Can We Stop Being Cynical and Give Biden the Huge Props He Deserves for Kyiv?

Authored by newrepublic.com and submitted by thenewrepublic
image for Can We Stop Being Cynical and Give Biden the Huge Props He Deserves for Kyiv?

Take a moment to imagine how they’d be gushing on the right if a Republican president had done this. The hosannas would be nonstop for days. If you’re old enough, you may remember what it was like in 2003 when George W. Bush got in that flight suit and hopped that Navy jet to land on an aircraft carrier to declare “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq. That was pure, 1,000 percent theater, right down to the exaggerated codpiece. It was nothing like what Biden did. The right went gaga for a few days. The war dragged on for a few years.

Today, with some noteworthy exceptions, the right is more or less acting just as you’d expect. A few of them whined that Biden went to Ukraine before East Palestine, Ohio. Others, kvetched that he hadn’t visited the border. Marjorie Taylor Greene, of course, took Russia’s side: “Today on our President’s Day, Joe Biden, the President of the United States chose Ukraine over America, while forcing the American people to pay for Ukraine’s government and war.”

The two appearances, Biden’s and Bush’s, make for a perfect juxtaposition. Bush started an unnecessary war of choice that killed north of 200,000 Iraqis (and maybe a lot more) and cost the United States dearly in terms of both treasure and reputation. It was, allegedly, a war to impose democracy, but somehow the cruel paradox contained in that phrase—impose democracy?—never bothered the war’s supporters. It was an act of aggression, based on lies about Iraq’s destructive potential, and if you really know the history all the way back to the infamous 1992 Defense Planning Guidance, you know that the real purpose of the war was to establish unipolar U.S. hegemony in the region and world.

ionmushroom on February 22nd, 2023 at 21:48 UTC »

the dumbest quote i heard was "Biden visited the Ukraine but he wont even visit the US Border".

like Canada or Mexico are actively invading, raping, and murdering.

Honky_Stonk_Man on February 22nd, 2023 at 21:02 UTC »

No cynicism here. Going to their capitol takes balls. It is exactly what leaders do. Ukraine is an ally worth defending and the US is supporting them the way many would agree should be done. Weapons and support, let them fight their battle.

EivorIsle on February 22nd, 2023 at 16:14 UTC »

I remember when rain kept Trump from the WWI Memorial.