Ferguson’s opportunism

In the entry from two nights ago on Newsweek’s shocking cover article, “Hit the Road, Barack,” I’ve added an observation as to why its author, Niall Ferguson, who was anti-Arab Spring in February 2011, today attacks Obama for being insufficiently pro-Arab Spring:

… To repeat: in February 2011 Ferguson thought the victory of the secular democrats was an impossibility. But in August 2012 he is blaming Obama for the defeat of the secular democrats at the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Why is he doing this? It looks like sheer opportunism. The main thrust of his denunciation of Obama has to do with the economy and government spending. But in order for his rejection of Obama to hit all bases, he also needed to attack Obama on foreign policy. He could not, in conformity with his anti-Arab Spring position as of February 2011, attack Obama for supporting the Arab Spring, because that would have been too anti-liberal for Newsweek to publish. (Remember, both Democrats/liberals and Republicans/neocons support the Arab Spring.) So instead he turned neocon and attacked Obama for not backing the Arab Spring with sufficient zeal.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at August 21, 2012 03:26 PM | Send