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Showing Original Post only (View all)Magical thinking [View all]
I have to admit to being more than a little gobsmacked by some of the reactions to this latest Syria development, i.e. the Russia deal.
It doesn't make me an "Obama-hater" to believe, based on very basic powers of observation, that the initial stages of this episode were not well-handled by the administration. It's not a betrayal to see this for what it was. From Kerry trying to sell the idea that what we had planned for Syria wasn't really war, to Mr. Obama badly misjudging the reaction he would get from Congress, to the administration offering no clear vision of what the point of the exercise was supposed to be ("It's going to be unbelievably small!" said Kerry, so why do it at all? Etc.), to no boots on the ground to maybe boots on the ground but no boots on the ground, to this last act with Kerry going off-the-cuff and getting rebuffed by his own State Department before everyone took a breath and said, "Wait a minute, that might work," with a little help from the Kremlin.
The UK Telegraph called all this "the worst day in Western diplomatic history," which is frankly a friggin' hoot coming from the UK; I believe Neville Chamberlain still retains the world heavyweight title for Worst Diplomacy Of All Time. No, it wasn't that, but it wasn't great, or even good.
It is what it is. Plainly put, they screwed up repeatedly on the front end, and are getting it right on the back end, and for that they should be given a great deal of credit. The First Law of Holes says when you're in a hole, stop digging. There have been plenty of presidents who would have just kept shoveling until they were buried. That did not happen here, because of some quick thinking, good diplomacy, and the simple ability to know when a course-correction is required.
So good on them. Very, very, very good.
But trying to spin this as the endgame of some far-reaching master plan, they had it in the bag the whole time and I just can't see that because I am blinded by hatred or something (combined with a fair budget of neener neener neener you suck crap because the team-sports thing in politics is always awesome), frankly boggles me. It's as if there's a need to believe that Mr. Obama is some sort of pan-dimensional hybrid between Yoda and Muad'dib, all-seeing and all-knowing.
That level of hero-worship directed at any politician is frankly dangerous. Expecting/demanding that others buy into it is absurd.
They got it wrong, then they got it right, but no one in Washington is bending spoons with their mind or seeing through time. It is what it is, I'll be thrilled if the outcome avoids violence, and due credit will go where it is deserved.
That's it, and it should be enough.