Jonah Goldberg: Hating Woody
[Jonah Goldberg is editor at large for the National Review.]
The NYT has a Room for Debate discussion on conservatives hating Woodrow Wilson. It’s a bit undisciplined. A few of the folks use it as an excuse to beat up on Glenn Beck, even trying to make him into a mouthpiece for Leo Strauss (no, really). Others get bogged down in the question of motives, as if motives were relevant to the substance of the debate, particularly when all of the “defenders” are unwilling or unable to offer much, if any, substance in Wilson’s defense. Indeed, Thomas G. West is the only contributor who actually offers any historical substance to the question of Why Wilson?
Anyway, a few responses:
George H. Nash (praise be upon him) is surely right that Obama’s actions help fuel the anti-Wilson argument. But there are some chicken-and-egg problems with that. Beck got on the anti-Wilson train largely because of my book. And I started Liberal Fascism long before I — or pretty much anyone — had ever heard of Barack Obama....
Read entire article at National Review
The NYT has a Room for Debate discussion on conservatives hating Woodrow Wilson. It’s a bit undisciplined. A few of the folks use it as an excuse to beat up on Glenn Beck, even trying to make him into a mouthpiece for Leo Strauss (no, really). Others get bogged down in the question of motives, as if motives were relevant to the substance of the debate, particularly when all of the “defenders” are unwilling or unable to offer much, if any, substance in Wilson’s defense. Indeed, Thomas G. West is the only contributor who actually offers any historical substance to the question of Why Wilson?
Anyway, a few responses:
George H. Nash (praise be upon him) is surely right that Obama’s actions help fuel the anti-Wilson argument. But there are some chicken-and-egg problems with that. Beck got on the anti-Wilson train largely because of my book. And I started Liberal Fascism long before I — or pretty much anyone — had ever heard of Barack Obama....