Another despicable conservative hypocrite—part of a continuing series

Paul Mirengoff writes at Powerline:

This critical look by the New York Times at President Obama’s responses to the “Arab Spring” is very much worth reading. It describes the “hard lesson[] the president ha[s] learned over almost two years of political turmoil in the Arab world” as follows: “bold words and support for democratic aspirations are not enough to engender good will in this region, especially not when hampered by America’s own national security interests.”

How is it that an American president didn’t know this from the beginning? The explanation, the Times makes clear, resides in Obama’s megalomania. Thus, the Times finds that Obama’s “handling of the uprisings demonstrates the gap between the two poles of his political persona: his sense of himself as a historic bridge-builder who could redeem America’s image abroad, and his more cautious adherence to long-term American interests in security and cheap oil.”

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a president whose foreign policy rests primarily on adherence to long-term American security and economic interests, and not at all on his absurdly inflated self-image?

[end of Powerline entry].

When President G.W. Bush thought that bold words and support for democratic aspirations would be enough to engender good will in the Muslim world, did Mirengoff express his disapproval for such folly? When Bush, based on the belief that democracy would turn jihadists into moderates, forced the Israelis to include Hamas in Palestinian Authority elections, which resulted in Hamas taking over the PA “parliament,” and shortly after that in Hamas taking over Gaza, and immediately after that in Hamas bombarding Israel with mortar fire, did Mirengoff condemn him for his naivité? When Bush, waxing Napoleonic, gave an inaugural address calling for America to end tyranny everywhere in the world, did Mirengoff score Bush for his “megalomania” and his “absurdly inflated self-image” and suggest that he was neglecting America’s long-term national interests? When Bush, following the 9/11 attack, called Islam a religion of peace, and increased Muslim immigration into America, and turned American airports into humiliation centers for the American people in order not to “profile” our enemies, did Mirengoff worry that Bush was neglecting national security?

Not only that, but according to the Times article Mirengoff cites, Obama has learned that “bold words and support for democratic aspirations are not enough to engender good will in this region.” Did Bush EVER learn that lesson? No. He’s an unreconstructed democratist, who, even after the end of his disastrous presidency, has kept complacently chanting that all Muslims desire American-type freedom and long to be like us. So Obama, by Mirengoff’s own standard, would appear to be more rational and intellectually honest than Bush. But Mirengoff belittles Obama, and remains in the ranks of the Bush courtiers.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at September 25, 2012 06:14 PM | Send