The right-wing\u2019s portrayal of Obama as a terrorist-sympathising, anti-Western alien intent on destroying the country was patently absurd from the start\u2014which isn\u2019t to say that that portrayal can\u2019t grow absurder still.\u00a0 Obama\u2019s justified caution in using force unilaterally against Gaddafi shows the instincts of a conservative realist, not a wild-eyed radical committed anywhere and everywhere to the liberation of the masses.\u00a0 \u201cBombs away\u201d is not traditionally a conservative inclination.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I haven\u2019t subjected myself to much right-wing talk radio and TV recently, so I don\u2019t know whether the Obama-haters have made the predictable flip-flop.\u00a0 Having opposed Obama\u2019s ultimate verbal support for the Egyptian protesters (an opposition not based on any a priori principle regarding the proper deference due to Middle Eastern dictators, but simply on the rule: whatever Obama does is wrong), the right-wing media, if they were suddenly to become guided by reason, should now be supporting Obama\u2019s caution towards Libya.\u00a0 Because such backing for Obama\u2019s Libyan diplomacy would represent principle and consistency, I can only suppose that the right is now blasting him for not siccing the American military on Libya.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The final nail in the coffin of Obama hysteria should be his disappointing approval <\/a>of the shameful treatment of Pfc. Bradley Manning.\u00a0 If ever there were a moment to stand up to the military complex, this is it.\u00a0 But instead Obama is rubber-stamping the military\u2019s punitive behavior towards Manning.\u00a0 I detest Wikileaks\u2019s childish belief that diplomatic secrecy is illegitimate and its outrageous presumptuousness acting on that belief.\u00a0 But I have yet to read any persuasive justification for the inhumane conditions Manning has been subjected to, including his near total isolation.\u00a0 Manning may have betrayed his country, but he is not a present security threat.\u00a0 Unless there are current facts about Manning that have not been made public, Obama\u2019s kowtowing to the Pentagon on this one suggests at best\u00a0an instinctive deference towards military judgment\u2014again, hardly a left-wing, radical position\u2014or at worst a weak indecisiveness.\u00a0 I will choose to believe the former, but wish that he channeled a little more of his alleged\u00a0inner-ACLU advocate here.\u00a0 In any case, I am sure that Obama will get no credit from the pro-military right for this refusal to question the military\u2019s judgment.\u00a0<\/p>\n (This is not to say that Obama does not pursue plenty of left-wing big government policies.\u00a0 But he does so from within the mainstream liberal tradition, not as a fringe outsider.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The right-wing\u2019s portrayal of Obama as a terrorist-sympathising, anti-Western alien intent on destroying the country was patently absurd from the start\u2014which isn\u2019t to say that that portrayal can\u2019t grow absurder still.\u00a0 Obama\u2019s justified caution in using force unilaterally against Gaddafi … Continue reading