Fear Chamberlain’s Ghost
Topic: Middle East, Politics| 5 Comments »Earlier today our revered President spoke to the Israeli Knesset on the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state. In that speech Bush took the opportunity to slam the Democratic nominee on his policy of negotiating with adversaries. In front of many Jews who had lived through perhaps the most nefarious period in modern history the President of the United States chose to invoke appeasement and Hitler for political purposes. This act was flawed on many levels. First, the Dixie Chicks were lambasted for criticizing Bush on foreign soil. Their reputations were severely tarnished and death threats followed. President Bush not only did this on foreign soil but in front of the entire Israeli legislative branch. Secondly, Bush purposely didn’t give credit to the Senator with whom he quoted, isolationist Republican Congressmen William Edgar Borah from Idaho who said, “Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.” If Borah had been a Democrat I’m sure he would have been fully disclosed. Finally, talking to Iran, North Korea, Syria, et al is a policy proposed by Robert Gates, the Secretary of Defense.
So now we are left with the fallout. McCain has hitched his wagon to the opportunism offered by Bush’s speech. And the Right Wing has begun to try to triangulate Obama as the second coming of Neville Chamberlain. 
Fortunately, many Conservatives are not very savvy when it comes to history. In fact, many right wingers I have argued with over the years have a hard time getting past what they hear on their favorite sycophant’s radio program. What do I mean, you say? Chris Mathews today tried to carry an argument with one such right winger and talking points seemed to get in the way of the facts. Enjoy.
Of course this is just a quick summary but what is interesting and most people aren’t talking about is the fact that our current President holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. Not only has this MBA recipient done little to forestall the recession he has failed to articulate the nature of the woes to the nation. I wonder how drunk Bush actually was during his years at Harvard. Here is a list of classes that one is required to take at HBS along with the list of electives: 
I went to kindergarten in a school that was formerly the Black high school in Liberty, Missouri in 1969. When the school was converted to a kindergarten at the time when schools were integrated, the building, which had been battered and worn from years of neglect by the city was renovated to make it usable by the mostly White kindergartners. These events that are etched in my distant memory are nothing compared to the decades of injustice that has consumed this nation in the last century, never mind the two centuries prior. Are men such as Reverend Wright simply to forget this climate that surrounded their existence for most of their lives? Obama said it succinctly: 
Obama is the zeta to Lincoln’s alpha; the pinnacle of nearly 150 years of the struggle to be free but never quite equal might end with the 2008 election. If Obama does win the Democratic Primary, what impact will he have beyond the Presidential race? If large number of Black voters swamp the polls on November 2, what will be the secondary effect? If Blacks go to the polls for Obama it can only help incumbents like Mary Landrieu of Louisiana. Her seat in the Senate is the one most in jeopardy to be lost by the Democrats. Landrieu, however, is playing it close to the vest. She has not endorsed either candidate thus far. You would think that in her most private moments she cheers on Obama like a rabid NASCAR fan. Another key seat up for grabs is Trent Lott’s old slot in Mississippi. Ronnie Musgrove (D) will be running against Roger Wicker (R). Already said to be a close race, a huge African-American turnout could turn the tide in a very Red State. The most interesting race that involves the “Obama Factor” will be in Alabama. Jeff Sessions, a two term Senator, would normally be a shoe-in but recent events swirling around the incarceration of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman around spurious information and involving Karl Rove aired recently on CBS’ 60 Minutes. 
There were several options on the ballot but Putin’s control of the government meant access to information on these other candidates was severely limited in most cases and outright restricted in others. The one man most known in the west, Gary Kasparov the chess champion, was denied inclusion on the ballot and is one of the key opposition leaders who has called the election a “farce”. Assemblies have often been broken up by law enforcement officials within Russia and the media is run by the state and thus is pro-Putin. 
A win by him in either Texas or Ohio will send his opponent “to the showers”. If he manages to win both it will bring down the curtains for sure. The Obama campaign has learned a valuable lesson from the Kerry campaign of four years ago. Whenever there is an attack from either Clinton or McCain, they waste no time in returning fire; sometimes in a matter of hours. They understand the power of the “swiftboat” and it appears, like in the famous line in Jaws, that his opponent are going to need a bigger boat.
Bush claimed that such a meeting would give credence to the authoritarian regime. I am so sick of this administration’s callous disregard for precedents and a strange neglect of history. When Republican President Richard Nixon visited China, a move seen as one of his few achievements, China was one of the most authoritarian nations on the planet. Look at Chinese-American relations now. Granted the economic policy highly favors China and that needs to change but China has moved beyond their insular foreign policy and has begun a new movement of openness that will not be reversed. After Senators Kerry and McCain pressed the President to normalize relations with Vietnam in 1995, trade restrictions were lifted and in 2000 President Clinton became the first US President to visit the nation since the war ended. (President Nixon actually visited the Vietnam while still at war in 1969). The communist state has followed China’s lead and they have allowed free trade to flourish in this once closed country. And now there is debate over Cuba. Is there anyone who does not doubt the same result we have seen in the communist nations of China and Vietnam will also ensue in Cuba? It is time to return Cuba to the paradise it was in the 1940s. Resuming ties with the island nation will bring their society closer to ours, not vice versa.
When the topic of Ralph Nader’s entrance into the race arose, Obama was as savy and direct as an arrow. Nader contended in 2000 there was no difference between the Democratic and Republican parties. Obama said today, “He (Nader) thought that there was no difference between Al Gore and George Bush and, eight years later, I think people realize that Ralph did not know what he was talking about.” In previous elections Democrats treated Nader with kid gloves so as not to harm the liberal base. Obama, speaking from strength, is not playing that game. Nader, in my opinion, will not play even a small role in the 2008 election. Some have criticized Barack Obama for not ever running a competitive election against a Republican opponent but if today’s perfectly spoken comments about Nader are any indication, Obama is already speaking like a winner.
