Better America, Better World
Harry Reid isn’t the only one who’s decided our soldiers are making a worthwhile sacrifice for freedom. Here’s Obama:
 … they embody the spirit of those who fought to free the slaves and free a continent from a madman; who rebuilt Europe and sent Peace Corps volunteers around the globe; because they are fighting for a better America and a better world.
So how come Obama wants to pull them out? It’s a mystery. Let’s give it a read, and see if we can pluck out a clue. Â
I initially thought, when I went to Realclearpolitics, and saw something titled “Opposing Iraq, Five Years Later,”* by Barack Obama, it would be good for a laugh. The sacchrine do-goodiness, the smarminess, the wisdom beyond his Chicago community organizer, Illinois State Senate years. Little did I know.
We come together at a time of renewal for DePaul. A new academic year has begun. Professors are learning the names of new students, and students are reminded that you actually do have to attend class. That cold is beginning to creep into the Chicago air. The season is changing.
OK, boring opening. I’m thinking Harvard is even more over-rated than I thought if he spent four years there and can’t come up with anything better than the weather to open with. Never mind. Moving on.
DePaul is now filled with students who have not spent a single day on campus without the reality of a war in Iraq. Four classes have matriculated and four classes have graduated since this war began. And we are reminded that America’s sons and daughters in uniform, and their families, bear the heavy burden.
Hang on! Back that truck up.
DePaul is now filled with students who have not spent a single day on campus without the reality of a war in Iraq. Four classes have matriculated and four classes have graduated since this war began. And we are reminded that America’s sons and daughters in uniform, and their families, bear the heavy burden.
That’s what I thought he said.Â
Now, Harvard-educated United States senator who grew up multicultural in Hawaii and Indonesia and organized community on Chicago’s mean streets surely understands that just about anyone who’s spent the last four years at DePaul are highly unlikely to have spent a single day with the reality of war in Iraq. With the exception for those who have friends and family serving there, but I don’t think that is what Obama means.Â
I think Obama means that tossing footballs and lounging on the lawn you might see here, depending on which photo is up in the cycle, and being bright-eyed, engaged, hopeful and focused on a bright tomorrow like the students pictured below that, has been marred by the knowledge that somewhere, far far away, it sucks for someone else. Someone who’s spent a year with the reality of Iraq, for example, and now has dead eyes.
It’s enough to cause compassionate head-tilt (third down for full-on, compassion-packed tilt). Back to DePaul, this young woman has a hint of a tilt, but it’s the youthful exuberance edges out the compassion, though not in a bad way. These ones are serious. But that’s not exactly compassion. The guy’s studious. The girl looks like she’s asleep. This one here’s sporting a wry ”sucks to be you” look. This guy looks bored, but the chick in the library next to him has a kind of hot library thing going on! OK, back to the speech.
You are students.
I hope this isn’t a hint of the level of discussion we’re headed into.
And the great responsibility of students is to question the world around you, to question things that don’t add up.
Actually, the great responsibility of students is to pay attention in class, and not to waste their parents’ money. Also, to avoid getting arrested, falling off rooftops and running up up excessive credit card bills.
With Iraq, we must ask the question: how did we go so wrong?
You could do that. Though, “how did things get so much better, and what can we do to help?” might be more to the point.
There are those who offer up easy answers. They will assert that Iraq is George Bush’s war, it’s all his fault. Or that Iraq was botched by the arrogance and incompetence of Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney. Or that we would have gotten Iraq right if we went in with more troops, or if we had a different proconsul instead of Paul Bremer, or if only there were a stronger Iraqi Prime Minister.
These are the easy answers.
Yes.
 But they don’t tell the whole truth, because they overlook a harder and more fundamental truth.
He’s right. He’s going to admit it … the invasion of Iraq was a good thing. It removed a recognized, murderous evil that destabilized the region. There were some grave miscalculations, but we’re moving past that. Iraq and the Iraqi people deserve a chance. Also, Iran needs a smackdown.
The hard truth is that the war in Iraq is not about a catalog of many mistakes — it is about one big mistake. The war in Iraq should never have been fought.
OK, my mistake. I didn’t see that coming. Maybe he’s right. Better to leave the Middle East in the hands of crazy megalomaniacal terrorist-backing dictators with the blood of hundreds of thousands on their hands.Â
Five years ago today, I was asked to speak at a rally against going to war in Iraq. The vote to authorize the war in Congress was less than ten days away and I was a candidate for the United States Senate. Some friends of mine advised me to keep quiet. Going to war in Iraq, they pointed out, was popular. All the other major candidates were supporting the war at the time. If the war goes well, they said, you’ll have thrown your political career away.
Never too late.
But I didn’t see how Saddam Hussein posed an imminent threat. I was convinced that a war would distract us from Afghanistan and the real threat from al Qaeda. Blah blah blah. Bush lied, people died.
I’ve taken some small liberties to abbreviate Obama’s bloviations at this point, but stayed true to the spirit of his speech:
Blah blah blah, no WMD. Blah blah blah, conventional thinking. Blah blah blah, I’ll pull out, I promise. Blah blah blah, I’ll talk to crazy dictators. Blah blah blah …
Good lord, he isn’t stopping. He’d be better than everyone else. He gets it like no one else. He ran around barefoot in Indonesian villages. Hey, me too. Maybe I should be president. And this part is good:
I will always tell the American people the truth. I will always tell you where I stand.
Clock springs are flying out of the bullshitometer!
 I’ll give an annual “State of the World” address to the American people in which I lay out our national security policy.
I thought you were supposed to do that with the state of the nation. I wonder how the rest of the world will feel when the President of the United States presumes to speak for them. Given that this is Obama’s idea and he sees himself in that role, I’m going to guess the world will be grinning and glassy-eyed like DePaul students, not fully believing how the United States has exited stage left and left them to their own devices. Â
 I’ll use the intelligence that I do receive to make good policy - I won’t manipulate it to sell a bad policy. I will sell you that bridge over there at a significent discount. No credit, no problem! Everything must go!Â
OK, I made up the last bit. Starting with the “bridge” part. That’s made up.
There are those who suggest that there are easy answers to the challenges we face.
What was your Iraq plan again?Â
Yes, it’s easy to be cynical. But right now, somewhere in Iraq, there’s someone about your age. He’s maybe on his second or third tour. It’s hot. He would rather be at home. But he’s in his uniform, got his combat gear on. He’s getting in a Humvee. He’s going out on patrol. He’s lost a buddy in this war, maybe more. He risked his life yesterday, he’s risking his life today, and he’s going to risk it tomorrow.
So why do we reject the cynicism? We reject it because of men and women like him. We reject it because the legacy of their sacrifice must be a better America. We reject it because they embody the spirit of those who fought to free the slaves and free a continent from a madman; who rebuilt Europe and sent Peace Corps volunteers around the globe; because they are fighting for a better America and a better world.
Back that up one more time.
 … they are fighting for a better America and a better world.
That sounds like a worthwhile cause.Â
And I reject it because I wouldn’t be on this stage if, throughout our history, America had not made the right choice over the easy choice, the ambitious choice over the cautious choice.
I’m confused now. Wouldn’t the ambitious choice be to bring freedom, democracy and stability to a troubled part of the world that’s caused us no end of trouble due in large part to its lack of the above; the easy choice bailing? We need to back up and recheck the Iraq plan I made bridge-for-sale jokes about. OK, here we go. If he believes they are fighting for a better America, a better world, then why would he say something like this a few short graphs earlier?
I will begin to remove our troops from Iraq immediately …Â Let there be no doubt: I will end this war.
And why the devil has he opposed this great cause for five years? It’s a mystery. And the mystery deepens.
I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think we were ready to move past the fights of the 1960s and the 1990s.
I am completely confused now, and have no idea what he’s talking about. Moving past the 1960s sounds like a great idea. I don’t think he’s refering to Free World vs. Communism, the ’60s fight we ultimately won. Hippies vs. Yankee Imperialism maybe? No, he’s still on board with that. The fights of the 1990s … what the heck is he talking about? Diana vs. Charles and the Rottweiler? Seinfeld vs. Newman? Clinton vs. Lewinsky? That must be it. What’s the one thing the 1960s and the 1990s have in common? Time to move past Democratic presidential hummers in the Oval Office. He can’t possibly mean al-Qaeda and Saddam. That’s what we’re trying to move past in Iraq and Afghanistan.  D’oh. I think I get it now. He’s black, being judged on his merits, such as they are, not by the color of his skin … though some blacks reportedly find the content of his soul insufficiently … soulful. But it’s the civil rights movement. That’s what he’s talking about. Someone tell Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and the reparations/affirmative action crowd its over. Obama’s right. Move on.
OK, we’re almost out of here. I long for the weather after reading this nauseatingly over-Splenda’d kicker:
I’m running for the presidency of the United States of America so that together we can do the hard work to seek a new dawn of peace and prosperity for our children, and for the children of the world.
Howzabout something like:
It’ll be snowing soon. The snows of winter will make you go inside, because it will be cold out. Much as it was during the Cold War. Very chilly. Peace, love out.Â
Would have made more sense. But I haven’t seen anything, in all the blah blah blah, that makes a coherent argument for pulling out American troops. Nothing that acknowledges it would condemn Iraqis to mass slaughter, endanger the entire region and dishonor the sacrifice of American soldiers. Nothing that suggests why his cockamamie ideas would work, other than he thinks disengagement from war = peace, to be seized at all costs.Â
Welcome Punditeers, Gateway, Pamajas, Memeorandistas, etal! So good to see you. Come on in. You’ll want to watch your step. Now that we’re done making America and the world better places, let’s sit back and appreciate the exquisite moronocy of it all. Hey, I think we missed a spot. You know what they say. If the glove does not fit, you must acquit. Meanwhile, here’s a good loot sale. We’ve got what you want: the latest in self-regulating stupid.
* RCP frontpage uses that title. When you go in, its the premature commencement cliche, “A New Beginning.”
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 1:41 am on Wednesday, October 3, 2007
23 Responses to “Better America, Better World”
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October 3rd, 2007 at 3:01 am
That is hilarious!!! Multiple guffaws.
October 3rd, 2007 at 4:03 am
The link to the “young woman [with] a hint of a tilt” was a disappointment. (Maybe I’m spending too much time at Theo’s.)
October 3rd, 2007 at 8:25 am
Well done, Jules. Very well done.
October 3rd, 2007 at 9:41 am
You made my day
“The fights of the 1990s … what the heck is he talking about?…
Seinfeld vs. Newman?”
October 3rd, 2007 at 9:51 am
I predict this kumbayah camp counselor won’t even get tagged for the vice presidential spot when the Dem Convention rolls around.
October 3rd, 2007 at 10:01 am
DePaul is now filled with students who have not spent a single day on campus without the reality of a war in Iraq.
To paraphrase a Marin, “DePaul is not at war. DePaul is at the mall, the Marines are at war.”
Obama is a vain fool. Not just because of how he’s trying to sell himself as President, but because he has the chutzpah to believe he can be an effective President, when he is nothing more than an inexperienced junior politician with delusions of grandeur.
October 3rd, 2007 at 11:28 am
Reading his speeches from time to time, I always come back to the one same question: Would you buy a used car from this guy?
October 3rd, 2007 at 11:32 am
“…but because he has the chutzpah to believe he can be an effective President, when he is nothing more than an inexperienced junior politician with delusions of grandeur.”
Yeah TRJ, but he is trying to crash that glass ceiling and stick it to the man. Style points have to count for alot on the Left, to make up for a lack of substance.
October 3rd, 2007 at 11:42 am
Barack Obama keeps trying to sound grandiose.
Every time he says something dumb or wrong, he retreats to the “above the fray” posture. It’s part of his shtick for a different kind of politics in DC, not to mention the country at large.
I wouldn’t waste too much time parsing the emptiness (and dumbness) of his would be grandiose statements. It’s very appealing to the “base” to think about the poor beleaguered DePaul students as he characterized them instead of how they actually are.
(hankie, please)
Obama’s greatest gift as a politician might be the capacity to pander.
October 3rd, 2007 at 12:33 pm
[...] Crittenden notes that Harry Reid is not alone in his appreciation of the good our troops are doing in Iraq. Or, I think that’s what Obama [...]
October 3rd, 2007 at 1:48 pm
Obama’s greatest gift as a politician might be the capacity to pander.
When you consider which political party Obama stands with, that is truly…….pathetic.
October 3rd, 2007 at 3:20 pm
The most telling thing about Obama is that he doesn’t seem to understand that he is a wet-behind-the-ears, babe in the woods, apprentice–and therefore too ignorant to aspire to the presidency. If he doesn’t have the brains to realize this much, how are we to trust him with the country, much less the country’s place within the world?
Great fisking, Critter.
October 3rd, 2007 at 4:19 pm
Web Reconnaissance for 10/03/2007
A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day…so check back often.
October 3rd, 2007 at 8:22 pm
blah blah blah is right. I swear, my eyes glaze over when this guy talks.
October 3rd, 2007 at 8:41 pm
Jules,
With regard to Obama .. “Well done .. Dear Boy .. well done”
Semper Fi .. from Marlborough
October 3rd, 2007 at 9:56 pm
Barack Obama, College Students, Soldiers and Marines
I was reading an article written by Jules Crittenden this evening and found myself feeling incredibly sad. I’m sure the article wasn’t intended to make anyone sad. Its about the privileged Barack Obama and his confusing, naive, …
October 3rd, 2007 at 10:36 pm
Yes, yes, but get back to me with a candidate with a deeper, grander speaking voice. The rest of them sound like castrati in comparison with the exception of the mannish HIllary.
October 4th, 2007 at 6:08 am
[...] Barack Obama’s foreign politicy speech is filled with errors, just look for yourself. [...]
October 4th, 2007 at 10:47 am
I don’t know, I pass by the DePaul campus every day and the students don’t appear to be too overburdened with the Iraq war. I suspect they’re primarily concerned with footing their steep private school tuition. Not that I’m criticizing, since I did it myself a, er, long time ago.
Reread through the content of this speech a couple of times. Never have so many words been spoken to say so little.
October 4th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
ODD SUPPORT
As I’ve shown over the last year or more, the support many on the anti-war movement show our troops is at best mere affection and not support at all.
October 4th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
“…my eyes glaze over when this guy talks.”
Even when my eyes are READING his talk, they glazzzzzzzzzzzzz……..
zzzzzzzzz……::snort::…zzzzzzzzzz……..
October 4th, 2007 at 1:56 pm
Obama Receives a Thorough Fiskking
Perhaps we just don’t understand the Audaciousness of Barack’s Hope for the defeat of America and the victory of our terrorist enemies.
We have to be audacious in our desire for defeat…
or something like that.
October 4th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
What Would Barack Do?
Thus winning the eternal support of Katie Couric, her fellow newscasters, Hollywood, and other compassionate head-tilters, “Obama Stops Wearing Flag Pin”, AP and Drudge breathlessly report. In contrast though, John Stephenson isn’t losing much sleep…