I was talking with VDH after he made his presentation.
He was talking about the justifications and the need to fight and win in Afghanistan and Iraq.
As you obviously know...VDH regularly makes these points in his essays about the need for liberal (sic) Western democracies to stand and face the Islamofascist threat head on.
The manner in which he made his case was so crystal clear that “even a caveman” would understand and agree.
I was telling VDH how frustrating it was that the White House and President Bush had NOT made the same points repeatedly in public.
I think that what I find so frustrating about Bush is his inability to articulate our need to be in the Middle East and fighting the jihadis on their turf. If this was communicated in the manner that VDH made his presentation, then public support for the war and for Bush would be much higher.
I even (half seriously) suggested to VDH that he go to work as the director of White House Communications or as the White House Press Secretary. He chuckled a bit and said that he agrees with me that Bush and the White House have been poor communicators. He was somewhat hopeful in that about a year ago Tony Snow had just come on board as White House spokesman.
Anyways...that was pretty much the gist of our conversation. He has a great mind. Other excellent professors who were also there that day included Professor Bruce Thornton from Fresno State and Professor Brad Birzner from Hillsdale College.
If you are interested in attending these ISI seminars, check out the following site for ISI:
Their seminars are offered at various locations and year round. I am a great fan of ISI and I know that you would enjoy their programs as well since you are so big on VDH.
Finally, at last year’s seminar, I had VDH autograph my copies of “A War Like No Other” and “Mexifornia.”
P.S. I attended another ISI seminar in Rancho Santa Fe just last month. While VDH and Bruce Thornton were not there, Brad Birzner was there again. The topic of the seminar last month was “Propsects for Conservatism.” Birzner covered the conservative movement after WWII specifically dealing with the Cold War and the the fight against communism. Birzner identified the three individuals he believed were the lynch-pins in ending the Cold War: Pope John Paul II, Ronald Reagan and Alexander Solzenitzen. The story he told about Pope John Paul and the Pope’s tale of a Catholic priest who was executed at Auschwitz nearly brought tears to my eyes.
Sorry to go so long...but I want to emphasize the great things being done by ISI and I hope that you check out ISI. ISI serves primarily as a resource for college students and professors who are engaged in conservative thought as well as providing a foil to all of the leftist/Marxist junk that comes out of so many college campuses nowadays. This organization is great for deep thinkers in the conservative movement.
Thank you for a detailed report. Really appreciate it.
I checked the website - good source. Some events are on a reachable distance from me. Thank you.
Misunderstimating the info-war is one of the biggest blunders of Bush and his administration. Its never easy, MSM hostility is a given, but they are basically not fighting the war of ideas. As we all know advertisements work. Propaganda works. Not countering the propaganda from the Left is a mistake.