The right-wing punditocracy\u2019s sputtering reaction to the Obama Administration\u2019s Egyptian diplomacy is a new low point in the melt-down of rationality on the right.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I am utterly convinced that had Bush been in power and had gently suggested that Mubarak cede power, the right would have loyally backed him.\u00a0 After all, the Freedom Agenda was a signature Bush policy, if only intermittently realized in practice.\u00a0 Nothing that Obama is doing now contradicts that policy; in fact the nudge towards Mubarak is something that would seem to have been long overdue under the Freedom Agenda.\u00a0 The right cheered on the invasion of Iraq to remove a dictator, with its concomitant risk\u2014temporarily realized–of empowering Islamists, in this case, Al Qaeda in Iraq.\u00a0 The Right is constantly extolling American exceptionalism and our God-given duty to spread freedom throughout the world.\u00a0 The Right has also proclaimed the need to back a war-time president and to maintain a strong executive control over foreign affairs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the rule on the right now is: If Obama is doing it, it is wrong.\u00a0 It is as simple as that.\u00a0 So suddenly Mubarak must not be challenged, because the threat of the Muslim Brotherhood is so great and because Israel\u2019s interests require unequivocal support for Israel-friendly Middle Eastern dictators.\u00a0 Leave aside the legitimate debate about whether the Muslim Brotherhood in fact remains committed to violent Jihad.\u00a0 The argument\u2014whether right or wrong–that the longer term protection for Israel is Middle Eastern democracy is now out the window, despite its many exponents among Bush freedom proselytizers.<\/p>\n
I am attributing more coherence to the right-wing media\u2019s reaction than it deserves, however.\u00a0 Although the \u201cprop-up-Mubarak\u201d position has recently solidified on talk radio and Fox News, during the early days of the Egyptian crisis, the only clear principle that emerged from the right was that Obama was wrong.\u00a0 The terrible complexity of the situation, the conundrums and impossible trade-offs, were never acknowledged.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Has the Obama Administration been totally consistent from day to day?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Is it driven more by developing facts on the ground than driving those facts?\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 And good luck to anyone who thinks that he can do better in this diplomatic and moral morass.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The right-wing punditocracy\u2019s sputtering reaction to the Obama Administration\u2019s Egyptian diplomacy is a new low point in the melt-down of rationality on the right.\u00a0 I am utterly convinced that had Bush been in power and had gently suggested that Mubarak … Continue reading