Monday, July 28, 2008
Using that Harvard Law education
Remember these insightful words from your childhood:
“The more you know, the more you forget;
The more you forget, the less you know;
The less you know, the less you forget;
The less you forget, the more you know:
Why study?”
I was reminded of that when I read this snippet from a Q&A with Senator Obama:
“[Newsweek]You've been talking about those limited missions for a long time. Having gone there and talked to both diplomatic and military folks, do you have a clearer idea of how big a force you'd need to leave behind to fulfill all those functions?”
“The more you know, the more you forget;
The more you forget, the less you know;
The less you know, the less you forget;
The less you forget, the more you know:
Why study?”
I was reminded of that when I read this snippet from a Q&A with Senator Obama:
“[Newsweek]You've been talking about those limited missions for a long time. Having gone there and talked to both diplomatic and military folks, do you have a clearer idea of how big a force you'd need to leave behind to fulfill all those functions?”
“[Senator Obama] I do think that's entirely conditions-based. It's hard to anticipate where we may be six months from now, or a year from now, or a year and a half from now.” Obama's Sober Mood Newsweek.com
Huh? As anyone even flipping channels during the Democratic primaries knows, Barack Obama’s candidacy was at least initially fueled by recognition of his uncanny ability to sort out future US military failures. He knew years in advance our efforts in Iraq were going to be a bust, accurately predicted the inadequacy of our military’s surge actions before the first additional soldier landed in Iraq and pinpointed 16-months as the perfect timetable for getting us out of Iraq.
Then he goes to Iraq, actually sees first-hand what it’s like over there; gets to talk to those on the ground and after receiving such an education…becomes clueless.
