OH DEAR, OH DEAR, WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DISCOVER THAT A GOD IS A GUY – AT 8:18 A.M. ET: 

Silvio Canto Jr., on whose radio show I often appear, alerts us to the quote of the day, from an article in the French newspaper Le Monde, as translated by a great website Silvio refers us to, No Parasan!:

Bush was not the problem. Obama is not the solution: one year after the arrival at the White House of a Democratic president, disenchantment is mutual on either side of the Atlantic. The Allies are discovering — if indeed they were unaware of it before — that misunderstandings go beyond individuals.

Having denounced Mr. Bush's imperialism, Europeans are criticizing Mr. Obama for his impotence. They are complaining of his not being able to bend China at the Copenhagen summit on the fight against global warming. "We overestimated his room for maneuver," said adviser to the French executive; "The Chinese were facing a weakling", said a person close to Mr. Sarkozy in an accusing voice.

COMMENT:  The Europeans feel snubbed by Mr. Obama, and maybe Europe needs a little healthy snubbing.  But the "facing a weakling" part should frighten us.  President Bush, who had failings, was never seen is weak.  The perception of weakness doesn't prevent wars, it leads to them.  That is one of the great lessons of the 20th century, a lesson many "analysts" would like to ignore because it interferes with the approved journalistic or university narrative.  But it remains valid with or without the support of the Georgetown parlor crowd.

February 4,  2010