Anthony, this reminds me of a Washington Post story the day after Bill Clinton was inaugurated about how actor Ron Silver (who later became a neocon) was outraged by an Airforce jet flyover during the inauguration. According to the Post, Silver (presumably a big donor to the Democrats) was standing with a White House “operative” during the flyover and said something like “What the hell was that?!”, meaning, “What’s with the Republican-style militarism?” The Clintonista responded by saying “Oh, don’t worry, they’re our jets now.”
As for the history profession, my experience has been that at least 95% of them are mere whitewashers for statism. Their criteria for “greatest presidents” is essentially whomever kills the most people in wars and raises taxes and spending the most during his term. Thus, Lincoln, FDR, LBJ are their heroes.
1:54 pm on January 5, 2010
