Bill Kristol's "The Next War President"

I hate on Bill Kristol a lot on this blog. But occasionally he has good insights from a conservative perspective. Take today's column in the New York Times:

This past weekend Barack Obama added to his itinerary a visit to Arlington National Cemetery. Obama knows that he, too, will be a war president. He knows the decisions he makes as commander in chief will be his most consequential. And so on Sunday morning, before going to church, he placed a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns and stood silently as taps was sounded. The somber tableau provided quite a contrast to all the hubbub and talk of the last few days. Obama’s silent tribute captured a deeper truth, and — I dare say — a more fundamental hope, than could any speech.

This, I think, is a good insight. Whether Obama will be successful as a president will be in large part how he handles the two wars America currently faces.

But, of course, like anything with a Bill Kristol column. There is some stupidity as well:

But I don’t think keeping us safe has been Bush’s most impressive achievement. That was winning the war in Iraq, and in particular, his refusal to accept defeat when so many counseled him to do so in late 2006. His ordering the surge of troops to Iraq in January 2007 was an act of personal courage and of presidential leadership. The results have benefited both Iraq and the United States. And the outcome in Iraq is a remarkable gift to the incoming president, who now only has to sustain success, rather than trying to deal with the consequences in the region and around the world of a humiliating withdrawal and a devastating defeat.

What? Was there a ticker tape parade celebrating the Iraq War victory? Did we withdraw our troops and is Iraq a stable democracy free from violence? The war is going much better than it was 3 years ago. But it's an overstatement to call it a victory.

Bill Kristol is a jerk and hates multiculturalism

If you read this blog, you know I'm not a big Bill Kristol fan. However, I'm usually content to let him be. But today's New York Times column was something else:

Obama has selected Yale’s Elizabeth Alexander to compose and read a poem. I still remember watching Maya Angelou read “On the Pulse of Morning” at Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1993 — and thinking that American culture really was in a state of irreversible decline, as she indulged in that multicultural cataloguing of “the Asian, the Hispanic, the Jew,/ The African and Native American, the Sioux, / The Catholic, the Muslim, the French, the Greek,/ The Irish, the Rabbi, the Priest, the Sheikh,/ The Gay, the Straight, the Preacher,/ The privileged, the homeless, the teacher.”

Huh? Is he actually saying that multiculturalism helped American culture go into "a state of irreversible decline?"

This is, of course, moronic. America's greatest asset, in my humble opinion, is its idealism. The Bill of Rights says that people of any race, religion or creed can live in this country without government intervention. This mixing of cultures has created a culture that is diverse and continually changing, and it is far more interesting to me than the homogeneity of an all-white European nation, for example.

Kristol's comments are at the very least in bad taste, and I think could be construed as racist. It's clear to me he's showing his preference for a whiter, less diverse America.

Top 10 Worst Predictions of 2008

I am not one to harp on bad predictions because predictions are inevitably perilous entities. The present moment is always in flux, which makes predicting the future downright hard. But I saw this article on the 10 worst predictions of 2008, and I had to laugh. Why you ask? Well here's the worst prediction of 2008 by every one's favorite conservative, Fox News Commentator and New York Times columnist, Bill Kristol:

“If [Hillary Clinton] gets a race against John Edwards and Barack Obama, she’s going to be the nominee. Gore is the only threat to her, then. … Barack Obama is not going to beat Hillary Clinton in a single Democratic primary. I’ll predict that right now.” —William Kristol, Fox News Sunday, Dec. 17, 2006

You know why I laugh? Well one, it comes from a very smart but arrogant ass, who wanted to invade Iraq the dasy after 9/11 and predicted that it would go just fine. And two, this dude with a PhD from Harvard and who runs his own magazine was out predicted by yours truly. I hate to say I told you so, but I predicted the rise of Barack Obama right after his 2004 speech. I wasn't sure he'd be president in 2008, but I told everyone I knew that he would be president some day. And when he entered the race, I knew if he could just win Iowa, it would be very, very hard to stop him.

If someone who can be so wrong so often runs his own magazine and writes for the New York Times, maybe I should get a fucking shot too.

Bill Kristol writes a good column?!?!

Is it me or does Bill Kristol consistently write some of the worst columns you'll ever read in your life? Honestly this has nothing to do with liberal and conservative. Despite disagreeing with them on so much, I love reading Peggy Noonan, David Brooks, George Will and some writers on the National Review. They're mostly smart, intellectually honest and put up coherent, well-thought arguments.

Not Mr. Kristol. From his unyielding support for G.W. and Sarah Palin to his stupid naivety about the Iraq War all while admitting no wrong has been truly dishonest and vile. So imagine my shock when I read this today:

Obama commented wryly that the canine question had “generated more interest on our Web site than just about anything.”

He continued: “We have two criteria that have to be reconciled. One is that Malia is allergic, so it has to be hypoallergenic. There are a number of breeds that are hypoallergenic. On the other hand, our preference would be to get a shelter dog, but, obviously, a lot of shelter dogs are mutts like me. So — so whether we’re going to be able to balance those two things, I think, is a pressing issue on the Obama
household.”

Here, in a few sentences, Obama did the following: He deepened his bond with every dog lover in America. He identified with every household that’s tried to figure out what kind of dog to get. He touched every parent with a kid allergic to pets. He showed compassion by preferring a dog from a shelter. And he demonstrated a dry and slightly politically incorrect wit by commenting that “a lot of shelter dogs are mutts like me.”

Not bad. It could be a tough four or eight years for conservatives. It will be tougher yet if they underestimate Obama. His selection of Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff suggests that Obama’s not going to be mindlessly leftist, and that he’s going to shape a legislative strategy that is attentive to Congressional realities while not deferring to a Congressional leadership whose interests may not be his own. Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton were both tripped up in their first two years by their Democratic Congresses. Obama intends for Emanuel to ensure that that doesn’t happen.

And Obama has the further advantage of inheriting a recession that will give him a very tough first year or two (for which he won’t be blamed), but that should be followed by a recovery well timed for his re-election bid.

So Obama will be formidable. But conservatives should welcome the challenge. It’s good for conservatism that conservatives will have to develop refreshed ideas and regenerated political skills to succeed in the age of Obama.

Amazing. He actually credited Obama for something positive. Maybe he doesn't want to be on the wrong side of history? Or maybe for once, Mr Kristol is showing a little bit of humility and understands that the Republican brand has failed the country the last 8 years and needs a bump start to bring it back. Either way, I'm glad for once that not a whole lot of B.S. is coming out of Bill Kristol's mouth. Except this:

And it wouldn’t hurt for Governors Sarah Palin, Mitch Daniels, Bobby Jindal and the other possible 2012 G.O.P. nominees to begin bringing some puppies home for their kids.

Bill, it's time to let Sarah Palin go, man...