Another Chokehold Routine

If it wasn't for the thousands of dead, and the tens of thousands running for their lives, the American pundit-politico reaction to Russia's pummeling of Georgia would be a dark laugh riot. Okay, it is a dark laugh riot, with blood and broken bone spewing out of cynical American mouths. What a nasty, predictable sight: US elites condemning "Russian aggression" from the heart of Murder Central, which gave Mikheil Saakashvili what he thought was imperial-backed carte blanche. McCain, of course, is feasting on as many bodies as his aging frame will allow, bellowing between bites about "international law." Obama, naturally, is going the pragmatic route, calling for UN intervention, a review of Russia's global status, and most telling of all, "deepening relations between Georgia and transatlantic institutions, including a Membership Action Plan for NATO."

The President-In-Waiting clearly understands what his upcoming gig demands. NATO expansion is but one of many tasks on the docket. The only "change" we can believe in is how Obama will polish the same old bullshit using fresh, uplifting rhetoric. Yet I suspect in the short-run, when shoved and slimed by a desperate McCain, Obama may very well dispense with the niceties that have endeared him to so many hopeful consumers, and show that he too can growl and promise sadistic punishment for our many enemies. Not that his liberal followers will mind all that much. A few may wince and wish it weren't so, but they will be kicked into place by heartier mules and angrily reminded that winning is the only thing that matters.

One cannot assume state power without proving you can and will kill. To McCain, such a demonstration will come easily and with a wicked grin. Obama's version will be no less deadly, only painted in cooler colors. Unlike their hippie predecessors, Obama Youth will remove daisies from the rifle barrels, their strawberry fields forever aflame. You won't need to play Obama's speeches backwards to discover what that means.