Heroism is a horribly overused word these days. We live in an age in which politicians actually use the word “heroic” to describe the most ordinary casts of mind and behavior — loving your kids, for example, or going to your job every day. It has been the inestimable good fortune of the world’s population these past five decades to have shared the Earth with one of the greatest heroes in history, the foremost example of intellectual courage of the 20th century.
What Alexander Solzhenitsyn accomplished in his 89 years on this earth was something very particular, and it was not precisely what he wanted to accomplish. He wanted to be a great Russian novelist in the tradition of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, and he labored ceaselessly to achieve this aim, but it was not to be. His two greatest works, at least among the dozen or so I have read, were non-fiction. There was, of course, the towering accretion of thousands of tales of totalitarian torment called The Gulag Archipelago – a book that will be read forever. Less well known, but perhaps oddly more interesting, is his half-life autobiography, The Oak and the Calf, which is a book about temptation — the temptation to give in, to let the Soviet censor have his way here and there, to do what will make its author more comfortable even if doing so means bowdlerizing his own unmistakable vision of Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist tyranny.
It is almost unimaginable that he resisted the temptation, when no one would ever have known that he had succumbed, and when the earthly reward would have been great. The man had, after all, been sent to the Gulag for writing a letter at the tail end of World War II complaining about Stalin. The letter was intercepted, he was declared an enemy of the state, and he was sent to Siberia and after serving nearly a decade, was sentenced to internal exile. He suddenly found a moment of freedom when the magazine Novy Mir was permitted to publish his chilling short novel about the Gulag, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, and then, as quickly as it was granted, it was snuffed out again.
The Oak and the Calf is in large measure the account of the relationship between Solzhenitsyn and his name editor, the poet Alexander Tvardovsky — a beautifully observed description of the man who would not give in and his effect on the man who would and did. Though he is usually thought of as some kind of angry Prophet raining down fire and brimstone on the unbelievers, Solzhenitsyn shows great compassion for the accommodationist Tvardovsky, who made the decisions he had to make; he was a perfectly fine man who tried to do some good when he could.
It was Solzhenitsyn who was the impossible pain in the ass, because he could not bring himself to make those accommodations; he knew his path was one only a very few could possibly follow, because it required that one’s soul be made of oak, and humans with that kind of solidity come along a few times a century.
Solzhenitsyn had a weakness for grand theory, especially about Russia and the Russian soul, and it was this that caused him time and again to dip his toe in some brackish waters. There will be more to say in coming days about his view of the Jews and their role in Russian history. In the hours immediately marking his passing, let us just say this about Alexander Solzhenitsyn: He stood athwart the greatest evil the world has ever known, and, by the grace of God, he outlived that evil, by 16 years.
But let’s examine this claim with a bit of care.
We just aren’t very busy these days,are we? And you know what’s really s—-y? By the time the NeoCons get their next chance, the old guard will have been replaced by the Young turk Neocons who will refer to you guys as PaleoNeoCons. In other words, you’ve had your day in the sun,it’s over. Recollect in Tranquility.
Obama’s approval ratings are actually up in the Rasmussen presidential tracking poll today. And then there’s this:
“Fifty-four percent (54%) give the President good or excellent ratings on the economy and 55% give him positive reviews on national security matters.”
How ever will the Republicans spin Obama’s continuing high marks, I wonder? Probably just as they did during the election: He’s always just about to fall off a cliff. Except he never does.
Obama’s repeated and unequivocal acknowledgment of his fumble and willingness to take full responsibility show, in ways legislation never could, that this man is the polar opposite of George W. Bush — and that real, refreshing change has come to the White House.
So it’s come to the point where “I screwed up” is seen as more of a display of leadership than yanking a clearly flawed nomination? Tax avoidance that includes the words “hundred” and “thousands” is not a small thing (intentional or not). Deep ties to industries that will be hip deep in whatever health care “reform” is discussed is not a small thing. Seeking to appoint someone who has no demonstrable background in directing a 60,000 person department is no small thing. I would have been more impressed had the President just said, “this was a bad choice, and we’re done with it.” (Having a demonstrable tax cheat at Treasury — getting compensated by his employer for taxes he never paid — is pretty ugly, too.)
Well at least Obama will always have his quick draw blogworms like the first posters here to thank for apologize for the ever cascading disaster of an Administration. Do the O blogworms ever sleep? Possibly they share pseudonyms and work in shifts
“Screwed up…” over Daschle. “Bone headed…” real estate deal with Tony Rezco… Eees OK. He steel has “Fouled up, messed up, cocked up, dumb headed, wrong headed, silly mistake, unintentional error, sorry ’bout that, oops my bad, didn’t mean to but…, FUBARED, botched, bungled, bodged, bumbled, fumbled, botched up, mufedf, blown, flubed, screwed up, balled up, ballocked up, spoil, mucked up, bungled, flufedf, bollix, bollix up, bollocks, bollocks up, bobble, mishandled, loused up, …But I am worried about March…Heh.
Wehner – still realing from the public repudiation of all he stands for – in 2006 AND 2008, is desperate to trash the new president – but he fails for several reasons – chief among them is his wrong-headed logic – Geithner’s sins – according to most everything I’ve read, are far different than Daschle’s in legal scope – so while Daschle perhaps had to go, Geithner deserves the pass he got. As to waivers on lobbyists, since Wehner didn’t vote for Obama – tough cookies. I think the waiver rule is perfect – far better than the rigid and facile thinking that defined the previous administration – issuing a waiver is an admittance that the administration is bending it’s own rules – not perfect, but certainly better than either nothing or absolutest thinking…
#4,— for the ever cascading disaster of an Administration.”
You ain’t seen nothing yet. Here comes Socialism, the new Republican President in 2016 better have his Swiffer ready,if China is still loaning us money for Swiffers,(Maybe if they’re still made in China and sold at Chinamart.)
““Screwed up…” over Daschle. “Bone headed…” real estate deal with Tony Rezco… Eees OK. He steel has “Fouled up, messed up, cocked up, dumb headed, wrong headed, silly mistake….”
Bush supporter in a nutshell – pretend everything is all right, NEVER admit to ANY mistake – dress up in a flight suit, and all is well in Bushville – even as the shoes are flying from the “liberated…”
#3 “Seeking to appoint someone who has no demonstrable background in directing a 60,000 person department is no small thing.”
Why in the world would Obama think that prior experience in managing a large, unwieldy organization is a prerequisite to holding high office in the federal government?
Hey this might well be the theme, even ths leitmotif, for this administration. So lets give the man some rope, and pray that he uses it well. The question to ask, is there a political gibbet in Obama’s life.
obviously, peter wehner is entitled to feel disappointed…but the reality is that obama is running the government pretty much as he ran his campaign…say one thing, do another and count on charm, rhetoric and the emotional exhaustion of the american people to give you the benefit of the doubt…
…the problem, of course, is that obama’s charm may wear thin and – as errors compound and key bush policies are preserved – he may look look shockingly ordinary…
‘ordinary’ is not what millions of americans thought they were voting for….
Obama is so dreamy when he apologizes. How dare anyone criticize him!
#10,”
“lets give the man some rope”
Remember where that rope came from,the capitalists bought it from the socialists,then the capitalists elected Obama,he’s the rope. Actually,Trotsky sold us the rope originally.
I guess things have changed. Obama didn’t refer to his favorite fall-back phrase of “x was not the [man/woman] I once knew” How’s that for change?
But one thing hasn’t changed. And that is Obama’s continuing poor judgement of people, and his ongoing arrogance that he will get a pass on anything he does and any mistake he makes. Rev. Wright, Blago, Father Pflager, Rezko, Ayers, Daschle, etc. True, it’s not fair to Daschle to be compared to Ayers, but the trend that’s obvious over Obama’s last 15-20 years is poor judgement. He should have known that tax problems exeeding $100k would be a problem for his nominee. But he’s never been help accountable for his associations, so why should that start now.
That’s awefully good of him to take the blame for the Daschle debacle, but as I tell my kids, saying your sorry means you won’t do it again. And yet how many times has Obama apologized for a questionable relationship or thrown these former friends under the bus? At what point does the public start questioning all these apologies? At what point will the public start wondering – after the no lobbyist rule and fallen nominees – why Obama seems to think he’s above the rules laid out for everyone else?
Don Hannaford – “Tax avoidance. . .”
Failure to report income is tax fraud, not tax avoidance. For someone like Daschle to assert that he didn’t know in kind services to the tune of over $100K were taxable income is so preposterous as to be laughable. And that’s leaving aside the apparent fact that he also failed to report $83K in actual cash income.
Uh, for the Obamessiah kool aid drinkers the latest Rasmussen poll has his approval ratings down to 64% today, a 24 point drop in two weeks..
#16 -
Those poll numbers (i.e. 84%) were artificially inflated. There is no way that Obama’s approval (a solid approval) will ever exceed 60% in the American electorate. Just no way possible. Lots of die hard lefties were quoting these outrageous poll numbers on numerous blogs as they argued back-n-forth with their conservative adversaries. I could never accept that 84% result. Just isn’t possible.
The electorate is very much divided. You already know this. I expect Obama’s poll numbers to drop to around 50 – 55%, which is where these numbers should be. But undoubtedly, the press narrative will be “Obama’s numbers continue to slide”. This will be a false narrative and interpreted incorrectly, since this 84% approval rating was false from the inception.
That’s still 40 points better than any Republican in the country. I’ll take it!
When commentators use poll numbers as illustrative of anything at all, you know they really can’t make very effective arguments.
The difference between Daschle and Geithner? It sounds like Obama gets one free grope in picking his cabinet.
Paul: Conservatives won’t have to spin anything at all. We’ll just let Obama be himself—-an empty suit!
I suppose the vetting process would have gone much better if President Obama could have kept Caroline K. Schlossberg and Jim Johnson, the former CEO of Fannie Mae, on the job.
We knew this was coming.
A cursory look at Obama’s entire life reveals that he lacks the ability to judge the character and integrity of his associates. I mean honestly did anybody expect someone who would consider Jeremiah Wright a “spiritual advisor” and thought nothing of funneling funds for a organization directed by William Ayers to be someone to trust with questions of character and competence.
Are any of the Obam-phants now beginning to realize why the non-droolers were always wondering why all of Obama’s associates were so ugly?
This is the result of not getting an adequate answer!
At least the kool-aid drinkers are still hanging on.
Is it true that Obama’s mother worked for Timothey Geithner’s father, Peter Geithner, in Indonesia in the 60’s and that is why Obama was so adamant to get him thru despite his obvious unfitness for the position.
It’s interesting that people assume Obama has the skills required to interview, select and hire a person for and executive postion. There is certainly nothing in his resume that suggests he has ever had to do that before. The man has no executive experience himself — he doesn;t even know what one looks like.
Warpublican Review said:
“issuing a waiver is an admittance that the administration is bending it’s own rules ”
And why is that a good thing? Because 0bama is “special”? Because he doesn’t have to follow the rules? Isn’t this more of the “Don’t do as I do, do as I say” BS that 0bama is spouting here?
I’m sure you didn’t follow that philosophy when your parents dumped it on you as a kid, why would you accept it from 0bama? Unless you’ve been following that Alec Baldwin commercial for kulu, and your brain has turned to mush.
I think we’re in the beginning of a 4 year news cycle. Obama screws up, because he’s really had no experience running anything more than a pick-up basketball game. The press and the left leaning bloggers will continue to praise him for admitting that, in truth, he’s really not up to the job, and besides that, will always have the unfavorable opinion of Bush to rely on as a backdrop for his own incompetence. As in, uberwhine mode here: At least he can admit when he makes a mistake!
What kind of numbskull can actually be bouyed by that kind of idiocy?
And although Chris Mathews, Keith Olberman, and the boy wonder, Rachel Maddow will continue to get sexual gratification from the mere sight of the man, it won’t be 2016 when Republicans retake the White House–it will be 2012.
Unless of course, the fascist left actually go into Martial Law mode when we little folks get into French Revolution mode.
” I mean honestly did anybody expect someone who would consider Jeremiah Wright a “spiritual advisor” and thought nothing of funneling funds for a organization directed by William Ayers to be someone to trust with questions of character and competence.”
it’s true – unlike those special and long-term Republican relationships with 9/11 American Damners and Chicken Roosters Pat Robertson and Jerry FallHell – and convicted thug G. Gordon Liddy and convicted liar (overturned on a technicality raised by the ACLU) Oliver North… I mean, how DARE Obama hang out with such a POS like Wright…
right?
RCARDED,
by all means, try to deflect attention from your Anointed One’s mistakes and lack of integrity with juvenile finger pointing. Just remember that that tactic only works on the stupid.
CodePink Review,
by all means, try to deflect attention from your Anointed One’s mistakes and lack of integrity with juvenile finger pointing. Just remember that that tactic only works on the stupid.
Get used to 8 years of this — and get used to 8 years of Obama getting away with it.
You said, Warpublican not me. Wright is a POS and certainly is Ayers and Klonsky not to mention Rezko and and Blago. Should I go on?
Glad you finally admit that Obama hangs with whole host of POS. In fact, would you care to name one of B. Hussein Obama’s associates which would highlight is ability to discern quality characters from POS like his “spiritual advisor” with his sermons about “white man’s greed” and his love of the anti-semite Louis Farrakhan.
Let’s face it. If the media ever stops acting like a juvenile delinquent’s mother and protecting him, saying he’s done nothingbut good, no matter what bad things he does, America might survive him and…. get this, “truth” might even come out. Truth -that’s the real change needed in Washington by our ruling class and their journalistic cronies. Truth? It would melt them all!
While the media might seem monolithic, as time goes by journalists will appear who are more interested in career advancement than parroting the propaganda. Jake Tapper is an example of this, an obvious lib that has morphed into a semi-objective to differentiate himself from the rest of the herd. Others will take the same tack. They think about what Ann Coulters income tax return looks like and start thinking about Obama weaknesses.