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Ain't nothing to celebrate, folks, move along

Reader comment on item: Berlin Wall Fell, Obama Stays Away

Submitted by Kaustik (United States), Nov 11, 2009 at 11:12

The vast majority of my liberal friends discovered their inner hawk only after the peace dividend started to ooze out of the corpse of the Cold War. In 1989 the enemy was still us and the backpacks with Canadian flags were still de rigueur for the wanderlusting college students getting away from their square parents on their parents' dime. And the Wall was a way of protecting the tender greenhouse of Deustche Sozialismus from the vile corrupting touch of the West.

Obam, then a hip 28-year old, does not strike me as someone who spent the day the Wall died in raucous celebration. I am sure that he saw the choice between plutocrats in Bonn and the torturecrats in Stasi as a false one, whereas the golden mean lay somewhere in the Green Party.

I write as someone who celebrated the news of Brezhnev's death in 1982 by executing a hundred yard dash that culminated in a nice vertical-leap high five with a reactionary buddy. Which may well be the kind of reaction seen on the streets of Berlin that day or in Baghdad when the statues were getting pulled down and before the head cases started to explode in crowded marketplaces.

So, I can't claim to be surprised by Obama's benign neglect of a minor anniversary in the backwater of the world when the real action is pandering to the Arab Street. I just wish all the people who didn't want the Wall to come down in 1989 would own up to it and stop trying to sneak into the victory parade.

Cheers from Kaustik at kissmybackend.com

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Reader comments (14) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Where are the conservatives? [269 words]Wade Howard Barrier Capt. USMC (Ret. 1976)Dec 12, 2009 09:36165720
Berlin Wall [80 words]G TirmanNov 26, 2009 11:29165072
Berlin Wall Fell, Obama Stays Away [52 words]buoyancy aidsNov 20, 2009 05:39164787
A leopard cannot change its spots [155 words]Rebecca MouldsNov 16, 2009 09:31164635
so sad he wasnt there. [22 words]TobiasNov 15, 2009 08:16164596
neurosis overwhelming the anti-obama guys [184 words]G.VishvasNov 12, 2009 18:31164501
Ain't nothing to celebrate, folks, move along [268 words]KaustikNov 11, 2009 11:12164406
when the wall came down [97 words]G.VishvasNov 13, 2009 06:17164406
Divisions Represented by the Wall are Still There [240 words]M. ToveyNov 10, 2009 17:33164374
the wall no symbol back then and connection to middle-east policies [82 words]mythNov 9, 2009 08:41164242
it is a big blow, creating another image [227 words]mythNov 9, 2009 08:01164240
comment [89 words]mitchell porterNov 9, 2009 03:17164223
Another doubt [50 words]Peter HerzNov 8, 2009 11:26164201
but no tensions with convenient dictators [43 words]G.VishvasNov 7, 2009 01:16164131

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Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

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