Lew, may David Broder rest in peace. For the rest of us, though, he wanted war.
“Not” (just) to get Obama re-elected, of course — but to make him “one of the most successful presidents in history.”
The callous cynicism with which he applied his able intellect in the service of the State emerges even here: the “reelection war” column, his last, appeared on Halloween.
His model? The Monster himself:
“Look back at FDR and the Great Depression. What finally resolved that economic crisis? World War II.”
“Here is where Obama is likely to prevail. With strong Republican support in Congress for challenging Iran’s ambition to become a nuclear power, he can spend much of 2011 and 2012 orchestrating a showdown with the mullahs. This will help him politically because the opposition party will be urging him on. And as tensions rise and we accelerate preparations for war, the economy will improve.”
“I am not suggesting, of course, that the president incite a war to get reelected. But the nation will rally around Obama because Iran is the greatest threat to the world in the young century. If he can confront this threat and contain Iran’s nuclear ambitions, he will have made the world safer and may be regarded as one of the most successful presidents in history.”
9:56 am on March 10, 2011
