Best of the Web Today - January 28, 2005
By JAMES TARANTO
A Degenerate Dynasty
Ted Kennedy's latest rant got us to thinking about the contrast between the two greatest American political dynasties of the past half century, the Bushes and the Kennedys. Look at the two most prominent members of each dynasty, and in both cases you will see a study in contrasts.
The first President Bush was a decent man but decidedly not a visionary. His most famous rhetorical moments are anodyne tributes to American goodness ("a kinder, gentler nation," "a thousand points of light"), a blustery promise destined to be broken ("Read my lips"), and a promise that was kept, but only just ("This will not stand," referring to Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait. Indeed it didn't, but Saddam kept standing for more than a decade).
George W. Bush, on the other hand, was called by history to do bold things, and answered with possibly more boldness than history had expected--more, certainly, than some of his supporters are comfortable with.
Now look at the Kennedys. John F. Kennedy's presidency is hard to evaluate because it was so brief, but he is best known for the soaring rhetoric of his 1961 Inaugural Address:
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
This much we pledge--and more.
Kennedy's brother Ted, whose 15,423 days of service make him the second most senior U.S. senator, is best known for driving off a bridge and leaving a young woman to drown. His attitude toward America's role in the world is the opposite of his brother's; it's best summed up as an inversion of FDR: We have nothing to offer but fear itself.
Here he is yesterday at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies:
The war in Iraq has become a war against the American occupation. . . . The U.S. military presence has become part of the problem, not part of the solution. . . . The first step is to confront our own mistakes. . . . No matter how many times the Administration denies it, there is no question they misled the nation and led us into a quagmire in Iraq. . . . As in Vietnam, truth was the first casualty of this war. . . . As a result of our actions in Iraq, our respect and credibility around the world have reached all-time lows. . . . Never in our history has there been a more powerful, more painful example of the saying that those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it. . . . The nations in the Middle East are independent, except for Iraq, which began the 20th century under Ottoman occupation and is now beginning the 21st century under American occupation.
And on and on and on. That last sentence we quoted is really something when you realize that the the 21st century began more than four years ago, when Iraq was under Baathist occupation.
And the idea that "the nations in the Middle East are independent" really sums up the EMK worldview. Terror-sponsoring tyrannies are just peachy, suggests brother Ted, so long as America does not have to pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend or oppose any foe.
Such harangues are to be expected from the malignantly magniloquent Massachusettsan, but why now? "It's remarkable that Sen. Kennedy would deliver such an overtly pessimistic message only days before the Iraqi election," said Republican spokesman Brian Jones in a statement. "Kennedy's partisan political attack stands in stark contrast to President Bush's vision of spreading freedom around the world."
But that's exactly the point. A succcessful election in Iraq will be a triumph for the Bush doctrine and the strongest rebuke yet to those Democrats who learned from Vietnam that America is a force for ill in the world. Ted Kennedy is, as The Wall Street Journal puts it today, "cheerleading for America to fail" because his ideology leaves him unfit to cope with American success. If he has his way, democracy in Iraq will suffer the same fate as Mary Jo Kopechne.
Nov. 2: The Democrats Respond
"Massive Cow Manure Mound Burns for Third Month"--headline, CNN.com, Jan. 28
'Self-Loathing Progressives'
Interesting signs of intelligent life on the left-wing Alternet.org site, which features an interview with Canadian leftist Naomi Klein that is to be part of a book called "Start Making Sense: Turning the Lessons of Election 2004 into Winning Progressive Politics," to be published in March. Klein's criticisms of the "antiwar" movement actually make a lot of sense. Indeed, they echo much of what this column has been saying over the past few years. A sampling:
Quite frankly, there's a lot of skepticism in Iraq . . . about the international anti-war movement. In part, it's because anti-war forces were not critical enough of Saddam. But it's also because we haven't proposed this kind of practical solidarity that has to do with improving people's lives, and not just absolving our conscience. Or saying "Not in our name," and then going home. . . .
The progressives in the U.S. are fairly self-loathing, in that, basically we allow ourselves to oppose a specific policy, but we completely internalize the values and the principles of the right -- ideas such as Americans can only care about selfish demands; they can't really care about people in another country; to talk about international law in the United States is to be seen as giving up U.S. power to foreigners.
We basically accept all of this instead of making passionate arguments in favor of international law that would actually convince people. In a lot of cases, the policies are there but we don't have the strength of our convictions to make them. We buy far too easily the belief that these are too far outside the mainstream, too far outside the box, and Americans will never go for it. So we're too cowardly to put forward real policy alternatives and we only allow ourselves to critique, and therefore, become not credible.
Klein's description of the right is cartoonish, as when she says, the forthcoming elections not withstanding, that the Bush administration's goal of bringing democracy to Iraq is "a lie."
She also seems caught up in an antipathy toward business corporations that is common on the far left. The introduction to the interview describes her book "No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies" as "the Das Kapital of the anti-corporate movement." This attitude has always mystified us; we don't understand what it is about the idea of a corporation that drives lefties into paroxyms of outrage.
All that said, though, we wish Klein well in her efforts to persuade "progressives" actually to embrace an idea of progress rather than serve as apologists for fascism. A left that argued it was more committed to democracy than the right would be worth listening to.
Rally for Debt Relief
Erstwhile fringe presidential candidate Ralph Nader, anti-American historian Howard Zinn and someone called Patti Smith (we think she's a songstress) are holding a STOP THE IRAQ WAR BRING THE TROOPS HOME event tomorrow at a Unitarian facility in Cambridge, Mass. (link in PDF). Admission is $10. Proceeds will go toward:
a. Helping wounded soldiers.
b. Helping wounded Iraqis.
c. Debt relief for Iraq.
d. Debt relief for Nader's presidential campaign.
It won't shock you to learn the answer is (d). Maybe Naomi Klein is right when she says the left has accepted the idea that "Americans can only care about selfish demands."
Death Camp Fashion Victims
"Vice President Dick Cheney's utilitarian hooded parka and boots stood out amid the solemn formality of a ceremony commemorating the liberation of Nazi death camps, raising eyebrows among the fashion-conscious," the Associated Press reports from Oswiecim, Poland:
Washington Post fashion writer Robin Givhan described Cheney's look at the deeply moving 60th anniversary service as "the kind of attire one typically wears to operate a snow blower."
"Cheney stood out in a sea of black-coated world leaders because he was wearing an olive drab parka with a fur-trimmed hood," Givhan wrote in Friday's Post, also mocking Cheney's knit ski cap embroidered with the words "Staff 2001" and his brown, lace-up hiking boots. "The vice president looked like an awkward child amid the well-dressed adults," she said.
These guys are writing about what "the fashion-conscious" think of an Auschwitz event, and they think Cheney is insufficiently solemn?
Bugs Bunny Strikes Again
"Violent Sex 'Is Killing the Tasmanian Devil' "--headline, Telegraph (London), Jan. 27
And We Thought Al Gore Was an American
"Web Creator Named Top Briton 2004"--headline, Guardian (London), Jan. 28
Cheese Found in Surrender Monkey
"Mad Cow Disease Found in French Goat, EU Says"--headline, Reuters, Jan. 28
Zero-Tolerance Watch
"A Haverford High School honor roll student, known to all as a conscientious, high achiever, was suspended from school last week for taking what might be considered the equivalent of an aspirin," reports the Delaware County (Pa.) Daily Times:
It began innocently enough when a senior female student experiencing menstrual cramps asked a friend for a Tylenol or Advil. The classmate had none, but in an effort to be helpful, asked a third student, who supplied a generic form of Aleve. Aleve is a non-prescription strength form of Anaprox, sold over the counter as a fever reducer, and for temporary relief of minor aches and pains.
The young woman took the Aleve, but continued experiencing discomfort and went to the nurse. When questioned, the student told the truth and admitted obtaining Aleve from another student. An assistant principal was summoned to the scene. . . .
The Aleve affair was deemed a level 5 violation, subject to a maximum three-day suspension prior to a hearing with the principal. Both girls were sent home. Based on findings, initial suspensions may be extended, with possible referral to an assessment team, or the police when appropriate. Disciplinary actions are recorded on school records.
Meanwhile, the school district in Lincoln, R.I., is banning spelling bees, using the No Child Left Behind Act as an excuse, reports the Woonsocket Call:
The administrators decided to eliminate the spelling bee, because they feel it runs afoul of the mandates of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
"No Child Left Behind says all kids must reach high standards," Newman said. "It's our responsibility to find as many ways as possible to accomplish this."
The administrators agreed, Newman said, that a spelling bee doesn't meet the criteria of all children reaching high standards--because there can only be one winner, leaving all other students behind.
"It's about one kid winning, several making it to the top and leaving all others behind. That's contrary to No Child Left Behind," Newman said.
We knew Rhode Island was L-I-T-T-O-R-A-L, but this is ridiculous.
Life in the Ivy League
Among the pro-life protesters who showed up in Washington this week to mark the 32nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade "was an unlikely contingent--two dozen anti-abortion students from the University of Pennsylvania," the Christian Science Monitor reports:
The robust presence of "Penn for Life," both on campus and off, signals a heightened debate--at Penn and elsewhere--about an issue once thought all but settled in the more elite halls of the academic world.
"At the national level, we've noticed a uniform increase in on-campus pro-life activity," says Michael Sciscenti, president of American Collegians for Life, whose pre-march conference saw attendance grow from 70 students three years ago to 350 students, representing 70 universities, this year. Perhaps most interesting has been the growth at some of the country's most prestigious institutes. Princeton, MIT, Yale, and Stanford are among the campuses that today have active groups that oppose abortion rights.
The Monitor misses the obvious explanation for the surge in pro-life sentiment on campus: the Roe effect. Youngsters who don't make it past fetushood seldom get into college at all, much less the Ivy League.
In other news, a press release from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America reports that Gloria Feldt is stepping down as president of the organization, which is a leading proponent of legal abortion. "A national search for a new president will begin immediately, according to PPFA Chair La Don Love." Apply here.
Of course, talking furniture alone cannot run a major organization. Our guess is that if PPFA manages to find a new president, it'll be someone whose mother decided not to have an abortion. |
