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In his Nobel acceptance speech, Obama argued for continued war, saying: "the instruments of war do have a role in preserving the peace, (that) all responsible nations must embrace the role that militaries with a clear mandate can play to keep the peace," and imperial warlords should be honored "not as makers of war, but as wagers of peace" - "War is peace," Orwellian doublethink, the Nobel Committee legitimizing wars and leaders who wage them, not peacemakers wanting swords turned into plowshares.
Nation writers, however, enthused, John Nichols calling Obama's speech "a glimpse of (him) at his best," vanden Heuvel saying it reflected "humility and grace," endorsing the Obama Doctrine - wars without end, for historians Charles Beard (1874 - 1948), Harry Elmer Barnes (1889 - 1968), and Gore Vidal - "Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace," the title of Barnes' 1953 book and Vidal's in 2002, saying "our rulers for more than half a century have made sure that we are never to be told the truth about anything that our government has done to other people, not to mention our own."
A worried Barnes wrote:
"If trends continue as they have during the last fifteen years, we shall soon reach this point of no return, and can only anticipate interminable wars, disguised as noble gestures for peace. Such an era could only culminate in a third world war which might well, as (historian) Arnold J. Toynbee has suggested, leave only the pygmies in remote jungles, or even the apes and ants, to carry on 'the cultural traditions' of mankind."
Thanks to the Bush and Obama Doctrines, we've surged closer to the abyss. No matter, the Nation remains rapturously supportive, a voice for power, privilege and imperial wars, mindless of their destructive consequences, its readers betrayed by its anti-populist tradition, its backing wrong over right, and indifference to human suffering - lacking vision, honor and moral courage to report truths.
Three Other Faux Liberals
The liberal media landscape is strewn with others like vanden Heuvel and the Nation's stable of writers, two notables on MSNBC, betraying their viewers the same way, establishment figures in good standing.
Rachael Maddow for one. Calling herself a "national security liberal," she says "I'm undoubtedly a liberal, which means that I'm in almost total agreement with the Eisenhower-era Republican party platform."
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