Monday, March 3, 2014

Our Pundit Class Desperately Needs Psychoanalysis

The Misplaced Question of Obama's 'Toughness'
Beneath the banality and incompetence, America's pundits are wrestling with some serious Daddy issues.
There is something odd about commentators who denounce Putin in the strongest terms and yet pine for a more Putin-like figure in the White House. Obama may not manage this episode perfectly; there are many opportunities for peril. But it is hard to see what more "toughness" would do to improve the situation. The challenge Obama faces in the Ukraine is centrally diplomatic — it is a problem of organizing a coalition, and picking the right allies within the Ukraine, the right economic and symbolic measures against Putin, the careful shaping of moral and political rhetoric.
Weird people.  Can't get enough of Bush's codpiece and other forms of false bravado.

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