[I love this July 9, 2006 John McIntyre post in RealClearPolitics so much that I have run it as is. The Emery article is great:]
Truman's Ideological Heirs
Noemie Emery has a great article in this week's Weekly Standard on Harry Truman and his foreign policy ideological heirs. She confronts many of the myths modern day liberal hawks push concerning Truman's legacy and George W. Bush's foreign policy. She asks:
One wonders, what would today's liberal hawks have made of him (Truman) and Korea, given their penchant for neat, well-planned wars that end quickly, and their standard of zero mistakes? Would they have screamed for the scalp of Acheson? Ripped Truman to shreds for having gone in too rashly? Flayed him alive for undoubted misjudgments? Said (as did John Kerry and some "pro-war" Democrats) that while they supported the invasion in theory, they had never expected Harry Truman "to f-- it up as badly as he did"? If they quail at the expense of Iraq, what would they have said to the expense of Korea? If they quail at casualties of under 3,000, what would they have said to the more than 37,000 dead? Would they have been among the 23 percent who stayed loyal to Harry? Or would there have been second thoughts, mea culpas, and abject, not to say groveling, apologies to the antiwar left?
What is fascinating is while the Beinarts and Holbrookes debate the history of Truman's legacy, ground zero of the fight for the Democratic Party is on display in the Connecticut primary battle between one of the few remaining Harry Truman Democrats in Joe Lieberman versus the McGovern/Howard Dean/Netroots Ned Lamont.
And if Lieberman is defeated August 8th (I don't anticipate Lieberman losing) it may be the final nail in the coffin for the dwindling band of FDR/Truman/JFK/Scoop Jackson Democrats.
No comments:
Post a Comment