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February 16, 2005

When Good News Feels Bad

New York Magazine Online has an interesting column, "When Good News Feels Bad: After Iraq’s vote, New York liberals are in a serious moral-ideological-emotional bind. And the only way out is to root for Bush’s victory."

As you might have guessed, the author is . . . conflicted. Yeah, of course he voted for Kerry and can't stand the president. But the author does point out an uncomfortable fact about having to choose sides in this -- or any -- conflict. But, naturally, there are also numerous cheap shots at conservatives, including the classic invocation of "facists."

Yawn.

I've excerpted the key points below.

. . . Like “radical chic,” a related New York specialty, “liberal guilt” once meant feeling discomfort over one’s good fortune in an unjust world. As this last U.S. election cycle began, however, a new subspecies of liberal guilt arose—over the pleasure liberals took in bad news from Iraq, which seemed sure to hurt the administration. But with Bush reelected, any shred of tacit moral rationale is gone. In other words, feel the guilt, and let it be a pang that leads to moral clarity.

Each of us has a Hobbesian choice concerning Iraq; either we hope for the vindication of Bush’s risky, very possibly reckless policy, or we are in a de facto alliance with the killers of American soldiers and Iraqi civilians.[Emphasis added] We can be angry with Bush for bringing us to this nasty ethical crossroads, but here we are nonetheless.

I don’t mean to suggest, in the right-wing, proto-fascist [See what I mean?] rhetorical fashion, that every good American is obliged to support all American wars. But at this moment in this war, that binary choice of who you want to win is inescapable and needs to be faced squarely—just as being pro-war obliges one to admit that thousands of innocent Iraqis have been killed or maimed or orphaned [Warning! Critical need to remind us that wars are violent!].

At a certain point during the Vietnam War, a majority of Americans—those of us who were in favor of unilateral U.S. withdrawal—were in a de facto alliance with the North Vietnamese, the Vietcong, and the Soviets. Unpleasant but true.

If you're so inclined, you can read the whole thing here.

Posted by Mike Lief at February 16, 2005 12:01 PM