Obama’s War: The Reaction

The neocons and the war liberals are on board

by Justin Raimondo, December 04, 2009

"......A good number of Obama’s most enthusiastic cheerleaders are to be found on the neoconservative Right: we have David "Axis of Evil" Frum, who said we shouldn’t expect Churchillian rhetoric because it is not 1940 (what an admission for a neocon to make, surely a first!). National Review’s editors agreed: "Churchillian it was not." Yet they endorsed the president’s policy prescriptions, for the most part, while disdaining his tone (not bloodthirsty enough for their tastes). Bill Kristol, one of the intellectual architects [.pdf] of the Iraq war, opined in the pages of the Washington Post that, despite the speech’s flaws – notably the mention of a "too cute by half" deadline for the beginning of U.S. withdrawal – he is over the moon that Obama has "embraced the use of military force as a key instrument of national power." The Weekly Standard editor cited an exchange between a reporter and a senior U.S. official who was asked about Iran’s insistence that the Obama surge in Afghanistan is the same as the previous Bush surge in Iraq. The official replied that Obama’s war is being fought to protect the U.S. and its allies: "It’s easy to understand Iran’s perspective perhaps that there is some continuity here in the U.S. policy. That’s because the interest is consistent." Avers Kristol: "’The interest is consistent.’ That’s the heart of the matter. It’s encouraging that Obama seems to understand this fact.".........

In the days to come, there will doubtless be more examples of the new illiberal liberalism. I didn’t have space to deal with them all in this column, but we’ve got plenty of time. After all, we’re stuck with Obama for a few more years yet, and his cultists will no doubt come up with plenty of morally bankrupt rationales for his murderous policies abroad. That’s what you and I have to look forward to: years of wading through the "arguments" of contemptible hacks like Cesca, Slater, et al. So you’ll forgive me if I go lie down for a bit – I feel a headache coming on…"