The Prism of Time

Nothing amazes me more than history's generalizations and exaggerations of the tales of victory.

The movie "Braveheart" may lead with the quote "I tell of a man named Wallace," but we Americans know much more about, (and owe our existence to) the British Empire, and not the Scots.

Bush 43's speech on Wednesday at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars gave me the sense that the errors and fallacies leading us into the second war against Iraq will be forgotten. If yesterday's elections successfully leave Iraq with a government more stable than Canada's tumultuous parliament, then I'm starting to believe that democracy could indeed spread in the Middle East, a position I never would have taken in the days before the 2003 invasion, and certainly not in the immediate aftermath of September 11th, 2001.

Don't look now, Harry Reid, but the main man in the White House is looking (and sounding) better than before. And while G. Spinach still supports the Dems and their populism, the long view might have us looking like the isolationists keeping the U.S. out of both World Wars, and in both cases, for too long indeed.

G. Spinach