Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and military historian. His October 28 article on the Wall Street Journal's online edition compares the foreign-policy mess that Harry Truman inherited upon unexpectedly being thrust into the presidency with that faced today by President Obama (Truman faced a far worse situation than does Obama). VDH's assessment is that Truman knew less about foreign-policy but learned faster than anyone could have reasonably expected.
The question VDH asks is: "Will an inexperienced Barack Obama, in the fashion of Harry Truman, learn quickly that the world is chaotic and unstable—best dealt with through strength and unabashed confidence in America's historic role galvanizing democratic allies to confront illiberal aggressors?
"Or will a sermonizing Mr. Obama follow the aberrant Democratic path of the sanctimonious Jimmy Carter: finger-wagging at allies, appeasing enemies, publicly faulting his less than perfect predecessors, and hectoring the American people to evolve beyond their supposed prejudices?"
No one knows the answer. But as VDH points out: "America awaits this president's choice. The world safety hinges upon it."
We live in hope.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment