{"id":21,"date":"2013-02-12T14:36:11","date_gmt":"2013-02-12T19:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dougsbriefcase.com\/blog\/?p=21"},"modified":"2013-02-21T12:35:39","modified_gmt":"2013-02-21T17:35:39","slug":"inaugural","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dougsbriefcase.com\/blog\/inaugural\/","title":{"rendered":"Inaugural"},"content":{"rendered":"

The President\u2019s Sec\u00adond Inau\u00adgur\u00adal cheered his polit\u00adi\u00adcal allies and angered his foes.  Those expect\u00ading a Lin\u00adcoln-like sec\u00adond inau\u00adgur\u00adal (\u201cwith mal\u00adice toward none\u201d ) con\u00adtin\u00adue to express their dis\u00adap\u00adpoint\u00adment.  They need to get over them\u00adselves.  There is no require\u00adment that win\u00adners be gra\u00adcious in sports, pol\u00adi\u00adtics or life.   The Inau\u00adgu\u00adra\u00adtion was the President\u2019s end\u00adzone dance.  He won and if he wants to cel\u00ade\u00adbrate his vic\u00adto\u00adry by taunt\u00ading his oppo\u00adnents, that his prerogative.<\/p>\n

Tone aside, there was some\u00adthing notice\u00adably absent from the President\u2019s remarks.  Just a day before he pri\u00advate\u00adly took the oath of office, Alger\u00adian forces brought an end to a ter\u00adror\u00adist seizure of a gas field.  The death toll so far is at 66, includ\u00ading 37 civil\u00adian work\u00aders, at least three of whom are Americans.<\/p>\n

The tim\u00ading of these gris\u00adly events was unfor\u00adtu\u00adnate, con\u00adclud\u00ading as they did so close to the President\u2019s big cel\u00ade\u00adbra\u00adtion.  An expres\u00adsion of remorse would have been ill-suit\u00aded to the script White House speech\u00adwrit\u00aders had pre\u00adpared.  Besides, these are corpses, after all, some report\u00aded\u00adly charred beyond recog\u00adni\u00adtion.  There\u2019s plen\u00adty of time to bury them once their bod\u00adies have all been recov\u00adered and trans\u00adport\u00aded home.  No need to strike a dis\u00adcor\u00addant note of grief in an oth\u00ader\u00adwise tri\u00adumphant address.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the fact that we know so lit\u00adtle about the dead or their mur\u00adder\u00aders.   The attack once again took our lead\u00aders by sur\u00adprise and near\u00adly a week after the assault was launched, they seem still to be in the dark as to its most basic details.  No need to embar\u00adrass our\u00adselves as we did after 4 Amer\u00adi\u00adcans were killed in Beng\u00adhazi, announc\u00ading that their deaths sprang from an imag\u00adi\u00adnary protest against a Youtube video out\u00adside our con\u00adsulate.  Bet\u00adter to say too lit\u00adtle than to spend months explain\u00ading how you got it so wrong.<\/p>\n

More\u00adover, an expres\u00adsion of con\u00addo\u00adlence to the fam\u00adi\u00adlies of the dead would have been at odds with the President\u2019s dec\u00adla\u00adra\u00adtion that \u201cendur\u00ading secu\u00adri\u00adty and last\u00ading peace\u201d do not require \u201cper\u00adpet\u00adu\u00adal war.\u201d  It would have been awk\u00adward to acknowl\u00adedge that his with\u00addraw\u00adal from the wars begun by his pre\u00adde\u00adces\u00adsor seems to have pro\u00adduced nei\u00adther secu\u00adri\u00adty nor peace.  Nor have nego\u00adti\u00ada\u00adtions with our ene\u00admies \u201cdurably lift[ed] sus\u00adpi\u00adcion and fear,\u201d despite the President\u2019s expressed con\u00advic\u00adtions.  If you are an Amer\u00adi\u00adcan civil\u00adian liv\u00ading in Africa, Asia or oth\u00ader trou\u00adbled realms, your sus\u00adpi\u00adcions and fears are like\u00adly more acute after Beng\u00adhazi and Algeria.<\/p>\n

That is why a sen\u00adtence or two \u2013 per\u00adhaps even a phrase \u2013 express\u00ading sym\u00adpa\u00adthy for Amer\u00adi\u00adcans who have died far from the bat\u00adtle\u00adfields of Afghanistan over the past sev\u00ader\u00adal months might have been apt.  Hon\u00ador\u00ading the dead would at least tell the liv\u00ading that we are aware of their per\u00adil, even if we don\u2019t intend to do much to relieve it.<\/p>\n

The era of per\u00adpet\u00adu\u00adal war may be over.  But sure\u00adly there is some mid\u00addle ground between inter\u00adven\u00adtion and indifference.<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The President\u2019s Sec\u00adond Inau\u00adgur\u00adal cheered his polit\u00adi\u00adcal allies and angered his foes.  Those expect\u00ading a Lin\u00ad\u00adcoln-like sec\u00adond inau\u00adgur\u00adal (\u201cwith mal\u00adice toward none\u201d ) con\u00adtin\u00adue to express their dis\u00adap\u00adpoint\u00adment.  They need to get over them\u00adselves.  There is no require\u00adment that win\u00adners \u2026 Con\u00adtin\u00adue read\u00ading \u2192<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":22,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"nfd_image_url":"","nfd_onboarding_generated":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t