History Moans

Paul Greenberg's latest article is about Barack Obama's problem with history. But his first example isn't all that convincing.

Barack Obama chose St. Paul, Minn., to stage his victory or at least near-victory rally Tuesday night. It was a good way to stick a thumb in John McCain’s eye, since the Republicans have chosen to hold their national convention at the same arena.

Yet he overlooked the historical connotations of that site. Beautiful downtown St. Paul is where Walter Mondale delivered his concession speech after one of the most lopsided defeats in the history of American presidential elections: Ronald Reagan’s 49-state sweep in 1984.

For his last hurrah of the primary season, he chose a place associated with one of his party’s great defeats. It’s as if admirers of George Armstrong Custer were to gather at Little Bighorn, aka Custer’s Last Stand, to proclaim victory.

The difference being that people associate Little Bighorn with Custer. You say Little Bighorn and people think Custer. Alternatively if you say St. Paul, most people don't immediately jump to "Mondale's concession speech." Unless of course you are writing an article and need a good intro.

The rest of the article deals with Obamas desire to use diplomacy rather than warfare in dealing with Iran and North Korea, and how foolish that is.