Philip Klein: Forgetting the Forgotten War ... Obama's Selective History
[Philip Klein is a reporter for The American Spectator.]
"Leaders like Truman and Acheson, Kennan and Marshall, knew that there was no single decisive blow that could be struck for freedom," Barack Obama declared on Tuesday at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. "We needed a new overarching strategy to meet the challenges of a new and dangerous world."
In what his campaign billed as a "major" foreign policy address, Obama stood behind a lectern that was adorned with the slogan, "Judgment to Lead," and aimed to present a comprehensive approach to national security based on lessons from the Truman administration, but he conveyed a selective account of history.
Obama drew a particularly suspect parallel between the Marshall Plan and global economic assistance in today's times:
I know development assistance is not the most popular program, but as President, I will make the case to the American people that it can be our best investment in increasing the common security of the entire world. That was true with the Marshall Plan, and that must be true today. That's why I'll double our foreign assistance to $50 billion by 2012, and use it to support a stable future in failing states, and sustainable growth in Africa; to halve global poverty and to roll back disease. To send once more a message to those yearning faces beyond our shores that says, "You matter to us. Your future is our future. And our moment is now."
But the Marshall Plan wasn't about making a general commitment to fight poverty and disease throughout the world just to show that we care. It was targeted specifically at Europe with the clear goal of making sure its economies didn't collapse after the war and destabilize the region. It was meant to avoid a repeat of what Winston Churchill called "the follies of the victors" after World War I, in which economic collapse and heavy reparations imposed on Germany created the conditions that facilitated Adolf Hitler's rise. Truman was also concerned that any economic depression in Europe would drag down the U.S. economy.
A more disturbing aspect of Obama's speech, considering it was framed around applying President Truman's foreign policy to today's national security challenges, was that he neglected to mention a key event during Truman's tenure: the Korean War...
Read entire article at American Spectator
"Leaders like Truman and Acheson, Kennan and Marshall, knew that there was no single decisive blow that could be struck for freedom," Barack Obama declared on Tuesday at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. "We needed a new overarching strategy to meet the challenges of a new and dangerous world."
In what his campaign billed as a "major" foreign policy address, Obama stood behind a lectern that was adorned with the slogan, "Judgment to Lead," and aimed to present a comprehensive approach to national security based on lessons from the Truman administration, but he conveyed a selective account of history.
Obama drew a particularly suspect parallel between the Marshall Plan and global economic assistance in today's times:
I know development assistance is not the most popular program, but as President, I will make the case to the American people that it can be our best investment in increasing the common security of the entire world. That was true with the Marshall Plan, and that must be true today. That's why I'll double our foreign assistance to $50 billion by 2012, and use it to support a stable future in failing states, and sustainable growth in Africa; to halve global poverty and to roll back disease. To send once more a message to those yearning faces beyond our shores that says, "You matter to us. Your future is our future. And our moment is now."
But the Marshall Plan wasn't about making a general commitment to fight poverty and disease throughout the world just to show that we care. It was targeted specifically at Europe with the clear goal of making sure its economies didn't collapse after the war and destabilize the region. It was meant to avoid a repeat of what Winston Churchill called "the follies of the victors" after World War I, in which economic collapse and heavy reparations imposed on Germany created the conditions that facilitated Adolf Hitler's rise. Truman was also concerned that any economic depression in Europe would drag down the U.S. economy.
A more disturbing aspect of Obama's speech, considering it was framed around applying President Truman's foreign policy to today's national security challenges, was that he neglected to mention a key event during Truman's tenure: the Korean War...