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| Obama compares primaries to the Bataan Death March |
| 2008-03-28 |
| Jim Geraghty, "Campaign Spot" @ National Review Obama, at a fundraiser, last night: "For those of you who are just weary of the primary, and feeling kind of ground down or that it's like a Bataan death march, I just want everybody to know that the future is bright." Jen Rubin: "Yeah, just like that. (Note to our Democratic friends: avoid analogies which compare, even in jest, the minor stresses of campaigning to war crimes; there's a candidate out there who knows something about real wars and real suffering.)" If Obama's campaign is the Bataan Death March, does that make Hillary Clinton the Imperial Japanese Army? Is Carville the analog of General Homma? . . . I'm not going to jump up and down and demand an apology or suggest that Obama is insensitive to veterans or anything like that. I'm just going to note that shortly after 9/11, when some were proclaiming the death of irony, there was a widespread sense that it was silly to apply military metaphors, associated with killing and death, to mundane inconveniences. . . . Calling a long and tiring campaign a death march is about one step removed from Reductio ad Hitlerium, because while I'm sure the candidates, their staffs, and the people who cover them are exhausted, it just doesn't compare to war atrocities. Maybe Obama's just jealous because Hillary got to dodge sniper fire in Bosnia and he missed all the fun. As Rubin notes, it gives off a whiff of "poor me, poor me" whining. Obama gets a pass this time, but this metaphor ought to be mothballed. |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #8 he knows nothing about it beyond the name and cares less You can say the same about his supporters. That candidate will say & do anything to get into office. BTW, the best work of fiction about the Bataan Death March IMHO is Leslie Marmon Silko's "Ceremony" It is about a survivor of the march. From that I got an understanding about PTSD that I never got during training. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2008-03-28 19:27 |
| #7 Does the Man's staff know there are real survivors of the March still alive? Can't wait for those 'personal interview' stories to hit the air/net. They can also talk about being prisoners of the Japanese for 3 years and how it's just like that today too. /sarcasm off |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-03-28 19:17 |
| #6 how can he even compare this too the Baatan Death March? Ultimately, he knows nothing about it beyond the name and cares less. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2008-03-28 19:01 |
| #5 I'm not a bit fatigued, I could watch this dogfight for years. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-03-28 18:54 |
| #4 how can he even compare this too the Baatan Death March? Ask the people there i bet they would say it was a little different |
| Posted by: sinse 2008-03-28 18:35 |
| #3 I knew some guys who were in the Bataan Death March (Company A of the 192nd Tank Battalion)and in the Japanese prison camps afterwards. Some were our neighbors when I was growing up. One was my barber until he passed away. I've heard the survivors' stories and have seen the looks in their eyes whenever the topic was even mentioned. To equate a political campaign, of any sort, to the horror of what our guys (and gals) went through under the Japanese is an abomination in and of itself. |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2008-03-28 14:29 |
| #2 This should play well in the Philippino-American community. |
| Posted by: Penguin 2008-03-28 13:35 |
| #1 All worn out, and hasn't even started to work at the Oval Office yet. You ain't got the stamina for the job. |
| Posted by: www 2008-03-28 12:59 |