Senator O is a 'bargainer' in Shelby Steele lingo. So, for those of us 'typical whites' that are afraid of black anger (and America's original sin), that's nice. This is like an experince of the Messiah. Was it March he said, 'I don't think my Church is all that controversial (he's like one of us);' in early April, 'I can more disown Rev. Wright that I can disown the black community [heh, I'm the real deal (black, you know)].' Monday, a mild disagreement with the idea of Rev. Wright's remarks or maybe the distraction. Tuesday, after seeing 'his gestures' (like you know he expected him to stand without moving his arms like Senator Biden), "I denounce those remarks; they no more reflect me.." What a weatherman.

James Fallows of Atlantic points out two good speeches by SECDEF Gates to officers on track to rise in the Air Force and Army recently. The Air Force speech tells of someone who significanly contributed to or air superiority and his 'You can be somebody or do something attitude.' The latter is moe humorous but gives perspective on America at war and living with political constraints very well.

A question in reference to the origin of WWI

Megan McArdle compares 'our torture policy' to the bombing of Dresden. My comment was to posit a 'commonality between the Dresden bombings and 'our torture policy' would seem to accept more innuendo than, well, fact to include for starters that the people affected by the bombing had next to nothing to do with WWII and the 'tortured' had an arguable likelihood of causing the kind of civilian killings visited us on 9/11 which was more like the Dresden bombing than anything else you have brought up. The laws of war, per my earlier comment, would seem to provide a legalistic 'war crimes' defense for Bomber Harris of Great Britain but that doesn't mean that what was done wasn't criminal in a humanistic sense. The Dresden bombing raises for me a sort of murderous sibling rivalry hypothesis with regard to the relation of Great Britain to Germany. This goes back to WWI and the diplomatic efforts of Britain to block Germany's rise. As I understand it, Britain was committed to defend Belgium should Germany invade; so war on the western front was Germany's choice by it's activation of the Schlieffen plan. Germany could have 'just' confronted Russia over its mobilization to aid the Serbs who were being attacked by the Austrians for supporting the anarchist killing of the Austrian Grand Duke. British action would seem justified there but, not knowing my history well enough, I wonder if there wasn't something more to the precipitation of conflict between Britain and Germany?' Anyone one who has further perspective on a diplomatic bind that Germany might or might not have been in, I would appreciate your comment.

What Rove reads.

David Gergen on what the superdelegates are thinking: "This is not just a question of who can win in the fall. They have to also make sure they held their party together. If at the end of this, the math is against her, she winds up with fewer delegates, fewer votes, and fewer states, if they turn it over to her, they run the very real risk they will drive African Americans out of the party for a generation. And they will drive away young voters. There're some things worse than losing an election in trying to build a party."

Weatherman, will the wind blow you into a man?

Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman asked rhetorically, 'Why doesn't the Bible say, in the Commandments, Love your children.' Appropriately dumbfounded, I found his answer more cogent. It was, 'The Bible doesn't tell us to do what comes naturally.' 'We love our children.' I am reminded of this in the controversy over the Weatherman Ayers. Aye, there was a time in American student history when the Weathermen were 'like Wow.' Faced with the arduous complexity of adapting to America's involvement in VN, it was, I think, easiest for us to think, 'OK, I give up. I'll be superior to the President and the Generals. I'll settle for the happy solution that their picking on me too.' That's where the 'like Wow' comes in in relation to the Weathermen. The usual title of this blog 'A Psychiatrist who learned from Veterans' suggests my evolution in relation to this issue.

So the child gets mad at the parents, the country, and yet still accepts that the parents, the country love him. That's what I see in the Weathermen.

A nice analysis of the Iraq wars and a comparison to Afghanistan.

Re: Obama leaving his heart in San Francisco

The general appeal of Obama is perhaps to masochism. Morally 'we' need this for all that we, and 'they' who 'deserve it less,' have. Who better to punish us than a black man, a symbol of our, psychologically useful to justify our masochism, created victims. And Obama, so smooth and gentle in appearance, has been the perfect director of our punishment, punitive tax proposals, disgraceful turning from our allies in Iraq and toward failure. The secret need of the masochist is to control the sadist. His insulting comments and contradictory statements diminish our 'clinging to him' thankfully before the bondage of election.

As a commenter on the Volokh conspiracy said in a blogpost about Obama's San Francisco remarks, "He's the most collectivist, high tax, government control candidate that's ever run for president. Anything that can be done to stop him must and will be done. All's fair in politics and war. By the way, Hillary "we will take things away from you for your own good" isn't far behind." Religion typically offers a better way to deal with the person's psychological contradictions than the masochistic proposals for individuals and the country Obama offers. An April 12 roundup of reactions to Obama's remarks.

Listened to General Petraeus on NPR today. I was impressed by his opening statement. Apparently, he has the support of his soldiers; the 3rd Infantry Division, our original and, I believe, surge deployed troops in Baghdad had met their yearly reenlistment target already, cf. Instapundit. The counterinsurgency has worked very well. Baghdad and environs are much more secure. Ted Kennedy had a list of complaints which started with the idea that we alone were the security force in Iraq. The General pointed out that recently there have been 3 times as many Iraqi KIA in the Army and additionally 3 times as many in the Sons of Iraq local forces. So Petraeus was like Lot in the Torah looking for 5 liberal Senators who would honestly accept that people allied with us for the betterment of their communities and country and a humanistic liberty. Iraqi money is taking over the redevelopment efforts. Senator McCain modestly asked some questions about Al Quieda in Iraq and their retreat to Mosul, the ancient capital, and closed with saying he would like to discuss more about the Iranian efforts to destabilize the country 'but his time had expired.' Senator Webb who rudely had refused to discuss how his son was doing as a Marine in Iraq when he met the president after the induction of the new Senators, said that 'combat was the most apolitical environment he had ever been in' but from his son's experience the Anbar awakening was taking place before the surge, and he, the Senator, was concerned about the strain on the forces.

Obama really comes across well in this video of a white guy harassing him for a picture.