The Sunshine Empire

When the Dixie Chicks stated on a London stage during George W. Bush’s first term that they were “ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas” they cause a fury of indignation. How dare they say that about our glorious leader. I remember having students of mine at the time come to me proudly, extolling the virtue of their parents angrily throwing out their albums. “That’s fine,” I stated, “they still have your parent’s money.”

It brought to mind Theodore Roosevelt’s statement, “To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public”

But as much as I stood by what they said, politics ends at the waters edge, and you say that on American soil if anywhere. Now fast forward into reality where everyone suddenly agrees with the Dixie Chicks. Today in front of the Israeli Knesset, Bush said this, “As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: ‘Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.’ We have an obligation to call this what it is – the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.” Now when he stated it CNN went into a tizzy, but the White House confirmed that it was a shot at Barack Obama. Not only do you compare him to Nazi appeasers, but you do it in front of a room full of Jews in a foreign country. It’s like Bush is a Dixie Chick himself. Yet this is another example of him trampling on the legacy of Ronald Reagan.

Possibly the greatest threat the United States has ever been under was the scourge of what Reagan called “The Evil Empire.” But Reagan sat down with the Soviets, and is widely credited in the conservative cult of personality around him with ending the Cold War singlehandedly. Now Obama never said that he would, “love to sit down with that wonderfully reasonable man in Iran.” He’s stated generally that he would talk to our enemies just like Reagan did. His Hamas policy is almost no different that Senator McCain’s. Yet much like the fallacy of Al Gore supposedly saying he invented the internet, the fantasy is much more comfortable for conservatives than the reality we actually face.

Looks like we’re in for another Swift Boat bullshit fest from the Republicans this year, instead of actual debate on the fucked up situation we’re in.

Related posts:

1. The Dixie Chicks are proven right
2. Bush Has Obama Where Obama Wants Bush Wants Obama
3. The Bush Recession Takes Hold
4. Reagan And Bush In The Locker Room As Well
5. Obama Says Sorry For Bush, Not America