Washington Diarist: Forever Young. by Leon Wieseltier. Tuesday, February 12, 2008

News Type: Opinion — Seeded on Wed Feb 13, 2008 2:42 PM EST

Article Source: The New Republic (TNR)

politics, barack-obama, iran, china, pakistan, al-qaeda, darfur, korea, youth, leadership, elimination-of-poverty, jihadist-terrorism, two-palestines

Seeded by Larry H-189743

What you think of a presidential candidate is in large measure determined by what you think of the world. Different circumstances call for different talents, different sensibilities, different approaches to power. "Leadership" comes in many forms. A sterling individual may be historically inappropriate; and a person whom it is impossible to admire may accomplish significant things. The question of whether Barack Obama will make a fine commander-in chief finally depends on your view of the direction of history in the coming years. I cannot escape the foreboding that we are heading into an era of conflict, not an era of conciliation.

"False hopes?" Obama told a crowd in New Hampshire. "There's no such thing." How dare he? There is almost no more commonplace trait of human existence (and of African American existence) than false hopes.

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Larry H-189743

You might think that in such conditions he is even more of an historical necessity-but why would you think that all that stands between the world and peace is one man? George W. Bush was not single-handedly responsible for getting us into our strategic mess and Barack Obama will not be single-handedly responsible for getting us out of it. There are autonomous countries and cultures out there. The turbulence that I have described is not caused by misunderstandings. It is caused by the interests of powers and the beliefs of peoples. Beijing, Moscow, Tehran, Pyongyang, Islamabad, Gaza City, Khartoum, Caracas-does Obama really believe that he has something to propose to these ruthless regimes that they have not already considered? Does he plan to move them, to organize them, to show them change they can believe in? With what trick of empathy, what euphoria, does he hope to join the Shia, the Sunni, and the Kurds in Iraq?

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2 votes

#1 - Wed Feb 13, 2008 2:46 PM EST

{"commentId":1467027,"authorDomain":"wharrison55"}

Bill Harrison

Great article by Leon Wieseltier, Larry. It beggars the imagination that in an international scene fraught with danger the American people would turn over the reins of power to a guy who on 9/11 was an unknown junior IL state senator.

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2 votes

#1.1 - Wed Feb 13, 2008 3:09 PM EST

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LARRY H-189743

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Washington Diarist: Forever Young. by Leon Wieseltier. Tuesday, February 12, 2008

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