{"id":6945,"date":"2014-01-28T11:56:13","date_gmt":"2014-01-28T19:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=6945"},"modified":"2014-01-28T11:56:13","modified_gmt":"2014-01-28T19:56:13","slug":"fight-the-next-war-not-the-last-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/fight-the-next-war-not-the-last-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Fight the Next War, Not the Last One"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Bruce S. Thornton \/\/\u00a0FrontPage Magazine<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Tuesday night President Obama will deliver another campaign speech, this one\u00a0marketed\u00a0as the State of the Union address. As such, we can expect to hear, through the\u00a0usual\u00a0white noise of \u201cI,\u201d \u201cme,\u201d and \u201cmy,\u201d\u00a0vacuous bromides like \u201cmoving America forward,\u201d and\u00a0empty\u00a0promises \u201cto grow the economy, strengthen the middle class, and\u00a0empower all who hope to join it,\u201d\u00a0as White House flack Dan Pfeiffer said. So\u00a0after\u00a0token references to economic growth,\u00a0we can expect to be served\u00a0heaping helpings of \u201cincome inequality\u201d and \u201ceconomic\u00a0mobility,\u201d\u00a0the redistributionist chum for his\u00a0hungry\u00a0progressive base.<\/p>\n

Is anybody surprised\u00a0at\u00a0once again experiencing the mendacity of hope? Is there anything we don\u2019t know about the incompetence, arrogance, and political thuggery of this administration? Obama and the Democrats represent the toxic stew of old-style Progressive\u00a0government by technocratic elites, Sixties grievance politics,\u00a0stealth pacifism,\u00a0guilt over\u00a0America\u2019s sins,\u00a0class warfare,\u00a0redistribution of wealth to buy votes, crony socialism for the progressive 1%\u00a0to secure campaign-contribution\u00a0kickbacks, and pork for public employee unions to\u00a0garner votes\u00a0as well as bucks. The wages of this faux populist elitism are\u00a0a\u00a0sluggish recovery,\u00a0anemic\u00a0economic growth, a real\u00a0unemployment rate<\/a>\u00a0of 13%,\u00a0a 3% decline over the last\u00a0decade in the workforce\u00a0participation rate<\/a>,\u00a0the monstrosity of Obamacare, the failure to exploit this country\u2019s petroleum and natural gas riches,\u00a0the looming\u00a0bankruptcy of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid,\u00a0and the explosion of debt and deficits\u00a0to finance the whole disaster. In other words, precisely the policies guaranteed to\u00a0stop\u00a0economic growth and to\u00a0weaken\u00a0the middle class.<\/p>\n

As for foreign policy, it would be surprising to hear\u00a0a whole lot\u00a0about that\u00a0on Tuesday night. Five years of Obama have\u00a0seen American prestige and influence damaged across the globe. Enemies and rivals have been appeased and strengthened, friends and allies scorned and compromised.\u00a0Russia and China are rushing to fill the vacuum left by American retreat.\u00a0The Middle East in particular is one spark away from explosion. American lives and dollars have been squandered\u00a0by\u00a0Obama\u2019s\u00a0abandonment of\u00a0Iraq and Afghanistan. Reliable if thuggish allies\u00a0in countries\u00a0like\u00a0Libya and\u00a0Egypt\u00a0have been surrendered\u00a0to\u00a0jihadists or\u00a0civil war. Our stalwart friend Israel\u00a0has been\u00a0bullied and endangered.\u00a0Al Qaeda and its affiliates\u00a0are rampaging\u00a0across the region.\u00a0And Iran\u2013\u2013our enemy for 35 years, the\u00a0most vicious and lethal\u00a0state sponsor of terrorism, the murderer of thousands of Americans\u2013\u2013currently\u00a0is\u00a0being\u00a0not just\u00a0appeased into becoming a nuclear power, but bribed with sanctions relief to do so. Given the brazen shamelessness of Obama, I fully expect him to ignore all those\u00a0disasters on his watch, and in full Neville\u00a0\u201cpeace in our time\u201d\u00a0Chamberlain mode, tout\u00a0as a\u00a0\u201cbreakthrough\u201d\u00a0his\u00a0agreement with Iran that does nothing to stop the mullahs from acquiring the bomb.<\/p>\n

Equally predictable will be the reaction\u00a0to the speech. The Congressional Democrat shills and touts will pop up on the\u00a0carefully crafted\u00a0applause lines, while Joe Biden\u00a0grins maniacally. The courtiers in the media will declare Obama\u2019s reading of the words of others to be the greatest oratory since\u00a0Lincoln\u2019s Gettysburg Address, and carefully parse\u00a0the banalities, clich\u00e9s, tired jargon, preposterous claims, and outright lies for more signs of their messiah\u2019s\u00a0rhetorical, political, and intellectual\u00a0brilliance.\u00a0The far-left of the base, who differ from other Democrats only in their honesty about their statist intentions, will whine that Obama didn\u2019t promise to raise taxes on the \u201c1%\u201d even more, dismantle the NSA, shut down Guantanamo,\u00a0shutter\u00a0every coal-fired electricity plant,\u00a0go on a Keynesian\u00a0spending\u00a0binge, destroy our drones, and slash defense spending to the bone, as they cast longing gazes on Cherokee princess Elizabeth Warren.<\/p>\n

But we know all that. For five years we\u00a0conservatives\u00a0have been like Cassandra, wandering desperately around Troy\u00a0accurately\u00a0predicting its destruction and being dismissed as insane.\u00a0Or in our case,\u00a0as\u00a0racist, heartless, greedy, and downright evil. No amount of empirical evidence debunking the claims of income inequality and the lack of mobility, or\u00a0explaining\u00a0the adverse effects of raising the minimum wage, or\u00a0detailing\u00a0the ongoing collapse of Obamacare, or\u00a0adding up\u00a0the\u00a0fiscal\u00a0failures of stimulus spending, or\u00a0exposing\u00a0the sweetheart deals to \u201cgreen energy\u201d hustlers, or\u00a0documenting\u00a0Obama\u2019s\u00a0serial lies, has made much of a difference.\u00a0His celebrity besotted,\u00a0vulgar-rich\u00a01% lifestyle on the taxpayer\u2019s dime, his abuse of executive power to make or unmake laws for political advantage, his demonization of his political enemies and rivals even as he simpers piously about \u201ccivility,\u201d\u00a0his attempt to kill the Fox News messenger,\u00a0his siccing of government agencies like the IRS and Department of Justice on conservatives,\u00a0all have been amply\u00a0publicized. And despite all that, his\u00a0job\u00a0approval numbers<\/a>\u00a0average\u00a043%,\u00a0up\u00a0over\u00a03 points since December 2,\u00a0when they should be\u00a0at least 10 points lower,\u00a0and heading south.<\/p>\n

Forget the speech. Forget yet once again cataloguing Obama\u2019s crimes and misdemeanors. When we\u2019re not preaching to the choir, we\u00a0come off\u00a0like\u00a0the Ancient Mariner,\u00a0a\u00a0gray-beard loon grabbing\u00a0voters\u2019\u00a0sleeves to make them hear yet again the tale of the political albatross hanging around the country\u2019s neck. We need to\u00a0seize the opportunity created by the dissatisfaction with Obamacare, which\u00a0has penetrated the fog of self-interest, ignorance, and indifference that\u00a0helped reelect Obama. The strong likelihood that Obamacare will continue to\u00a0hit\u00a0more and more people\u00a0in the wallet\u00a0means that there\u00a0will\u00a0be\u00a0a larger,\u00a0more receptive audience\u00a0come November\u2019s midterm elections.<\/p>\n

But\u00a0Republicans\u00a0have to\u00a0be\u00a0ready for that opportunity, with savvy, competent candidates\u00a0and spokesmen\u00a0who can explain the issues and link voter angst to the specific policies that created them, and who have workable alternatives to offer.\u00a0They\u00a0have to break the usual Republican\u00a0circular\u00a0firing squad, whether in Congress or the primaries,\u00a0and concentrate\u00a0their\u00a0fire on the political enemy.\u00a0They\u00a0have to\u00a0cleverly\u00a0mock those who would\u00a0whine\u00a0about the metaphor in the previous sentence, and abandon the \u201cpreemptive cringe,\u201d as Margaret Thatcher called it,\u00a0they\u00a0sometimes indulge when the other side squeals about \u201cracism,\u201d \u201cwar on women,\u201d\u00a0\u201cpolarization,\u201d \u201cincivility,\u201d\u00a0and \u201cextremists.\u201d\u00a0Instead,\u00a0they\u00a0should\u00a0model\u00a0their\u00a0responses\u00a0on Ronald Reagan\u2019s brilliant\u00a0riposte<\/a>\u00a0to Jimmy Carter\u00a0in the 1980 debate, \u201cThere you\u00a0go\u00a0again,\u201d using the same tone of mild amusement at a sulky child\u2019s tantrum.<\/p>\n

And\u00a0Republicans\u00a0have to start dismantling the carefully crafted persona of Hillary Clinton\u2013\u2013or \u201cPlanet Hillary,\u201d as\u00a0The\u00a0New York Times Magazine\u00a0absurdly put it\u00a0in a worshipful profile\u2013\u2013who currently is riding out Obama\u2019s political storm in the safe haven of accolades, awards,\u00a0Time\u00a0magazine puff pieces,\u00a0and\u00a0$200,000 speeches from companies investing in the future.\u00a0Republicans\u00a0can\u2019t let\u00a0voters\u00a0forget every gaffe, corrupt deal,\u00a0and scandal from 1992 until today,\u00a0or stop reminding them\u00a0that she has no achievements other than buying her\u00a0mediocre\u00a0political career with the coin of humiliation at the hands of her\u00a0philandering\u00a0husband.\u00a0Voters\u00a0have to\u00a0be reminded of\u00a0her politicized opposition to the 2007 successful surge of troops in Iraq, and her\u00a0public accusation that General Petraeus was lying about the evidence of that success. Most important,\u00a0all Americans\u00a0must never let anyone forget\u00a0that on her watch 4 Americans died\u00a0in Benghazi,\u00a0while\u00a0all she had to say was \u201cWhat difference does it make!\u201d\u00a0after lying to a grieving father that an obscure moviemaker was to blame.<\/p>\n

Whatever damage Obama can do in the next 3 years, 8 years of Hilary Clinton will make it worse. Every dysfunction\u00a0inflicted on the country\u00a0by 100 years of the progressive assault on limited government, self-reliance,\u00a0and\u00a0self-government\u00a0will continue to\u00a0worsen, while the debt clock ticks ever closer to the midnight of bankruptcy.\u00a0Conservatives\u00a0need to fight the next war, not refight the last one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Bruce S. Thornton \/\/\u00a0FrontPage Magazine\u00a0 Tuesday night President Obama will deliver another campaign speech, this one\u00a0marketed\u00a0as the State of the Union address. As such, we can expect to hear, through the\u00a0usual\u00a0white noise of \u201cI,\u201d \u201cme,\u201d and \u201cmy,\u201d\u00a0vacuous bromides like \u201cmoving America forward,\u201d and\u00a0empty\u00a0promises \u201cto grow the economy, strengthen the middle class, and\u00a0empower all who […]<\/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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[22,187,536],"tags":[12,165,1055,1053,726,1044,129,440,1052],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-1O1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6606,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/bruce-thornton-on-secure-freedom-radio-with-frank-gaffney\/","url_meta":{"origin":6945,"position":0},"title":"Bruce Thornton on Secure Freedom Radio with Frank Gaffney","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Seth Jones, Bruce Thornton, Peter Pham, Diana West October 9th, 2013\u00a0\u00b7\u00a0Comments SETH JONES, Associate Director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the RAND Corporation, joins guest host DAN BONGINO, to help explain the terror threat from and historical background of the terrorist organization al-Shabaab. BRUCE THORNTON, a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3300,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/obamas-race-card\/","url_meta":{"origin":6945,"position":1},"title":"Obama’s Race Card","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton Private Papers The liberal media are in full Captain Renault mode, \u201cshocked, shocked\u201d to find race injected into the presidential campaign by a \u201cSwift-boating\u201d John McCain. How shameless can you get? The Obama campaign\u2013\u2013indeed, the whole of Obama\u2019s public existence\u2013\u2013is about nothing other than his perceived\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3812,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/homer-economics\/","url_meta":{"origin":6945,"position":2},"title":"Homer Economics","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 24, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton Advancing a Free Society The showdown between public employee unions and cash-strapped state governments on display in Madison should be bad news for President Obama and the Democrats. While millions of Americans are unemployed, and those lucky enough to have jobs pay for their retirement and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2373,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-end-of-post-racialism\/","url_meta":{"origin":6945,"position":3},"title":"The End of Post-Racialism","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton FrontPageMagazine.com So much for Obama striking a new tone on race. President Obama\u2019s response during his press conference to the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates \u2014 that the Cambridge police officer \u201cacted stupidly,\u201d despite Obama\u2019s confession that he didn\u2019t know what really had happened\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1138,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/its-the-president-stupid-the-referendum-on-barack-obama\/","url_meta":{"origin":6945,"position":4},"title":"It’s the President Stupid: The Referendum on Barack Obama","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 10, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton RightNetwork.com The people have spoken, and what they have said concerns more than just the wrong-headed policies the Democrats have inflicted upon us in the past few years. This election was never just about policy \u2013\u2013 it was also about Barack Obama and the repudiation of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. 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