George F. Will - The Cosmopolitan - washingtonpost.com
George F. Will - The Cosmopolitan - washingtonpost.com: "In Berlin, Obama neared self-parody with a rhetoric of Leave No Metaphor Behind. 'Walls'? Down with them. 'Bridges'? Build new ones between this and that. 'A new dawn'? The Middle East deserves one. And Berlin was the wrong place to vow to 'remake the world once again.' Modern Berlin rose from rubble that was the result of the last attempt at remaking 'the world.'
Of course, from Obama, such tropes, although silly, are not menacing, any more than they were from Ronald Reagan, who was incorrigibly fond of perhaps the least conservative, and therefore the most absurd, proposition ever penned by a political philosopher, Thomas Paine's 'we have it in our power to begin the world over again.' No. We. Don't.
The world is a fact, and facts are indeed stubborn things. After eight years, if such there are, of an Obama presidency, if such there is, the world will look much as it does today -- if we are lucky."
Of course, from Obama, such tropes, although silly, are not menacing, any more than they were from Ronald Reagan, who was incorrigibly fond of perhaps the least conservative, and therefore the most absurd, proposition ever penned by a political philosopher, Thomas Paine's 'we have it in our power to begin the world over again.' No. We. Don't.
The world is a fact, and facts are indeed stubborn things. After eight years, if such there are, of an Obama presidency, if such there is, the world will look much as it does today -- if we are lucky."
posted by Rick and Gary at 11:12 AM
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