Red Line

[poliphilo]

Was that red line of Obama's a thing he and his advisers had thought about in advance or was it off the cuff?  Whatever it was, I don't think he expected to be called on it. He's now attempting to convince us he didn't say it at all- or that he was just saying what everyone else was thinking. Both these things are clearly not the case.

When you're in power you can't afford to let your mind wander. Every word, every action, has weight.

Auden has a poem about a tyrant which ends, "And when he cried the little children died in the streets."

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I've listened to the passage in which he introduces the red line and there's a hesitancy, a choppiness, that suggests he's making it up as he goes along.

I think Obama is amoral, self-righteous and totally lacking in self-awareness- rather like our own Tony Blair- who also had that sheen of competence and glamour.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's about right.

I'm not amoral, but I've been self-righteous and totally lacking in self-awareness, but with a sheen etc. in my past. It took me three months as the head of our community organization to realize that the gift of public speaking and the ability to articulate a vision is no substitute for solid leadership and management skills. That brought along with it a real eruption of self-awareness, I can tell you.