At least that's what E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post would have us believe. This week, Dionne celebrated Obama by enshrining what he calls "the Obama Doctrine," in which America "seeks to regain the world's sympathy by acknowledging that while the United States is a great nation built on worthy principles, it is not perfect."

There's a shorter way to phrase the Obama...]]> Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Yet despite his "hard choices" rhetoric, Barack Obama's favorite political tactic is to claim that no choices need be made at all; all political differences of opinion, he says, can be chalked up to misunderstanding rather than conflicting fundamental values. All choices are "false choices" if we just think deeply enough. Or rather, if Obama thinks deeply enough.

And so Obama claimed in the Chicago Tribune that Americans "need not choose between a chaotic and unforgiving capitalism and an oppressive government-run economy." That choice, he said, is a "false choice." It is a false choice as he phrases it -- capitalism isn't chaotic and unforgiving. But the simple choice between...]]> Sat, 31 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0600 Obama apologized for President Bush's "Islamic fascism" terminology, equating Muslim terrorism with nonexistent terrorism by Jews and Christians: "the language we use matters. And what we need to understand is, is that there are extremist organizations -- whether Muslim or any other faith in the past -- that will use faith as a justification for violence. We cannot paint with a broad brush a faith as a consequence of the violence that is done in that faith's name." There was no call for the Muslim world to actively fight terrorism.

Obama repeated the Clintonian line that the Palestinian Arab-Israeli conflict could be solved by pressing Israel into negotiations with terrorists -- a...]]> Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0600 Enough with the niceties. We don't lose our souls when we treat our enemies as enemies. We don't undermine our principles when we post more police officers in vulnerable areas, or when we send Marines to kill bad guys, or when we torture terrorists for information. And we don't redeem ourselves when we close Guantanamo Bay or try terrorists in civilian courts or censor anti-Islam comics. When it comes to war, extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice, and moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

Enough with the words. Talking with Iran without wielding the threat of force, either economic or military, won't help. Appealing to the United Nations, run by thugs and...]]> Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500 The rumor, of course, was demonstrably false -- Kos took down the post. Sullivan, however, stubbornly claimed that the questions about Palin's pregnancy were legitimate. And certain deranged leftist bloggers continue to speculate that Palin wore a padded suit in order to disguise her supposed non-pregnancy.

On Monday, September 1, Palin released the news that her 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, was pregnant, and that she would have the baby and marry the father. To Barack Obama's credit, he quickly condemned the focus on Bristol's pregnancy, noting that he was born when his mother was 18. But that made little difference to his followers. The left was already trembling with new...]]>