$1.2 Trillion--True yearly total of America's national security spending

I blogged yesterday on the militaristic instinct that had some calling for Obama to consider military action in Libya. It is refreshing to see the National Review, perhaps the leading conservative magazine, editorializing against that idea. It would be a beautiful thing if we could start to see the shared anti intervention tradition of both the Left and the Right make a dent in public policy again. Such a movement is given expression at this website as well as this one. The discussion of the deficit should help forge an anti intervention alliance between Left and Right, especially in light of this report detailing how the true cost of America’s national security is at $1.2 trillion a year. The greatest joy of my master’s work at Boston University was getting to work with Andrew Bacevich in the research of his masterful American Empire. He has gone on to write a number of other brilliant critiques of American militarism, but I still think American Empire is the best primer on why post Cold War America has continued to maintain and expand its global military footprint.

Witness to Wisconsin

One of the true pleasures I had when I worked in publishing was seeing the birth of Books & Culture. If you have never read this magazine, this new post on their blog is a great place to start. It represents the kind of thoughtful prose that we have come to expect from a magazine edited by the brilliant (and hilarious) John Wilson. The writer of this piece, Paul Grant, is from Wisconsin and he does a wonderful job of placing the current controversy there into the rich context of Wisconsin history. I fear that he is right when he says:

In his effort to pass a philosophically purist bill, the governor has turned neighbors against each other. By telling us that our sewer workers and schoolteachers and librarians are lazy and greedy, he has set the terms of the debate in the worst possible way. It is a wound that will outlive his tenure by a long shot.

Huckabee Rides the Tiger and Faces the Consequences (updated)

As much as any single thing, the Right wing attempt to paint President Obama as an “other” is what drove me to start this blog. The phony stories about birth certificates and Muslim upbringing and “palling with terrorists” and not being a Christian—all of these serve the purpose of creating a picture of Obama as an other, as someone “foreign” to the “pure” and “exceptional” America that “we all” know is our “true history”. The willingness of so many conservative Christians to sit back and allow lie after lie to be told, and the damage that such duplicity does to the cause of Christian unity and witness, fueled my desire to start this website.

Now, as the political focus begins to shift from the midterm elections to the presidential campaign, Republicans will be forced to live with the consequences of riding the tiger of prejudice and innuendo. Every time potential Republican candidates grant an interview to a radio host who has propagated these lies they will be forced in plain sight to answer questions loaded with ignorance and hate. They will have a choice to make—stand up to the nonsense or pander to the fear and face the national media derision that comes with being a potential president who travels in the company of lies so thick they would make a John Birch supporter blush. Riding the tiger of a lie-fueled base to victory in local congressional races means trying to control that tiger in the white-hot media light of a presidential campaign.

Mike Huckabee enjoys being the "adult" of the potential Republican candidates. He has made noises about "respecting Obama but disagreeing with his policies." Yet here he is riding the tiger of the lie that "Obama grew up in Kenya" and he hates America because "he had a dad who hated British imperialism." Huckabee is feeling the heat this morning, as well he should be. Mike Huckabee has been bucked off of the tiger. Will he get back on it or will he dare to offend a base that has swallowed conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory? Or will he attempt the third option, as Huckabee is trying to do, of clearly throwing red meat to his base but denying he meant anything by it to the national media? Huckabee is a master at the “aw shucks” approach to American politics. He enjoys the pretense of being a truth-teller, someone who is just a simple preacher and plain shooter, while in reality he is willing to peddle in the same racist, fear-mongering rhetoric and lies of the most vicious operatives on the Right. 

UPDATE: Huckabee has today further clarified his comments in an interview with Bryan Fischer, and it is now clear that Huckabee has decided to get back on the tiger:

"And so I'd like you to comment on that," Fischer continued. "You seem to think that there is some validity to the fact that there may be some fundamental anti-Americanism in this president."

"Well, that's exactly the point that I make in the book," Huckabee responded. "And I don't know why these reporters -- maybe they can't read...I have said many times...publicly, that I do think he has a different worldview and I think it's, in part, molded out of a very different experience. Most of us grew up going to Boy Scout meetings and, you know, our communities were filled with Rotary Clubs, not madrassas."

Invade Libya--where have I heard this story before?

“We will be greeted as liberators” is the spirit of those urging President Obama to intervene militarily in Libya. Where have I heard those words before? Mmmmm, lets see if I can remember. Oh, that is right, in Iraq…..seven years, thousands of American lives, hundreds of billions of dollars, and tens of thousands of Iraqi lives ago. And where did we not intervene militarily? Mmmmmmm, oh, I’m starting to remember. Yes, Egypt. Of course. We left it to the people of Egypt to have the dignity and pride of their resistance.

Are there things we are doing and should do to help bring down Qaddaffi? Certainly. But it is an extraordinary testament to the militarization of American foreign policy that we would actually be hearing cries about Obama’s failure and moral blindness because he has not shown “leadership” in Libya. Never mind that this is exactly what Qaddaffi wants. It is exactly the narrative that he has fed his people for decades and would be exactly what would lead him to do even worse damage to the civilian population of Libya. It is also exactly what Al Quaeda would love to see us do. It would take away the horrible embarrassment that they have faced in seeing thousands of peaceful Muslims do to autocratic regimes what they claim as their call to do violently if suddenly the “Great Satan” were to interject its “crusader forces” into the affairs of a Muslim country.

It is a sign of the desperation of those urging military answers that they compare Libya to Rwanda during the genocide there. With all due respect, sorrow and sympathy to the innocents in Libya, there is absolutely no evidence that what is happening in Libya is remotely on the scale of genocide.

Thankfully, President Obama is receiving counsel from Robert Gates on this. Gates just the other day said that anyone wanting to repeat the experience of Iraq or Afghanistan should “have his head examined.” I know that people will say that this will be much simpler than those two countries, but unfortunately that is what people said about those two invasions, particularly Iraq. I am with Gates on this.

Thankfully, today’s news is hopeful. The New York Times is reporting that Qaddaffi made “little headway” in his attacks on rebel forces. Lets trust those rebel leaders when they say “the latest attacks by Colonel Qaddafi’s supporters smacked of desperation, and that the failed assault on Zawiyah, a city with important oil resources just 30 miles from the capital, raised questions about the ability of the government to muster a serious challenge to the rebels’ growing power.”

Wall Street Justice?

News coming today of charges against a fairly major player in Wall Street who apparently made “illicit profits and loss avoidance of more than $17 million” at the height of the financial crisis.  Perhaps the lament that leads to the question “Why Isn’t Anyone From Wall Street in Jail?” is being heard.

WWJC?

WWJC?

I agree with the spirit behind the new campaign

by Jim Wallis and others to question the morality of the proposed House budget cuts, but this blog article at Commentary and my own reflection makes me uneasy with the inherently flippant use of Jesus’ name in any campaign like this.

In other words, I share the urge to “shout from the rooftops” that Christianity should not be associated with the draconian nature of the budget cuts, but I fear that it cheapens and weakens the Christian language to use what we Christians consider a name of God in an advertising campaign. It just seems like there could have been a much better headline to use to make the same point. It may not have been “better” in a Madison Avenue way, but I think it would have been better to our humility and “poverty in spirit” to not have implied that we know the Final Answer to a question like this.

Simplistic, market-driven use of religious language is wrong no matter where it comes from, and I regret that in an earlier blog that referred to  this campaign I did not make this point. Probably appropriate that a magazine like Commentary with its Jewish roots should be challenging us on glibly using names for God given the rich tradition in Judaism against that.

Question the budget cuts, challenge them, use religious arguments to shape your thinking—but don’t use slogans that you would find simplistic or potentially faith degrading if used against your positions.

Sports watch

Random musings on the world of sports:

Cardinals nation is in mourning over the prospect of losing Albert Pujols after this year and Adam Wainright for this year. At least Stan Musial got the Presidential Medal of Freedom… 

Bulls fans old enough to remember life before Jordan can’t help but see some comparisons between the lunch-pail work ethic of this year’s bunch and the scrappy teams of the Jerry Sloan/Chet Walker/Norm van Lier days. Derrick Rose is refreshing in his intensity and determination. Watch out Celtics!! You took us out when Rose was a rookie in that amazing series, but we might getcha back this year!

Doesn’t seem right that former Dodger great Mike Scioscia is the Angels manager while former Yankees great Don Mattingly is the Dodgers manager.

I don’t hate pro football or anything, but the year round hyping of it gets nauseating. Isn’t there an offseason for that Mel Kiper dude? And what is with his hair?

I love Albert Pujols and I’m glad he is a Christian and all, but it just seems a bit much to have a spokesman for Jesus angling for a $30 million a year contract…I’m just sayin’

If you are a book fan and a baseball fan, you got to read that Willie Mays biography that came out last year. Great read.

The interview with Bob Costas about it was tremendous as well. 

Moving to Washington, DC looked to be hard on the baseball front, but the Nationals and the Orioles actually have some reason to hope this spring. Definitely glad my man Vladi Guerrero has followed me east!!