by Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n
NRO’s\u00a0The Corner<\/em><\/p>\n The president said some good things, but unfortunately, his long academic lecture on the nature of war itself had all the characteristics of what we have come to accept from an Obama sermon:<\/p>\n 1) Verbosity (4,000 words plus!) and extraneousness (he finally even referenced the world\u2019s farmers); 2) I\/me exhaustion (34 times) and the messianic cult of personality; 3) the 50\/50, split-the-difference trope; 4) the straw man: on the one hand there are realists, on the other idealists, and I Obama singularly reject this either\/or dichotomy (as if no one else does as well); 5) veiled attacks on the previous administration; 6) reference to his own unique personal story; 7) good-war\/bad-war theory of Afghanistan and Iraq; 8) the hopey-changy rhetorical flourish.<\/p>\n Is there a Microsoft program somewhere that writes these things out?<\/p>\n Obama did not mention the word \u201cIraq\u201d a single time, instead presenting his good-war\/bad-war dichotomy thus: \u201cOne of these wars is winding down. The other is a conflict that America did not seek; one in which we are joined by 43 other countries \u2014 including Norway \u2014 in an effort to defend ourselves and all nations from further attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n The president apparently does not realize that in Iraq too there was a coalition, that the Iraq War was approved by both houses of Congress on 23 grounds (only two dealing with WMD), and that more and more evidence is emerging concerning the terrorist ties between Saddam and radical Islam. And why, exactly, is it \u201cwinding down\u201d? Maybe a word of praise for the U.S. soldiers who took a genocidal thug out and later ensured that the war, whose name cannot be spoken, would be \u201cwinding down\u201d?<\/p>\n And why emphasize Afghanistan\u2019s supposedly better coalition when later in the speech you plan to emphasize that unilateralism can be justified as well? \u201cThere will be times when nations \u2014 acting individually or in concert \u2014 will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified.\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed, Iraq as the bad war is a subtext of the entire speech. But this Manichaeism, as it has in the past, gets him into big trouble. For example, if the Balkan war was necessary and right (and I think Obama is right that it was), it is still not an example of the U.S. acting in Obama\u2019s preferred legal context: Clinton did not ratify the war, as did Bush in Iraq, with a Congressional mandate, and he did not even attempt to go to the U.N. to sanction it.<\/p>\n After giving a Platonic take on the duration and near inevitably of age-old war, an exasperated President Obama then offers that even He cannot end war itself: \u201cI do not bring with me today a definitive solution to the problems of war.\u201d<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know what Obama quite meant with \u201cOnly when Europe became free did it finally find peace.\u201d So far, \u201cfinally\u201d means that we are 60-some years into peace in Europe (excluding things like Milosevic) \u2014 we haven\u2019t even reached the century-long achievement of the Congress of Vienna (1815\u20131914).<\/p>\n Why another reference to Guantanamo? It still is not closed, and won\u2019t be on its promised January 20 date. And it only evokes all the other \u201cBush did it\u201ds of the 2008 campaign \u2014 rendition, tribunals, Predators, intercepts, Patriot Act, etc. \u2014 that Obama later embraced.<\/p>\n Obama offers us, \u201cBut we do not have to think that human nature is perfect for us to still believe that the human condition can be perfected.\u201d That thought of the perfectibility of the human condition, in lieu of deterrence and military preparedness, throughout history has gotten millions killed. The human condition can be improved, but only by acknowledgment of the lethal propensities of some \u2014 and by readiness to prevent those propensities\u2019 becoming manifest. Most of the great wars of the 20th century were fought against those who were convinced that \u201cthe human condition can be perfected.\u201d<\/p>\n In short, Obama, in a mere 4,000 words, was trying to explain that even Noble Laureates like himself have to use force, but that they will do so in a way unlike that of George Bush.<\/p>\n \u00a92009 Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Victor Davis Hanson NRO’s\u00a0The Corner The president said some good things, but unfortunately, his long academic lecture on the nature of war itself had all the characteristics of what we have come to accept from an Obama sermon:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[631],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-xy","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7566,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/war-was-interested-in-obama\/","url_meta":{"origin":2080,"position":0},"title":"War Was Interested in Obama","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ PJMedia\u00a0 Leon Trotsky probably did not quite write the legendary aphorism that \u201cyou may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.\u201d But whoever did, you get the point that no nation can always pick and choose when it wishes to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The World"","block_context":{"text":"The World","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"obama_trotsky_6-15-14-1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.pjmedia.com\/victordavishanson\/files\/2014\/06\/obama_trotsky_6-15-14-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7562,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/obama-quits-afghanistan\/","url_meta":{"origin":2080,"position":1},"title":"Obama Quits Afghanistan","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Bringing Bergdahl home was useful for closing Gitmo and winding down the war. by\u00a0Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Online Soon we shall get to the bottom of the swap of five Taliban kingpins from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility for one Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. In time we will learn\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Middle East"","block_context":{"text":"The Middle East","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo via AFP Photo by Peter Muhly","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/2obama-gitmo-hunger-strike.si_-500x281.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2319,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/war-what-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":2080,"position":2},"title":"War–What War?","author":"victorhanson","date":"September 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services The anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan headed to Martha's Vineyard this week, where President Obama is vacationing. Once again she is protesting our two wars abroad. But Sheehan is a media has-been. ABC's Charlie Gibson used to cover her anti-Bush rallies in Crawford, Texas.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "September 2009"","block_context":{"text":"September 2009","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2009\/september-2009\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1910,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/who-is-the-enemy\/","url_meta":{"origin":2080,"position":3},"title":"Who Is the Enemy?","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 6, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson NRO's\u00a0The Corner I\u00a0don't think anyone knows quite what this administration's anti-terrorism policy is. Last August, Obama's counterterrorism chief, John Brennan, lambasted the Bush administration, citing \"the inflammatory rhetoric, hyperbole and intellectual narrowness that has often characterized the debate over the president's national security policies\" and criticizing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "January 2010"","block_context":{"text":"January 2010","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2010\/january-2010\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2066,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/our-flip-flopping-wars\/","url_meta":{"origin":2080,"position":4},"title":"Our Flip-Flopping Wars","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services We don't hear all that much about Iraq these days, do we? The war at one point almost tore apart this country. Public anger sent George W. Bush's approval ratings plummeting. And the outrage over our losses helped elect vocal anti-Iraq-war candidate Barack\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "December 2009"","block_context":{"text":"December 2009","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2009\/december-2009\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6074,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/intervention-in-syria-is-a-very-bad-idea\/","url_meta":{"origin":2080,"position":5},"title":"Intervention in Syria Is a Very Bad Idea","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 18, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online Syria is turning out to be a sort of Spanish Civil War of our age, with Hezbollah and Iran playing the role of fascist Italy and Germany, and the Islamic nations and jihadists that of Stalin\u2019s Russia, as the moderates disappear and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Syria"","block_context":{"text":"Syria","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/syria\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2080"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2080"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2081,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2080\/revisions\/2081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}