Complete video at: fora.tv Hoover Institution fellows Victor Davis Hanson and Peter Robinson assess Obama’s performance as Commander-in-Chief. While Hanson criticizes the President for breaking many of his campaign promises, he concedes that Obama has been a “great gift” to Republicans for legitimizing the War on Terrorism to many on the left. —– Beginning with the assertion that “war is inseparable from the human condition,” Victor Hanson proceeds to explain the ways in which the American way of war is distinctive. For one, “Americans are united…by shared ideas and commitments, such as the ideals of equal opportunity and individual merit. Our military functions…as a reflection of our national meritocracy.” He further reflects that Americans today, unlike previous generations, fail to understand the tragic nature of war because they have never come to understand the tragic nature of life itself, and that we are endangered by our lack of attention to the study of military history. “If we walked right over to the campus bookstore or looked in the university’s catalog of classes, we would see gender studies…leisure studies, race studies, environmental studies. Military history? Not there.” – Hoover Institution Victor Davis Hanson is aSenior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, a professor emeritus at California University, Fresno, and a nationally syndicated columnist for Tribune Media Services. Hanson was a National Endowment for the Humanities …
misermania
August 10, 2011 at 11:39 am
VDH is a excellent historian, but judging by his grasp of current events, he isn’t among our most important voices.
goog2k
August 10, 2011 at 12:29 pm
@GOPsithlord LOL!!!! Are you Wacko???
Al Queda is down in Iraq but didn’t even effectively exist in Iraq before our invasion.
Worldwide Al Qaeda is at least 10X stronger NOW than it was BEFORE Bush’s criminal invasion of Iraq. Al Qaeda couldn’t have come up with a better recruitment strategy to enlist ignorant young people as fighters & suicide bombers, and make Muslims’s hate Americans. They should give Bush a “Lifetime Achievement Award.”
Frankcastle522
August 10, 2011 at 12:32 pm
@goog2k Actually Hanson is a registered Democrat, he just seems more like a realist.
goog2k
August 10, 2011 at 12:58 pm
@jkirk1626
So, I guess you don’t think Bush, Cheney, & Rumsfeld should be tried for war crimes.
“You CAN”T handle the truth!” — LOL!!!
jkirk1626
August 10, 2011 at 1:54 pm
@goog2k Sounds like you’re bitter that your dream system Communism failed disastrously. Now, you’re trying to impose that failed system on successful, prosperous economies.
paradoarify
August 10, 2011 at 2:08 pm
@GOPsithlord Good word bro.
Mastikator
August 10, 2011 at 2:16 pm
@goog2k Tell that to Obama, oh wait, he protected them for being tried.
goog2k
August 10, 2011 at 2:41 pm
Yeah, Bush really helped Iraq.
Bush caused the death of hundreds of thousands of innocents, and displaced 3-4 million Iraqis, many of whom are now living as refugees in Syria & Jordan. How did we help them?
The biggest winners in Iraq were Al Qaeda who grew 10X. and IRAN, whose Shiite friends now control most of Iraq.
Oh yeah, we had 4,370 Americans killed and 31,000 wounded. For what? To free Iraqi oil and punish Saddam??
Pathetic!
Cheney & Rumsfeld should be tried for war crimes.
goog2k
August 10, 2011 at 3:31 pm
These guys are neo-con stooges and the Hoover Institute is a neo-con propaganda mill.
Bush was the biggest disaster for America since the Civil War.
goog2k
August 10, 2011 at 3:55 pm
If we don’t stabilize both Afghanistan & Pakistan together, we’re going to be in some very deep sh*t if the Taliban & crazies take over the region. Then the situation will be exponentially worse — and could even involve renegade Nukes in the hands of terrorists, or an India-Pakistan nuclear war.
President Obama probably feels the same. We have to work with Karzai which may spell failure, but we’ve got to try now, or resign ourselves to enormously more dangerous problems later.
goog2k
August 10, 2011 at 4:36 pm
A stable, Al Qaeda free Afghanistan and pacified Taliban is very desirable, and could be vital for Afghani women.
However, a stable Pakistan is absolutely essential. If we leave Afghanistan now, there is almost no hope of stabilizing Pakistan.
TigerOfKarlstad
August 10, 2011 at 5:18 pm
/world police
fractalbuddha
August 10, 2011 at 5:51 pm
I agree with this guy to a certain degree. On one hand, its been difficult for the new administration to get anything done with all the obstructionism. However, thats not enough of an excuse for the lack of action on Obama’s part; certainly zero excuse for the change in rhetoric.
The US electoral system is different from a Parliament in that we vote for the issues that a candidate claims in a platform, supported by a party. If the platform changes after the election, theres not much we can do.
yougiberishtube
August 10, 2011 at 6:25 pm
brilliant
GOPsithlord
August 10, 2011 at 6:49 pm
@goog2k Uhm dude, AQI is done, the main driver of the insurgency now is ex-Ba’athists without a prayer of re-taking control. Can’t you guys do anything other than repeat the same fallacies? As for Iran, given their internal strife, I don’t think these guys have too many “friends” but hey, at least the pacifists will burry their heads in the sand about the threat they pose…right?
vodkasvictim
August 10, 2011 at 7:30 pm
Part of the problem is that since bush started the conflict, Obama must continue it.
We can’t rip down Taliban rule in Afghanistan and walk out – because it will simply re-grow.
We’ve seen the danger of leaving the job half done in Iraq war 1.
It’s also imoral to rip a peoples government away without replacing it.
us military spending is insane – just look at projects like big dog and F22. They’re both pointless money-drains.
shoogie06
August 10, 2011 at 8:10 pm
A comprehensive health care system is a matter of national security. Bio terrorism ring a bell? Republicans have that cover right? *sic*
SourceCode2006
August 10, 2011 at 8:38 pm
It will be a godsend to people that love to go to war. its a welcome breath of relief for those tired of these lies and bullshit.
These two old bags know nothing about what the people want.
Snowflake70
August 10, 2011 at 9:02 pm
I will probably pose this question over several venues over the coming week while it is fresh in my mind:
Supercomputers are Not a secret. Nor are the theatrics from the time of Plato and Socrates. Why is it so inconceivable for people to believe the world is a stage and its characters are being manipulated by the script writers?
AussiePolitics
August 10, 2011 at 9:32 pm
i would not say they were extreme right wing – a lot of people involved with them are libertarian also.
also i find it interesting how it took you a degree at stanford to be able to understand the difference between a think tank and a university.
bbbbmer
August 10, 2011 at 10:03 pm
as a stanford grad, i must differentiate between the university, and ‘hoover’…. ‘hoover’ is an extreme right wing institution of 19th century neanderthals from every discipline anachronistically pontificating on social, economic, and political events, with absolutely no relevance in this century… they just happen to be well funded, and hence have bought a voice and place at the table by mere weight of their dollars — NOT because they have anything pertinent to say….
pizzaboyserious
August 10, 2011 at 10:43 pm
victor is awesome
777CARL777
August 10, 2011 at 11:38 pm
The hoover institute SUCKS!!!=)
16242T
August 11, 2011 at 12:06 am
If Son of Han really thought Obama was such an incredible “gift,” he would be singing his praises on the roof-tops and encouraging everyone to just go ahead and vote for him again next time.
But he doesn’t do that, now does he.
(Interesting strategy though. With these guys it’s all about strategy.)
jdamn
August 11, 2011 at 1:02 am
Peter Robinson should interview himself. He makes great points.