In his victory speech after the North Carolina primary, Sen. Barack Obama said something that is all the more remarkable for how little it has been remarked upon.
In defending his stated intent to meet with America’s enemies without preconditions, Sen. Obama said: “I trust the American people to understand that it is not weakness, but wisdom to talk not just to our friends, but to our enemies, like Roosevelt did, and Kennedy did, and Truman did.”
That he made this statement, and that it passed without comment by the journalists covering his speech indicates either breathtaking ignorance of history on the part of both, or deceit.
I assume the Roosevelt to whom Sen. Obama referred is Franklin D. Roosevelt. Our enemies in World War II were Nazi Germany, headed by Adolf Hitler; fascist Italy, headed by Benito Mussolini, and militarist Japan, headed by Hideki Tojo. FDR talked directly with none of them before the outbreak of hostilities, and his policy once war began was unconditional surrender.
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Bill Baar says:
The United States is an extremely difficult land for the rest of the world to figure out, and Obama is a perfect example.
We're easy to misunderstand as weak because our first preference is talk and negotiate. That's what a middle class, capitalistic ethos calls us to do.
What confuses others and inclines them towards risking war is our reluctance to tell them is while we're slow to anger, a first strike against a friend will prompt a fierce retaliation.
If Obama's America accepts the War of Last Resort option --as we did in WWII-- America will wage a war of annihilation.
When talk fails, when reason doesn't work, that same American ethos calls for the quick and total victory the foe won't forget.
It's best Obama, like HRC, let the Iranians and the rest of the world know that.