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Current Issue
As tiresome as it is, this idea that Barack Obama, of all people, is not an adherent of American exceptionalism is strangely popular. Perhaps it helps some people sleep better at night–I don’t get it. Have these people already forgotten Obama’s Inaugural Address, which even Bill Kristol admitted was “unabashedly pro-American”? Maybe [...]
36 Comments »
Filed under: politics
Noah Millman has an answer to the part of this post where I talk about collaborators:
I’m pretty sure he’s wrong, because that would make Konrad Adenauer a traitor.
As a general rule, I think my red line dividing patriots from traitors holds up quite well, and I would maintain as part of the general rule that [...]
26 Comments »
Filed under: politics
I’m sorry, but I just find the idea of minaret-shaped candies extremely amusing. ~Reihan
Who wouldn’t?
On a more serious note, Reihan was recently venturing into the bizarre territory of public opinion about Obama’s religion:
But there’s something so forehead-slappingly strange about the notion that you can’t help but wonder how, even after 100 days in office, Obama [...]
6 Comments »
Filed under: politics, religion
It is with some reluctance that I have to say that James’ response to Andrew Bacevich gets things very wrong. Or, rather, he is right in what he says up to a point, but what he says does not respond to Bacevich’s claim at all. As it happens, James helps makes Bacevich’s point [...]
4 Comments »
Filed under: culture, decentralism, politics
I’m less clear, though, that one can be a patriot while radically critiquing the very definition of one’s country’s polity. ~Noah Millman
Noah has a serious and worthwhile reply to my earlier post on this subject (Noah’s original post is here, and James Poulos’ comments are here). The several cases he mentions are worth pondering, [...]
11 Comments »
Filed under: politics
Who is the intended audience for this kind of argument? Who is it attempting to persuade? People who have basically given up on a majority Republicans — that is, the “conservative rump” — are in a poor position to influence them. ~Jim Antle
To return to the Specter business one more time, a few words in [...]
11 Comments »
Filed under: politics
Scott has written a challenging essay for World Affairs Journal that is worth your time. He argues that a multicultural America resulting from the waves of post-1965 mass immigration will be more receptive to a humble, less interventionist foreign policy, and that this exposes contradictions in the views of both restrictionist paleoconservatives and pro-immigration [...]
4 Comments »
Filed under: foreign policy, immigration, politics
Browsing AmSpec’s blog, I came across this item from our old friend R.S. McCain. His point seems to be that he is older than Ross Douthat and Jonathan Chait, and no one would contest this. As far as I can tell, the only other thing he says worth noting in response to Ross’ [...]
6 Comments »
Filed under: politics
Late in life, George Kennan speculated that the United States had simply got too big to be a functioning democracy and a responsible international actor. To preserve the Republic, the Republic would have to be destroyed, broken up into ten to twelve smaller states. Suppose Bacevich became convinced of something similar – what on earth [...]
13 Comments »
Filed under: America, foreign policy, politics
What possible reason would a conservative have to attack Cheney instead of Obama? ~Warner Todd Huston (via John Schwenkler)
Because only one of the two supported the commission of war crimes? That is one reason that comes to mind. Because only one actively pushed for an unnecessary and unjust war, and the other opposed [...]
7 Comments »
Filed under: politics