“But” of the day

From Peter Berkowitz’s editorial in the WSJ:

Hating the president is almost as old as the republic itself. The people, or various factions among them, have indulged in Clinton hatred, Reagan hatred, Nixon hatred, LBJ hatred, FDR hatred, Lincoln hatred, and John Adams hatred, to mention only the more extravagant hatreds that we Americans have conceived for our presidents.

That first paragraph sounds somewhat even-keeled so far, right?  Let’s cue up the second paragraph:

But Bush hatred is different.

Oops.

And then Berkowitz goes on to unfurl the typical story of how people were mean to him at a dinner when he defended Bush (it seems like I’ve read accounts like this one several times on the internet—never mind how venomous a response to a defense of, say, Hillary would be received at a table full o’ wingnuts) and a tepid overview of how Bush really hasn’t been that bad or divisive of a president.

The kicker comes here, though:

In short, Bush hatred is not a rational response to actual Bush perfidy. Rather, Bush hatred compels its progressive victims--who pride themselves on their sophistication and sensitivity to nuance--to reduce complicated events and multilayered issues to simple matters of good and evil. Like all hatred in politics, Bush hatred blinds to the other sides of the argument, and constrains the hater to see a monster instead of a political opponent.

In short, Berkowitz lays bare what he’s really trying to get at: liberals aren’t allowed to be angry because it’s not what conservatives want them to be.  They’re supposed to be nuanced, serene and dull as dishwater (or John Kerry).  They’re supposed to realize how awful and uncivilized they behaved in the 60’s and make eternal atonement for it. Only conservatives can get be angry and mean and see stuff in black and white because it’s a lot easier for them to win elections when lefties are suppliant and borderline catatonic while nutters are spitting blood and breaking every unwritten rule of civility.  And if you were a real liberal--a good liberal--you’d take Berkowitz’s advice and just throw yourself into a coma already.

MORE: Greenwald, who points out that Berkowitz is Giuliani’s “Senior Statecraft, Human Rights and Freedom Advisor,” and Sullivan

Posted by Kevin K. on 11/14/07 at 02:27 PM • Permalink
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