Post-SOTU

The pre-SOTU hype of the radio pundits and news readers was disgusting. They would have us believe it is a speech that must be listened to. Bollocks. I was listening to the radio on Tuesday evening, when the nice classical music program was pre-empted (interrupted) for the whiny pseudo-Texun drawl of GW. I turned it off as the voice of the hypocrite was heard across the land. I read the speech later. It was CRAP.

Webb's Democratic response wasn't much better. I'd have to agree with Dennis Perrin. I'd never read Perrin until now, but will check him out regularly now. My thanks to Joshua Frank for the link to Perrin's piece.

My emphasis in bold:

Reading some of the lib responses to James Webb's speech from last night has left me feeling angry and depressed. More than a few have employed the adolescent "awesome" to describe what was, in form and in fact, a pretty standard political spiel. What a sorry time we live in for Webb to be seen as a beacon of political hope and courage. Yes, he was against the Iraq invasion from the get-go, but so were a lot of people, Republicans and conservatives among them. That Webb, like many in the US elite, foresaw the horrors that awaited our entry again means little. Anyone with passing knowledge of the region and a hint of honesty predicted the exact same thing. Are we so far gone that a conservative Dem who faces reality is considered "impressive"? Apparently so.

Note that Webb described the Iraq war as "mismanaged." Not criminal, not corrupt, not imperial, but "mismanaged."

snip

Note also that Webb completely buys into the War on Terror scenario, which he didn't really define last night, though he's doubtlessly referring to Afghanistan specifically and al-Qaeda generally. That's a serious topic that requires serious debate, but Webb wasn't interested in going beyond rhythm phrases like "war on terrorism," the mere sound of which supposedly defines itself and therefore nothing else need be said. And Webb is decidedly on board with an attack on Iran, as he is completely behind Israel's aggression in the region. When the cluster bombs begin falling on Iran, don't expect Webb, Pelosi, Hillary, Obama, or any senior Dem, to oppose it -- that is, unless the murder of Iranians is somehow bungled or "mismanaged." Then perhaps Webb might make some critical noises, and wave more family photos at the camera to prove his sincerity.

There was an intersting comment from liquified viscera, too, on Frank's post/link about Perrin's piece:

Webb's "mismanagement" accusation has the additional benefit -- additional to hiding the latent goals -- of reinforcing the assumption that there was good reason to conduct military operations in the Iraq "war". For if there can be proper "management" of the Iraq "war," that assumes the "war" itself was properly initiated.

Perrin is correct in labelling as naive junior high schooler perspectives the voices who praise Webb as "awesome." These childish Democrats who fancy themselves "liberal" are nothing more than clones of the Daily Kos-styled DLC Dems who are in favor of any imperial venture that enriches big moneyed campaign donors and big corporate coffers. They dis-serve the notion of liberalism by recasting the label "liberal" in favor of conservative corporatocratic centrism, a perspective that is neither liberating nor itself full of freedom.