Posted by
Zentrist on Sunday, April 19, 2009 8:58:12 PM
First, I want to compliment Charles Krauthammer on an article that is excellent, pure and simple. However, having gotten my hopes up, I felt a little like the child-growing-up who has just been told in no uncertain terms that Santa Claus does not really exist.
Dr. K has succeeded in giving this writer's hopes and dreams a cold shower. (At least, for this particular comment.)
In AA, we say that "insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results." Thus, the hard-core addict will sometimes say to himself, even after years of recovery, "maybe this time I can handle it." Such is the human capacity for self-deception....I had to look up the word, "sting," and consult with my wife, the teacher. Many things came to my mind. (The singer, Sting; the asp that killed Cleopatra; Muhammed Ali of "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" wit.) The dictionary, however, has a rather long set of definitions. You can guess some of the synonyms or at least adjectives involved: painful; irritating; poisonous. But my wife the teacher reminded me that "sting" refers to a police operation for catching the crimimal(s)--an operation involving deliberate, calculating deception. Krauthammer's article this time requires some interpretation, at least of its title, "The Sting, In Four Parts."
President Obama, it would seem, is in a cold and calculating way attempting to "catch a criminal," the American citizenry. One aspect of the operation is the "story-line" or "plot." There is a literary aspect to this attempt to deceive us all. It has "Four Parts." Like a long treatise or novel. The part I remember best is the Non-sequitur. "It does not follow..." The logic is all wrong; worse, it is a lie, a deceit and a deception.
The question now becomes, Is Obama's New Foundation a Noble Lie? In the old classic sense of the term? Obama has gone way out on a limb. But so has Charles. Both actors are "on the record." In a few months or years, we'll begin to see who was right and who was wrong. I respect the courage of both players, whom I respect greatly, for daring to make a decision and stick with it. This very same limelight will be very revealing when the time comes.