Take Vienna, Professor Obama

WHAT is it about conservative political columnists and macho saber rattling? True, there are a few "liberal hawks" who stack their rhetorical rifles in the same bivouac. But only a few. They are a squad to the brigade of conservative hawks. (I nearly wrote "goosestepping" brigade, but that's a bridge too far. These well-meaning, patriotic folks are certainly not Nazis. Only their self-righteous zeal gives me pause.)

Behold "brigade commander" Charles Krauthammer, the Washington Post columnist. For him, the Libyan intervention is the "Ivy League Professor's War." (Note how "Ivy League" is prefixed to Obama like a form of leprosy. Mr. K conveniently fails to mention that he, too, is a product of "Havahd Yahd" like Obama.) Thundering from the "Situation Room" in his plush DC office, General Krauthammer slams Professor Obama for making "military objectives take a back seat to diplomatic appearances." Our weak-sister president is "equally obsessed with handing off the lead role." Why even Bill Clinton "spoke of America as the indispensable nation." Brooding like Othello, Krauthammer simply cannot comprehend that "at a time when the world is hungry for America to lead ... America is led by a man determined that it should not." Just before the closing credits, Krauthammer makes his final, Napoleonic lament: "A man who dithers over parchment. Who starts a war from which he wants out right away. Good God. If you go to take Vienna, take Vienna!"

Clap. Clap. Clap. That was quite a performance, even for the volcanic Krauthammer. (Someone should notify the Academy of Motion Picture Arts. A late Oscar may be owed.) There is little merit, if any, in Krauthammer's twisted assertions. He is attempting to channel the wisdom of Douglas MacArthur without the general's verve, succinctness or poetry: "War's very object is victory, not prolonged indecision." When put that way, one might have a viable critique to use against Obama's Libyan approach. Krauthammer, on the other hand, is simply chest-thumping as a provocateur who, unlike MacArthur, has no understanding of war. "I know war as few other men now living know it, and nothing to me--and nothing to me is more revolting. [...] its very destructiveness on both friend and foe has rendered it useless as a means of settling international disputes," MacArthur said in his famous address to Congress. Obama knows this instinctively and, like any president, acts prudently when exposing our troops to combat. Marshal Krauthammer, alas, doesn't have a clue.

Yes, there is merit in Napoleon Bonaparte's "take Vienna" boldness during war. But Krauthammer's hero also said: "In politics stupidity is not a handicap." That goes double for political column writing.