a sense understandable hauteur. But what has Barack Obama accomplished that entitles him to look down on his fellow Americans?"

Now, let's take that paragraph, re-read it but substitute Bill Kristol for Barack Obama at the end. How does that hold up? Let's review Kristol as man-of-the-people, as "war hero" and his "remarkable" civic achievements.

-- Son of intellectuals, attended exclusive prep school in Manhattan, then Harvard.

-- Served as chief of staff to Vice President Dan Quayle.

-- Led the fight to scuttle health care reform under Clinton. Kristol claimed there was no health care crisis and wrote key memo urging Republicans to "kill," not try to amend, the Clinton plan. If the Clinton proposal passed, he warned, it would "revive ... the Democrats, as the generous protector of middle-class interests."

-- Was one of the most influential agitators for the attack on Iraq in 2003, which has taken the lives of thousands of "small town" soldiers and injured thousands more for life (as I explore in my new book on Iraq and the media). Made famous 2002 statement, "There's been a certain amount of pop sociology in America ... that the Shia can't get along with the Sunni and the Shia in Iraq just want to establish some kind of Islamic fundamentalist regime. There's almost no evidence of that at all. Iraq's always been very secular."

-- Has backed every tax cut for the rich and other economic policies that have kept the middle-class sliding backwards for years.

-- Military service? Come on!

Greg Mitchell's new book is So Wrong for So Long: How the Press, the Pundits -- and the President -- Failed on Iraq. It has been hailed by Arianna, Bill Moyers, Glenn Greenwald and others and features a preface by Bruce Springsteen. He is editor of Editor & Publisher.

Comments

[robiform]

Please don't compare Wilhelm Kristol to Russell Baker--Baker's essays in the Times were first-class journalism, and he was a wonderful host of "Masterpiece Theater" for several years. Kristol, on the other hand, writes with the typical twisted logic of the neo-cons, and should be indicted for inciting Chimpy and his cohorts to go to war in Iraq!

[Durango]

"Oh Bill. Have you ever been right about anything?"
Jon Stewart

[SonnyBono]

Bill Kristol is to journalism as chickensh*t is to chicken soup.

[irishgawdess]

"Was the most influential agitator for the attack on Iraq in 2003, which has taken the lives of thousands of "small town" soldiers and injured thousands more for life."

Wouldn't this make BK more like ... a Nazi, perhaps Adolf Hitler?

[BethStuart]

I have this sense of deja vu in seeing Kristol linking Obama to Karl Marx. It felt like we were back in the 1950's and I was listening to Joe McCarthy smearing people he didn't like as communists or fellow travelers. Apparently, that tactic is still being used by the neo-cons.

[captainigor]

Not "Neo-Cons". . .

Neo-Cowards!!!

[rickmv]

I fail to see what Kristol's lack of military service or where he went to school has to do with an objective analysis of Obama's obvious Marxist view of the worker class in Pennsylvania. There is no doubt that if you juxtapasose Obama's statements on religion against Marx you will see that both essentialy boil down to "Religion is the opium of the people", used only to alleviate their own suffering. I guess noboby there went to church in the roaring 20's?

[akoop]

Rick-When Kristol can tie Jeremiah Wright to Christopher Hitchens I'll be first to nominate him spinmaster of the year.

[Herrington]

Marx's comments on religion were aimed at the purveyors of religion, not the religious. He correctly identified it as a tool of the ruling class to keep the working class under control. Still works today, in fact even better than ever.

[rickmv]

That's simply untrue. Marx explicitly cited religion as the tool that the proletariat used to alleviate their suffering at the hands of those who controlled production. Where do you think "opium of the masses" has its origins? Whether or not those who led those movements were corrupt (they often are) is not germane to the point I'm making. Obama, whether he is simply a snob or just genuflecting to some assholes in San Francisco and stroking their egos to facilitate contributions, probably does harbor some of those Marxist sentiments. It is only one part of Marx's philosophy to be sure but he did see religion as a reaction to negative experiences based on class structure and inequality.

[rickmv]

And although I disagree with your interpretation of Marx I applaud you for responding with a somewhat intelligent and pertinent comment. Unlike "Reaganwater" up there you seem to have thought out a rational respose, rather than launching into a series of canned, mistimed, irrelevant and unresponsive talking points. What in the hell does my view of Obama's comments vis a vis Marx and religion have to do with the 2000 South Carolina primary? In a word: Buffoonary.

[Reaganwater]

More smears of Obama.No facts presented that I can see to justify your real attack --confirming Sullivan's analysis and supporting Kristol's implication-- that Obama is a godless Communist .You are implying that Obama's Faith is fake .Commy as in Marx and Godless-fake as in Opiate. Typical of the post Reagan GOP. Reagan's great legacy has been smithereened by Limbaugh ,Coulter ,Hannity ,Kristol and many lesser neo(pseudo)cons who seem to have mastered everything except basic morality or even the most minimal character.­Some of us who consider ourselves Reaganites and fans of the late William F Buckley jr mourn for the days when real , actual conservatives won elections and showed leadership in this country -- without the dispicable 527 Willie Horton Swift Boat tactics.
I imagine you were mighty proud of the SC 2000 primary .
Lies about John McCain too numerous to mention and some too disgusting to recount.I don't think I will bother to engage in the fools errand of searching for your condemnation of those tactics.Th­e veil is off of your squalid strategy :THIS YEAR the lies , smears, and distortions are to be denounced when Dems do it and are to be defended and Email-forwarded when Republicans do it .It is at once Manichean Machiavellian and malicious .The perfect description of a completely unprincipled person , presentation or party.

[realpolitic]

Yes, everyone should be so careful in their criticism of Kristol as he mindlessly smears any and all Democrats. All criticism of Kristol, of course, should be "fair" and if he criticizes Obama for not serving in the military, we should ignore the fact that Kristol never has known even the address of a military recruiter's location. In fact, I guess the only "fair" response would be to stick to the construct of Kristol's rhetorical question: "But what has Barack Obama accomplished that entitles him to look down on his fellow Americans?" Gosh, I just don't know, but I am sure Kristol will tell me. Kristol is a stain on journalism, a stain on fair-minded oratory, and a stain on policies that protect the middle-class.

[dadw5boys]

HE IS A COWARD. PERIOD. SHOUTING INSULTS AND RUNNING AWAY. NEVER ASSUMING ANY OF THE DAMAGE FROM HIS ACTIONS. COWARD.

[wldnswmmr]

Well, think how confusing Billy's childhood must have been. What in the hell was his father? "Ever since I can remember, I've been a neo-something: a neo-Marxist, a neo-Trotskyist, a neo-liberal, a neo-conservative; in religion a neo-orthodox even while I was a neo-Trotskyist and a neo-Marxist. I'm going to end up a neo-that's all, neo dash nothing." - Irving Kristol.

So Billy is the scion of a Red Diaper Commie who attended the Fourth International. Of course, Billy would have a copy of Marx & Engels lying around, and not just because he taught political science. It's probably signed by Karl Marx himself. And Billy is well on his way to becoming a Neo-Nothing himself, since every public utterance he has made over the last 5 or 6 years has not only been wrong, but incredibly and hilariously wrong.