Tuesday, January 13, 2009

The Limits of His Personal Charm

In a widely publicized trial balloon, presidential team advisers have indicated that Obama is preparing an executive order to close the terrorist holding facilities in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In a little noted excerpt from the article:

"...many nations have resisted Bush administration efforts to repatriate the prisoners back home. Both Obama advisers said it's hoped that nations that had initially resisted taking detainees will be more willing to do so after dealing with the new administration."

Stepping aside from the wisdom of bringing the most dangerous terrorists in the world onto U.S. soil, is Mr. Hope and Change really going to cajole other countries to take back terrorists through his charm? This reflects two strains of fallacious thinking that will be exposed. First, that hatred of America is all about Bush and as soon as he is gone the world will just love us. I made a facetious comment to this effect on DailyKos and was lauded for my thinking. Second, as I (and others) have discussed here and here, Mr. Obama seems to have a stratospherically high regard for himself.

To quote P.J. O'Rourke, "Is it too soon to talk about the failed Obama presidency just because Obama isn't president yet?"

2 comments:

  1. I hear they're going to make new overtures to Iran, too. Yay!

    Just how do you negotiate with a nation that wants to totally obliterate one of your allies? Do you come to an agreement where they only want to destroy half of it?

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