Remember How Obama Was Supposed To Restore "American Prestige"?

Start Thinking Right ^ | March 9, 2009 | Michael Eden

[Michael Eden]

It was the media/celebrity culture bigwigs that decided that this turd was filet mignon, and convinced a majority of this country to take a bite.

And right now, they are wrapping that turd with bacon (i.e. pork) in the budget and trying to sell us MORE "filet mignon."

[flash2368]

I live in Moldova a former Soviet republic..and have an American business partner in Moscow. He told me recently one of his Russian friends asked how things were in “New Africa”. It took him a moment to realize the guy was referring to the U.S. Seems that is the new nickname among Russians for the good ‘ol U.S of A.. “New Africa”. What a comforting thought.

[Venturer]

I think it would be funny as all get out and appropriate if Brown DID send Obama a picture of Neville Chamberlain.

[Michael Eden]

I think it would be funny as all get out and appropriate if Brown DID send Obama a picture of Neville Chamberlain.

My "It would make me smile for the remainder of my days" hope is that Gordon Brown would commission a bronze bust of Neville Chamberlain, and then have that bust run over by a Nazi Panzer tank before sending it to Obama with all due "apologies" to Obama "for forcing you to regard the bust of a courageous and decisive leader whom you would not be worthy to clean the latrines after."

Oh, yes. Happy, happy thoughts.

[sinsofsolarempirefan]

Without wishing to derail the thread. Chamberlain was by no means a “socialist liberal”, he was a Tory. And whilst he was talking about ‘Peace in our Time’ he was furiously working to prepare Britain’s woefully inadequate armed forces for war, by gearing up the factories to mass-produce armaments and pushing through an extremely controversial bill introducing peacetime conscription for the first time ever in British history in 1938.
And lets not forget that in the end Chamberlain honoured Britain’s treaty obligations to Poland and declared war whilst the US waited for the war to be forced upon them by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor....

[slowhandluke]

And lets not forget that in the end Chamberlain honoured Britain’s treaty obligations to Poland and declared war whilst the US waited for the war to be forced upon them by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor....

In an era of gentlemen, who keep their promises, you might say that Great Britain was forced into the war by their treaty obligations.

Of course, they weren't forced to make those promises, but did so with the idea that it might prevent war.

However, after they caved in on the promises they made to the Czechs, Germany believed it was all bluster and invaded Poland.

Had Britain kept their promises to the Czechs, it might have been a different story all around. Then again, it just might have started earlier.

The US had no treaty obligations to defend in Europe at that time. By the international laws of that time, it also meant that we had no business interfering. That's what the creation of the UN was all about, giving us the right to interfere anywhere we chose.

I don't think any of the politicians in power in the time leading up to 1939 should be up for a wisdom medal.

[sinsofsolarempirefan]

We weren’t ready for war in 1938, and Chamberlain knew it. Come to think of it, we weren’t ready in 1939 either considering we were rudely ejected from the continent and were forced to evacuate from Dunkirk less than a year later.
Chamberlain knew the score and was trying to rectify things before confronting Germany. Chamberlain gets a lot of unfair press for being an appeaser when he was doing his best behind the scenes to prepare Britain for the war against Hitler that he suspected was going to happen sooner or later...

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

Instead of another bronze bust, the Brits should just cast a bust of Obama out of the plastic DVD’s and toys the Obamas gave them and send them back to the White House by UPS freight.

Also a velvet painting of the “fashion goddess” Michelle on a gold painted frame, with flood lights.

I'm sure the Obama’s would be impressed with such a classy exchange.

[slowhandluke]

We weren’t ready for war in 1938

And there was a time when Hitler wasn't ready for war either, but was allowed to walk back into the Ruhr.

Maybe Chamberlain was doing the best he could, but that wasn't the argument you advanced earlier. You made a slur about the US being forced into the war.

Britain picked and chose which international agreements they'd enforce, and got burned badly by letting Hitler violate some with impunity.

Maybe Chamberlain was trying to get the military moving, but proclaiming 'Peace in Our Time' isn't exactly going to get the voters behind a military buildup.

It didn't help that FDR had kept the US mired in a depression and so looked unlikely to be able to help in Europe. A robust US economy might have changed the political calculations in Berlin.

Lots of mistakes were made back then.