September 17

The President introduced civics initiatives on Constitution Day and education toward citizenship by asking teachers to reflect on founding principles and American history. Good move, Mr. President, we have been and will continue.

The Battle of Antietam took place on this day, the most consequential battle of the Civil War.

Elections and Politics

This is a great editorial from The New Republic (pro-Democrat generally) about how the Democratic Party is collapsing on Iraq policy. It is devastating critique. A must read.

This is an interesting (but not deep) article about how some Democrats are trying to recapture the gun-toting bubba vote.

There are only a few primaries left. Here is Roll Call on the outcome of some and David Broder’s tepid analysis. Stuart Rothenberg is better and Larry Sabato lays out his predictions.

Stuart Rothenberg outlines the gubernatorial races: the Demos will pick up a few.

Cynthia McKinney may leave the Democratic Party after losing in the primary (her father also lost his primary). She may run for president as a Green. This is good, and it is good news that they both lost.

What to do about South Florida? Read Dave Barry.

And then some reflections on how the Democrats are handling things from George Will, Morton Kondracke, Ronald Radosh, and the Weekly Standard.

Iraq, Afghanistan and the U.N.

This is President Bush’s very fine speech to the United Nations. The consequences of the speech and the way we have laid out what must be done are evident both in international diplomacy and in domestic politics. Both are to the country’s and Bush’s advantage. Good move.

Also, here is the brisk and clear White House response to Iraqi statement saying they will allow weapons inspectors unconditionally.

This is an over-the-top attack on Bush's conduct of the war by Mark Helprin, the best living novelist and a serious thinker. I like Helprin personally and he is a fine mind, but this characterization of Bush and his war policy is only partially true, at best. It seems true only because—perhaps surprisingly—Helprin doesn't seem to understand that although this is called a war it is not a war like World War II where all the power and wealth of the nation has to be in play and wherein all our enemies need to be destroyed all at once. This is a more difficult and more subtle form of warfare and it is likely to remain such for many years to come. This war calls for practical wisdom in the best sense, for high diplomacy with an almost continual threat of force to back it up, and an occasional (and even frequent) use of fierce firepower. It calls for shifting alliances and some very fine rhetoric. It calls for a lot of patience and even more secret undercover work. This really is a war that depends more than any other on intelligence. Although what Helprin says about places like Saudi Arabia are true, it does not therefore follow that we have to take such regimes out, or at least that it must be done now. That temptation toward retribution and anger has to be controlled for larger and more just purposes. There is a large element of trust involved. The fact is that the Bush administration—with the help of Israel and others—is in the process of re-organizing the Middle East both for our interest and the locals' interest, and is about to either ensure that the UN becomes a tool of American foreign policy or it will wither into a League of Nations-like non-presence, and is killing many bad guys. The war is still going along fine, despite Helprin's outburst. Wisdom shows itself in the world in surprising ways and, so far, Helprin has missed it. Too bad.

Jonah Goldberg slams the U.N., as does George Will.

NRO Online pointed me to this new site, called Campus Watch. It will monitor those scholars who are in Middle Eastern Studies and report on them, in general an untrustworthy bunch of folks. This could be fun.

David Tucker argues that it is a bad sign of the way things are going in Afghanistan that the Army has asked Special Forces to shave beards and is bringing in more artillery. I hope Tucker is wrong.

And here is another report that things aren’t going so well in Afghanistan in some other respects, as well.

Etcetera

John Leo speaks to the question of why our universities are filled with liberal professors (this is not news, but always interesting).

There is a controversy brewing in Britain about whether or not immigrants should speak English in their home. This problem (post 9/11) is only part of their larger problem of how to make citizens of immigrants (or is it subjects over there?). The opponents are yelling "diversity, diversity." Surprise.

Mark Steyn amuses himself regarding cultural sensitivities.

James McWhorter makes clear that there is bias in reporting: He compares recent profiles of Clarence Thomas and Cornel West published in the Washington Post. It will not surprise you to read that there was a pro-West prejudice and an anti-Thomas prejudice.