Oh, MSNBC

I read (ok, I skimmed) an article by Jennifer Loven on MSNBC today about how BHO’s presidency is “at a pivotal moment”.

In their lauding of the President’s long list of non-accomplishments thus far – which they cop to – it was mentioned that US had taken a turn in policy.

Here are the bullet points, provided by the pop news media site:

· America is out of the bullying business. It knows the world's beefs with the U.S., and the Obama administration is working to address them, a nice I-hear-you touch. And going forward, the U.S. will emphasize cooperation over a go-it-alone attitude, letting the credit for any progress flow where it may. In other words, we may still be the world's superpower — no denying that — but we're going to act like we're just one of the guys.
· Americans are impatient, and you should be, too. The problems are urgent and everyone must do his part — no shirkers allowed.
· No whining, either. Don't waste time blaming others, like, say, the United States, or making excuses. And if you want more rights than you feel you have, beware — they come with responsibilities.
· Last, but far from least in Obamaland, don't make the perfect the enemy of the good. Be willing to give away more than you want, or nothing will get done. Obama told Palestinians just that this week, meaning they shouldn't draw lines in the sand over Jewish settlement expansion on land they want for a state. He also says it all the time to Democrats in Congress over the health care bill.
Umm… right.

Let’s just discuss these, shall we?

1) I don’t like America being the obese bully with bright orange hair and a Motley Crue tee shirt any more than the next person. However, under what circumstances are we actually bullying people?

The answer to this question comes down to the ever-popular (and ever-stupid) question of the existence of right and wrong. I remember as a liberal yelling with my friends about “why do we get to tell Iran whether they can or cannot have nuclear power?” on more than one occasion.

It made sense at the time. Who says America gets to make that call?

Another question that gets to be asked here is, since good and evil do exist, is America good? If you don’t believe in good and evil than America cannot be good. But if you look over the course of history, what country has done more good than America?

Liberals (myself included in a past life) will say “yes, but America has done so much evil, too.”

Unfortunately, for the liberals, this is a matter of the human condition. We are born as evil humans into a fallen world. If you’ve ever read and believed a history book, you cannot argue with the previous sentence. History is a retelling of humanity’s massive failures with a few minor exceptions – America being the biggest of these exceptions, with subsequent exceptions to her goodness.

(Did I lose you? Humans are, as a whole, evil. America is, as a whole, good. We’re talking percentages, here. Not perfection.)

So America is good. If you can find a country that’s done more good in the history of planet, I will write you a check for $100 and stick in the mail to you tomorrow.

Telling North Korea, Iran or anyone else that they are not allowed to have weapons is actually something we get to say. America equals the adult at the table. North Korea, Iran, Sudan, Venezuela and others are the children. And just like you don’t hand a toddler a sparkler or a stick of dynamite and let them wander off with it, it is awful foreign policy to let unstable nations have nuclear technologies.

Shirkers from dangerous, speedy legislation are always welcome on this blog.

At the end of the day, some kids call their parents big, mean bullies and some liberals call America a big, international bully. Someone’s got to be the father in this relationship, though, so by virtue of having proven ourselves throughout history to be generally “good”, we get that job. It’s responsibility. Don’t whine about it.

2) Americans are impatient? That’s profound. Thanks, Socrates.

Healthcare, however, is not urgent. I believe the President has systematically failed to mention that his healthcare bill will not go into effect for 4 years. And personally, I have yet to see a cancer patient wither and die on the sidewalk in front of a hospital because nurses refused to admit him or her. (Hospitals in the UK are legally allowed to refuse admittance if they are “full”.)

No shirkers allowed?

Come again?

Do you mean “no voters who disagree with us allowed”? Because that is exactly why this nation is a Republic: the tyranny of the majority.

Also, shirkers from dangerous, speedy legislation are always welcome on this blog.

3) No whining.

Four words, liberals: practice what you preach. I’m not sure if you’d call the noise you made for eight years while Bush was in office “whining” or not, but since both sides get to define their own accusations, I’ll go ahead and say you whined.
Whining is allowed. Constitutionally.

4) Do not make perfect the enemy of good?

For your sakes and mine, I will not repeat what I wrote for number one even though it applies this principle of non-perfection to different concepts.

*If you need a refresher, please return to item one on this page. Thank you.

I get what Jennifer Loven was trying to say. I used to think this way. But let’s avoid double standards, shall we? They don’t do either side any good. Both sides fail in a lot of areas. But like Miss Loven said – we aren’t looking for perfection.