What Year Is It in Obama’s World?

posted at 2:02 pm on September 23, 2009 by Howard Portnoy
[ Nuclear Proliferation ]   

Miniver Cheevy, the memorable character created by poet Edwin Arlington Robinson, believed he had been born at the wrong time and in the wrong place. In the poem, Cheevy is described as squandering his life away daydreaming about “days old/When swords were bright and steeds were prancing.”

Barack Obama apparently suffers from a similar affliction. In his first “policy speech” to the U.N. General Assembly, Obama betrayed a deep longing for the Cold War years. His speech was peppered with archaisms such as “the dangers of escalating nuclear arms races” and “uncontrolled proliferation.”

Arms race? Would that be how Obama views the pipsqueak Iran and the mad-bombership that is currently North Korea? I wasn’t aware that the two countries were in a race toward “uncontrolled proliferation,” which if true gives the distinct edge to Kim Jong Il, who has at least tested a nuclear weapon. Neither poses an immediate threat of amassing a stockpile of weapons.

Obama also spoke of a world united in bringing about peace. There was no word in the press release of whether the president handed out love beads and ask members of the General Assembly to hold hands and join him in a chorus of Kumbaya.

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