The most pathetic thing Krauthammer has ever written
By Thomas P.M. Barnett
ARTICLE: Decline Is a Choice, by Charles Krauthammer, The Weekly Standard, 10/19/2009, Volume 015, Issue 05
Perfect example of right-wing deviationism, as Vladimir Lenin would have defined it: the infantile belief in magic to erase structural realities. Words, we are told, created America's decline (defined by Krauthammer as our zero-sum loss of hegemony thanks to Obama's intemperate recognition of the world's rising great powers, because if he hadn't done so, America would still be hegemon!). And so, if words created this problem, then words can make it go away. Presumably, all it would take in the political sense is somebody other than Obama to be president in 2012.
See, it all comes down to mere words! Not economics and anything silly like that, just words! I mean, it's hard not to laugh when you read something that childish, that petulant, that freaked-out. My God! Obama's driven Krauthammer insane! By just talking! [Geez, you laugh that hard and then the coughing from the swine flu residual kicks in, and you have to stop typing for a while.] Anyway . . . . Lenin would have called this the infantile belief in the right bomb or right slogan (Mao's favorite) to change underlying realities.
It is an ideological disease of the mind that usually affects only the hard-core radical revolutionary Left (again, Mao being the "genius" in trying to remake reality overnight, but Stalin and Hitler clearly had their right-wing moments of similar delusion). Osama's got it real bad, and it's a clear sign of how detached from reality he is (praise Allah on that one, because I'll take crazy enemies over truly smart ones any day). But Obama's "crime" is that he sees the underlying structural reality clearly for what it is, and he's willing to describe it and deal with it and work within it. And to Krauthammer, that's basically treason against America's natural hegemony (just like weak-willed Republicans and Clinton ruined our "unipolar moment" after the Cold War).
To me, being honest about that structural reality (aka, the American System-cum-international liberal trade order-cum-the West-cum-the global economy-cum-globalization) is simply being an adult, or an honest grand strategist. I don't see "decline" or "post-Americanism" here--just the opposite. I see huge, world-shaping success in this journey. But, if that structural reality really pisses you off, then Krauthammer's your man. Because in his world, all we need to do (and he basically writes this nonsense!) is jack the defense budget back up and hegemony is ours again. But no, I don't perform that kind of crazy here.
And I'm really sad to see it appear on the Right, because it's definitely unhealthy for the union when, in an apparent sign of the Right's growing intellectual bankruptcy (how else to describe when somebody of Krauthammer's stature writes something Glenn Beck could have easily penned?), we see a prominent conservative op-ed columnist screaming the rhetorical equivalent of "Witch! Burn her!" I mean, it's just sad--pathetic really.
Obama is deemed the equivalent of the antiChrist for apologizing to the world for Bush-Cheney's dangerous and destabilizing excesses, virtually all of which sought to create the hegemonic primacy that Krauthammer feels is ours and ours alone to enjoy, as apparently any diminution of that hegemony equals the end of the world as we know it. Seriously, the self-centeredness on this one is stunning--and disturbing. You want to talk about how fascism got started, it's this kind of thinking taken to crazy extremes. Because, meanwhile, the structural reality that America spent the last seven decades creating has made this world more prosperous and more stable and more peace-filled than at any previous moment in world history.
The price for that success is that we don't get to run the show all by ourselves anymore. (GAAARsh! As Goofy would say.) For some, that price is anathema. Better to create--largely with words, mind you, because the underlying reality just ain't there--enough fear in the system to justify America's self-actualizing-destruction of this world-of-our-creating, because--apparently--it would be better to live in a world dominated by violence and war IF America was able to dominate those dynamics. I mean, this whole line of reasoning stinks with the vibe, "If I can't run the world like I want, I'll simply torch it!" This is why I worry most about America when it comes to world stability, not China or Iran or any other piddling power. And no, that's not self-hatred but self-awareness.
I know we've got a temper and I aim to aim just a little bit higher in my country's behavior. I also know we're past the time when just a bigger defense budget will do the trick. It's Krauthammer's undertow of self-hatred here that is truly stunning, and thus it must be transferred or projected upon the Left to justify its white-hot heat. Krauthammer simply hates what America has become and--by extension--this world of our creating, thus the frantic, almost hysterical tone here. Honestly, Krauthammer needs a good therapist, and--judging by those last statements on magically reversing the dollar's "decline" (another America-hating Left-wing plot!)--he could definitely use some time on a couch with a decent economist.
I truly don't understand the hard Right's need to freak out so much right now, to go all wobbly and weak-knee. I find it unbecoming in the worst way. It simply embarrasses me as an American. Elevate, people. Let's show some class here. Remember, this is a strategy no-freak-out zone. |
