Outrageous, brilliant and effective. It has to do with not being an egotist. I've been in negotiations and one takes the role of the bad guy to unite those who would fight and get nothing good done.
It's a lesson being taught, to get people to realize what is really important. It does not hurt the 'bad guy' if he's not doing it for himself, which PBO has not been doing. It causes people to reveal themselves to themselves and others.
And the work gets done. Those who are 'stuck in the schoolyard' and trying to win and make someone else lose, never get what is happening. But all win and come out happy in the end.
As Lao Tze says:
Those who know do not tell; those who tell do not know.
Simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.
Wise men don't need to prove their point. Men who need to prove their point aren't wise.
If you overesteem great men, people become powerless.
And this in particular:
A leader is best when people barely know that he exists, not so good when people obey and acclaim him, worst when they despise him. Fail to honor people, They fail to honor you. But of a good leader, who talks little, when his work is done, his aims fulfilled, they will all say, "We did this ourselves."
I've seen a lot of abuse heaped on Obama. He would offer those who were against him, what they seemed to want as a peace offering, so they could not complain later in a just manner.
Then his 'own' side turned on him viciously, inciting so much hatred that the 'other' side heard them.
Then both sides joined to oppose that which he did not want to begin with, made him the bad guy. And the bad thing did not happen because people of both sides found common ground.
And both sides claimed victory, over him and the evil idea. Then they said,
"We did this ourselves."
Yes, they did it themselves from both sides, seeing what it was. He laid it out for them to choose. He didn't, like the wise man, need to prove his point or win their praise.
The goal is to make life better for all, not a victory for only half of the people. This is what justice, compassion and equality require for peace.
I thought a forceful show toward Assad would cause him to give in to his allies. Russia has done a great job ridding itself of its WMD as a member state of the CWC and Iran lost 100,000 people with 300,000 hurt by CW. Both of these are modern states, like them or not, and their people are paying attention.
Assad should be able to fsurvive without using any more CW or face regime change. Maybe he will flee to live amongst his major allies, this has happened before. Many knew his methods were horrendous without using CW, but they let him get a pass until Obama put his foot down.
No one, except lunatics such as Romney and McCain, wanted a war there with the use of nuclear weapons to fulfill Doomsday fantasies. It is worth the fight to stop this happeninng with the work of diplomacy.
Since ending the use of WMD is the intent of all of this, is it not?
Edit history
= new reply since forum marked as read
