Hilarity and ignorance from Andrew Sullivan. Yeah, I'm shocked, too:
A reader writes:
Don't forget the President is still following the script from Doris Kearns-Goodwin's A Team of Rivals, along with all his other readings on Lincoln. President Lincoln calmly, deliberately, and with a lot of mistakes and few successes for several years led us to victory in the Civil War. Oftentimes he was at odds with his own party, at least the "Radical Republican" wing. Lincoln, and much of the North, even believed he would lose the election for a second term until Sherman took Atlanta. That's the model Obama is following with regard to the Republican insurgency, slow, steady, smart, and ultimately, successful (we still hope).
Trust me. I have not forgotten. It informs every judgment I make on the guy. I remain absolutely convinced we are beyond lucky to have him st thi moment in history - and he deserves far more grass-roots support from his supporters than he's currently getting.
Yep, folks, that's what love will do to you... Make your fingers tremble until you can't type, and make your mind wander until you forget to proofread.
What love blinds Andrew to is the simple fact that Obama's still working his way through his own personal 1862-3. I think we've already seen the Second Bull Run, are approaching Fredricksburg and will visit Chancellorsville come November.
In any event, if Andrew Sullivan was capable of intellectual honesty, he'd note that if Barack Obama should be reminding us of anyone from that era, it's George B. McClellan (especially historian T. Harry Williams' George B. McClellan). At the time of the Peninsula Campaign. Or more specifically, at the time of the Seven Days Battles.
Not to mention, George B. McClellan kept on insisting he was right, all the while he was losing the Peninsula Campaign. In large part because he didn't have a clue on what was really happening in the war, and denied reality right up through his failed Presidential run in 1864 (as the Democratic candidate. Naturally).
O!bama's current insistence on ramming ObamaCare down our throats regardless of the situation makes your McClellan-O!bama analogy far better than the spin that O!bama is Lincoln reborn.
Posted by: JeffS | March 12, 2010 at 08:22 AM
The McClellan analogy only works if you're not in love.
Posted by: Dennis the Peasant | March 12, 2010 at 09:00 AM
Citing Kearns-Goodwin may be a "citation mistake"...
Posted by: William | March 12, 2010 at 09:24 AM
True, but it would be entirely consistent with the content at The Daily Dish.
Posted by: Dennis the Peasant | March 12, 2010 at 09:31 AM
I'm more concerned about the question of whether Obie is playing the part of Jefferson Davis or James Buchanan...
Posted by: richard mcenroe | March 12, 2010 at 09:41 AM
So in 2012 it will be about time for the Battle of the Crater.
Posted by: Wm T Sherman | March 12, 2010 at 11:03 AM
The McClellan analogy only works if you're not in love.
Proof positive that I'm not a sock puppet for Sully.......
Posted by: JeffS | March 12, 2010 at 11:22 AM
Can we march through Georgia again?
Posted by: Eric Blair | March 12, 2010 at 01:32 PM
Why? Is there something there that wasn't the last time around?
(Northerner humor)
Posted by: Dennis the Peasant | March 12, 2010 at 02:43 PM
You bastids try to march through Georgia again and I will defend Rambo's and Little Richard's to the last man. VD Drive will be our line in the sand!
Posted by: richard mcenroe | March 12, 2010 at 03:12 PM
Golly, mistah Peasant, ah don't know nothin' 'bout Palin birthin' no babies...!
Posted by: richard mcenroe | March 12, 2010 at 03:13 PM
Well, if we're doing Civil War analogies I'll take The Army of Tennessee for $200 Alex.
Obama is at first Johnston who is befuddled by Sherman's flanking maneuvers. Obama then channels his inner Hood who makes spoiling attacks against Sherman's positions.
A month or so later Atlanta burns anyway.
Posted by: Allen | March 12, 2010 at 03:18 PM
If it's Chancellorsville then Pelosi reminds me of Hooker who responded when asked about Lee, "We've got him in the bag". But in the night there was Jackson. Hope I got the quote right it may need reconciling.
Posted by: JAMES | March 12, 2010 at 04:47 PM
BTW, is anyone else tickled by the notion of Obie cribbing from the script of an acknowledged plagiarist...?
Posted by: richard mcenroe | March 12, 2010 at 11:52 PM
Obama is going to end up Bragg.
He'll be putting more of his people against the wall than the Republicans ever will; they are going to need a bigger bus.
Posted by: TmjUtah | March 13, 2010 at 01:31 AM
Joe Biden, Richard. Joe Biden.
Posted by: William | March 13, 2010 at 09:19 AM