Interpretations

I’ve been thinking about Bill Clinton’s remarks about Barack Obama when he was asked if Obama was ready to be President. The MSM, and I guess many others as well, interpreted Clinton’s answer to be rather insulting to Obama and at best a very luke-warm endorsement. But what would one expect Bill Clinton to say? After the campaign between Hillary and Obama for the nomination, in which they tried to portray Obama as not ready for the Presidency, was Bill expected to gush about how ready he was? They say that if it had been Hillary he would have said immediately how ready she was. Would this not be expected? I think the Clintons do believe that Hillary was much better prepared than Obama to be President. When asked by the interviewer what Bill thought, he replied in what I think one could argue was a very supporting way. He said, “you could argue that no one is prepared to be President” (thus implying that Obama was no worse off than anyone else). He also allowed as to how he, himself, had to learn in the first year of his Presidency. He then went on to say “Obama ought to win, and he will win.” He also said, “He ran a wonderful campaign and he’s smart as can be, and he’ll be able to learn quickly.” He didn’t have to say any of those things. He could have said, “well, I don’t think he’s experienced enough,” or “he really isn’t ready,” or some such thing. He didn’t. Obama himself thought Bill’s answer was a judicious and fair one. Both Hillary and Bill will be speaking at the convention. So where is all this bad blood the MSM keeps insisted is there? They all agree they will be united against McCain. The MSM’s attempt to make a big deal out of this is just another example of their trying to stir up trouble in order to keep up their façade of news 24/7. This is the adult version of the old playground trouble maker, “Billy told me than Johnny said nobody likes you.” Obviously the Clintons are disappointed that Hillary lost to a relatively unknown. They would have been disappointed no matter who she might have lost to. So there are some bruised egos, we are moving on. The MSM is not helping.

If Obama and McCain don’t come to their senses it is petty clearly the case that Afghanistan will be their Viet Nam. With no more troops than we have available there is absolutely no military solution to the “problem” of Afghanistan. It is a lost cause. The most sensible plan of action is to withdraw our troops and spend the money on reconstruction, infrastructure, education, and so on, and hope for the best. Yes, I suppose the Taliban might actually take control of the entire country (might, mind you), and they might impose standards that we in the West do not agree with. But so does Saudi Arabia and we are not trying to force them to change at the point of a gun. So, too, is it in other countries. Are we supposed to impose our standards of behavior on everyone else on the planet? (Which is, I guess, more or less what we have been attempting for a long time). We should do some serious soul-searching and try to understand that perhaps we are not the most enlightened and worthwhile people on the planet. If the goal of staying in Afghanistan is to capture Bin Laden we aren’t doing very well at it. Yes, he’s a war criminal, but we have known war criminals right here in the White House, no one is spending billions to do anything about them. Our current situation, economically, socially, militarily, politically, and morally, is pathetic. We ought to do better. Will we?

LKBIQ:
Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.
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